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Top image: Three stages in the excavation of Grave 75 at Pień, showing the disturbed grave and sickle across the woman’s neck. Source: Poliński et al., 2026 , CC BY 4.0 .

A sickle and a padlock in a young woman's grave

Pień, north-central Poland. the 17th century. Last 1,000 years. Monsters and heroes. Debated. Free

The page does not show that she was a vampire.

Debated. The sickle and the lock are real, but the page says the vampire label is only a modern tag.

At Pień, in north-central Poland, a young woman was buried in the 17th century. She was about 17 to 19 years old. A sickle lay at her neck, and a padlock was fixed to her left big toe. Silk by her head had silver and gold thread, so the page says her family was likely wealthy. Tests suggest she may have grown up nearby, and that she ate little meat.

The page says no one knows why people feared her, or how she died.

https://www.ancient-origins.net/news-history-archaeology/polish-vampire-burial-study-00103127