#highgate vampire

Cryptid of the Day: Highgate Vampire

Involving @stickers95 humanized designs of Finn McMissile and Leland Turbo and @ihatedamonv humanized Rod Torque Redline set in my Vampire Cars 2 AU after the Miles debacle and the WGP

Also for @rodtorqueredlinefangirl, @gochujangst, @vampsvitae, @cars2-renaissance, @raven1774, @amethyst257,

Once in a blue moon and when the stars align; Rod, Finn and Leland are out and about London with no active missions.

One drink turns into two then three then soon all three spies are stumbling about (well the two living spies and the one undead vampire spy trying to keep them from wandering off)

Leland's senses don't help as he can smell the alcohol coursing through their bodies and flavoring the blood with every pump

The vampire Brit only risks a little sup from both of their necks and heals them just enough to resemble hickies

By some chance, all of them wander near Highgate Cemetery and Leland has to stop the drunk American from breaking in (Finn is there for drunken moral support)

This by accident leads to a ressurgence of sightings of the Highgate Vampire from onlookers

If Leland's sharp glowing red eyes catch a glint of a fang or pointed ears on someone, that's between him and them

Especially if said person raises a clawed finger to their mouth to shush him

Rod is a sentimental and cuddily drunk while Finn is a giggly and handsy drunk, a fun combination combined with their heated bodies and Leland's freezing cold body

Nearing sunrise, Leland manages to drag the other two back into C.H.R.O.M.E headquarters to get some rest and end up in a big pile on the bed, limbs tangled between them and kisses pressed to steady and nonexistent pulses on the neck

LET'S GET HAUNTED WITH THE HIGHGATE VAMPIRE!

A Paranormal Chicks Podcast

Hey y'all!  We hope y'all enjoy this fun collab with Aly and Nat from the Let's Get Haunted Podcast!!  We go on some tangents, but we think you'll be happy to go along on this ride.  

The story we cover today is all about the Highgate Vampire.  This takes place across the pond in London, and it is filled with supernatural drama.  

This is a collab no one asked for but we believe it is definitely one for the books!  We thoroughly enjoyed getting to know Aly and Nat, and we believe y'all will really enjoy their podcast!  

The Highgate Vampire

In 1967, two adolescent girls walking home along nearby Swain's Lane claimed to have witnessed the dead rising from their graves by the cemetery's north gate. Another teenager had been awoken one night with "something cold and clinging" on her hand, which left prominent marks the next morning, while reports circulated of a "tall man in a hat" walking in the area, before melting through the cemetery's walls.

The situation had turned nastier by the early months of 1970, as several animals were found dead, their bodies drained of blood and with what appeared to be lacerations to their throats. On the 6th of February the same year, a local man and self proclaimed magician, David Farrant, wrote to the Ham & High that he had recently glimpsed a grey figure he was certain was supernatural – a belief shared by several concerned residents in the paper's letters page.

His account didn't remain uncontested for long. From the start, Farrant had a rival, another man who claimed an even more startling paranormal insight, backed up by a career as both a self-proclaimed exorcist, vampire hunter and bishop of the mysterious "Old Catholic Church". Based on the available evidence and testimonies, Sean Manchester was certain: "It became appallingly apparent," he later wrote, "[that] the people of Highgate were not witnessing a harmless earthbound apparition… but a vampire."

It wasn't just the local media that jumped on the growing hysteria after both Manchester and Farrant declared they would destroy the evil figure they both claimed to be stalking Highgate. The situation reached fever pitch on Friday the 13th of February, 1970, as Thames TV ran a programme on the unfolding saga the night before the scheduled hunt. Within hours of broadcast, dozens of "hunters" equipped with homemade stakes, coming from all corners of London, descended on the cemetery, bursting past the hastily assembled police cordon.

Highgate Cemetery London, England

London’s Highgate Cemetery offers some of the finest funerary architecture in England. The cemetery was first opened in 1839 by a private company hoping to turn it into a profit and became one of London’s most high profile places to be buried. By the mid-20th century, the idea of a for-profit cemetery had lost its luster and Highgate was largely left abandoned, with nature reclaiming much of the land. Now, you might imagine ghosts would be a typical sight here, but there’s something even more frightening that is said to be lurking amongst the tombstones…a vampire.

Highgate Cemetery: West

Arguably the most famous of the “Magnificent Seven” garden cemeteries of London, Highgate Cemetery was opened for business by the London Cemetery Company in 1839. Set within 17 acres of beautifully landscaped grounds, bolstered by splendid and unique architecture, its location and stylings meant it was soon attracting investment from London’s rich and famous seeking their eternal resting places. So successful was Highgate Cemetery that in the 1850s it was expanded with what became known as the East Cemetery.

But more on that in another post; here the focus is on the West Cemetery. In its early days, visitors and mourners would have first been greeted by the Gothic chapel building, housing separate chapels for both Anglicans and Dissenters. Passing through the central arch and into the ground, formally planted pathways led to the Egyptian Avenue, an imposing structure of sixteen vaults either side of a broad passageway. Beyond the Avenue lay the Circle of Lebanon, its vaults arranged around an ancient Cedar of Lebanon, and above this, a separate Gothic style catacomb.

By the 1970s, like many of the other “Magnificent Seven”, Highgate was running out of space. The London Cemetery Company had gone bankrupt, and vandals had desecrated many graves during the “Highgate Vampire” media sensation. Already overgrown, nature was allowed to further take over the cemetery. The Friends of Highgate Cemetery acquired the freehold of both East and West Cemeteries by 1981, and since then have been responsible for maintenance and conservation.

Due to safety concerns, the only way to see the West Cemetery nowadays is by guided tour, run by the Friends. As well as visiting the architectural and landscape highlights (though sadly, due to decay the Cedar of Lebanon was cut down in early August 2019, shortly after my visit) the tour takes in many of the notable burials, including dog-show founder Charles Cruft, electrical pioneer Michael Faraday, and polonium-poisoned Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko (who contrary to popular belief is not buried in a lead-lined coffin).