Explorer: Vampire Forensics

Excellent news for us vampire fans and history buffs – the National Geographic Channel is taking a deeper look into vampires in their upcoming program, Explorer: Vampire Forensics, which airs Tuesday, February 23 at 10PM ET/PT.

“Did vampires roam the earth in the time of Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci? Historical records indicate that people thought so and even describe how to safely bury them. Now, more than 400 years later, a 16th-century mass grave is unearthed near Venice that includes a skeleton with a brick apparently inserted between the jaws of the skull. This appears to be evidence of a macabre ritual designed to “kill” a vampire and sparks a highly unusual forensic investigation.”

The show follows forensic anthropologist Matteo Borrini as he digs deeper into the legend of “shroud eaters” in the 16th century Venice. Dr. Matteo Borrini worked as a CSI specialist and academic at the University of Florence but used his spare time to research the strange skull with the brick between its jaw. Deep in the University’s renaissance library, Borrini finds the answer. An ancient text describes a macabre ritual whereby a brick was placed in the mouth of the corpse to kill a vampire.

I wrote about this mysterious skull a while back, here. The skull was discovered about a year or so ago in Venice, it was believed to be the remains of a female “vampire.”  She was buried with a brick jammed between her jaws to prevent her from feeding on her grave shroud, or on others. You see, in the 16th century a plague had spread through the area and people at the time took all precautions to keep it from spreading even farther, hence the brick.

This is one of the things Explorer: Vampire Forensics will take a much deeper look into. I find the entire thing fascinating and can’t wait for them to dig deeper into the science of vampires, as well as the superstitions behind them. I will be catching the program for sure.

- Moonlight