Highgate Vampire documentary?

[Magpie]

Does anyone know if there's ever been made a decent documentary about the Highgate Vampire?

So far all I've been able to find are long meandering monologues by either Farrante or Manchester--neither of whom is exactly an arresting speaker.

Any assistance would be much appreciated.

[kensei]

Oh my god, when I first saw the title of this thread I thought it meant that such a documentary might actually be in the making and I freaked out just a little. No, sadly, there is no such film, much as I wish there was. I started a thread about the Highgate Vampire here a couple of years back that you will find if you dig for it that got incredibly heated and convoluted. I have Rev. Sean Manchester's book "The Highgate Vampire" and his lengthy online followup, "Aftermath of the Highgate Vampire," and I find them fascinating. I am a believer in supernatural things, and Manchester's story is one of two things. It is either proof positive that vampires are real, or it is a pack of lies. There is no middle ground. As it corresponds with various true events that did happen in and around Highgate Cemetery a few decades back, I think there is room for being intrigued.

David Farrant is painted in a very bad light in Manchester's account, as a Satanist who more or less tried to commune with the vampire, and it's a matter of record that he did serve jail time for grave desecration in Highgate. Farrant has parried with his own self-published version of events, in which he claims that what dwelled in the cemetery was not actually a vampire but some other dark spiritual entity that he encountered, or something or somesuch.

I have taken the guided tour of Highgate Cemetery twice. I learned the first time that the guides are none too amused by questions about the vampire and will go off about the damage done in years past by would-be vampire hunters scaling the walls. I was scolded, "We don't encourage that kind of talk around here" and was told that Sean Manchester "Isn't exactly welcome here anymore." On my second visit, I knew better than to ask. I assure you, that crew is not about to cooperate with any attempt to make a documentary about the vampire episode. I actually don't really get it. I mean, there have to be a lot of visitors to the place who have only heard of it because of the vampire story. There was a period in which corpses were dug up and mutilated as suspected vampires, and a huge crowd showed up to view a televised vampire hunt. I would think that such an eccentric part of the cemetery's history would be included in the tour in at least a darkly humorous way. I have even seen that episode mentioned in tourist guide books. But nope, nothing doing. They are completely stone-faced about it and would prefer that no one ever becomes aware that those things ever took place.

[Limehouse]

I have not heard of this case but I am very interested as I spent some time in that part of London (Highgate/Crouch End/Archway & Camden) around 30 years ago and would like to know more.

Could either of you bring me up to date?

Many thanks:

[kensei]

I have not heard of this case but I am very interested as I spent some time in that part of London (Highgate/Crouch End/Archway & Camden) around 30 years ago and would like to know more.

Could either of you bring me up to date?

Many thanks:

Wikipedia gives a fairly decent account (just type in "Highgate Vampire") but it leaves a lot out. The Eastern European nobleman who moved to Highgate and is alleged to have been the vampire was named Tamas Orszag. The "psychic sleepwalking girl" mentioned just briefly in the account was actually a major player in the story, written under the pseudonym of "Lusia" in Sean Manchester's book, and he claims that she died as a result of being victimized by the vampire and became a second vampire that he had to destroy some time after destroying the first one. The book is still available through Amazon.com, though it's expensive- anywhere from $60 to $200. Farrant's book, "Beyond the Highgate Vampire" which I haven't read though it is generally poorly reviewed, is listed at $115.

[Magpie]

Yeah, I've heard that the tourguides also rather snottily refuse to discuss anything to do with the filming of Hammer movies in the the Cemetary, although apparently if they decide you are a "good sort" and not just a gawker, they will loosen up and share some amazing stories, point out photo ops, etc.

[Magpie]

Both Manchester and Farrante have extensive websites online.


Both of them spend a disproportionate amount of time trash-talking each other, IMO, but they manage to provide an overview between them.

I first heard about the case through Dan Farsons "Hamlyn Book Of Horror"--my absolute favourite book as a child

[Limehouse]

Thanks Magpie and Kensei. I will check the story out later.

[kensei]

Yeah, I've heard that the tourguides also rather snottily refuse to discuss anything to do with the filming of Hammer movies in the the Cemetary, although apparently if they decide you are a "good sort" and not just a gawker, they will loosen up and share some amazing stories, point out photo ops, etc.

