Coffin

A coffin is a funerary box used in the display and containment of deceased remains – either for burial or cremation. In Egyptian culture, funerary boxes were referred to as a sarcophagus. Vampires are required to sleep in coffins during the daylight hours when they are most vulnerable. Some traditions have it that a vampire must line the interior of his or her coffin with soil from their native homeland. It has become a common practice amongst vampire hunters to destroy suspected vampire coffins wherever they are found. Failing that, they can place a ward upon an empty coffin to prevent a vampire from returning to it. Such wards may include a crucifix, a clove of garlic or sprinkles of Holy water. Egyptian sarcophaguses are usually of extremely high value for they were reserved only for the most respected members of Egyptian nobility such as Pharaohs, their family members and occasionally even high priests. Egyptians would mummify the remains of their respected dead and place their coffins in family crypts, usually pyramids of temples. To prevent grave robbers from defaming the dead, Egyptian priests would commonly place a curse upon a sarcophagus. Breaking the seal of a sarcophagus would generally earn one the wrath of an angry spirit, or worse, a murderous living mummy.