'Rebirth of the vampire': The mystery of the brick-mouthed remains of the 16th century

A 16th century "vampire" buried with a stone brick in his mouth has been reconstructed thanks to the research of a facial reconstruction expert.

Located in a mass grave for plague patients , the woman who passed away long ago is suspected of spreading the disease through bloodsucking, so it is necessary to prevent her crime, IFL Science reported on March 22. The woman's remains were first discovered in 2006 during excavations at the cemetery on the island of Lazzaretto Nuovo in the Venice lagoon. Once a resting place for plague patients, the island became the final resting place for the large number of people who died during the 1576 outbreak.

Portrait of a woman suspected of being a vampire in a mass grave in Italy. (Photo: Cicero Moraes).

This period in European history saw a spike in vampire hunting as villagers began to look for those responsible for the epidemic that spread across the continent. The vampire theory spread because Italian grave diggers frequently came into contact with decomposing bodies when reopening mass graves to place more dead.

Decomposing bodies are often swollen with bodily fluids leaking from the nose and mouth, leading to speculation that they sucked blood from the person buried in the same grave. In some cases, the shroud covering the face of the dead decomposes, leading many to believe that vampires absorb their power by eating this fabric.

After analyzing the female body in 2010, researchers concluded that the buryer intentionally placed the brick in the woman's mouth because the grave digger thought she "ate" the shroud on her face. Therefore, placing hard bricks and stones could prevent the woman from spreading the disease by biting other victims.

Closer analysis of the skeleton showed that the woman was in her 60s when she died and mainly ate crops and grains, a diet that revealed her to be of a low social class. Although the information did not help to better understand why this individual was considered a vampire, subsequent research helped disprove the theory that the brick happened to be in the corpse's mouth.

To reconstruct the woman's face, 3D designer and forensic expert Cícero Moraes first sketched images of the front and back of the skull, as well as the dental arches, using measurements and projections of the skull. The digital model was then augmented with flesh by adjusting a tomogram of a modern human face to match the ancient skull.

Although the woman's face was reconstructed by archaeologists who analyzed her remains in 2009, the authors of that study said they did not share the data with Moraes. Therefore, the new face is based on photos of the skeleton available online and may be less accurate than the first photo.

Moraes created a replica of the brick using Styrofoam and conducted a series of experiments to determine whether the object was placed in the woman's mouth after death. The results showed that the brick remained in the oral cavity without causing damage to teeth or soft tissue. Moraes and colleagues published their research results in the journal OrtogOnline.