The remains of a “vampire” discovered among the corpses of 16th century plague victims in Venice. Gravediggers shoved a brick into her skull to prevent her from chewing through her shroud and infecting others with the plague [1080×1471]

In the middle of the plague in Venice, victims were being dumped into mass graves such as the one on Lazzaretto Nuovo very regularly, exposing bodies at every gruesome stage of decay and frightening gravediggers. During this phase, the decay of the gastrointestinal tract contents and lining create a dark fluid called ‘purge fluid’ that can flow freely from the nose and mouth and could easily be confused with the blood sucked by the vampire.

If the “vampire” woman was emitting blood from her mouth, the fluid likely moistened her burial shroud causing it to sink into her jaw cavity and be dissolved by the fluids, making it appear as though she was trying to bite through her shroud. When discovered in that state, a brick was jammed into her mouth as a kind of exorcism to prevent her from potentially spreading the disease further, researchers think. [Info source](https://www.livescience.com/3374-medieval-vampire-skull.html) [Facial Reconstruction Source](https://archaeologymag.com/2024/03/scientists-reconstruct-face-of-16th-century-vampire-woman/)