The dangerous dead: Exploring the cross-cultural continuity of deviant burials

Vampires and zombies are not just the fictional creation of 19th-century novelists, nor modern film directors and creators of computer games – John Blair’s new book, Killing the Dead, shows that there is a long history of belief in the ability of the dead to leave their graves and cause harm to the living. Making sure this cannot happen results in extraordinary burial practices, as Chris Catling reports.

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Current Archaeology

October 1, 2025

On 1 March 1755, the Empress Maria Theresia (1717-1780), ruler of the vast Austro-Hungarian Empire, issued a decree in which she said: ‘we have observed with displeasure… what recently happened in our margravate of Moravia: …various corpses were exhumed from a cemetery by clergy under pretext that they were afflicted with the so-called “posthumous magic”, and one of them was burned, even though investigation of the case revealed nothing unnatural. Since this often involves superstition and fraud, and we will in no way allow such sinful abuses in our territories, they will henceforth be subject to the most severe penalties.’ For the Empress to concern herself in this way sugges

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