Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
The Highgate Vampire - fangs at dawn
The Highgate Vampire first came to notice in the 1960s and after a flurry of publicity that lasted into the mid 1980s, the story has been bubbling just beneath the surface ever since. It is one made famous by the sparring of paranormal experts as much as by the ghoul himself.
The vampire apparently takes the form of a 'tall dark figure' that usually disappears promptly after being sighted. Sometimes, it is not actually seen, but sensed or 'felt' by unsuspecting witnesses.
The last recorded sighting was in July 2005 by a person returning home who lived quite close to Highgate Cemetery. The dark figure whispered to him as he passed the cemetery gates - "Good evening Sir"! Soon afterwards it melted away through the main gate of Highgate Cemetery.
Almost from the start the Highgate Vampire phenomenon has been marked by a feud between two locals who claim to be competent exorcists and researchers of the paranormal. Each pours scorn on the other's alleged expertise.
The feud apparently remains vigorous to this day. The protagonists, Sean Manchester and David Farrant, continue to investigate supposed supernatural phenomena, and have both written and spoken repeatedly about the Highgate events, in every medium available, each stressing his own role to the exclusion of the other.
In this social media age, the phenomenon and perhaps the feud has transferred on to Facebook.
The Highgate Vampire Society, run by David Farrant was set up to investigate the vampire and the society's Facebook group has 130 members. However it is just one of four Highgate Vampire Facebook groups. Two of which are open and two closed.
The other open group, called The Highgate Cemetery Vampire Appreciation Society, is run by Redmond McWilliams. It is about half the size of its competitor with about 58 members.
McWilliams has recently made the following appeal:
Have you or anyone you know experienced anything strange or unusual either within the old west cemetery or in the nearby Swains Lane? These eyewitness accounts can be from either the late sixties/early seventies (during the height of the vampire scare), even older or much more recent. There have also been (so far unsubstantiated) claims of a Victorian origin so any historical sources of information would also be most welcome. I can be contacted via the society email address:
Manchester appears not to be taking up the fangbags at dawn challenge of sparring on social media but here's a clip from YouTube featuring him :
The Highgate Vampire on Wikipedia
Tags for Forum Posts: vampire
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by james walsh on
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Bram Stoker was walking in Highgate cemetery on a Sunday when ''i saw through thick glass down into a tomb people moving about''. This is where he got the idea of the 'Undead' and hence wrote 'Dracula' in 1897. This connection between Stoker and Highgate cemetery confuses a lot of folk who think that because Stoker got the idea for a novel at Highgate cemetery then there surely must be ACTUAL vampires in Highgate cemetry.
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Hello James,
Do you have a source for that comment? Various reasons have been given for Stoker's inspiration - but that one's news to me; especially as it's not mentioned in his working notes. As to the connection between Dracula, Stoker and Highgate Cemetery, it's generally considered to be incredibly flimsy.
As to 'then there surely must be ACTUAL vampires in Highgate cemetry', that theory originates - publicly, at least - in 1970. Sean Manchester claimed that local reports of a ghost (equally dubious) were actually that of a vampire. The Hampstead & Highgate Express featured his theory in its front page article, 'Does a wampyr walk in Highgate?' (27 February 1970) and it snowballed from there. Rather than Stoker inspiring this theory, it seems to be the other way round: the press attention caused the vampire to be associated with Stoker.
David Farrant claims that vampire-like sightings were reported during Victorian times - and that Stoker 'must' have known about them - but when I asked him for his source, I was repeatedly stonewalled. Another claim, however, that Stoker's mother was familiar with supernatural activity at the cemetery and told Bram about it, is pure baloney.
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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Thanks for stopping by Anthony. I've had a quick look at your blogs and see that you've done a serious amount of work on this. Good job. I had no idea about this story prior to last week. I'm beginning to wonder how.
