Although Dr Borrini's discovery is interesting, he will need to support it with archaeological, anthropological, forensic and literary facts. I have devoted my PhD research and career in the study of unusual burials, including the so-called 'vampire burials', and the standards required to prove such cases are very high and demanding (see e.g. http://bioarchaeology-palaeopathology.blogspot.com/2007/06/phd-thesis-abstract.html). I have never heard of the tradition of placing a brick in the mouth, so a scientific bibliographic reference by Dr Borrini would be most welcome . On the photo, it is not clear that this is a brick and not a stone either.
In addition, Dr Borrini is mistaken to claim that this is 'the first such "vampire" to have been forensically examined'. I had presented a paper on the subject at a conference in Chieti, Italy, in 2000 and subsequently published it in 2001: http://bioarchaeology-palaeopathology.blogspot.com/2007/06/vampires-beyond-legend.html. It is a fact that there have been previous such cases discovered and examined by e.g. Dr Sledzik and Dr Bellantoni in New England in 1994, Prof. Hector Williams and Dr Sandra Garvie-Lok in Greece in the late '80s and myself in Greece during my PhD research.
In addition, Dr Borrini is mistaken to claim that this is 'the first such "vampire" to have been forensically examined'. I had presented a paper on the subject at a conference in Chieti, Italy, in 2000 and subsequently published it in 2001: http://bioarchaeology-palaeopathology.blogspot.com/2007/06/vampires-beyond-legend.html. It is a fact that there have been previous such cases discovered and examined by e.g. Dr Sledzik and Dr Bellantoni in New England in 1994, Prof. Hector Williams and Dr Sandra Garvie-Lok in Greece in the late '80s and myself in Greece during my PhD research.