On my first visit there when I asked about the vampire, the guide who admonished me actually mentioned that some filming for a Hammer film had taken place in the cemetery and that people witnessing that was one of the main things behind the whole vampire story. Wikipedia mentions that the movie "Dracula A.D. 1972" with Christopher Lee was loosely inspired by the Highgate story so that might be the one he meant. But the events chronicled by Sean Manchester began in 1967, and the history behind those events goes back to the 1700s. That tour guide (in 2004) was pretty stuffy. When I visited again in 2008 the guide was younger and had much more of a sense of fun about him. I wonder how he would have reacted to vampire questions but I just didn't dare.

I just got out the printout I made a few years back of Manchester's e-book "Aftermath of the Highgate Vampire," which is longer than his original book and goes into incredible depth. The original book chronicles events taking place between 1967 and 1982, but this revisiting came out as recently as 2007. As far as I can tell it's not online anymore and I guess I was lucky to grab it when I did. It is both the story of the vampire(s) and of his rivalry with Farrant. It begins with the line, "How can I tell my struggle without also telling my adversary's story?"

I so wish that someone would make a documentary on the story. The cemetery staff would not cooperate or allow filming on the grounds (only limited snapshots by visitors are allowed, no video), but filming through the bars of the fences from Swain's Lane which runs between the east and west halves of the cemetery is something they'd have no control over (they told me as much) and I did some of that myself. You can get some pretty good footage of the place that way and convey the dark gothic look of the place, though you can't see any of the really cool monuments and tombs from the street. I'd imagine though, that if someone tried to do such a project, neither Manchester nor Farrant would be likely to take part if they knew the other was involved.

[miss marple]

I am a guide at Highgate Cemetery and have been for three years. I also knew the Cemetery in the seventies when all the vampire crap was going on.

As guides we are sick to death of idiots who turn up wanting to knew about vampires. One asked where the vampire was buried! The cemetery has a new CEO and we have a new website and are restoring many monuments, thanks to English Heritage.

Highgate West cem is a beautiful and special place with great funeral architecture and very interesting and diverse people buried there. We have great tales to tell that don't involve vampires and guides who care passionately about the cemetery and are constantly finding out more about the inhabitants.

People don't seem to realise that Highgate is a working cemetery and people are still buried there, as well as ashes. We are also a reg charity and raise money for the cem through interments and tours.

It is completely disrepectful to go on about vampires when people are grieving over their loved ones. Which is why vampires are off limits.

There is a lot of crap on utube illicit cobbled together film Best ignored, and you are not allowed to take illicit film for your pervy vampire crap,

There are two parts to the cemetery The East, where Marx is buried and Douglas Adams and Malcolm McClaren. You pay a fee get a map and wander around, and the West, the oldest part, which is only accessible by tour [because of subsidence] There are major heath and safety issues.

THE TOURS ARE BRILLIANT. Weekends are best they run through the day.
'
Christopher Lee filmed Hammer Horror' Taste the Blood of Dracula' here in the catacombs in 1969. Which is prob where it all started. Any documentary about vampires would not allow filming in the cemetery. Its a sick idea.

Miss Marple

[Magpie]

Yeah, I've heard that the tourguides also rather snottily refuse to discuss anything to do with the filming of Hammer movies in the the Cemetary, although apparently if they decide you are a "good sort" and not just a gawker, they will loosen up and share some amazing stories, point out photo ops, etc.

I guess I heard correctly....

[Ally]

My mom keeps pointedly telling me she wants to go back to London -probably because I ruined her last trip when I accidentally sort of made her fall down the escalator at the airport and she spent her whole trip (York, London and Paris) with a broken foot. Yes, I am out of the will. But she loves old cemeteries and hmmm... may have a reason to go now. I just need to find the three day period of London that has warm weather.

I had not heard of this cemetery before...interesting. Don't know how I missed it.

[Magpie]

My mom keeps pointedly telling me she wants to go back to London (probably because I ruined her last trip when I accidentally sort of made her fall down the escalator at the airport and she spent her whole trip (York, London and Paris) with a broken foot. Yes, I am out of the will. But she loves old cemeteries and hmmm... may have a reason to go now. I just need to find the three day period of London that has warm weather.

