Recently released on DVD and shown on the Smithsonian Channel, Vampire Princess provides an alternate background to one of Halloween's most celebrated citizens... Dracula!
The documentary begins with an archaeological dig in the Czech Republic in the town of Cesky Krumlov near Schwarzenberg Castle. A team of archaeologists discovers a grave containing the remains of 11 people. All but three of the individuals were buried in the traditional Christian east-west position. But the other three have been buried with their bodies in a north-south position. More than that, one was found decapitated with its head between its legs, a stone between its jaws, and all limbs were pinned down by heavy rocks. As if that wasn't enough, the body had also been staked through the heart and a rosary had been used to tie the hands together.
Rainer Koppl is a media studies professor at Vienna University who studies the origins of vampire myths. The burial with the head removed, stone between the jaws, and the limbs pinned down is a traditional handling of someone suspected of vampirism in the 18th century. A vampire scare during that time period led to many buried bodies being desecrated in such a way.
The discovery at Cesky Krumlov was the first archaeological evidence of the widespread vampire panic in the 18th century. Staking the heart of a suspected vampire, decapitating them, and then placing the skull between the legs with a stone between the jaws all ensured that the corpse wouldn't be able to chew or replace the head on the neck and rise from the grave. A rosary tied the hands and heavy stones weighed down the limbs as further preventative measures. All of these procedures were documented in Bram Stoker's 18th century novel Dracula.
Commoners weren't the only ones fascinated by vampires in this time period. Even scientists and officials bought into the myths. It wasn't until late in the 18th century that the age of reason caught up with and began explaining the vampirism traits, such as bloating in the grave, fresh blood leeching to the surface, and blubbering noises made by escaping gasses.
Bram Stoker originally wanted to start his novel with a vampire attack at the tomb of an Austrian princess. In the scene, Jonathan Harker approached a grave only to see the princess rise from the grave. A quote on the tomb leads to Bohemia and a poem about a woman, Lenore, grieving her husband who came back as a vampire.
Digging through the Schwarzenberg Castle archives, which stretch across six miles of shelves, Koppl discovers the records of Eleanore von Scharzenberg. Most of the documents haven't been examined, but they cover centuries worth of activities in the castle.
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