Venice Skeleton is Forensic Evidence of Vampire

Female vampire with a brick in its mouth

Female vampire with a brick in its mouth

Okay, so vampire don’t really exist, right? I mean, we’ve never found a real vampire. Well, now we might have real evidence.

Matteo Borrini of the University of Florence in Italy exhumed a skeleton from a grave in Venice that bears the hallmarks of a true vampire. He found the remains of a woman with a small brick in her mouth. He certainly wasn’t on the look out for vampires. Instead, Borrini had been excavating mass graves of plague victims on Lazzaretto Nuovo Island in Venice.

The island is believed to be the world’s first lazaret—a quarantine colony intended to help prevent the spread of infectious diseases. The lazaret was opened during the plague outbreaks that decimated Venice, as well as much of Europe, throughout the 15th and 16th centuries A.D.

Many people believed the plague was spread by vampires which, rather than suck blood, spread disease by chewing on their shrouds after dying. Grave-diggers put bricks in the mouths of suspected vampires to stop them doing this, Borrini says.

This wasn’t the only method of stopping vampires from rising. The association of Death and the scythe ultimately derived from vampire lore. Since the body would rise after death, people in the Balkans would bury their dead with scythes across the throat. This way, when the vampire rose, it would cut it’s own head off.

Plague burial in

Plague burial on Lazzaretto Nuovo Island

Later, when these graves were exhumed, the corpse was found with a scythe next to it. Ergo, the image of death holding a scythe.

Another way to stop a vampire was to drape a net with a multitude of knots. It seemed that vampires were obsessive compulsive, and would have to count all the knots. Another method was to scatter rice, forcing the creature to count all the grains. For a good example of this phenomena, check out the X-Files episode “Bad Blood” from season five. Here, Mulder tosses sunflower seeds, forcing the would be vampire to count them all.

Many of the beliefs in vampires were spawned by a misunderstanding of how bodies decomposed. Fingernails and hair will continue to grow. Yet when this corpse was dug up, it seemed to be still alive. Also, blood would sometimes be expelled from the mouth, causing the shroud to sink inward and tear.

Borrini, who presented his findings at a meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences in Denver, Colorado, last week, claims this might be the first such vampire to have been forensically examined.


Borrini says his study details the earliest grave to show archaeological “exorcism evidence against vampires”.

Chris Kalidor

13 Responses to “Venice Skeleton is Forensic Evidence of Vampire”

  1. The fingernails of dead bodies do not actually continue to grow. According to Dr. Kenneth V. Iserson, author of From Death to Dust: What Happens to Dead Bodies, dead skin tissue shrinks back from the tips of the fingers, causing the nails of a corpse to look longer than they did in life. Nobody keeps growing after they die, not even ‘Vampires.’ Even so, this latest discovery is pretty damn cool.

  2. You’re right. I forgot that fact. In any case, it freaked people out.

  3. Jizzaforizza Says:

    yum yum looks tasty

    /fap fap fap fap SPOOLGE

  4. Laura Boyd Says:

    Hey there- I was wondering where you got that photo of the mass grave site for the Matteo Borrini Vampire post- I want to use that photo in something I am working on…how can I get it? Thanks!

  5. I found the photo somewhere on the web. Used it editorially. You’d have to retain rights to use it.

  6. This still does not give proof of existence of vampires. all it does prove is that the practice of putting bricks, scythes, scattering of grains etc did happen. sure ancient folklore and myths say that the reason was to prevent rise of a vampire. but at the end of the day all this, is a skeleton with a brick in its mouth.
    Also i have a query when u say the skeleton bears the hallmarks of a vampire are u just talking about the brick in its mouth. was that the only thing based on which Borrini declared it a vampire skeleton?

    • They arnt saying it proof they are saying that they think that vampires could have been the cause of the plague and if you actually watch the vampires in venice series there will be a few more pictures for you to look at:)

  7. Vampiri nu exista dar legendele da nu trebuie sa credem ca exista,aceste legende provin de la lilieci vampir,acestia consuma sange deoarece au prea multe globule albe.Nu trebuie sa credem in tot ce se spune,de exemplu pot spune ca exista spirite findca am vazut una.DACA DORITI SA AFLATI MAI MULTE NU VA OBORITI CU TUATE LUCRURILE FALSE.Ce-a scris acest domn nu e fals dar unele legende sunt false:vampiri nu se tem de usturoi,apa sfintita,cruci sau soare,e adevorat ca nu le place suarele deoarece pielea lor find rece si palida nu suporta razele cred ca daca pui un vampir la soare se transforma in auzit ca exista sigili folosite de preoti pentru a sigila vampiri,nu e clar dar in anu 239 se spune ca un profet a inchi un demon care lua sange nu sunt sigura.Daca vrea cineva sa vorbeasca pe mss de lucruri paranormale sa ma caute pe email:elisa_horvath.

  8. uitativa pe versiunea in engleza

  9. Emily Fryer Says:

    a skellington with a brick in its mouth and not much other evidence on vampires, why not go to the original site for more evidance and all the other site we can find that are that same or similar, look for as much evidence that we can find even look at fresh sites to try and find something,anyhting abnormal, try looking at strange or unsolved deaths that seem to have even the sightest telltale signs of vampires trying to find clues with help from myths legends and the forensic xases linking them in one way or another and finding solid evidance on vampires if they are real or if they used to exist and if it in possible to be turned. and from legends and myths if it is true that we can be changed and it dose rid of illness and disease then find the way to do it even if it isnt true that you will be immortal then atleast it might stop illness and diease.

  10. How can people be so against the beleif when there are a number of different countries claiming they have seen something so similar all around the world. They may call them differently everywhere but they do the same thing. they may do things a little bit differently in each different country but its just like chinese whispers were things may change by the slightest, or even each country is different, they say that the vampires were once living, so they would have a bit of their old self from their previous life, different countries have different ways of living which is what im trying to say. instead of just looking at this one website, study it a little bit because there have been a ot of accusations before but atlease they have a picture for once to back it up.

  11. Damaris rendon Says:

    Okay im trying to find out if they are real I wont to know if we are in danger of them attacking if you have an answer I will be glad to hear it

    • As other folks have pointed out above, all this finding proves is that historic peoples BELIEVED in vampires. There’s no proof that they really exist that I’m aware of. Given the number of interested parties who must be looking into this question, I consider the lack of evidence to be a pretty clear indicator. There are a few people who act like vampires–the Church of Satan’s Temple of Set springs to mind–but I’ll bet my neck there are no real supernatural creatures.

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