John Blair Discusses 'The Life and Miracles of St. Modwenna'

- [Narrator:] While Ian and his team were digging up bones, John Blair, professor of medieval history at Oxford University, was studying a 12th-century text known as “The Life and Miracles of Saint Modwenna.

” - In the 12th century, an abbott of Burton-on-Trent wrote a book about the miracles that had been performed by their own local saint, Saint Modwenna.

- [Narrator:] One section tells the story of two peasants, who died and were buried, but then came back to terrorize villagers.

- “They appeared at evening... carrying on their shoulders the wooden coffins in which they had been buried.

The whole following night, they walked through the paths and fields of the village.

” - They spread disease.

People die.

And so eventually, the local people ask the bishop to allow them to dig the bodies up.

- “They found them intact, but the linen cloths over their faces were stained with blood.

” - So they think this is clear evidence that these corpses aren't quiet.

- “They cut off the men's heads and placed them in the graves between their legs... tore out the hearts from their corpses and covered the bodies with earth again.

They brought the hearts to the place called Dodecrossefora, and there burned them from morning till evening.

” - [Narrator:] The Saint Modwenna text is one of several medieval manuscripts recounting events that took place nearly a thousand years ago.

These folktales tell ghastly stories of the walking dead.

- The walking undead in medieval texts do quite a lot of different sorts of bad things.

Some of them come back and attack their own relatives and friends.

Some of them spread disease.

Some of them do suck blood, like, just like Dracula.

Some of them just spread fear.

People were in terror of them until they have to do something about it.

So, it's the whole range of disruptive, destructive, frightening activity, caused by people who have no business to be walking around anymore.