In perhaps the most significant case from the 19th-century New England Vampire Panic, the body of Ms. Mercy Brown (victim of tuberculosis), aged 19, was exhumed and her heart was burned to ashes. The ashes were then mixed with water and given to her brother as a cure for his own TB. From the Wikipedia entry on the case: “The Mercy Brown Vampire Incident, which occurred in 1892, is one of the best documented cases of the exhumation of a corpse in order to perform rituals to banish an undead manifestation. The incident was part of the wider New England vampire panic. Several cases of consumption (tuberculosis) occurred in the family of George and Mary Brown, in Exeter, Rhode Island. Friends and neighbors believed that this was due to the influence of the undead. Two family members’ bodies were dug up, and, exhibiting the expected level of decomposition, were thought not to be the cause. Daughter Mercy, however, who was held in a freezer-like, above-ground vault, exhibited almost no decomposition. This was taken as confirmation that the undead were influencing the family to be sick. Mercy’s heart was burned, mixed with water and given to her brother Edwin, who was sick, to drink, in order to stop the influence of the undead. The young man died two months later.” All of this as late as 1892! Read more here.