Highgate Vampire Picture Gallery
(Left):
Discovery of the vampire tomb in 1970. (Right): The exorcised remains prior to
cremation in 1974.
“We would like to exorcise the vampire by the traditional and
approved manner ~ drive a stake through its heart with one blow just after dawn
…, chop off the head with a gravedigger’s shovel, and burn what remains.”
~ Seán Manchester, Hampstead &
Highgate Express, 27 February 1970.
Elizabeth, the
convent schoolgirl who months later fell victim to nocturnal visitations from
the vampire.
“A series of nightmares … began to plague Elizabeth; all with one
thing in common: something evil was trying to come in through her bedroom
window at night. She could see the face clearly: it was deathly pale. Just like
the faces of the corpses leaving their graves. … She was extremely quiet and
barely spoke at all that evening. As she sat, seemingly exhausted, … I noticed
for the first time the marks on the side of her neck. … They were two inflamed
mounds on the skin, the centre of each bearing a tiny hole.”
“We did not succeed in destroying the evil … soon enough. Her
blood was tainted by that demonic thing which drew her to Highgate Cemetery. …
This grave cannot contain Lusia in its confines whilst malevolent forces refuse
her rest. She was never truly dead. A solitary figure swathed in a white
shroud, her face the colour of marble save for her lips … wanders this place
after dusk. Her cry, like the howl of a wolf, disturbs my sleep. At night I
know she is out there.”
“There was Lusia, her face composed as if in a deep trance, slowly
walking along the side of the church … [until] she reached the rear of the
church’s old broken railings, beyond which lay the cemetery. Gliding, then almost
pouncing feline-like, she entered the graveyard and began to dissolve in its
darkness. … A grey veil seemed to obscure my view as I strained to see in the
inky darkness of the catacombs what she was doing. The haze cleared … I
produced a large silver cross and threw it so that it landed … [near] … Lusia.
… She gasped and collapsed on the ground.”
~ The Highgate Vampire
The haunted icy
path that runs from the north gate to the catacombs and also vampire tomb at
the centre of Highgate Cemetery.
This picture is considered by some to have captured the dark
countenance of an unearthly presence in its far right corner. Amid the inky
darkness, right of the tomb mounted by a stone cross, the image of a deathly
face can be perceived. The spectral face, first identified by Ayla Kabowski, is
oblivious to the camera’s flash ~ yet eerily it appears.
(Left) The
Highgate Vampire at the moment of exorcism. (Right) The vampire tomb after it
had been bricked-up and sealed.
THE VAMPIRE DECOMPOSED RAPIDLY AFTER THE FIRST STRIKE OF EXORCISM,
PRIOR TO INCINERATION, AT WHICH TIME WAS CAPTURE ON FILM ONLY POSSIBLE. AN
ASSISTANT TOOK SEVERAL 35mm FRAMES OF FILM WITH A CAMERA DURING THIS
DISSOLUTION. THESE FRAMES WERE EXAMINED AND RELEASED TO THE PUBLIC ON THREE
TELEVISION PROGRAMMES DEALING WITH THE HIGHGATE VAMPIRE CASE IN 1990.
Aspect from the
vampire tomb ~ the Egyptian-style avenue approach in Highgate Cemetery as it
appeared circa 1970.
Lusia
“All these things happen, and the eyes of ordinary men do not see
them.”
~ Michael Sendivogius (17th Century)
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