Was the Brick in the Venetian Woman's Mouth to Stop a Vampire?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the interpretation of a 16th-century burial practice in Venice, where a brick was found in the mouth of a female plague victim. Participants explore whether this was an attempt to prevent the deceased from becoming a vampire, specifically a nachzehrer, or if it was merely an accidental occurrence. The conversation touches on historical beliefs about vampires, particularly in relation to the plague and decomposition, as well as the implications of garlic as a vampire deterrent.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested
  • Exploratory
  • Historical

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants suggest that the brick in the mouth was a deliberate act to prevent the woman from becoming a nachzehrer, a type of vampire in German folklore.
  • Others argue that the brick could have accidentally fallen into the skull, questioning the validity of the exorcism interpretation.
  • One participant highlights the historical context of vampire superstitions during the plague, noting misconceptions about decomposition that may have fueled such beliefs.
  • Another participant presents a study suggesting that garlic, traditionally thought to repel vampires, might actually attract them, challenging common folklore.
  • Additional findings from Bulgaria are mentioned, where skeletons were found with iron rods to prevent them from becoming vampires, indicating similar practices in different cultures.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express a range of views, with no consensus reached on whether the brick was a purposeful act against vampirism or an accident. The discussion remains unresolved, with competing interpretations of the evidence and folklore.

Contextual Notes

The discussion includes references to various cultural beliefs about vampires and the practices associated with preventing them, highlighting the complexity and variability of these traditions across different regions.

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What may have been an exorcism of a vampire in Venice is now drawing bad blood among scientists arguing over whether gravediggers were attempting to defeat an undead monster.

The controversy begins with a mass grave of 16th-century plague victims on the Venetian island of Nuovo Lazzaretto. The remains of a woman there apparently had a brick shoved in her mouth, perhaps to exorcise the corpse in what may have been the first vampire burial known in archaeology, said forensic anthropologist Matteo Borrini of the University of Florence in Italy.

Vampire superstitions were common when plague devastated Europe, and much, if not all, of this folklore could be due to misconceptions about the natural stages of decomposition, Borrini said. The recently dead can often appear unnervingly alive. As the corpse's skin shrinks and pulls back, for example, hair and nails may appear to grow after death.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/05/30/vampire-plague-victim-venice_n_1556091.html

The suggestion is this brick in the mouth was an attempt to incapacitate a nachzehrer:

A Nachzehrer is a sort of German vampire. Nachzehrer translates "afterwards (nach) devourer (zehrer)". The Nachzehrer was prominent in the folklore of the northern regions of Germany, including Silesia and Bavaria, and also with the Kashubes of Northern Poland. Though officially a vampire, they are also similar to zombies, and in many ways different from either undead. The nachzehrer is not a blood-sucker, but rather consumes already dead bodies.
A nachzehrer is created most commonly after suicide, and sometimes from an accidental death. According to German lore, you don't become one from being bitten, or scratched. It is just something that happens. Nachzehrers are also related to sickness and disease. If a large group of people died of the plague, the first person to have died is believed to be a nachzehrer.
Typically a Nachzehrer devours its family members upon waking. Its also been said that they devour themselves, including their funeral shroud, and the more of themselves they eat, the more of their family they physically drain. It is not unlikely that the idea of the dead eating themselves might have risen from bodies in open graves who had been partly eaten by scavengers like rats.
Some Kashubes believed that the Nachzehrer would leave its grave, shapeshifting into the form of a pig, and pay a visit to their family members to feast on their blood. In addition, the Nachzehrer was able to ascend to a church belfry to ring the bells, bringing death to anyone who hears them. Another lesser known ability of the Nachzehrer is the power it had to bring death by causing its shadow to fall upon someone. Those hunting the Nachzehrer in the graveyard would listen for grunting sounds that it would make while it munched on its grave clothes.[1]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nachzehrer

From the news story:

However, now other researchers are openly deriding this claim. Where some might see an exorcism, these researchers see a brick accidentally falling into a skull's mouth.
 
Science news on Phys.org
Ridiculous! Everyone knows that there are no vampires in Italy due to the prevalence of garlic in the populace.
 
Danger said:
Ridiculous! Everyone knows that there are no vampires in Italy due to the prevalence of garlic in the populace.

Vampires are feared everywhere, but the Balkan region has been especially haunted. Garlic has been regarded as an effective prophylactic against vampires. We wanted to explore this alleged effect experimentally. Owing to the lack of vampires, we used leeches instead. In strictly standardized research surroundings, the leeches were to attach themselves to either a hand smeared with garlic or to a clean hand. The garlic-smeared hand was preferred in two out of three cases (95% confidence interval 50.4% to 80.4%). When they preferred the garlic the leeches used only 14.9 seconds to attach themselves, compared with 44.9 seconds when going to the non-garlic hand (p < 0.05). The traditional belief that garlic has prophylactic properties is probably wrong. The reverse may in fact be true. This study indicates that garlic possibly attracts vampires. Therefore to avoid a Balkan-like development in Norway, restrictions on the use of garlic should be considered.

http://io9.com/5890535/probably-the-only-medical-study-of-the-effects-of-garlic-on-vampires
 
How the hell do you keep coming up with stuff like that? :confused:
 
A brick accidentally falling into a skull's mouth?! That's more unbelievable than a death eater!
 
Danger said:
How the hell do you keep coming up with stuff like that? :confused:
I was just trying to find the first historical mention of garlic as an anti-vampire weapon and that study came up incidental to that.
 
I can't believe it: more vampire graves discovered. This time in Bulgaria:

Archaeologists in Bulgaria have unearthed two skeletons from the Middle Ages pierced through the chest with iron rods to keep them from turning into vampires, the head of the national history museum says.

According to pagan beliefs, people who were considered bad during their lifetimes might turn into vampires after death unless stabbed in the chest with an iron or wooden rod before being buried.

"These two skeletons stabbed with rods illustrate a practice which was common in some Bulgarian villages up until the first decade of the 20th century," national history museum chief Bozhidar Dimitrov said after the recent find in the Black Sea town of Sozopol.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10811122
 
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