The Highgate Vampire - A Very Modern Tale of Undead Entities

Ghosts & Hauntings

The Highgate Vampire – A Very Modern Tale of Undead Entities

Is the case of the Highgate Vampire another unsolved mystery, or was it a media storm designed to make money? The word “Vampire” doesn’t usually conjure images from the swinging 60s, but when the British Psychic Society began receiving reports amidst the summer of love, they realised there may be something to it.

History of Highgate Cemetery & the Highgate Vampire

Established in 1838, Highgate Cemetery is the resting place of several notable historic figures, including Dougals Adams, of Hitchhikers’ Guide fame. And socialist philosopher, Karl Marx. It’s a real squeeze. There are approximately 170,000 people buried at Highgate, and only 53,000 graves.

The Highgate Vampire was far from being the first report of hauntings on the site of the Highgate Cemetery. Many moons ago, the Ashurst Estate, a large mansion with extensive grounds, stood where the cemetery is now. According to legend, it was teeming with ghosts. I struggled to find much information about the original mansion, but I do know that nobody wanted to live there, because it was considered to be very haunted.

London Ran Out of Burial Spaces

At around the time the derelict Ashurst Mansion stood vacant, London was struggling to find places to bury its dead. Small cemeteries sprang up between shops and taverns. Often, undertakers would dress up as clergymen and perform illegal burials just to get the dead bodies out of the way. Space was sparse and people were getting desperate. The Government needed to make a decision about this increasingly disgusting problem of body disposal. And fast.

Finally, an Act was passed in Parliament that allowed for the creation of the London Cemetery Company. Headed up by architect and civil engineer, Stephen Geary, the company bought the 17 acres of land that had been part of the Ashurst Estate for £3,500. Stephen appointed James Bunstone Bunning as a surveyor and David Ramsey, a renowned landscape gardener, as the landscape architect. They were a super team of planners, gardeners and rare breed specialists. Their head office opened at 22 Moorgate Street, London shortly after the company’s inception.

And thus Highgate Cemetery, the final resting place of many a London-dweller, was born.

With Exploding Graves Like These, Is the Highgate Vampire really a Surprise?

There was a very real fear, during the 18th and 19th centuries, of being buried alive. Despite great strides in medical science, an alarming number of people, it transpired, had suffered this fate. Understandably, taphophobia was rife. As a result, safety coffins were developed that would allow people to breathe and alert the night watchmen with bells if they woke up six feet under wearing a wooden overcoat. Even safety coffins weren’t enough reassurance for some. Quite a few people in the 19th century, particularly those with money, chose to be buried above ground in small, stone mausoleums.

Unfortunately, these above-ground tombs became so full that they had issues with improperly buried residents. A buildup of gases from the bodies burst forth from their hermetically sealed confines. Explosions. Rotting body parts all over the shop. Imagine the smell! Lovely.

Highgate Cemetery as an Overgrown Nature Reserve full of Spirits

As well as the gravestones, there are also a number of protected plants and trees at Highgate, including a 600 year old Lebanese Cedar. It’s something of a nature reserve. However, in 1970, the graveyard fell into disrepair. Unkempt gravestones stood crookedly, cracked and overgrown, their grieving stone angels overcome with vines. It sounds like the perfect setting for a hammer horror.

It’s no surprise, then, that the legends are myriad. A spectre on a pushbike is regularly spotted cycling between the graves on a ghost bike – did his bike die too? Do bikes have souls? A ghosty man in a top hat strolls with purpose towards… nowhere, before disappearing. People report hearing banshees shrieking to warn of impending death. The figure of a dead nun floats around the place silently weeping. One misty apparition wades through the overgrown pond sadly. Another forces his face through the bars and grimaces at passersby.

So many stories. And it’s no surprise. Death + Exploding Death = Ghosts… right? That’s just basic maths.

The highgate Vampire Makes a Dramatic Entrance

In the spring of 1969, the British Psychic and Occult Society started receiving some strange calls. According to the stories, Highgate Cemetery was experiencing a bizarre phenomenon. Stranger even than usual! A tall, slender figure in black had been seen wandering amongst the tombstones. Curiously, most of the reports also mentioned that the figure had disappeared into thin air.

After doing some digging through the various accounts they’d received, all seemingly hearsay, the Society finally made contact with a man who claimed to have had a first hand experience with this ghastly apparition.

the Highgate Vampire Telepathically Ensnares Potential Victims

This man said that he was walking through Highgate Cemetery one evening when he spotted something lurking in the shadows near one of the graves. Spooked, he began making a hasty exit, but before he could get more than a few steps, he realised he didn’t know where he was going. This was particularly strange, because the man had made that trip many times. He was suddenly very disorientated and dizzy.

