‘Vampire’ returns from the dead: Scientists in Poland rebuild the face of 400-year-old woman

The face of a suspected ‘vampire’, who was buried with restraints to prevent her returning from the dead, has been reconstructed by scientists.

Using DNA, 3D printing and modelling clay, the team of scientists recreated what they think the 400-year-old woman’s face looked like.

Zosia, as she was named by locals, was found in 2022 by a team of archaeologists from Nicolaus Copernicus University in Poland.

She was entombed in an unmarked cemetery in Pien, northern Poland – secured in place with an iron sickle across her neck and padlocked by the foot.

The sickle and padlock, as well as certain types of wood found at the grave site, were believed at the time to hold magical properties protecting against vampires, according to experts.

Analysis of Zosia’s remains suggests she was aged 18 to 20 when she died and suffered from a health condition which would have caused fainting, severe headaches, and possible mental health issues.

Experts began the reconstruction by creating a 3D-printed replica of the skull, before gradually building layers of plasticine clay to form a life-like face.

The bone structure was combined with information on gender, age, ethnicity and approximate weight to estimate the depth of facial features.

“It’s really ironic, in a way,” said archaeologist Oscar Nilsson. “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.”

Among the other bodies found at the site in Pien, outside the northern city of Bydgoszcz, was a so-called “vampire” child, buried face down and also padlocked at the foot.

Little is known of Zosia’s life, but Mr Nilsson and the Pien team say she may have been from a wealthy, possibly noble, family.

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She lived during the 17th-century, when Europe was ravaged by war and belief in supernatural monsters was commonplace.

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

He says he wanted to bring Zosia back “as a human, and not as this monster that she is buried as”.