Customer Reviews
Sometimes unbelievable, but overall...good - By: Mr. Lgt Marsons, 15 May 2008 
Although wholly unbelievablein places (indeed, one often finds it extremely difficult to believe the author has experienced what he alleges he has), the book has a very good overview of most vampire lore & discusses some very pertinent points that trouble modern day occultists e.g., are vampires astral entities or corpses?
What to make of this ... ? - By: Green Man Music, 14 Nov 2006 
Bishop Sean Manchester of the "Old Catholic" (not Roman Catholic) Church is an exorcist & latter-day vampire-hunter. In "The Highate Vampire" he sets out to document the famous hauntingin the late 1960s & early 1970s of Highate Cemetary, which has been variously attributed to ghosts, vampires, satanists & a plethora of other phenomena. The main pieces of evidence amassed fall roughly into three categories. The first, the numerous eye-witness sightings of shadowy figures, with or without demonic faces, standing by the disused North Gate of Highate Cemetary along the 14th Century Swains Lane roadin Highate. The second, the two cases the author was involvedin himself, that of the mysterious illnesses of two Highate girls, their sleepwalking (invariably endng up on Swains Lane orin the cemetary), aenemia & puncture-wound injuries. Finally, during the same period of time, the predatory deaths of a large number of foxesin the cemetary & ultimately the presence of human corpses, including one decapitated.
Both the police & the press were highly involvedin investiagting the events & the author was heavily involved with both. Whether supernatural explainations offered were valid or not, the reality of the deaths & the stream of eyewitness reports from frightened members of the public were enough to warrant a serious investigation, & made the Highate case one of the most famousin the world. On a negative side it encouraged all sorts of amateur vampire-hunters to scale walls & desecrate tombsin their search for the Undead.
Manchester begins with a general look at misconceptionsin "vampirology"; looking at medical/physiological & psychological conditions, including porphyria, lycanthropy, psychoses, vampire cults & satanism. Rather unfortunately, Manchester is heavily inspired by the late Rev. Montague Summers, whose books on witchcraft & so-called black magic I have always found prejudiced, archaic & uninformed.
The thing that struck me about this book most is the fact that despite being a non-fictional reportage of events & commentary, Manchester relates the report - including interviews & conversations -in a Hammer-esque melodramatic prose. I found this quite baffling, unless all the people involvedin the case were thespians. It is clear that despite being serious about his vampirology, Bishop Manchester also loves it; his reports do indeed read like Hammer Horror stories, with him as Dr Van Helsing with his stakes & garlic; & the two girls he was trying to save running out into graveyards at night timein white smocks.
So then what do we make of Bishop Sean Manchester, who to be honest is pivotal to the whole Highate case - is he a nutter with a van-Helsing delusion, preying on the imaginations & fears of young girls ... or is he a genuine but somewhat eccentric (he is after all a descendant of Byron)vampire hunter,in the ilk of the protagonist of the "Fright Night" movies, rather than a real-life Buffy?
Reading his dialogue, one is tempted to think the former, though the rather nasty evidence displayedin photographs (in the first edition;in subsequent editions Manchester has had these replaced by line drawings) & media reports does show that during this time Highate was not a safe place to be, for whatever ultimate reason. As an example, I am not sure at all that the decapitated victim was a victim of vampirism - I am more worried that she may have been the victim of some deluded amateur vampire hunter.
Nevertheless, whether one believes or does not believe that a satanic vampiric force haunted Highate, you can't help but thoroughly enjoy this book. Essentially a factual report - if written-upin high melodrama - on a subject that is difficult to believe & yet compellingly fascinating, "The Highate Vampire" is a collectable tome for any Fortean's bookshelf.
Deeply haunting case. - By: chez, 15 May 2006 I recommend everyone interestedin vampires to read this book. You'll be looking for a crucifix to keep around (maybe even two if you're like me!)and your lamp will probably be staying on all night for a while aswell.
