Poland's Deviant Burials and Folkloric Vampires

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Introduction
The presence of and discovery of deviant burial sites across various parts of the world has triggered questions about the logic behind the practices. This study gives a compressive and critical review of Poland's deviant burials and folkloric vampires. It also highlights the perspective of other similar studies.
Betsinger, T. K., & Scott, A. B. (2014). Governing from the grave: Vampire burials and social order in post-medieval Poland. Cambridge Archaeological Journal, 24(3), 467-476.
Betsinger and Scott (2014) explored the dead's social agency by assessing how funerary practices and mortuary treatments influenced the lives of still-living friends, family, and community members. They sought to understand the roles played by the deceased in the community and how their 'non-normative' or 'deviant' burial practices were interpreted by society. This study was made possible by assessing the post-medieval vampire burial sites in Drawsko 1, Poland. The burial sites were identified via grave goods. They provided an opportunity for the authors to comprehend how the deceased vampires and vampire folklore influenced the communities by encouraging social order and explaining the presence of unknowns (such as illnesses and pandemics).
Burial sites and funerary practices are significant aspects that reflect the culture of a society. The non-normative or deviant burials represent an unusual or bizarre practice different from the culturally or traditionally accepted ones. The article explains that burial sites can differ depending on age, sex, or the social roles of the deceased. They also vary based on the dead's life or death circumstances. Some circumstances that result in deviant burials include suicide, massacre, judicial execution, homicide, superstition, battles, sacrifices, and plagues. Therefore, non-normative burials are determined by two factors: the manner of death and how mortuary treatments translate those deaths. Since the initial excavation of the Drawsko 1 cemetery in 1929, several artifacts have been discovered and preserved.
The authors chose the post-medieval period of Poland as the reference point for assessing the various translations of the mortuary treatment and burial practices. During this time, Poland encountered a series of transformations both in political and religious arenas. For instance, regarding the former, Poland and Lithuania had merged and formed a commonwealth in 1596 AD. However, the merger encountered foreign and civil wars, epidemics, and broad devastations that had a catastrophic effect on the country. Religious changes were reflected in the Catholic reforms, where the clergy sought to improve the church's practices through discipline and better education. For instance, priests had to know each member of their parish and passage rites. Funerals and baptism took on a greater religious emphasis.
During this time, pagan beliefs about the undead and burial practices were incorporated into Christian practices as long as the latter was maintained. This integration played a vital role in interpreting the burial traditions surrounding the reanimation of the dead and the fear of vampirism. This a...