“Shocking Discovery: ‘Vampire’ Woman Sealed Away with Sickle to Prevent Her From Rising Again!”
Dubbed by artists, illustrations show the woman as someone who had fair skin, blue eyes, cropped hair, and a single protruding incisor tooth. She was also laid to rest with a silk cap on her head, meaning she was from a family of higher social standing.
But her appearance and status weren’t enough to grant her immunity from the possible accusations thrown her way.
The padlock and sickle placed on her corpse were positioned in a way that suggested villagers were afraid of her coming back from the dead and were used as a form of “double protection.”
Professor Dariusz Poliński, who led the research on Zosia with study partner Magda Zagrodzka, told Daily Mail, “It can be assumed that for some reason those burying the woman were afraid that she would rise from the grave. Perhaps they feared she was a vampire.”
Image credits: Nicolaus Copernicus University
He added, “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.”
Bone scans have also revealed an abnormality within Zosia’s breast bone, suggesting she may have had a deformity that caused her great pain.
This feature could have further convinced the village to accuse her of evil — before she was brutally sacrificed and buried.
With the Swedish-Polish wars ensuing during her time of death, researchers say it may be possible that Zoisa was considered Swedish and seen as an “unwanted outsider,” according to the New York Post.
