100 'Vampire' Graves Discovered in Bulgaria

From The Time Magazine

By Catherine Traywick

Archaeologists say the 700-year-old remains had stakes driven through their hearts.

Just when you thought vampires had become so 2008, a new discovery has renewed public mania over our favorite undead monster.

Archaeologists excavating a monastery near the city of Sozopol, Bulgaria, discovered the 700-year-old remains of two males who had been stabbed through the heart with iron rods—an indication that their 14th century contemporaries believed them to be vampires. More than 100 such “vampire” graves have been discovered in Bulgaria recently, all of them containing male aristocrats or clerics whose bodies had been repeatedly stabbed or nailed into their coffins after death.

Bozhidar Dimitrov, head of the Bulgarian National History Museum, told the Sofia News Agency 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.”

“The curious thing is that there are no women among them. They were not afraid of witches,” he added.

The findings have sparked intense interest among vampire-lovers in Europe, Asia and the United States and could transform Bulgaria into a “tourism gold mine,” according to CNN.

It’s good news for those lovers of the undead who were so disappointed by the CDC’s recent announcement that zombies do not, in fact exist. Vampires, as it turns out, just might.

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