Case file · Folklore / legend
The 'vampire' skeletons of Sozopol
Archaeologists at Sozopol on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast announced in 2012 medieval skeletons pinned through the chest with iron rods or a ploughshare, a precaution against the dead rising.
1300 CE · 42.42, 27.70 · status: explained
The account
The burials date to around the 13th–14th centuries. Bulgarian historians said over 100 such burials were known in the country, made for people thought likely to become vampires, such as the wicked or those who died suddenly. One skeleton is displayed at the National History Museum in Sofia.
The sceptical view
The finds document fear of revenants, not revenants; press labels like 'vampire grave' simplify the archaeology.