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 creatures that often visited loved ones and caused mi ...

legend that took place in

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is a historic county in the far North West England. It covers part of the Lake District as well as the north Pennines and Solway Firth coast. Cumberland had an administrative function from the 12th century until 1974. From 19 ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. 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 and raconteur. Early life He was the youngest son of Francis George Hare of Herstmonceux, East Sussex, and Gresford, Flintshire, Wales, and nephew of ...

, written in the 1890s. In 1929,

Montague Summers Augustus Montague Summers (10 April 1880 – 10 August 1948) was an English author, clergyman, and teacher. He initially prepared for a career in the Church of England at Oxford and Lichfield, and was ordained as an Anglican deacon in 1908. He ...

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 shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

. 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 is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

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 ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, 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 Buf ...

'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 b ...

'' (1984).

References

External links

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

Summary

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External links