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G'day Hugh,
That I have - and thank you, I appreciate it your comments. I also co-admin The Highgate Cemetery Vampire Society - but Red founded it. We offer it as a middle ground for those interested in the case, as it tends to get a little...how should I put this...'divisive'! It's almost like a two party system: Team Dave and Team Sean. I don't believe the case needs that level of polarity. If anything, it hinders (deliberately so, I'd argue) critical thinking.
The case doesn't just stop with the vampire, as you've noted. It's wrapped up in the feud, too, which mainly consists of claims and counter-claims. It can get quite vicious, but we try to steer away from that. We enjoyed your coverage of the case, though. It's nice to see some balance in proceedings.
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Permalink Reply by John D on
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" .....supposed supernatural phenomena, and have both written and spoken repeatedly about the Highgate events, in every medium available,...... "
I do hope the choice of words was a happy accident
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Permalink Reply by Jeanette Sitton on
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Just for your interest... I used to work at Highgate Cemetery on the western side in the 80s. I was a voluntary member of a night time patrol of six, I being the only female. Our hours were 7pm to 7am. I remember my colleagues saying, "the only ones you need to worry about, are those that come in over the wall".
When I first started, I was a bit scared, but before long I was walking around the place at night on my own, filling up the kettle from a graveside tap and taking it back to the office. Those were happy days and I always looked forward to meeting up with the lads. On one particular occasion, we heard some people trying to break in through the gate at the top of Swains Lane; to keep me safe, they locked me in the catacombs. That was a wee bit scary with over 400 coffins around me, but I very soon got used to it.
I have a few tales to tell about David Farrant, (things I'd been told), but this isn't really the place to write about them.
Highgate Cemetery west side is an amazing place, both in terms of its layout and Egyptian-style architecture. It has a huge biodiversity and is a green wonderland. Of course, you can only get in these days by joining a rather expensive guided tour, which is a shame really.
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Jeanette, I know it is something of a taboo subject amongst the FoHC but (off the record) have either you or any of the other volunteers ever experienced anything unusual whilst working there? There have also been many (so far unsubstantiated) claims of various ghost legends both in the West and East Cemeteries and the adjacent Swains Lane. These include the ghostly cyclist, a grim spectre that peers out through the cemetery gates, and the white lady who searches amongst the gravestones for the graves of her children whom she murdered. I just wondered if you knew anything about them or could maybe point us in the direction of someone who does. Many thanks.
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I worked at Highgate Cemetery (west side) from around 1981 to 1984, as a rough estimate. During which time, I saw nothing to alarm me. It was all very peaceful and beautiful, especially so around the upper cemetery, with its gorgeously artistic funerary architecture. I would often walk alone around the Circle of Lebanon and Egyptian Avenue and would often take a detour, to stop off at the Tom Sayers grave, (the last of the bare fisted fighters in the UK), to pat the dog. It was an exquisitely carved mastiff-type stone dog - the fighter's actual dog in life, named 'Lion'. The dog appears to be asleep and yet guarding his master's grave. I never felt threatened at any time during my four years of night work there, and would go to far as to say I felt safe and even happy to be there. There wasn't the slightest rattle of a grave! Two words to sum up Highgate Cemetery West...... TRULY MAGICAL !
Incidentally, the shameful activities that took place, happened a year or two before I arrived..... however, there were plenty of tell tale signs left behind - a lot of damage.
I also volunteered during the day - each Sunday, when I helped repair head stones, vault doors and clean Portland Stone graves and statues, (obelisks; angels, etc). Much of it was a hands on knees work, but I loved every moment of it. We were a very happy and willing crowd of volunteers.
Happy to write more in a private message, if wanted.
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Thank you Hugh for publicising my group and posting up my online appeal. Though I have to add that I'm not running my group in competition with David Farrant - just providing something different to David's successful and long running society. We however are a relatively new group, and although I am the group's founder I actually co-admin the group with my friend and colleague Anthony Hogg.
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Hmmm! As I mentioned, I have a few stories to tell about Mr Farrant, (aka Mr Underwood), but won't write them publicly, for obvious reasons. Drop me a line, and I'd be happy to tell.
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I'd be most interested Jeanette. Thank you.
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