After stumbling around in the dark, the man felt something move behind him. He whipped around to see a tall, dark figure lingering. It abruptly vanished into the night and he snapped out of it, escaped from his macabre confines and ran home. He later stated that he felt like he had been hypnotised and his mind was, momentarily, not his own.

More Reports of First Hand Encounters with the Highgate Vampire

After hearing the story of the hypnotised man in the graveyard, the BPOS then heard some more chilling tales.

Walking her dog through the cemetery, one elderly lady said that she had been accosted by a tall, dark figure in black who had glowing eyes. The figure floated towards her and she felt icy, cold air. It then faded into the night.

In one case, an accountant got himself lost in the sprawling cemetery. As dusk started to fall, he heard the clanging of a bell. He followed the sound, hoping it would lead him to someone who could give him directions. But he was stopped in his tracks by the feeling that someone was behind him. Sound familiar? He turned cautiously, only to see the glaring eyes of a tall, dark figure that disappeared into the oncoming dark.

A pair of teenage girls on their way home were walking along Swain’s Lane when they noticed that something strange was going on in Highgate Cemetery. It appeared that strange, misty shapes were rising up from the tombs. The girls ran, convinced that the dead were rising from their graves.

There were many reports from people who had seen the strange apparition, who would then melt into the walls of the cemetery and disappear.

After this, London Borough Council started getting reports of dead foxes found in the graveyard. And then more animals were found. Then more. Worryingly, every single one had been drained of blood and many had lacerations to their throats.

A Media Frenzy Focussed on the Highgate Vampire

On the 6th February 1970, a magician named David Farrant had written to the newspaper to tell them that he had seen a tall, grey shape in Highgate Cemetery that he believed was not human. Coincidentally, he just so happened to be the President of the BPOS. He asked people who had had similar encounters to share them with the newspaper. He was not disappointed. Reports began flooding in.

Intrigued by the stories he was hearing, David had decided to spend a night in the cemetery to see if anything strange happened. As it grew dark, David said he felt the temperature plummet… which isn’t rocket science is it? The great burning ball in the sky had gone down, so of course the temperature had lowered. But he also noticed a ghostly figure, which he described as being about seven foot tall floating above the graves. The phantom had red, burning eyes.

Two Rival Paranormal Investigators

Shortly after this, Sean Manchester, a self-proclaimed exorcist and vampire hunter, inserted himself into the centre of this case. After a run-in with one of the teenage girls who had seen the spirits rising from the ground, his interest was piqued.

Elizabeth Wojdyla had been having vivid nightmares after she and her friend had run from the frights at Highgate Cemetery in 1967. Her dreams included a recurring nightmare where a malevolent, cadaverous entity tried to break into her bedroom. At around the same time, she started sleep walking, and was experiencing nausea, headaches and dizziness. Sean described her as incredibly pale.

After this meeting, he was contacted about Elizabeth again, but this time by her boyfriend, Keith. Keith said that Elizabeth had been referred to a doctor who was trying her out on all kinds of vitamins and supplements, but that nothing seemed to be working. Keith was growing more concerned as Elizabeth’s energy waned, but he was most worried about two small puncture marks visible on the teenager’s neck.

It was at this point that Sean proclaimed loudly that Elizabeth was under the spell of a vampire who was draining her of her blood. He provided the girl with a silver crucifix and filled her bedroom with garlic. Elizabeth was also given a vial of salt to wear around her neck, and her room was sprinkled with holy water.

After all this faffing around with trinkets, Sean confirmed that the apparition at Highgate Cemetery was not human or even a ghost, but was in fact, a vampire.

Sean Manchester’s Claims are Somewhat Spurious

Sean went even further than this, though. He said that he had knowledge of who this vampire was. The creature was a “King Vampire” and the undead spirit of a mediaeval Romanian aristocrat who practised black magic in life. Sean claimed that the creature had been transported to the UK in a coffin aboard a macabre ship crewed by his cult followers. Can I get a side of plagiarised Stoker?

But why had this Vampire King chosen this moment to raise his undead head? Satanists! Obviously.

These aren’t the only outrageous claims made by Sean in this case. He insisted that he was an ordained Bishop of the Celtic Catholic Church, which he also pointed out had nothing to do with the Vatican or Roman Catholics. As well as his priestly position, Sean made the unfounded claim that he was an heir of well respected poet, Lord Byron from a fling Byron had with a servant. He was unable to prove either of these claims.

One February morning in 1970, the Hampstead and Highgate Express ran a story with the chilling headline “Does a Vampyre Walk in Highgate?” It was an interview with Sean Manchester.

To date, no evidence of Sean’s claims of Eastern European vampires exists. The newspaper went on to print several more stories concerning the vampire hunting adventures of Sean Manchester and David Farrant.

