Back in 1997 Radio Prague had a very nice story to report.
“The archaeological investigation that has been carried out in the presbytery of the Chapel of the Holy Trinity in the Moravian town of Prostejov has brought to light a lucky and spectacular discovery: the tomb of a suspected vampire.
The director of the Archaeological Institute of Brno, Milos Cizmár, emphasizes the fact that the remains of the supposed vampire were discovered inside a coffin which had been secured with forged iron bars to make sure that it would not commit any crimes after its death.
The scientists think that this find must date back to the 16th or 17th Century, and that it demonstrates the fear for vampirism in those days.
When the coffin was opened, the archaeologists recognized the precautions that had been taken by the supposed vampire’s contemporaries to make sure that it would not come out of the coffin: a pile of stones covered the lower part of the legs of the cadaver and its torso had been separated from the rest of the corpse.”
We have no information on the identity of the person buried with this anti-vampire measure. To my knowledge not even a legend surfaced about it.
None the less… someone went to a great deal to prevent the dead from returning from the grave so it is a true vampire account.
The archeological find is legitimate and the number of “vampire graves” that were uncovered all over the Slavic territory is testimony to the fact that the belief in vampires was widespread throughout the Middle Ages in all of Europe.
Methods of dealing with the corpses of the supposed vampires were plenty and the ones exhibited by this particular case aren`t the worst I`ve seen described. The ~Superstitions~ page should give you a good idea on that… along with the ~Vampire Accounts~ page.
Perhaps the reason why people were so scared of the undead was because according to Slavic belief, the vampire could even have sexual relations with his wife and produce a child that would be born without bones. The vampire wouldn`t only attack on a physical base but it would also instill fear in the villagers – so much that they no longer respected the dead and chose to mutilate the corpses of their family members.
๑۞๑ Related: ๑۞๑
† Vampire Accounts
† Legends