(Image Credit: Lydia Smith)

A 500 year old ‘vampire’ grave has been unearthed by archaeologists in a Polish marketplace.

The body dates back to the 16th century and was found in the West Pomeranian Province. The dig team found some unusual features though, which indicated that the burial was vampiric.

The ‘Fangs’ had been removed from the mans mouth, and a piece of rock had been inserted into the mouth of the corpse. In addition to this, a stake had been driven through the corpses leg to prevent the ‘vampire’ from raising from the dead.

Slawomir Gorka, who led the dig, said: “A piece of brick rubble in the mouth and pierced thigh indicates that it is a vampire burial. This was done not for him, but for the community, who lived here.”

Gorka stated that these kind of vampiric burials were common in the Kamien Pomorski area between the 13th and 17th centuries.

“We have to understand that the cemetery existed from the thirteenth to the eighteenth century, but not in every period. The body was buried when the cemetery no longer existed, towards the side of what is now the cemetery,” he said. “Initially we thought he had suffered a leg wound, but from sifting through the earth underneath, we realised there was a hole likely made from a puncture.”

Read the full article here at Yahoo! News.