News of the Highgate Vampire Reaches the TV

On Friday 13th March 1969, a well timed broadcast was aired featuring the two paranormal investigators and a few more people who claimed to have had run-ins with the Highgate Vampire. The programme even had a feature that was being filmed outside the wrought iron gates of Highgate Cemetery.

Whether the Friday the 13th date was chosen on purpose, or was an unhappy accident is unknown. What we do know, however, is that a mob of wannabe vampire hunters flooded to Highgate Cemetery to test their luck with the Highgate Vampire. Woefully unprepared for the influx of people, the police did their best to hold the crowd back. But several people scaled the walls of the sprawling necropolis and headed off into the dark graveyard.

Thankfully, nobody was hurt on that evening, but many people reported seeing the figure of the vampire in the dark. Sean Manchester, arguably responsible for what could have been a catastrophic crush of people, continued with his melodramatics and insisted that the vampire had created the kind of panic that would come with an alien invasion. FFS.

You can probably tell by my tone that I am not Sean’s biggest fan. I can’t stand drama. What a plonker!

A Paranormal West Side Story-Esque Performance

As the media ramped up its reporting on this strange tale, both Farrant and Manchester claimed that they would rid London of this strange being. Manchester insisted it was your typical, old-fashioned nosferatu and was prepared to face it with crucifixes and holy water. Whereas Farrant thought the monster was something far from the dramatic vampire you read about in Anne Rice novels. Both grown adult men thought it appropriate to hurl insults at each other in the press.

In 1970, the remains of a 100 year old corpse were found desecrated next to the poor woman’s grave. The vampire was clearly getting desperate for fodder and the fight was on!

Tensions built, with each man desperate to destroy the Highgate vampire before the other. At one point, David Farrant was arrested while wandering the cemetery in the dead of night carrying a wooden stake. He later sued the now disgraced newspaper, the News of the World, for publishing a story that suggested he was a cat killer.

Finally, in 1973, Sean announced that he had slayed the vampire by driving a stake through its heart. This supposedly occurred at the House of Dracula in nearby Crouch End. After which it disintegrated so there was no evidence. Funny that. David was furious.

Two fully grown men, people. The mind boggles.

Death of the Highgate Vampire Sparks More Rivalry

You would have thought that, with the vampire dead… more dead, the two adult men at the centre of the media attention would have nothing left to fight about.

That assumption, however, would be naive. Le sigh.

Over the years since the Highgate Vampire became the legend it is today, there has been interest that waxes and wanes with the times. But one thing that didn’t appear to die down for many years was the animosity between Sean Manchester and David Farrant. Idiots.

As I mentioned above, David Farrant was the President of the The British Psychic and Occult Society. In a petty move, Sean Manchester decided to found the British Occult Society. Is it the People’s Front of Judea, or the Judean People’s Front?

In 1985, Sean Manchester also published a rather sensational book, fittingly entitled The Highgate Vampire. Farrant retaliated by publishing his own book called Beyond The Highgate Vampire in 1991.

David was jailed for grave desecration in 1974. He vehemently denied the charges, but did admit to sending voodoo effigies to two police officers. Off the back of this, Sean repeatedly called him a “convicted felon” across his many blogs.

The Great Battle for Vampire Hunter Status

The Farrant/Manchester rivalry hit its peak in 1973, when the ridiculous pair announced that they would engage in a “magical dual” on Parliament Hill. Yep. A dual. In the 20th century. It was called off before either man could injure himself in the most ludicrous display of toxic masculinity I’ve ever heard of.

After the dual incident, the two men seemed to take a step back from the media. However, they continued their feud until David Farrant’s death in 2019. Sean Manchester is still alive, but doesn’t take kindly to people contacting him regarding this case. He maintains that he is the Vampire Hunter extraordinaire, but asserts that everything he has to say on the matter is in his book and on his blogs.

Scaredy Cat’s Take

What the actual F?! I find the story of the Highgate Vampire and the surrounding events really interesting. However, it’s completely overshadowed by the media coverage and the absolutely absurd contention between Sean Manchester and David Farrant. Both of whom are clearly egotistical bellends who should never have been allowed that kind of airtime.

Do I think it was a vampire? Of course not. Highgate Cemetery is an overgrown mass of exotic plants and ancient trees. Many creatures live in that graveyard and animals do weird shit, like digging up buried bodies and eating each other. Also, you don’t have to make a massive hole in a creature for it to drain and dry out, especially in summer.

It isn’t that strange that a lot of people had encounters in Highgate Cemetery either. Graveyards are spooky at the best of times, but Highgate looks like something from a Penny Dreadful in the best possible way. Add in the stories and legends told from way back even when the house was still standing and you’ve got seeds planted all over the place.

Can’t stop shaking my head. Grown men! Playing at being vampire hunters.

Anyway, Scaredy Cat Skeptic is hoping to head down to london at some point, so Highgate Cemetery is deffo on the list.