House of Evil

“Standing in full view of its empty, dark windows as twilight

deepened, filled us with a sense of dread. The dull glow of a

bloated moon peering through a curtain of trees gave relief to

the grey bulk before us which quickly became enshrouded by

night. … Then we entered the blackness beyond the door … ”

~ Seán Manchester, The Highgate Vampire, 1985 & (rev. ed.) 1991.

The neo-gothic mansion circa

1973 at the height of its eerie

and demonic etc disturbances.

Locals clamoured to have it razed to the ground. It had a sinister history of dark and disturbing forces. So much so that it was eventually abandoned when it was mysteriously gutted by fire in 1971. Strange and terrible things happened in this derelict mansion that are usually only experienced in the worst nightmare ...

There was talk of satanic ceremonies, ritual sacrifices, demon raisings and, worse still, it had been confirmed to be the final resting place of the Highgate Vampire. Nobody, save those at opposite ends of the struggle between light and darkness, would enter within.

The Hornsey Journal, 7 December 1973, recorded: “Neighbours talk of strange goings-on at night and mysterious flickering lights in upper windows. … Investigating the reports, Journal reporter Roger Simpson and photographer Ted Stormer came across unmistakable signs in a top floor room of a witchcraft ceremony. The Journal understands that this was a bizarre attempt to raise the horned god in a black magic ceremony. … Residents refuse to walk past the house, which looms behind overgrown trees.”

“Something evil was said to have taken residence and now stalked the lonely corridors. Mysterious lights were occasionally seen flickering behind vacant windows which stared down like eyeless sockets. … But obliteration would not come easy to this House of Dracula as some would call it. … Eventually, the crumbling neo-gothic mansion was demolished and in its place twelve flats were built whose design incorporated the façade [see background picture below] of the original mansion as though to act as an eerie reminder of what once stood at this site. But few need any reminder. … Many visitors … have reported feeling frightened as the chill atmosphere pervades the warmest of days. It is as if the very bricks retain the memory of its evil past.”

~ The Highgate Vampire

The tunnel that runs under Swains lane.

The VRS became aware, as the 1970s unfolded, that the focus of satanic activity had moved from Highgate Cemetery to a neo-gothic house not far away from the original contagion. An almost forgotten passage runs beneath Swains Lane from the infested western cemetery to the newer eastern cemetery at Highgate. It soon became apparent that this was the method of entry and exit in use by satanic cult members until unwelcome attention made the use of the graveyard impossible. The Satanists switched the scene of their diabolical activities elsewhere ~ namely a neo-gothic derelict mansion. Its dark and dismal basement was to receive the casket containing the corporeal form of the Highgate Vampire. Just as the cemetery had attracted every type of depraved dabbler in the black arts; so, too, had this new location. Even an ex-amateur vampire hunter (now a sort of “Renfield” figure) who had become an attention-seeking occult dabbler, together with a follower of Aleister Crowley, visited the old house after reading about it in the press. Evocations to sinister forces took place. On the last of these rituals in the week following publication in a local newspaper, the demon raising caused a fire. Police arrested both participants on December 13th and they were each charged with arson, but later acquitted. In that week of lunacy where demons were evoked they attempted to follow in the footsteps of earlier diabolists who had brought something from Highgate Cemetery to the house; something predatory and vampiric.

All that remains of the House of Evil today is its ruin façade that has been incorporated into the design of the building which replaced it after it had been demolished by public demand. Prior to it being razed to the ground (well, almost), the successful exorcism of the Highgate Vampire had taken place. Yet even the memory of that supernatural evil is enough to haunt residents and visitors to this day. For even the most hardened sceptic cannot repress a shudder when ascending the stone steps and passing through its still extant gothic portal. Time, it would seem, has failed to erase the chill of the vampire’s shadowless presence when ~ not so long ago ~ this same place gave witness to unearthly terror as the door between us and another world was practically ripped off its hinges. And darkness entered.