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Examples of "vampire" burials found by archeologists.Amy Scott/Insider; REUTERS/Handout/Insider
A series of archeological digs have uncovered the remains of people who may have been thought of as "vampires" during their lifetime.
These pictures show the burials, and archeologists and forensic experts told Insider what they might mean.
Originally, it was more likely that you'd be suspected of being a revenant after death if something sinister happened to you.
"People who are believed to be vampires kind of fall in two categories," said Wilson.
"There are people who in life either held some sort of marginalized social status or were believed to maybe practice witchcraft or be sorcerers, or it could be people who suffered what is known basically as 'bad death'."
"Bad deaths" could refer to any death out of the ordinary, such as death from suicide, murder, or drowning.
"Lots of unusual burials of people who just die suddenly, like people who get struck by lightning, are often given unusual burial," said Wilson.
Being the seventh child of a parent who was also the seventh child was also a risk factor, Borrini said.
Unusual burials were sometimes given to people who looked different from others. But Wilson says this doesn't necessarily mean they were seen as vampires.
"It's quite common to see people with less common physical features in burials, but that's not always done with disrespect. Sometimes these people were just believed to be very powerful. So they merit a kind of specialized mortuary treatment after death," she said.
Experts debate what makes a "vampire" burial.
In Eastern Europe, the first documented account of a vampire dates all the way back to the 11th century. But because they are few other contemporary documents, it's difficult to know when and how the beliefs started spreading. It's only in the 17th century that scholars started really studying and documenting these myths, said Borrini.
For Borrini, vampire burials may have to include beheading or staking, burning of the bodies, or obstruction of the mouth, he said.
Another way to define a "vampire" is as a recipient of a so-called deviant burial, Wilson said.
This word means that the person was buried in a way that is different from other burials at the time, for instance, buried face down or beheaded.
"The Western idea of the vampire comes from Slavic folklore. But the idea of the dead that can either rise from the grave in a literal sense or the dead, that in a spiritual sense, can continue to plague the living beyond death is something that's essentially present in almost every culture and has very, very ancient origins," she said.
By this standard, "vampire" burials can be found all the way back to the stone age, she said.
While the myths originated centuries ago, the fear of the undead goes on.
Borrini says he still receives calls from people who are worried about being vampires today.
"Over the decades, I have received calls from different people asking me: 'I know that you studied the vampires. I'm thinking that I am one of those,' 'Oh, I think that my boyfriend is one of those,'" he said.
For Wilson, there's a lot to be learned about the culture through these beliefs.
"As an archaeologist, it's important to remember that the people in the past are very much like us today. The fears and anxieties that people had still exist. We just talk about them and express them in different ways.
"Our monsters never really go away. They just change shape," she said.
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