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Illustration of Lithuanian returning dead
Original AI-made illustration based on the descriptions in the sources. Not an official design.
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Lithuanian returning dead

Aussi appelé: sugrįžtantys numirėliai, numirėlis, walking dead of Lithuania
Folklore et mythesMort-vivantUne mauvaise mort ou un enterrement bâcléMoyen Âge

Lithuania kept a strong tradition of the dangerous dead long after its conversion to Christianity. Cemeteries of the 14th to 17th centuries contain bodies deliberately beheaded, dismembered or turned face down, which archaeologists connect with fear of corpses returning. Lithuanian legends collected in modern times still describe meetings with the 'walking dead', usually brought on by disrespect for a grave. The material and the stories together give a Baltic counterpart to the revenant evidence from England and Poland.12

L'affronter
Première mention
1350
Deviant burials of the 14th-17th centuries; legends recorded by modern folklorists
Origine
Lithuanian
Lituanie
Ce qui le provoque
Une mauvaise mort ou un enterrement bâclé
Folklore names the untimely dead and the very sinful as those who return; the legends add that the living provoke them by disturbing remains or grave goods.
Comment on en devient un
An unexpected or wrongful death, a sinful life, or interference with the grave.
Intelligence
Un peu d'intelligence
Points faibles
  • decapitation of the exhumed corpse
  • burial face down or on the side
  • physical force
  • the intervention of a priest

Quand est-il apparu pour la première fois ?

Monde antiqueMoyen Âge1500 à 18991900 à 19671968 à 19992000 à 20092010 à aujourd'hui1350

Deviant burials of the 14th-17th centuries; legends recorded by modern folklorists

notes de terrain

Ce que disent les sources

1

Archaeologist Gintautas Vėlius documented headless, limbless and prone burials in Christian-era Lithuanian cemeteries12

2

He interprets posthumous beheading as exhumation carried out from fear of the returning dead12

3

Many prone male burials contain weapons, suggesting men killed in battle12

4

In legends analysed by Edita Korzonaitė, short tales end with the living person's death and longer ones with a narrow escape12

5

Priests in the legends sometimes use methods with no obvious Christian basis12

Sources

  1. Gintautas Vėlius, 'Sugrįžtantys numirėliai' (Returning dead: unconventional burials in medieval Lithuania), Lietuvos istorijos studijos 25 (2010)
  2. Edita Korzonaitė, 'Human contacts with the dead: relationship of fable and reality in folklore', Tautosakos darbai 25 (2003)

Chaque fait de cette page provient de ces sources, reformulé dans nos propres mots. Une erreur ? Écrivez-nous à [email protected].

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Même époque : Moyen Âge

DraugrNorse, 1250VetalaHindu (Indian), 1070GlámrNorse (Icelandic saga), 1300Revenant (medieval England)Medieval English, 1100UpiórSlavic, 1100AsvithNorse (Danish chronicle and Icelandic saga), 1200
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