Part 2:
Her two brothers came running from down the hallway, only to find the door locked. They succeeded in opening. By the time they got into the room, the
creature had already fled and was making its way across the lawn toward the churchyard. Amelia was unconscious on the bed; she was bleeding profusely
from a wound on her neck.
One of the brothers gave chase across the lawn, but the creature outran him with ease and scaled the wall in what seemed like a single bound. He
called of the chase to go back and aid his brother with his sister. She was bleeding heavily from her throat, but they managed to stop the bleeding
and stabilize her. Amelia survived the attack, and they moved away temporarily to Switzerland to help put the experience behind them before returning
to Croglin Hall, actually at the insistence of Amelia.
She returned to her room, overlooking the lawn, but this time, the brothers moved into adjacent rooms across the hallway, and the bedroom doors where
kept unlocked. Two loaded pistols were kept on a table in the hallway. It wasn’t long before she witnessed the two points of light making their way
across the lawn again, and saw the same wrinkled and hideous face at her window. This time the scream came effortlessly, and the two brothers came
running to her aid, only this time, one grabbed a pistol and ran straight out side to see the creature running across the lawn. He took aim and fired,
hitting it in the leg. It stumbled and faltered. He ran after it. The creature scaled the high wall, to high for Amelia’s brother to scale quickly,
so he ran around the outside, losing precious seconds as he did so. He followed the creature into the churchyard, at a distance and watched it closely
to see which vault it would go into. Alone and with an emptied pistol, he decided to head back to the hall and return upon daybreak.
The next day, the brothers and some of the locals went to the spot in the graveyard where the creature had vanished. Upon opening the vault they found
caskets that had been broken open and the contents mutilated. There was one casket that appeared to be undisturbed, and upon opening it, found a
withered corpse inside, identical to the description Amelia had given. The creature had a wound on it’s leg. One of the brothers produced a pocket
knife and probed inside the would, producing a multi-colored mini-ball. The brother recognized it as one of the pistol balls he bought while in
Switzerland…
The casket and its contents were dragged outside and it was set alight, thus bringing an end to the Croglin Vampire.
So, a nail biting story eh? To be honest with you, I’m really not sure how much of it is fact (with the exception of the location), and how much is
fiction, considering that the tail has elements that are very close to the penny dreadful story of
‘
Varney The Vampyre.
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/0e6233ad263b.gif[/atsimg]
A note on www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk also mentions:
‘Recent research by Lionel Fanthorpe suggests that the story is much older than reported. A chapel and vault closer to the house were demolished
in Cromwells day, and a second storey was added to the house after this date. So the description from the story matches much better in the 17th
century.’
I actually found this place many years ago while on holiday in the Lake District. The village, although beautiful, is a little disappointing,
especially after reading the account of the vampire. Also, I couldn’t see anything that would look like Croglin Hall. Further research shows that
Croglin Hall is actually a little ways outside the village, which would throw the belt of trees/lawn/graveyard vicinity out of whack, unless maybe
they sold off some of the land?? Have a look at this view and you’ll see what I mean:
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/93fe3f6e7de4.jpg[/atsimg]
So, what do you think? Was the ‘Beast of Croglin Grange’ a tall story, or the truth…?
Croglin church:
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/114f13edb1bf.jpg[/atsimg]