This week's Midweek Mysteries I'll be telling you a true story from the cemetery in Glasgow, the South Necropolis.
The Gorbals was a poverty-stricken area of Glasgow in the 1950s. Running water wasn't a commodity in most households and the area was filthy, covered in thick black smog. The streets were over run with gangs and violence, it wasn't a nice place to grow up to say the least. There were no public playgrounds for the children, so they would often play in the local cemetery which was a lovely green area atop a hill. In 1954 a rumour spread around the school playground that 2 children from The Gorbals had gone missing whilst playing in the cemetery. The story spread like wildfire that a 7 foot tall vampire with iron teeth was to blame. It had supposedly eaten the children. The adults of course wouldn't believe them, so they decided to take the matter into their own hands.
On an autumn evening in September, a policeman was called to Glasgow Necropolis on reports of hundreds of children running amok in the cemetery. The children were armed with stakes, knives and dogs and told the police man that they were hunting the Gorbals Vampire which had eaten two of their friends. The police man of course dismissed their claims, but he couldn't get the children to leave the cemetery. The hunt went on for another 2 nights, after which the children either got tired of hunting or decided that the vampire wasn't real after all. The local media at the time covered the story and tried to contact the police regarding the case of the missing children, but no report had been filed of the 2 Gorbals children going missing from the cemetery. The mass hysteria around the vampire was put down to 'American comic book culture' allowing the children's imaginations to run wild. It didn't help that an American comic book had been released around the same time called 'The Vampire with the Iron Teeth'. There is also an old ghost story about 'Jenny wi' the iron teeth' who supposedly haunted Glasgow in the 18th Century.
Whether there ever was a vampire or not in the South Necropolis, the children at the time certainly believed it! Some of them who were on the hunt still maintain to this day that they saw the vampire with their own eyes. But they didn't manage catch it...
Sweet dreams...
Loppy x
Sources:
https://ebooks.visitscotland.com/ghosts-myths-legends/vampire-glasgow-necropolis/
https://www.scotclans.com/the-vampire-of-the-gorbals/
https://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/the-gorbals-vampire-and-monster-hunt-that-shook-glasgow-1-4076003
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Necropolis
The Gorbals was a poverty-stricken area of Glasgow in the 1950s. Running water wasn't a commodity in most households and the area was filthy, covered in thick black smog. The streets were over run with gangs and violence, it wasn't a nice place to grow up to say the least. There were no public playgrounds for the children, so they would often play in the local cemetery which was a lovely green area atop a hill. In 1954 a rumour spread around the school playground that 2 children from The Gorbals had gone missing whilst playing in the cemetery. The story spread like wildfire that a 7 foot tall vampire with iron teeth was to blame. It had supposedly eaten the children. The adults of course wouldn't believe them, so they decided to take the matter into their own hands.
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| A tomb within Glasgow Necropolis |
Whether there ever was a vampire or not in the South Necropolis, the children at the time certainly believed it! Some of them who were on the hunt still maintain to this day that they saw the vampire with their own eyes. But they didn't manage catch it...
Sweet dreams...
Loppy x
Sources:
https://ebooks.visitscotland.com/ghosts-myths-legends/vampire-glasgow-necropolis/
https://www.scotclans.com/the-vampire-of-the-gorbals/
https://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/the-gorbals-vampire-and-monster-hunt-that-shook-glasgow-1-4076003
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Necropolis
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