Did the Highgate Vampire ever exist ?.

Unfortunately, there is little evidence and testimonies from trustworthy sources. As to proof, there are many photographs in Manchester's books and other publications, including one purporting to be the Highgate Vampire as it began to decompose. But technically aware minds are rarely convinced by photos.

The Friends of Highgate have denied that Manchester's activities were ever given any credence, much less that any action was taken as a result of his raves when asked about the wall that was built then pulled down at the entrance of the catacomb.

Moreover, the story seems too good to be true, full of melodramatic details mirroring the Dracula mythos: the sleepwalking girl; the vampire transported to England in a coffin; a coffined corpse 'gorged and stinking with the life-blood of others', with fangs and burning eyes; his own role as a Van Helsing figure.

The feud between Manchester and Farrant remains vigorous to this day; each claims to be a competent exorcist and successful vampire killer; each pours scorn on the other's alleged expertise.

Both have published books about the Highgate events, in every medium available, each denying the role and somehow contradicting the other one. They continue to investigate paranormal events (Manchester found another vampire around Robin Hood's Grave at Kirklees,Yorkshire).

But who displaced the bodies in the cemetery?

Were Manchester and Farrant associates in some dismall venture ?

Author Felix Barker implicated the British Occult Society in the impaling of numerous corpses in the first edition of his book 'Highgate Cemetery:Victorian Valhalla', but later editions remove the charge.

Authors Judi Cuthbertson and Tom Randall, however, write in their 1991 book 'Permanent Londoners':

"Graves were desecrated by the High Priest of the British Occult Society.This lofty figure broke into at least two dozen tombs and drove stakes through the hearts of the deceased. He recieved four years in jail for his anti-Dracula activities".

But if Manchester and Farrant did it, then the whole story can be set as en extreme example of what folklorists (following terminology established by Linda Degh) now call 'ostension' and legend tripping. This means the real-life imitation of elements from a well-known tale, often involving role-playing, and sometimes leading to ritual acts of vandalism and desecration.

Other narratives which treat these purported happenings as fact are available in the books and websites of Sean Manchester and David Farrant.

Ellis, Bill. 'The Highgate Cemetery Vampire Hunt', Folklore 104 (1993), 13-39. This journal can be read online via the JStor site.

Ellis, Bill. Raising the Devil: Satanism, New Religions and the Media (University Press of Kentucky, 2000), 215-36.

Farrant, David. Beyond the Highgate Vampire (London: British Psychic and Occult Society, 1991).

Manchester, Seán. The Highgate Vampire (London: British Occult Society, 1985; revised ed., London: Gothic Press, 1991).

Manchester, Sean. The Vampire Hunter's Handbook (London: Gothic Press, 1997).

Underwood, Peter. The Vampire's Bedside Companion (1975; revised ed., 1976).