I had not heard of this cemetery before...interesting. Don't know how I missed it.

It really is beautiful. I believe access was restrict at one time because it was in such bad shape, but they have done a wonderful job of arresting and reversing decades of neglect.

[Ally]

I have been looking over the website and checking out the tours. Maybe I'll be hitting London this Fall after all. Too bad I think the conference is sold out.

[Magpie]

I have been looking over the website and checking out the tours. Maybe I'll be hitting London this Fall after all. Too bad I think the conference is sold out.

Please take lots of pictures for us, Ally. Whatever you do, don't mention the war...I mean vampires

[kensei]

I am a guide at Highgate Cemetery and have been for three years. I also knew the Cemetery in the seventies when all the vampire crap was going on.

As guides we are sick to death of idiots who turn up wanting to knew about vampires. One asked where the vampire was buried! The cemetery has a new CEO and we have a new website and are restoring many monuments, thanks to English Heritage.

Highgate West cem is a beautiful and special place with great funeral architecture and very interesting and diverse people buried there. We have great tales to tell that don't involve vampires and guides who care passionately about the cemetery and are constantly finding out more about the inhabitants.

People don't seem to realise that Highgate is a working cemetery and people are still buried there, as well as ashes. We are also a reg charity and raise money for the cem through interments and tours.

It is completely disrepectful to go on about vampires when people are grieving over their loved ones. Which is why vampires are off limits.

There is a lot of crap on utube illicit cobbled together film Best ignored, and you are not allowed to take illicit film for your pervy vampire crap,

There are two parts to the cemetery The East, where Marx is buried and Douglas Adams and Malcolm McClaren. You pay a fee get a map and wander around, and the West, the oldest part, which is only accessible by tour [because of subsidence] There are major heath and safety issues.

THE TOURS ARE BRILLIANT. Weekends are best they run through the day.
'
Christopher Lee filmed Hammer Horror' Taste the Blood of Dracula' here in the catacombs in 1969. Which is prob where it all started. Any documentary about vampires would not allow filming in the cemetery. Its a sick idea.

Miss Marple

Miss Marple,

I debated on whether to respond to your post as you are obviously and unerstandably emotional about the subject. Having toured the cemetery twice in 2004 and 2008, I want to start by saying that it is indeed a very beautiful and special place and the stories the guides tell are all wonderful and fascinating. You are blessed to be able to be a part of it. I also completely agree about keeping the utmost proper respect for the dead, especially the recently passed. The second time I was there, there was a story from international news in which a Russian spy had been murdered in London, and his name escapes me now but he had recently been buried in Highgate West. The guide pointed out his grave but said that his widdow had asked that no one take photos of it, and no one did. I am so glad that I heard about the cemetery and was able to include it in my travels because it's truly a jewel of a place with a fascinating history. However, the fact remains that it was through the Highgate Vampire story that I first heard of it.

I can well understand how you feel about the amount of disrespectful activity that has gone on because of the story, and am not really attempting to take serious issue with you at all. I would just like to respectfully suggest that some of the people who might ask questions about the vampire story are just curious people who have heard of it and think, "Wow, that's really bizarre that those things happened here," regardless of what was or wasn't actually behind them, and would like to know more. I don't think that such a person is automatically displaying disrespect for the dead as long as they pose their questions in a conservative and respectful manner. (Though some are, and I understand that.) Even for those who don't believe vampires are real, which is most people, the presence of the vampire in popular culture is a powerful one what with Anne Rice's stories, "Twilight," and on and on, and what happened at Highgate- regrettably, perhaps- is one small chapter in that. As I stated earlier I have even seen it included in travel guidebooks. The only point you raised that I would really disagree with is in the filming of "Taste the Blood of Dracula" in 1969 being "probably where it all started." There is a record of supernautral events being reported as far back as the early 1800s, and the modern events that spawned the controversy began in 1967. I'm placing no judgement on them, only noting that such reports were made.

As I also stated I did shoot some video from Swain's Lane, of the gates and through the bars as far as could be seen, which wasn't very far. A woman working there at the time told me that was allowed. I assure you I did not use that footage to post anything on utube or anywhere else- it simply rests on a videotape in my collection. Many thanks for your part in providing visitors access to such a wonderful site.