Chapter 5
The Literary Life of a Ghost-hunter
1970
50 BERKELEY SQUARE
1971
GAZETTEER OF BRITISH GHOSTS
1973
HAUNTED LONDON
1975
THE GHOST HUNTERS
THE ITALIAN COUNT
1977 - 1979
HAUNTINGS
1975
52
YEARS
THE GHOST HUNTERS
“An early broadcast that I helped to compile and took part in was called The Ghost Hunters, with the BBC,
whom I later worked with on a number of broadcasts.
We went down to Borley and on a cold and windy day I related somthing of the remarkable history of that haunted place.”
The Ghost Hunters (1975)
Ghosts are not the only occult phenomena getting exposure in the media. 1975 also marks the publication of The Vampire’s Bedside Companion.
“On the very day that I begin this book about vampires
there is news of a fresh outbreak of inhuman devilry at a cemetery in London that has long had the reputation of being the lair of a vampire…”
“The oldest part of Highgate Cemetery has long been reputed to harbour a vampire.”
The legend of the ‘Highgate Vampire’ concerns a ‘King Vampire of the Undead’. The king was a medieval nobleman who had practised black magic in medieval Wallachia (Romania).
Portrait of Vlad III (c. 1560)
Reputedly a copy of an original made during his lifetime.
He was thought to have been brought to England in a coffin in the early 18th century and buried in Highgate Cemetery.
“Alleged sightings of a vampire-like creature, lurking among the graves and tombstones have resulted in many ‘vampire hunts’…”
“I heard first-hand of such a sighting and my informant maintained that he and his companion had secreted themselves in one of the vaults and watched a dark figure flit among the catacombs and disappear into a huge vault - from which the vampire did not reappear.”
“I heard first-hand of such a sighting and my informant maintained that he and his companion had secreted themselves in one of the vaults…”
“One man told me that he had seen ‘something’ emerge form a coffin inside a vault and then disappear, and a moment later his companions, outside the vault, had seen a figure materialise seemingly from the ground and disappear with incredible speed…”
The Vampire Companion is dedicated “to the memory of Montague Summers, in the hope that he will forgive me for revealing some of the secrets of the Vampire Medallion…”
“We had exchanged several letters and eventually I went to see him. He was a kindly man who did much to awaken my interest in the occult.”
Summers was a clergyman whose writings on Vampirism had established him as the foremost authority on the subject.
“At the time I had come across a case of apparent vampirism and I found Summers tremendously helpful with knowledgeable advice. But all my efforts to countermand my vampire had no effect and some weeks after my initial visit I was back talking to him again.”
“This time he brought out a brass medallion which he said had great power against vampires and evil spirits..”
