More 'Vampires' Found in Poland

The four suspected vampires unearthed by archaeologists in Poland may have been in good company. Der Spiegel reports that the number of skeletons found buried with their head placed between their legs (so arranged to ensure that a possible bloodsucker couldn't find his head and come back to life) has risen to 17. And in a TV interview, a local archaeologist said stones were found atop the skulls, further stymieing the dead's return to the land of the living.

But der Spiegel points out that the dead could have suffered a different fate—yet an equally grisly one. The remains were found near the former location of a gallows, and a total of 43 graves have been discovered in the area. The skeletons will be tested in an attempt to determine cause of death, and historians plan to scour church files on 15th- and 16th-century executions in a search for clues. (More vampires stories.)