Vampire skeletons in Bulgaria

[Count_Zirock]

If nothing else, it's a cool conversation piece. I mean, it's not something that someone just sat out on their porch and whittled, obviously. If you've had it 30 years, it most likely was turned on a hand lathe, not machined.

[Wolf Man]

Oh I agree that it could never be verified as an authentic "vampire" stake.  It can only be verified as a long wooden stake with real human blood on it.  For all we know someone used it in a perverse witchcraft ceremony, who knows.  It is not round though so no lathe at all.  A cross section would reveal it to be oval.  Also, it is smooth as it gets and sharp as a nail.  The wood is also extremely hard being so old and has no signs of deterioration.  I have kept it in a controlled environment as long as I have had it.

[Fester]

Oh I agree that it could never be verified as an authentic "vampire" stake.  It can only be verified as a long wooden stake with real human blood on it.  For all we know someone used it in a perverse witchcraft ceremony, who knows.  It is not round though so no lathe at all.  A cross section would reveal it to be oval.  Also, it is smooth as it gets and sharp as a nail.  The wood is also extremely hard being so old and has not signs of deterioration.  I have kept it in a controlled environment as long as I have had it.

That's the bottom line. You have this mysterious sharp, blood stained, hardwood stake.  No real story behind it--so it is open to all sorts of possible interpretations.  A real kick-starter for imaginations and conversations.

[Count_Zirock]

Just for the record, I'm against the staking of suspected vampires. However, I'm all for the scaring the stool out of idiots dressed in black, wearing porcelain fangs, and claiming to be "sang-vamps" or "psy-vamps." Round them up and get the mallets and tent-pegs ready! Then, watch them soil themselves.