‘Vampire’ child found buried in Roman site (with a rock in its mouth)

Researchers unearthed something truly grisly in a site known as the Cemetery of the Babies’ – a child buried with a rock inside its mouth.

The researchers believe it may have been put there as part of a ritual to stop the 10-year-old rising from the grave.

David Soren of the University of Arizona said, ‘Locally, they’re calling it the ‘Vampire of Lugnano. I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s extremely eerie and weird.’

Soren found the ‘vampire burial’ in the commune of Lugnano in Teverina – and the researchers believe the stone was placed there as part of a funeral ritual to contain disease, and to prevent the child rising from the grave.

It was found at La Necropoli dei Bambini, or the Cemetery of the Babies, which dates to the mid-fifth century when a deadly malaria outbreak swept the area.

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Excavation director David Pickel, said the discovery has the potential to tell researchers much more about the devastating malaria epidemic that hit Umbria nearly 1,500 years ago – and how locals ‘used witchcraft’ in response.

Archaeologists previously found infant and toddler bones alongside raven talons, toad bones, bronze cauldrons filled with ash and the remains of puppies that appear to have been sacrificed — all objects commonly associated with witchcraft and magic.

The body of a 3-year-old girl had stones weighing down her hands and feet — a practice used by different cultures throughout history to keep the deceased in their graves.

Soren says, ‘We know that the Romans were very much concerned with this and would even go to the extent of employing witchcraft to keep the evil – whatever is contaminating the body – from coming out.’

Although the 10-year-old’s remains have not yet undergone DNA testing, the child had an abscessed tooth – a side effect of malaria, Wilson said.