00:00A girl, once and beautiful, ended up in a grave with a huge sickle across her neck.
00:06There were no signs of violence, no indications of any actual crime, yet someone was clearly
00:12terrified when they forced her into that grave.
00:15So scared that they even placed a padlock on the big toe of her left foot.
00:21They wanted her to stay in the tomb once and for all, fearing she might rise and take revenge
00:25on them.
00:27So a whole community turned against a young lady who wasn't even over 20 years old, deeming
00:32her to be of ultimate danger.
00:35Do you see what I'm driving at?
00:37Let's test your historical knowledge.
00:40Who has been feared throughout human history to such an extent that commoners couldn't
00:44shake off that lingering sense of dread, even after their passing?
00:49If you say witches, warlocks, and vampires, you'd be completely correct.
00:54Just a little hint here.
00:55If you can't overpower someone physically, you can do it supernaturally.
00:59Well, that's at least what people used to think back in the 17th century.
01:05Not only was there a sickle and a padlock, but there were also signs of an attempt to
01:09twist the girl's corpse in the grave and turn it face down.
01:14This attempt had failed, leaving her spine buckled and twisted.
01:18By the way, the padlock wasn't necessarily meant to lock a vampire.
01:22It was more likely a talisman against evil spirits.
01:27That's a peculiar and, let's face it, very cruel way to bury someone.
01:31Yet it was a common practice for creating anti-vampire burial sites.
01:37The methods for preventing vampires from rising were quite elaborate.
01:41First off, let me introduce a term.
01:44Anti-vampire graves, known as revenant graves, date back thousands of years and have been
01:48found in various locations across Europe.
01:52Europe, you heard that right.
01:56Now before you say, hey, vampires are a Romanian thing, Dracula, duh, let me convince you otherwise.
02:03They are a part of all European folklore, meaning you can find references to them throughout
02:08Europe.
02:09With new settlements in America, vampire lore spread there too, eventually turning into
02:14the Twilight Saga.
02:17These anti-vampire burials are characterized by evidence of precautions taken to prevent
02:22those who bit the dust from rising.
02:25Such measures could include placing large stones on the deceased's legs or even piercing
02:29the body with a lens to fix it to the ground.
02:33To be completely safe, they could also consider removing the head from the torso.
02:38So burying the body face down, cutting off the head, and pressing the body with a stone
02:43were the methods used to keep someone believed to be a demonic being from leaving the grave.
02:50Let's return to the poor lady, or rather, the girl.
02:53A couple of archaeologists, Dariusz Polinski and his partner, Magda Dorodzka, who happened
02:59to be partners in both crime and life, stumbled upon her grave.
03:03Strangely, all of her 206 bones remained untouched, yet no gravestone, no name, nothing.
03:11Just a lonely grave on a hill in northern Poland.
03:14Polinski, a professor of archaeology, and Dorodzka began piecing together the story
03:20of the woman they eventually named Zosia.
03:23Carbon dating suggested she had been about 18 years old and had passed away about 350
03:29years ago during a chaotic time in Poland's history.
03:32There is little documentation about this graveyard which seemed to serve as a resting place for
03:37individuals marginalized by the community.
03:40Was Zosia a poor girl who had been marginalized because life forced her into the worst situation
03:46a lady could face?
03:48Not really.
03:49As the archaeologists delved deeper, they stumbled upon some hints that indicated she
03:53might have hailed from a rich family.
03:56Her burial featured a stylish bonnet, and the delicate silk along with shiny silver
04:00and gold threads found with it suggested that it was part of an elegant headdress.
04:06This all pointed to the idea that she had some serious status or wealth.
04:11But the way she was buried indicated her outsider status in the village of Pien.
04:16Perhaps her presence there was unwanted, hence the idea of her being a vampire backed up
04:21by the manner in which she was forced into the grave and held there.
