vampire<\/a> epidemics. In these cases, exhumed bodies were considered to be unnatural, because they were undecayed, bloodied or apparently fatter than in life \u2013 and hence not truly dead. This is today usually attributed to a poor grasp of the processes of decay.<\/p>\nIn Britain, it was not vampires but suicides that were buried with a stake through their heart. Those who had sanely killed themselves (i.e. not when mentally ill) were guilty of a \u2018felo de se\u2019 \u2013 a crime against the self, or self-murder \u2013 and this deserved punishment.<\/p>\n
Their bodies were often dragged through the town and then buried without Christian rites in an unconsecrated place \u2013 usually a rural crossroads. For good measure a stake was then driven through their heart. Crossroads burials were only abolished by Act of Parliament in 1823. Yet, suicide technically remained a crime in the UK up to 1961, and doctors dealing with suicides were meant to inform the police.<\/p>\n
Answered by Justin Pollard, author of Secret Britain: the Hidden Bits of Our History<\/em> (John Murray, 2009). He is a question writer for the panel show QI <\/em>on BBC One.<\/strong><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n
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