During The Victorian Era, People Performed So-Called Vampire Autopsies To Cope With Fears Of Tuberculosis

These instances of vampire discoveries usually lined up with tuberculosis outbreaks, particularly in New England during the nineteenth century. Then, folklore of vampirism spread, and the latest known vampire autopsy was conducted in Pennsylvania in 1949.

And honestly, it made sense that those seeking to identify the recently departed (and buried) as vampires ultimately found what they were looking for. Sometimes, exhumed bodies had fingernails, hair, and teeth that seemingly grew longer in spite of death.

Other times, dirt above grave sites appeared to be disturbed; bodies supposedly moved in their coffins, and– like Mercy’s case– blood still lay in the heart. Vampire hunters also cited bloody lips and gained weight as signs of the supernatural.

But now, it is well known that these post-mortem bodily changes are a normal part of the decomposition process. After death, the skin will shrink, which forces features such as nails and teeth to appear longer. Blood also separates, and the decaying process begins, which produces gasses that appear to bloat– or make a body “gain weight.”

Still, according to scientist Paul Barber who penned a 1987 study entitled “Forensic Pathology and the European Vampire,” these facts were simply irrelevant at the time.

“This understanding has not reached most of us yet. We do not choose to spend a great deal of time thinking about how our bodies will decay after death,” Barber said.

So, if anything, these vampire autopsies only underscore how during times of fear or uncertainty, many people often flock to folklore when they do not understand or want to accept gloomier explanations rooted in science.

In more recent times, this same phenomenon can be observed with the COVID-19 pandemic. But, instead of folkloric-inspired vampire autopsies, our digital age allowed for misinformation and conspiracy theories to run rampant.

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