1990s Newspaper Reports
After enjoying a relatively ‘vampire free’ decade throughout the 1980s, I was in for a surprise when in the 1990s a fresh vampire frenzy gripped the UK. This was mostly due to films such as Interview with the Vampire and Bram Stoker’s Dracula, and included a revival of interest – nationally and locally – in the Highgate ‘vampire’.
I had unwittingly pre-empted the public’s new found fascination with all things vampiric with the publication of my first book ‘Beyond the Highgate Vampire’ in 1991. Ironically this book focussed on the fact that the Highgate entity is NOT a bloodsucking vampire, but wide press circulation regarding its release – and the moniker under which the entity will, it seems, always labour – ensured that once again the phone was ringing off the hook with enquiries from journalists wanting to know more about it.
This was, of course, exacerbated when in 1997 I was handed over the reins of The Highgate Vampire Society, which has been founded by local historian Jennie Lee Cobban a year previously. Not that I am complaining, as the ensuing press coverage was very helpful in promoting the aims and work of the society, which quickly attracted hundreds of members and even published a quarterly magazine, Suspended in Dusk. Not everyone was happy about the society’s existence, however, as can been seen from some of the reports below!
I was greatly assisted in the running of the society by Kev and Chrissie Demant, which gave me time to focus on my continued paranormal investigations, including those at The Ram Inn, Waltham Abbey and various locations in Hertfordshire. There were many more, and we will be adding press reports about them here in due course.
On a more grave note the 1990s saw a fresh appeal – this time by the Missing Persons Bureau – for the safe return of Rita and Marlon Cabbidu who had vanished in April 1983 after Rita became entangled with a black magical group operating in the Highgate area.
David Farrant, 2014