The Vampire of Croglin Grange
A Victorian writer told of a creature with glowing eyes that scratched at a window in Cumbria, then attacked a woman in her bed.
What was reported
In his memoir Story of My Life (1896), Augustus Hare retold a tale he said he'd heard from a Captain Fisherson: tenants of Croglin Grange, a house in Cumbria, saw a hideous figure with glowing eyes cross the lawn one summer night, scratch at a window and get in, attacking a young woman in her bed. She survived.
A year later, the story goes, the creature returned, was wounded and fled to a nearby churchyard vault, where it was found among broken coffins and destroyed.
Explanations offered
Researchers have found no house matching the description, no local record and no trace of the Fisherson family, though a nearby farmhouse, Croglin Low Hall, has been suggested. The tale may have been based on an older story, or simply invented. It remains one of the best-known English vampire tales.
- When
- Published in 1896
- Where
- Croglin, Cumbria, England
- Witnesses
- As told to the writer Augustus Hare
- Status
- Legend
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.