Among the ancient Egyptians, the heart was considered the seat of the soul and organ or both emotions and intelligence. As vampires were often believed to be animated by a soul still in the body, staking the heart may have been seen as a way of releasing the trapped soul from the body.

While there were various beliefs as to what the stake should be made of, a large majority of stakes were made from a thorn tree. These included blackthorn, hawthorn, or whitethorn.  This connects back to the belief that thorns prevent evil. Staking the heart both released the soul and pinned down evil.

The other known vampire remedies included dismemberment, decapitation and/ or burning. Decapitation and dismemberment, however, were also connected with punishment for crimes. Some criminals were beheaded, including traitors, who were also dismembered. Burning was also an old and widely practiced method of killing witches.