"Vampire" unearthed in Italy

Found in a mass grave site of plague victims on a small island in Italy Archaeologists found a female 'vampire.' Of course she is not really a vampire but unfortunately for her she was labled one. She was found with a brick wedged in her mouth to keep her from feeding on other victims.

A lot of historians believe that the myth of the vampire was perpetuated and spread as a result of a scared populous and the discovery of this woman is helping to verify some of those theories. The people did not understand the disease or the effects it had on the body so when they saw decomposed bodies with open sores, blood oozing out, the grotesque buboes, hair still attached to the head they thought the victims were still alive and had been turned inhuman someway.

Vampires were just another in a long list of groups people blamed for the plague at some point or another. Obviously they did not understand disease or germs so they thought the plague was a punishment from God for sins and they became hellbent on finding out what sins God was punishing them for. By far the Jews suffered the most as amongst the chaos of the disease itself a genocide was taking place. Tens of thousands, if not millions of Jews were slaughtered because they were thought to be the bringers of the plague. Just to be safe suspected adultresses, gamblers, prostitutes, newcomers, suspected witches, suspected vampires were killed by the droves.

Anyway, sorry to go on. I have read alot about the plague and the aftermath. I could go on and on but don't worry I won't.......


http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSTRE52B4RU20090312?feedType=RSS&feedName=oddlyEnoughNews

Wow. Thanks for that. I have always had an unnatural affinity for Vampires.
This is extremely interesting.

gogrannypop said:

Wow. Thanks for that. I have always had an unnatural affinity for Vampires.
This is extremely interesting.

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As far as mythical beings like zombies, werewolves, fairies, witches, etc, vampires are definitely the most fascinating for me too. I think partly though literature and movies they have been romantasized. They tend to be dark, sexy, mysterious, full of wisdom since they have been alive for hundreds of years. The part about sleeping all day and staying up all night certainly appeals to me as I am a night-owl and would much prefer to be up all night.

The interesting thing about this find is it definetly helps anthropologists who are tracing the origins of the vampire. It has been thought the myth of the vampire was popularized from the chaos of the plague and the lack of understanding of human decomposition. Until the plague the average citizen had not seen a decomposizing body. They were buried and that was that. Of course during the plague bodies were piled along the streets because there were just so many of them and not enough people or space to bury all of them. For a lot of people that was the first time they saw what happens to the body after death and combine that with what a lot of plague victims looked like by their time of death - black from burst capillaries, swollen purple tongues, sores, huge buboes - I can't imagine what they must have thought. What a horrific period of time. I cannot imagine the stench either.

gaia227, do you have any recommendations for reading about vampires, etc...? (I don't like fictional vampire stories if that helps?) The information you provided about the plague is very interesting.

The news piece about the "vampire" being found was very intersting, it's nice to have more information as far as history is concerned. Thanks for taking time to explain more in depth. :blowkiss: