The Vampire of Croglin Grange is a

vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead humanoid creatures that often visited loved ones and c ...

legend that took place in

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is an area of North West England which was historically a county. The county was bordered by Northumberland to the north-east, County Durham to the east, Westmorland to the south-east, Lancashire to the south, and the Scottish ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The story first appeared in ''Story of My Life'' by

Augustus Hare Augustus John Cuthbert Hare (13 March 1834 – 22 January 1903) was an English writer, painter, and raconteur. Early life He was the youngest son of Francis George Hare of Herstmonceux, East Sussex, and Gresford, Flintshire, Wales, and ...

, written in the 1890s. In 1929,

Montague Summers Augustus Montague Summers (10 April 1880 – 10 August 1948) was an English author, clergyman, and teacher. As an independent scholar, he published many works on the English drama of the Stuart Restoration (1660–1688) and helped to organise ...

republished the story along with the first chapter of ''

Varney the Vampire ''Varney the Vampire; or, the Feast of Blood'' is a Victorian-era serialized gothic horror story variously attributed to James Malcolm Rymer and Thomas Peckett Prest. It first appeared in 1845–1847 as a series of weekly cheap pamphlets of the ...

''. He pointed out that the two stories were very similar and should be dismissed as

folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...

. Charles G. Harper challenged the Hare book in 1924 after visiting the area. He found no evidence that Croglin Grange ever even existed, but did however find two similar buildings called Croglin High Hall and Croglin Low Hall. Neither fitted the description of the place in the book. Eventually, after much research, he came to the conclusion that Croglin Low Hall was the place Hare had referred to in the book, even though a

chapel A chapel (from , a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a Christianity, Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their o ...

had not existed nearby for many years.Harper, Charles G. ''Haunted Houses''. Detroit: Tower Books, 1971. 288 pp.

Summary

In the tale written by Augustus Hare, several episodes took place between 1875 and 1876. An old house had been rented out to a woman and two brothers, Amelia, Edward, and Michael Cranswell. During one summer, Amelia was trying to sleep when a strange creature appeared at her window and began picking out the lead surrounding one of the window panes with a long fingernail, then removing it and putting its hand through the resulting gap to undo the window latch and let itself in. It was described as having a brown face and flaming eyes. The vampire bit her in the throat. When her brothers came into the room, the monster was gone. While one brother tried to help his sister, the other went after the creature. After a trip to

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, the three returned to Croglin Grange and the creature returned again. The brother shot it in the leg and was able to track it down to a vault in the local cemetery. They waited until the next day to enter the vault, where they found the body of the vampire, with a fresh wound to the leg, resting inside a coffin. They then burned it.Hare, Augustine. ''Story of My Life''. 6 vols. London: George Allen, 1896–1900.Melton, J. Gordon (1999). ''The Vampire Book'', pp. 151–153. A version of the story appears under the title "The Window" in Alvin Schwartz and

Stephen Gammell Stephen Gammell (born February 10, 1943) is an American illustrator of children's books. He won the 1989 Caldecott Medal for U.S. picture book illustration, recognizing ''Song and Dance Man'' by Karen Ackerman. His illustrations in ''Where the Buff ...

's ''More

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark ''Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark'' is a series of three collections of short horror stories for children, written by Alvin Schwartz and originally illustrated by Stephen Gammell. In 2011, HarperCollins published editions featuring new art ...

'' (1984).

References

External links

*{{isfdb title, 94821, The Vampire of Croglin Grange Vampires

Summary

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External links