owadays, vampires are a mainstay of TV, film and literature, but in medieval Europe they were a terrifyingly real prospect and omens of death and doom.
Taking the archaeological discovery of mutilated medieval skeletons buried in the west of Ireland as a starting point, Vampire Skeletons Mystery traces the rise of the vampire from medieval folk terror to 21st-century fantasy. The fear of the undead seems rooted deep in the human psyche. But could a number of skeletons found buried in a quiet field really signal that vampires were once on the loose in Ireland? Using medieval texts alongside cutting-edge forensic science, a team of experts from British and Irish universities explains how these ancient burials fit into a belief system that spanned medieval Europe and still survives in remote rural communities to this day.
