The Medi-evil Yorkshire Dead

[Duncan Head]

"Medieval villagers mutilated the dead to stop them rising, study finds"

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/apr/03/medieval-villagers-mutilated-the-dead-to-stop-them-rising-study-finds

[Imperial Dave]

interesting although I wonder where they got the idea that they would rise from the dead...?

Yorkshire again I notice though....

[Duncan Head]

Yes; perhaps the risen dead were looking for their undead chariot-horses?

[Erpingham]

interesting although I wonder where they got the idea that they would rise from the dead...?

Norse ancestry?

[Tim]

Is that is anyway related to the Chariot Norses...?

[Imperial Dave]

interesting although I wonder where they got the idea that they would rise from the dead...?

Norse ancestry?

interesting....would fit the area

[Patrick Waterson]

The archaeologists think the bodies were dug up and 'treated' soon after burial, which indicates someone had seen, or thought he had seen, the deceased individuals concerned on walkabout.  A classical person would say they saw the shades, an esotericist the etheric doubles, of the individuals concerned - a 20th century individual might (with some hesitation) refer to ghosts.

The mediaeval Yorkshireman would shudder at ancestral tales of draugr and aftergangers, and here the course of action would vary.  A classical person would set up a shrine and make offerings to the shades of the dead, an esotericist would do his best to banish the leftover energy patterns, while a mediaeval community would either go to their priest and if this produced no result take action themselves or would bypass the priest entirely and meet in the dark of night with pick, torch, shovel and axe to put dead in proper place.

One can imagine the faces at the next church service when the priest got round to the topic of the resurrection of the dead.

[Andreas Johansson]

An anthropologist might characterize what they were thought or feared to be as vampires. Think less Bram Stoker or Anne Rice and more 18C vampire panics in Central Europe.

[Erpingham]

An anthropologist might characterize what they were thought or feared to be as vampires. Think less Bram Stoker or Anne Rice and more 18C vampire panics in Central Europe.

Wharram Percy isn't that far from Whitby.  Co-incidence?

My money, however, is on a fear of Draugr.  Corporeal ghosts are mentioned in medieval stories from the North of England, including from Byland Abbey, again not far from Wharram Percy.

[Andreas Johansson]

My money, however, is on a fear of Draugr.  Corporeal ghosts are mentioned in medieval stories from the North of England, including from Byland Abbey, again not far from Wharram Percy.

The anthropological definition of "vampire" is pretty wide and can easily include a draugr.

[Imperial Dave]

alternatively a local may have gotten slightly* pissed on homebrew and swear he saw a dead person roaming the streets at night.....

(*quite alot)