Vampires Rise Again

VampireBitesAnother cryptozoological mystery, this time involving monsters known as VAMPIRES. CryptoVille dips its toe into this grave matter to see what the skeletal remains reveal!

In June of 2012, archaeologists excavating the necropolis (a large cemetery usually of an ancient city) of Saint Nikolai Chudotvoretz (the Miracle Worker) Monastery in Sozopol, Bulgaria discovered what appears to be the graves of 2 vampires dating back to the 12th-14th centuries.  The skeletal remains are unique in that each was stabbed through with iron rods. The meaning is clear – their peers thought they were vampires.

PENTAX ImageOne of these skeletons was pierced through the ribcage with an iron ploughshare. The other was pierced in the abdomen with another unidentified iron implement. I’m wondering if the iron shafts shifted as the bodies decomposed. According to vampiric lore, they should have been stabbed through the heart. (Photo of recent find, left.)

Who Were They

Anyway, according to the Sofia News Agency, these two skeletons found in the necropolis belonging to the church of Saints Cyril and Methodius join the ranks of 100 other purported vampire graves recently found in Bulgaria.  What makes these finds even more remarkable, each of the remains had once either been aristocrats or clergymen from the area.

The head of security at the Bulgarian National History Museum, Professor Bojidar Dimitrov, explained that “these people were believed to be evil while they were alive, and it was believed that they would become vampires once they are dead, continuing to torment people.” Professor Dimitrov believes one of these newly found skeletons was that of the pirate Krivich, a notorious scoundrel in his day.

SheVampireOne report I read said that women didn’t escape this fate either. If they lived an evil life, they too would become a vampire upon death. According to this other report,  a woman’s grave was found in the same condition as the vampire graves just described in the same Church of Saints Cyril and Methodius graveyard.

According to thehistoryblog.com, “… if they were cruel and abusive with their gifts when they were alive, their souls would not ascend to heaven but would remain in their rotting corpses, driving them to rise from the grave to terrorize [your] neighborhood.”

PENTAX ImageExhibit Forthcoming

Professor Dimitrov said his museum will be mounting an exhibit of the latest two “vampire” skeletons mostly, it seems, because people are so interested in anything to do with vampires. (Photo of recent find, left.)

On a larger scale, the Bulgarian tourism people are gearing up to market the latest finds as a fresh and intriguing tourist spot for lovers of the paranormal. According to a CNN blog, “Big lines for vampires could pump even more blood into the country’s expanding tourism industry. Bulgaria led the European Union last year in the increase in hotel occupancy by foreigners, with numbers up almost 20% over the previous year.”

I guess that’s good news for a burgeoning economy. In an ironic twist, it seems that the creatures who normally suck the life out of others in this case are infusing it into their economy and thereby helping many struggling entrepreneurs!

Tell me what you think about this.

 

References:

http://www.historymuseum.org/news.php?id=225

http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/06/11/100-vampire-graves-discovered-in-bulgaria/

http://www.thehistoryblog.com/archives/17515

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/06/07/vampire-graves-may-bring-hordes-to-bulgaria/?hpt=hp_t2

http://www.utaot.com/2013/03/30/one-hundred-vampires-graves-found-in-bulgaria/

One comment

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.