Believed to be stuff of made up history stories, vampires have long been a fascination for some and for some, the reason for very bad nightmares. History channel defines a vampire as "evil mythological beings who roam the world at night searching for people whose blood they feed upon." 

Most people associate vampires with Count Dracula, the legendary, blood-sucking subject of Bram Stoker’s epic novel, Dracula, which was published in 1897. From music videos, tv series and films, vampires have always been a point of interest in certain creative circles, one of the reasons being, they are mythical creatures, created by the minds of those who came before us.  Well, this was the case, till we found this story.

According to huffpost, researchers have recently discovered a centuries-old “female vampire” held to the ground by a sickle and buried in a Polish village cemetery.  The remains of the so-called vampire were found by a team of Torun Nicholas Copernicus University researchers in Pien, roughly a half-hour drive from the city of Bydgoszcz. 

The skeleton reportedly dates to the 17th century and has a sickle around its neck, believed to be placed there to prevent her from coming back to life. There was also a padlock on a toe, the researchers said, also attributed to superstitions about how to keep the dead from rising from the grave.

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The woman was also buried with a silk cap, which archaeologists thought indicated her high ranking in society. A front tooth jutted out of the mouth, a feature that could have raised suspicions that she was a vampire. “Such a discovery, especially here in Poland, is astonishing, especially now — centuries later. Pure astonishment,” said professor Dariusz Polinski, the leader of the research team, told CBS News. 

In this context, these practices can be considered so-called anti-vampiric." The farming tool was placed with the blade on the neck. It was believed that such an arrangement would cause the head to be cut if the deceased tried to "get up."

This type of practice became common throughout Poland in the 17th century, as a response to a reported vampire epidemic. Polanski explained that in addition to practices with a sickle, sometimes corpses were burned, smashed with stones or had their heads and legs cut off.