In 1970 two men declared a televised vampire hunt at Highgate Cemetery. The story of the Highgate Vampire, the panic it caused and what was really going on.
The Highgate Vampire: London's Strangest Ghost Hunt
In March 1970, a crowd of people climbed the walls of Highgate Cemetery at night to hunt a vampire. This actually happened. It was on the television news. For a few years around 1970, one of London's most beautiful Victorian cemeteries became the centre of a genuine moral panic about the undead, and the story is far stranger than any film. Here is what went on, and how much of it holds up.
How it started
By the late 1960s Highgate Cemetery was in a bad state. The company that ran it had run out of money, the West Cemetery was overgrown and crumbling, and graves were being broken into. Into this atmosphere came reports of a tall dark figure seen among the tombs. People walking past the gates at night said they had felt watched, or seen something move.
Two men took these reports and ran with them, and they did not get along. One was David Farrant, who founded a psychic society and wrote to the local paper asking if others had seen the figure. The other was Seán Manchester, who declared that the thing was a vampire, specifically a "King Vampire" whose body had been brought to London long ago. Their rivalry drove the whole thing for years and got increasingly bitter.
The night of the hunt
On 13 March 1970, a television interview with both men aired. Manchester announced he intended to hunt and destroy the vampire. The broadcast went out in the early evening, and within hours a crowd had gathered at the cemetery. People poured over the walls and through the gates, some carrying stakes and crosses and garlic, to take part in a vampire hunt at a real cemetery in north London.
The police struggled to control it. The whole episode reads now like something that could only have happened in 1970, a moment when occult paperbacks, Hammer horror films and a genuinely spooky derelict cemetery all met at once.
What came next
The story did not end that night. There were further searches, claims of staked bodies, vandalised tombs and stolen remains. Farrant was later sent to prison for damage in the cemetery, though he always denied the worst of the accusations. Manchester claimed to have found and destroyed the vampire, more than once, in accounts that changed over time. The two men kept up their feud for decades, in print, in public and in increasingly strange ways.
What is not in doubt is the damage to the cemetery. The vampire panic brought a wave of trespass and vandalism to a site that was already falling apart, which made the real work of saving it harder.
What was actually going on
Strip away the vampire and you are left with a few ordinary things stacked on top of each other. A derelict Victorian cemetery is frightening at night, full stop. Add real grave-robbing, which was happening, and you get genuine reasons to see disturbed earth and broken tombs. Add two publicity-minded men competing to own the story, plus a press and public primed by horror films, and a vampire was almost inevitable.
There is no good evidence that anything supernatural happened at Highgate. There is very good evidence that a cemetery in trouble got swept up in a media frenzy that made its problems worse. Both of those can be true, and the second one is the more interesting story.
Visiting Highgate Cemetery today
The cemetery was rescued by the Friends of Highgate Cemetery, a volunteer group formed in 1975, and it is now carefully looked after. The West Cemetery, the older and more atmospheric half, can be visited on a guided tour, which is the only way in. The East Cemetery, where Karl Marx and George Eliot are buried, you can visit on your own ticket.
It is still one of the most atmospheric places in London, Gothic tombs swallowed by ivy, the Egyptian Avenue, the Circle of Lebanon. You do not need a vampire. The Victorians built quite enough drama into the place themselves.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Highgate Vampire real?
No, there is no credible evidence of a vampire. The 1970 panic came from a derelict, genuinely eerie Victorian cemetery, real grave-robbing, two rival publicity-seekers and a public steeped in horror films. The story is a fascinating piece of social history rather than a paranormal event.
What happened at Highgate Cemetery in 1970?
After a television broadcast on 13 March 1970 in which a man announced a vampire hunt, a crowd climbed into Highgate Cemetery at night to search for the creature. It caused a public order problem and a wave of trespass and vandalism.
Can you visit Highgate Cemetery?
Yes. The East Cemetery is open with a ticket and you can walk it yourself, including the grave of Karl Marx. The older West Cemetery is only accessible on a guided tour, which is well worth booking ahead.
Who were David Farrant and Seán Manchester?
They were the two rival figures at the centre of the Highgate Vampire story. Farrant ran a psychic society and Manchester claimed to be a vampire hunter. Their long and bitter feud kept the story alive for decades.