04:26By analyzing the structure of her skull and extricating DNA from her skeleton, scientists
04:31created a reconstruction of what her face might have looked like.
04:35The specialists meticulously reshaped Zosia's likeness using modeling clay on a 3D-printed
04:41model of her skull, which proved to be a deeply moving experience.
04:46They remarked that while they often worked on face reconstructions, in this case, they
04:50also sought to restore her dignity.
04:53Utilizing these three methods, the team reconstructed Zosia's 400-year-old face, revealing the
05:00human story buried beneath supernatural beliefs.
05:03It's ironic, isn't it?
05:05At first, people tried their hardest to make the world forget her face and prevent her
05:09from ever coming back.
05:11Four hundred years later, people did everything they could to bring her back to life.
05:16Her picture now is all over the internet, yet we will never see the faces of those who
05:21buried her.
05:22Alas, this reconstruction project only allows viewers to visually connect with Zosia, but
05:28her true story remains a mystery.
05:31But what we know for sure is that people who were deemed vampires were badly discriminated
05:37against, to say the least.
05:39Rumor had it that hungry vampires would even steal people to quench their thirst.
05:44Let's use math to prove this rumor wrong and prove that Zosia wasn't one of them.
05:50Back in the year 1600, there were only 537 million people worldwide.
05:54Yeah, this data may not be very accurate, but it's pretty close to reality.
05:59A physicist, Costas Eftimiu, calculated that if a vampire had been drinking one person's
06:04blood each month, humanity would have faced extinction within a few years.
06:10Starting with one vampire and a population of 537 million in 1600, this math shows we'd
06:16have no humans left by July 1602.
06:21But here we are now.
06:22Well, while placing a stone on a corpse to make sure the vampire doesn't rise may be
06:28something new to you, there are also a bunch of stereotypical things associated with these
06:33creatures that you definitely know, such as garlic and mirrors.
06:39Funnily enough, even though it's all based on a bunch of superstitions, there's pretty
06:43good logic behind the garlic thing.
06:46You see, it contains a special compound called allicin, which is a powerful antibiotic.
06:52While people back then couldn't know what an antibiotic was, they noticed garlic was
06:56pretty effective against various conditions.
06:59Since they believed vampires were created by a particular blood condition, they also
07:04believed garlic could defeat a vampire.
07:07And there's more.
07:08There is actually a blood condition called porphyria, which makes people look like real
07:14vampires.
07:15Their skin is pale and their teeth get bigger as their gums shrink.
07:19And guess what, people who have porphyria cannot consume garlic, as it worsens their
07:24condition.
07:26Wow, that's a cool coincidence!
07:29The next superstition is a bit fresher and it's about vampires avoiding mirrors.
07:34The first known reference to the mirrors comes from the book Dracula in 1897.
07:39But why wouldn't a vampire show a reflection?
07:42Simple.
07:43Before the plastic era we live in, mirrors were traditionally backed with silver.
07:49Silver was commonly believed to repel evil spirits, possibly because it has antimicrobial
07:54properties.
07:55Much like garlic, its healing properties may be what was supposed to scare off a vampire.
08:01Another reason why suspected vampires may have avoided mirrors is the changes to their
08:05appearance from conditions commonly confused with vampirism, like porphyria and rabies.
08:12People afflicted with these conditions may have avoided looking in mirrors for that reason,
08:16causing others to assume that vampires avoided mirrors.
08:21But if you ever met a vampire and these methods don't repel it, I have one more trick for
08:26you.
08:27Ask the potential vampire to count.
08:28It can be spilled grains, seeds, or even the holes in the fishing net if you happen to
08:32have one.
08:34Vampires are into math, so they'll stop to count, delaying them until sunrise.
08:39And we all know that vampires don't do well in sunlight.
08:43Ironically, it's Count von Count, a vampire, who teaches us how to count on Sesame Street!
08:52That's it for today!
08:53Hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your
08:57friends.
08:58Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the Bright Side!
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