I thought I would repost the ghostly encounter I had previously blogged about in October 2006.

We go back to November 1991 and the place is London. To be more precise the place is Swain's Lane, Highgate N.6. I used to work at a community rehab unit near Parliament Hill Fields and I often walked to work from my flat just off the Archway Road. A lovely walk in the summer but on a cold, damp autumnal morning...I would walk briskly. There were a number of ways to get to work but the quickest one was via Swain's Lane. It was steep and quite narrow in parts and as you near the halfway point to your left is the East section of Highgate Cemetery. I have visited the cemetery many times as a legitimate visitor and as a kid who climbed over at night with his mates. It is fair to say that I had a pretty good knowledge of the cemetery.

This particular morning I was walking towards the cemetery gates when I spotted him. He was walking directly towards the gates and about 200 yards away from me. I don't know how I knew it, but I instinctively knew something was wrong. He was extremely tall, well over six feet in height and he was extremely thin. He wore a long black cape-like coat and a top hat. His dress looked Victorian in style and he appeared all black. He also carried a small package. However, he walked directly towards the gates which I and every other local knew was locked to prevent intruders gaining entry. I watched as he walked straight at and through the gates, not once altering his stride or reaching out to open the gates. I stood frozen to the spot and stared at the gates. I kept thinking "Those gates are locked.I know they are locked".

I walked towards the gates whilst keeping to the right-hand side of the road, keeping some distance between myself and the figure who had disappeared once he had entered the cemetery. The gates were securely chained and padlocked. To get in one would need the key or would have to climb over. I stared at the gates and I realised that I had seen someone not human and my instincts told me the figure I had seen was evil.It's funny what details stick in your mind because as well as his extreme height, thinness, the clothing and the blackness of the figure, he also appeared to glide and there was no sound. The ground was littered with leaves yet I heard no sound from him nor did he take any notice of me.

I have to confess I made it into work in record time and one of my colleagues stated "You look as though you've seen a ghost". When I told them what I had seen I was met with laughter and ridicule.

However, I know what I saw that morning and I remember it distinctly to this day. As to whether it was a vampire...I have absolutely no idea as to the existence of vampires although I do believe I saw an apparition. I also took another route to work for the next few months.

The reason for this entry is this ridiculous newspaper article where my story has ended up. I believe the story was pinched from this particular book. For the record, there is no such creature as a vampire and it might well be a ghostly figure which I saw. But I still have no explanation for it. The story behind the Highgate vampire also has a long running feud between the two protagonists who started it all back in the late sixties. It is worth having a quick google for them and the story but avoid getting caught up in the feud! Hence I shan't be mentioning their names on my blog as they do somehow crash into it. As for the 'panic'... absolute nonsense as there is no vampire and I am sure that one day we will have rational explanations for these strange phenomena. 

TTFN.