<p><strong>The discovery of a 700-year-old skeleton in <a href="http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/travel/countries/bulgaria-guide/">Bulgaria</a>—seen at the country's National Museum of History in June—offers evidence that the fear of vampires is far older than <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Dracula-Enriched-Classics-Bram-Stoker/dp/0743477367">Bram Stoker's <em>Dracula</em></a><em>. </em></strong></p><p>The "vampire," found entombed among church ruins in the Black Sea town of <a href="http://maps.nationalgeographic.com/map-machine#s=h&amp;c=42.41966762851923, 27.696866989135746&amp;z=12">Sozopol (map)</a>, is the subject of Nat Geo News's tenth most viewed gallery of the year. The skeleton had been stabbed in the chest with an iron rod (upper right), which was in the tomb next to the body.&nbsp;(Also see<a href="http://blogs.ngm.com/blog_central/2010/06/vampire-expert-digs-his-fangs-into-true-blood-twilight.html"> "Vampire Expert Digs His Fangs into <em>True Blood, Twilight."</em></a><em>)</em></p><p><a href="http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/07/pictures/120724-vampire-skeleton-toothless-bulgaria-science"><strong>Full story&gt;&gt;</strong></a></p><p><em></em></p>