Bulgarian archaeologists have discovered the remains of two men buried with iron rods in their chests apparently to keep them from coming back to life as vampires.
It's believed the men, who were buried over 800 years ago, had been stabbed in the chest and stomach after they died.
“These two skeletons stabbed with rods illustrate a practice which was common in some Bulgarian villages up until the first decade of the 20th century,” says national history museum chief Bozhidar Dimitrov.
The rod also served to pin the corpses to the ground, so in the unlikely event they did turn into vampires, they wouldn’t be able to get up.
The queasy ceremony was only ever performed on "bad" people – good people, it was believed, stayed dead.
3 News