Actors perform during the presentation of the musical "Le Bal des Vampires" (Dance of the Vampires) directed by Polish-French film director Roman Polanski at the Mogador theater in Paris March 17, 2014.
Actors perform during the presentation of the musical "Le Bal des Vampires" (Dance of the Vampires) directed by Polish-French film director Roman Polanski at the Mogador theater in Paris March 17, 2014. REUTERS/Jacky Naegelen (FRANCE - Tags: ENTERTAINMENT)
Actors perform during the presentation of the musical "Le Bal des Vampires" (Dance of the Vampires) directed by Polish-French film director Roman Polanski at the Mogador theater in Paris March 17, 2014. REUTERS/Jacky Naegelen (FRANCE - Tags: ENTERTAINMENT)

In what seems to be a confirmation of vampires, an archeologist claimed he had discovered a grave for the legendary fanged creature that had a skeleton with a stake driven on its chest, believed to be the way to kill a vampire or prevent the creature from further causing havoc.

Professor Nikolai Ovcharove, the archeologist who had spent most of his life discovering the mysteries of ancient civilization, found the skeleton while he was excavating ruins in Perperikon, located near Bulgaria's border with Greece, which is an ancient Thracian city.

"We have no doubts that once again we're seeing an anti-vampire ritual being carried out ... Often they were applied to people who had died in unusual circumstances - such as suicide," The Telegraph quoted Ovcharove. The professor explained that the metal was meant to prevent a bad person from rising from his grave and terrorising the communities.

The skeleton appears to be a male aged between 40 and 50 who had a heavy ploughshare hammered on its chest. Another way to prevent the "vampire" from leaving was by cutting his left leg below the knee, which was placed beside the main skeletal figure.

The professor said the stake weighs about two pounds, driven into a broken shoulder bone which popped out.

In 2012 and 2014, similar graves were discovered in Sozopol, a seaside town in Bulgaria, earning the two skeletons the name "twin vampires of Sozopol."

The bulk of the impalings had taken place in the 13th and 14th centuries, an expression of the popular belief in Eastern Europe that blood-sucking creatures roamed, and the only way to stop them from further causing harm was to drive stakes into their corpses.

Outside Bulgaria, vampire graves had also been discovered in Gliwice, Poland, where the heads were removed from their bodies and placed between their legs.

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