 conference in Washington, D.C., saw Parabon NanoLabs and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL) unveil their results. Parabon NanoLabs explain: 'Tales of the undead consuming the blood of living beings have been around for centuries. Before scientific and clinical knowledge were used to explain infectious diseases and medical disorders, communities hit with epidemics turned to folklore for explanations. 'They often blamed vampirism for the change in appearance, erratic behaviour and deaths of their friends and family who actually suffered from conditions such as porphyria, pellagra, rabies and tuberculosis (TB). 'It is speculated that he (John Barber) was later disinterred and reburied because his limbs had been placed atop his chest in an X in a skull-and-crossbones configuration – a burial practice used to prevent purported vampires from rising from the grave to feed upon the living.' Researchers employed the latest advanced laboratory and bioinformatic DNA analyses on the early 19th-century unidentified remains of a man, only known as JB55 because of the markings on his grave. In 2019, AFDIL performed a Y-STR chromosome analysi){kind=link}
NEWS… BUT NOT AS YOU KNOW IT
Detectives have turned to cutting-edge technology to try and discover the identity of a long-dead vampire.
The early 19th Century man was found buried with his arms in an X shape across his chest – a burial practice believed to prevent blood-suckers rising from the grave to feed upon the living.
The remains, discovered in 1990 in Griswold, Connecticut, were determined to be those of a middle-aged man named John Barber who suffered from tuberculosis.
The unpleasant symptoms of the affliction can include sweating, weight loss, swollen neck and coughing up blood – unexplained signs that may have led paranoid locals to suspect vampirism.