12 Sep 2011 Hradecky vampire

Kulhal and came to the Nisa valley from Greece. Ten years ago, scientists put a face to a man called the Hradec Vampire. He was a criminal who lived in Hradec nad Nisou seven hundred years ago.

His remains were found by archaeologists in March 2010 in Kostelní Street, just twenty centimetres below the surface. The skeleton was holding five Prague groschen of John of Luxembourg. He was lying on his stomach with his face towards the ground.

By this unritual burial, the deceased was excluded from the possibility of participating in the Last Judgment, thus preventing his resurrection in Christ's eternal realm. Moreover, the person in question was buried behind a cemetery wall. In this way, the unbaptized, Jews, Protestants, delinquents, suicides, the unbaptized or stillborn children, executioners, the mentally or physically handicapped, and people accused of witchcraft and vampirism.

Moreover, archaeologists originally thought they had found a female skeleton. Then they realized it was a man. They named him Tobias, and he became known as the "Vampire of Hradec." And why is he considered a vampire? It's because he was 170 centimetres tall and lived to be over forty years old, which was above average in the thirteenth century.

"We claim it to be the best researched skeleton in the country. As many as fifteen specialists, each of whom is a top in his field, participated in the research," said archaeologist Petr Brestovanský at the time.

For example, the experts examined the entire genetic chain of the vampire and found out the origin of its ancestors along the paternal and maternal line. The man came to Hrádek from present-day northern Greece or Albania.

Later, scientists even gave the vampire a face. Anthropologists, geneticists, archaeologists and doctors worked on the project.

For example, scientists found that the man landed on one leg. They found arthritic changes in the right joint socket. "There are no other changes to the skeleton that would indicate a violent death. Theoretically, he could have been drowned, but we won't be able to find out," Brestovansky noted. The man died between the ages of 45 and 55.

Sources: www.czech-press.cz, www.idnes.cz