The remains of a female "vampire" have been discovered by archaeologists at a 17th-century graveyard in Pień, Poland, according to the Daily Mail.

A team of researchers from Nicolaus Copernicus University, led by professor Dariusz Poliński, found the skeletal remains of the woman — who had been pinned to the ground with a sickle across her throat — during a recent dig.

According to the Daily Mail, sickles were commonly used by "superstitious" Poles during the 1600s, as a means of restraining a dead person believed to be a vampire, and also precluding the corpses from returning from the dead.

"The sickle was not laid flat but placed on the neck in such a way that if the deceased had tried to get up ... the head would have been cut off or injured," Poliński told the Daily Mail.

Also, Poliński revealed the dead woman, or female "vampire," had a padlock wrapped around her toe — perhaps strengthening the argument she was considered a vampire at the time of her death.

Poliński says that Polish people during the 1600s believed the lock was necessary for bolstering "the impossibility of returning," among newly deceased bodies. 

Perhaps the oddest finding of the dig: According to the New York Post, researchers believe the female "vampire" was a young person, perhaps high school age, since she had a silk cap on her skull.

In the Daily Mail report, Poliński asserts there's no scholarly consensus on when deceased people came to be classified as "vampires," but they were often "violently executed" in many corners of the world; and their corpses were further mutilated to make sure they wouldn't posthumously wreak havoc on local villagers.

"Other ways to protect against the return of the dead include cutting off the head or legs, placing the deceased face down to bite into the ground, burning them and smashing them with a stone," reasons Poliński.

The discovery of the female vampire in Pień — located in south Poland — comes seven years after the remains of five other presumed vampires were unearthed in the town of Drawsko, 130 miles away.

According to reports, the "Vampires of Drawsko" had been similarly buried with sickles across their throats.

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