In the 1970s, the shadowy depths of Highgate Cemetery, London became the centre of what would go on to become an enduring urban legend. As two men, both with their own views on what the cemetery was hiding, dug deep into their investigations of the grounds, reports spread of a dark, otherworldly figure stalking its overgrown graves. Sometimes tall, sometimes with glowing red eyes, and other times with a dark, top hat, the press reports of the unknown figure stoked a public fear of a secret occult world that lay just out of sight, crawling beneath the surface of an otherwise decent society.

SOURCES

Saker, hugh (1958) Baby Sacrifice Probe By CID. The Daily Mirror, Fri 19 Dec 1958, p3. London, UK.

Lucas, Norman (1958) Baby Sacrificed: Probe Starts. Daily News, Fri 19 Dec 1958, p5. London, UK.

Farrant, Della (2015) Haunted highgate. The History Press, London, UK.

Adams, Paul (2014) Written in Blood: A Cultural History of the British Vampire. The History Press, London, UK.

Ellis, Bill (1993) The Highgate Cemetery Vampire Hunt: The Anglo-American Connection in Satanic Cult Lore. Folklore, Vol 104, 1993. The Folklore Society, Worthing, UK.

The People (1895) The Highgate “Ghost”. The People, Sun 29 Sep 1895, p3. London, UK.

Manchester, Sean (1975) The Highgate vampire: the infernal world of the undead unearthed at London's famous Highgate Cemetery and environs. London, UK.

Farrant, David (1997) Beyond the Highgate Vampire: A True Case of Supernatural Occurrences and Vampirism That Centred Around London's Highgate Cemetery. London, UK.

Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail (1970) Vampire Hunt In London. Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail, Sat 14 March 1970, p1. Hartlepool, UK.

-------

For almost anything, head over to the podcasts hub at darkhistories.com

Support the show by using our link when you sign up to Audible: http://audibletrial.com/darkhistories or visit our Patreon for bonus episodes and Early Access: https://www.patreon.com/darkhistories

The Dark Histories books are available to buy here: http://author.to/darkhistories

Dark Histories merch is available here: https://bit.ly/3GChjk9

Connect with us on Facebook: http://facebook.com/darkhistoriespodcast

Or find us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/darkhistories

& Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dark_histories/

Or you can contact us directly via email at contact@darkhistories.com

or join our Discord community: https://discord.gg/cmGcBFf

The Dark Histories Butterfly was drawn by Courtney, who you can find on Instagram @bewildereye

Other Outro music was Paul Whiteman & his orchestra with Mildred Bailey - All of me (1931). It's out of copyright now, but if you're interested, that was that.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Helping Those Who Can't Help Themselves | Dell Loy Hansen, Founder & CEO of Wasatch Group