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| THE HIGHGATE VAMPIRE | |||||||||||||||||||
| THE MODERN STORY OF VAMPIRES AT HIGHGATE BEGAN WITH REPORTS OF A PHANTOM LIKE ENTITY SEEN IN THE CEMETERY IN THE EVENING. WHILE RUMORS OF A GHOST CIRCULATED, OCCULT INVESTIGATOR AND HEAD OF THE VAMPIRE RESEARCH SOCIETY, SEAN MANCHESTER RECEIVED THE ACCOUNT OF SCHOOLGIRL ELIZABETH WOJDYLA AND HER FRIEND, WHO CLAIMED TO HAVE SEEN SOME GRAVES OPEN AND THE DEAD RISE FROM THEM.WOJDLA ALSO REPORTED HAVING NIGHTMARES IN WHICH SOMETHING EVIL TRIED TO COME INTO HER BEDROOM. OVER SEVERAL YEARS, MANCHESTER COLLECTED SIMILAR ACCOUNTS OF UNUSUAL SIGHTINGS ASSOCIATED WITH THE CEMETERY. IN 1969 WOJDYLA'S NIGHTMARES RETURNED , EXCEPT NOW THE MALEVOLENT FIGURE ACTUALLY CAME INTO HER ROOM..SHE HAD DEVELOPED SYMPTOMS OF PERNICIOUS ANEMIA AND ON HER NECK WERE TWO SMALL WOUNDS SUGGESTIVE OF A CLASSIC VAMPIRE'S BITE.MANCHESTER AND ELIZABETH'S BOYFRIEND TREATED HER AS A VICTIM OF VAMPIRISM AND FILLED HER ROOM WITH GARLIC,CROSSES , AND HOLY WATER. SHE SOON IMPROVED . MEANWHILE , VARIOUS PEOPLE CONTINUED TO ADD NEW REPORTS OF SEEING A GHOSTLY BEING IN THE CEMETERY. | |||||||||||||||||||
| BECAUSE THEY WERE OF A COMMON SORT , NO ONE PROBABLY WOULD HAVE HEARD OF THE HIGHGATE REPORTS HAD NO SIGNS BEEN FOUND THAT THAT THE CEMETERY AND A NEARBY PARK WERE BEING USED FOR RITUALS THAT INVOLVED THE KILLING OF ANIMALS . SOME OF THE DEAD ANIMALS HAD BEEN DRAINED OF BLOOD , AND THE LOCAL NEWSPAPER ASKED ON ITS HEADLINE, "DOES A WAMPYR WALK IN HIGHGATE?" MANCHESTER THEN REPORTED THAT HE HAD BEEN CONTACTED BY ANOTHER WOMAN WHO HAD THE SAME SYMPTOMS AS WOJDYLA. THE YOUNG WOMAN, FOLLOWED WHILE SLEEPWALKING , LEAD MANCHESTER TO A CLUSTER OF BURIAL VAULTS IN THE CEMETERY. MANCHESTER TOLD THE PRESS THAT HE BELIEVED A GENUINE VAMPIRE EXISTED AT HIGHGATE AND SHOULD BE DELT ACCORDINGLY. THE NEWSPAPER STORY AND SUBSEQUENTE FEATURE SPOT ON THE INDEPENDENT THAMES TV LEAD TO THE CEMETERY BECOMING A GATHERING POINT OF THE CURIOUS. A GROUP OF AMATEUR FILMMAKERS USE IT AS A SITE FOR A FILM, VAMPIRES BY NIGHT. ON, FRIDAY, MARCH 13 IN 1970, BEFORE AN ASSEMBLED OF ONLOOKERS, MANCHESTER AND TWO COHORTS ENTERED THE VAULT WERE TWO EMPTY COFFINS WERE FOUND. THEY LINED THE COFFINS WITH GARLIC,AND IN EACH PLACED A CROSS. THE VAULTS WERE SPRINKLED WITH SALT ( USE FOR EXORCISMS ) AND HOLY WATER. | |||||||||||||||||||
| EVENTS TURNED NASTY IN AUGUST WHEN THE BODY OF A YOUNG WOMAN WAS FOUND IN THE CEMETERY. IT APPEARED THAT SOMEONE HAD TREATED THE CORPSE AS A VAMPIRE AND HAD DECAPITATED AND TRIED TO BURN IT. AN ENRAGED CITENZENRY DEMANDED THAT THE AUTHORITIES PROTECT THE BODIES OF LOVED ONES FROM ABUSE. BEFORE THE MONTH WAS OUT , THE POLICE ARRESTED TWO MEN WHO CLAIMED TO BE VAMPIRE HUNTERS. THE MEN WERE A FACTOR IN THE SOURING RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MANCHESTER AND THE POLICE. BUT WHILE THE POLICE WERE DISTRACTED BY THE AMATEUR VAMPIRE HUNTERS, MANCHESTER HAD QUIETLY ENTERED ANOTHER VAULT AND DISCOVERED WHAT HE BELIEVED WAS A REAL VAMPIRE. RATHER THEN MUTILATING THE BODY ( A CRIME IN ENGLAND ) , HE READ AN EXORCISM AND SEALED VAULT WITH CEMENT PERMEATED WITH PIECES OF GARLIC. | |||||||||||||||||||
| IN THE SUMMER OF 1970, DAVID FARRANT, ANOTHER AMATEUR VAMPIRE HUNTER, ENTERED THE FIELD. HE CLAIMED TO HAVE SEEN THE VAMPIRE AND WENT HUNTING FOR IT WITH A STAKE AND CRUCIFIX-BUT WAS ARRESTED. HE LATER BECAME CONVERT TO A FORM OF SATANISM.HE WAS LATER CONVECTED OF TWO CHARGES OF BREAKING INTO TOMBS AT HIGHGATE. IN 1978 HE DENOUNCED THE VAMPIRE AS A HOAX HE HAD CREATED BY HIMSELF IN 1970. MANCHESTER QUICKLY RESPONDED, THE REPORTS ORIGINATED PRIOR TO FARRANT'S INVOLVEMENT THAT HE WAS NOT PRIVY TO THE INCIDENTS THAT HAD MADE THE HIGHGATE VAMPIRE SO NEWSWORTHY. | |||||||||||||||||||
| MEANWHILE, IN 1973, MANCHESTER BEGAN AN INVESTIGATION OF A MANSION NEAR HIGHGATE CEMETERY THAT HAD A REPUTATION OF BEING HUNTED. ON SEVERAL OCCASIONS MANCHESTER AND HIS ASSOCIATES ENTERED THE HOUSE. IN THE BASEMENT THEY FOUND A COFFIN, WHICH THEY DRAGGED INTO THE BACK YARD.OPENING THE CASKET, MANCHESTER SAW THE SAME VAMPIRE THAT HE HAD SEEN FOUR YEARS BEFORE IN HIGHGATE CEMETERY. THIS TIME HE HAD CONDUCTED AN EXORCISM BY STAKING THE BODY, WHICH DISINTEGRATED INTO A SLIMY, FOUL --SMELLING SUBSTANCE, AND BURNED THE COFFIN. HE HAD DETROYED THE HIGHGATE VAMPIRE. SOON AFTER THIS INCIDENT, THE MANSION WAS DEMOLISHED AND AN APARTMENT HOUSE WAS ERECTED IN ITS PLACE. | |||||||||||||||||||
| CONTINUE | |||||||||||||||||||