Body of 'child vampire' who locals feared would return from the dead found buried

The remains of a 6-year-old 'feared' to be coming back to life as a vampire have been found partially exhumed in a cemetery in Poland.

Archaeologists recently made the shock discovery in the 17th-century cemetery in the village of Pien, Poland. There, they found a tiny corpse buried face down with the top half of the body missing, possibly as a result of 'anti-revenant' protection methods.

It was not uncommon for Eastern European communities to resort to such rituals to shield themselves from negative forces as early as the 11th century, particularly when the deceased was deemed fit to rise from the dead due to the grim circumstances surrounding their demise or to not having been baptised. However, this is believed to be the first burial of its kind concerning such a young person.

According to The Times, the child in question was unusually buried face down so that they would bite the ground should they awaken instead of going on a blood-sucking spree. Their foot was also held in a padlock to slow down or prevent their exit from the grave or to symbolise the 'closing of a stage'. As the top half of the body was missing, archaeologists assumed that it had been destroyed.

Miroslaw Blicharski/Aleksander Poznan

Asked about the grim discovery, team leader Professor Dariusz Poliński from the Nicholas Copernicus University in Torun explained the child must've been 'greatly feared' but he clarified that 'the reason for such a brutal and disgusting burial is unknown'.

A similar, eerie practice was observed in the same cemetery. Experts dug up the body of a woman who had been buried with a scythe pressing down on her neck. The blade was placed so as to ensure that she would decapitate herself if she attempted to get back among the living.

Miroslaw Blicharski/Aleksander Poznan

In a previous chat with MailOnline, Professor Poliński broke down an array of popular burial protocols put in place to make sure the dead wouldn't return to harass the living, including severing limbs and burning the corpse.

"Ways to protect against the return of the dead include cutting off the head or legs, placing the deceased face down to bite into the ground, burning them, and smashing them with a stone," Poliński explained.

"The sickle was not laid flat but placed on the neck in such a way that if the deceased had tried to get up most likely the head would have been cut off or injured."