Drakelow revenants

The Drakelow case is among the earliest detailed walking-dead reports from England. Two fugitive peasants die suddenly, return carrying their own coffins and bring a deadly sickness to the village of Drakelow. With episcopal permission the bodies are dug up, beheaded and their hearts cut out and burned. The procedure, especially the head laid between the legs, matches so-called deviant burials that archaeologists find across medieval Europe.12