German outlets are reporting that the head of silent film director F.W. Murnau has been stolen from his family plot in a cemetery in Stahnsdorf, Germany – and that wax residue found near the grave points to a possible occult connection! Murnau, of course, was the genius behind 1922’s classic vampire flick Nosferatu, recognized as one of the scariest horror movies of all time. He was also responsible for the classic films Tartuffe, Faust, and Sunrise (which won several Oscars at the first Academy Awards.) He died in a car accident near Santa Barbara in 1931, but his body was laid to rest in his native Germany – UNTIL MONDAY NIGHT!

From Variety:

In a story reminiscent of one of his own movies, grave robbers opened a metal coffin to access the filmmaker’s embalmed body, said the newspaper. The nearby graves of his two brothers were not disturbed.

So, what could have happened to his skull? Was it a Satanic ritual to summon the ACTUAL VAMPIRE used in Nosferatu? Or (more likely) are students at a dorm room in Dusseldorf doing bong hits out of it as we speak? Will we ever know?

(Images of the incomparable Max Schreck as Count Orlaff in Nosferatu, below. BOO!)