Bishop Sean Manchester has more than the credentials of a true vampirologist & let's face it if the Highgate Vampire is only one casein our history we certainly need his invaluable knowledge & experience to deal with them. There are dark worshippersin our society. Their black magicin & around the cemetery being very significant to the case of the Highgate Vampire.
After reading this you'll have those doubts but there's something about truth being told, no matter how it's spoken or communicated that rings true. It just does'nt let you go.
For further reading I'd recommend Beyond the Highgate Vampire by David Farrant. For anin depth study of vampire lore the books of Montague Summers.
Yes and maybe.......Up and Down - By: M. D. Hart, 08 Oct 2003 
Despite this book's fascinating account of a 'true to life' battle of good & evil, my opinion is that it's realistic aura fluctuates. To begin with, this book will chill you to the bone, the accounts of witnesses & the black & white stills really feel powerful & you will be drawn into the self-argument of believing or not believing, but there are a few downers here....
Further into the book the dialogue quoted by the author as conversation does not resemble what you would findin a one to one situation, & is expressed more as a boastful flow of Catholic knowledge.
Also, this author uses reviews from other periodicals & newspapers, which is great for the best part of evidence & research. However, when quoting articles from an item such as the Weekly World News - which is known for its stories on 'Batchild', & the 'talking, decapitated head of Abraham Lincoln'- one must question it's placein what is supposed to be a final memoir of a serious & disturbing memory.
No disrespect, this is a good read, but if like me you were looking to further your interestin the subject or prefer knowledge over fiction, this book will read to you like a stereotypical Hammer Horror script.
Best Read in the Daylignt in a Crowd - By: southpaw68, 01 Jul 2002 Author Sean Manchester is an interesting bloke, a Catholic priest of the Apostolic Church of Holy Grail who hunts vampires & is related to the literary giant Lord Byron. He even has some of Byron's romantic sensibilities & literary talent.
I was reading Highgate Vampirein the middle of the night alone & I began to hear every creakin the building & was looking over my shoulder for any sinister entities. Fictional horror accounts don't interest as much as one's that claim to be possibly real. This account seems real with all the newspaper accounts of the Highgate Vampire referred toin the book. Sometimes the account had a fictional feel to it, although I don't necessarily think that Manchester is stretching the truth.
The writing was fairly well done, although the account halfway is a factual investigation & halfway a gothic tale based on reality. If it would have been one or the other, I think the effect of the book would have been stronger. If it were wholly an investigation into the reality of vampires, it would have had more depth analytically. If it were a tale based on real events, it would have had more literary merit.
I thought it was a fascinating account since previously I thought vampires were just legend, but Manchester claims that they are something close to a familiar demonic spirit, which can act just like a previously alive person, butin reality is not the true spirit of that person.
Manchester offers information on how to handle vampires, (bring your holy water, incense, salt, garlic & silver crosses. It helps if your Catholic.) He warns though that amateur vampire hunters should not get involved unless they know a lot about hunting vampires first. Manchester talks about how a vampire must have a stake driven through its heart so that it will not keep biting victims & creating more potential undead.
Manchester has to deal with those who have taken the "left hand path", & deny the existence of vampires knowing full well that they exist, but wish to deceive the public into thinking that there is nothing to worry about, so they can continue their black arts.
Manchester is something of a atavistic romantic, hearkening back to the Middle Ages when people believedin vampires & had effective methods of dealing with them. He deplores this modern materialistic age that attempts to dismiss vampires as superstition when actually they can still exist & 'scientific types' are ignorant of the ways on how to deal with vampire epidemics. Such mysteries are hard for science to explain.
This is a good book for those wishing to explore the mystery of evil without getting caught up into the destructive lifestyle of the occult. A vampire, Manchester says, is a phenomenon that mocks the resurrection of Christ & his believers, giving a false, twilight life to a vampire that feeds on the blood of the living, rather than having received eternal life by the blood & crucifixion of Christ.
