The Secret History of Vampires: Their Multiple Forms and Hidden Purposes by Claude Lecouteux

Author:Claude Lecouteux [Lecouteux, Claude]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Inner Traditions Bear & Company
Published: 2010-02-01T00:00:00+00:00

Finally, the dead had to be removed from his house feet first so that he could not cast a final look at his home and thereby have the desire to return.

The most ancient method of prevention for which there is evidence—it is encountered even as early as the Neolithic era—is the burial of the body flat on its stomach, its mouth turned toward the ground.13 This particular form of inhumation is well known to archaeologists, and evidence for it can be found throughout Europe. It has been discovered in Germany and Hungary as well as in Normandy, Lorraine, and the Languedoc. Placing the body with its mouth facing the ground was the means for diverting malefic energy: instead of escaping from the tomb, it would bury itself in the earth. Furthermore, if the dead person was a chewer, the first thing he would devour would be the dirt, and people would be safe. On certain occasions it served as a kind of posthumous expiation, as in the case of Pepin the Short who, according to the Chronicle of Saint Denis, was buried this way in order to redeem the sins of his own father, Charles Martel.14 It was applied to all malefactors and criminals—it was a form of exile from the community—and to suicides who had transgressed against God by killing themselves. We should recall that usually the dead are buried on the back—called dorsal decubitus in the Middle Ages—with the head pointed toward the west. Suicides, considered self-murderers, received a sepultura asini, a dishonorable burial. This postmortem punishment was also intended to prevent the dead from becoming a member of the community of the dead: the criminal or evil man was treated beyond the grave just as he was treated in the land of the living—he met the same ostracism. We should note, however, that burial flat on the belly cannot necessarily always be interpreted this way, because it was also used by the Dominicans of Guebwiller.15 It could be a mark of humility and could depict the dead person in prayer. It is in fact known that some monks followed the custom of praying in church while lying flat on their bellies.

If the deceased was a hanged man, a potentially wicked dead man, the rope and the beam it was strung on were placed in his grave. If this was not done, the dead man would return every evening, rapping on windows and shouting, “Give me the wood!” No one would get any peace until this was done. In order to prevent dead people from becoming revenants (strigoï), cloves of garlic were placed in their coffin and in their mouth, nose, and ears. When the deceased was a marginal individual, he had to be carried far from the village and buried successively at three crossroads. If this did not work, the corpse was burned or even banished, as was the case with an inhabitant of Riegersdorf around 1900. In Romania, if the dead individual was suspected of being a werewolf (varkolac), a thorn-covered branch was placed in his shroud.

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