Face of Polish 'Vampire' Recreated 400 Years After She Was Padlocked in Grave

Mar. 15, 2025

Sculptor Oscar Nilsson’s unfinished recreation; skeleton of woman who was padlocked in her grave in fear she was a “vampire”.Photo:PBS (2)

PBS (2)

Scientists have reconstructed the face of a woman who was padlocked in her grave in fear she was a “vampire.”

At the time, she was found at the gravesite with a sickle around her neck and a padlock on her foot, leading experts to believe that those around her feared she was a “vampire” at the time of her death.

Now, Swedish archaeologist Oscar Nilsson, along with those from Nicolaus Copernicus University, used DNA, 3D printing and modeling clay torecreate Zosia’s face— showing what the woman who was believed to be between the ages of 18 and 20 would’ve looked like, per Reuters.

The unsettling “vampire” skeleton found in rural Pien, Poland.PBS

PBS

The practice of padlocking and using the sickle, according to aFacebook postfrom Nilsson who cited Polish folklore, was used when “dangerous people were thought to have two different souls, a good one and a bad one.” That meant, per the archaeologist, that the “good soul” could be contained with a “locked padlock,” while the “bad soul” could lead to a “striga,” or a vampire, arising.

Zosia’s grave (numbered with 75) was left with an unlocked padlock, meaning trouble for the woman who was “feared or detested in her short life,” Nilsson wrote. Basically, the villagers of Pień are believed to have blamed the deceased woman for “unexplainable bad things” that happened in their village, checked her grave where they found the padlock unlocked “and in great panic, placed the sharp blade of a sickle over her neck in case she would arise.”

Professor Dariusz Polinski of the Nicolaus Copernicus University team told CBS News that corpses at the time were also burned, had their head and legs cut off or were smashed with stones. At the time of Zosia’s discovery, he told the outlet that it was “astounding” to find her “centuries later.”

“It’s really ironic, in a way,” Nilsson told Reuters. “These people burying her, they did everything they could in order to prevent her from coming back from the dead… we have done everything we can in order to bring her back to life.”

The “vampire” skeleton.PBS

Magdalena Zagrodzka of the research team said, per CBS News, that Zosia was buried in a silk headdress woven with gold or silver thread, meaning she may have been from a high social status. Reuters also reports, citing the skull’s analysis, that Zosia may have had a health condition involving fainting and severe headaches, and may have also had mental health issues.

As the U.K. newspaperThe Timesreported, Dr. Heather Edgar in Albuquerque, New Mexico, examined Zosia’s bone scans and found an abnormality in the breast bone, which could have “marked this person [to others] in a negative way” and caused her pain as well.

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Sculptor Oscar Nilsson’s work in progress.PBS

“I’m used to reconstructing faces, but in this case, also, I’m looking forward to giving her some human dignity back,” he said.

The archeologist told Reuters that he wanted to bring the woman back “as a human, and not as this monster that she is buried” as.

“It’s emotional to watch a face coming back from the dead, especially when you know the story about this young girl,” he said.

source: people.com