Child Vampire Hunters from 1950s Glasgow

Back in the 1950s some children in Glasgow mounted a massive Vampire Hunt in a Glasgow Cemetery.

Their interest in Vampires was blamed on the influence of American Comics, which is the theme of this article.

The idea of all these little kids, some as young as four - surely the forerunners of some of us - running around a graveyard at night armed with sharpened sticks and seriously expecting to stake an enormous iron-toothed vampire made me smile.

I grew up on comics and loved to spend hours in a decrepit old comic shop browsing for ancient American Comics. Some of the adverts for amazing products were almost as entertaining as the stories themselves.

This article points out that the children were more likely to have been influenced by a local myth and possibly a story of an iron-toothed monster found in the Bible, which seems fair to me.

Was anyone here a member of this intrepid gang? I'd love to think that they were all budding ATSers.

news.bbc.co.uk...

When Pc Alex Deeprose was called to Glasgow's sprawling Southern Necropolis on the evening of 23 September 1954, he expected to be dealing with a simple case of vandalism.

Titles like Tales from the Crypt were accused of corrupting young children
But the bizarre sight that awaited him was to make headlines around the world and cause a moral panic that led to the introduction of strict new censorship laws in the UK.
Hundreds of children aged from four to 14, some of them armed with knives and sharpened sticks, were patrolling inside the historic graveyard.

They were, they told the bemused constable, hunting a 7ft tall vampire with iron teeth who had already kidnapped and eaten two local boys.
Fear of the so-called Gorbals Vampire had spread to many of their parents, who begged Pc Deeprose for assurances there was no truth to the rumours.
Newspapers at the time reported that the headmaster of a nearby primary school told everyone present that the tale was ridiculous, and police were finally able to disperse the crowd.

But the armed mob of child vampire hunters was to return immediately after sunset the following night, and the night after that.

Ronnie Sanderson, who was an eight-year-old schoolboy in the Gorbals area of the city when the vampire scare was at its height, described how Chinese whispers in the schoolyard escalated into full-blown panic.
He recalled: "It all started in the playground - the word was there was a vampire and everyone was going to head out there after school.
"At three o'clock the school emptied and everyone made a beeline for it. We sat there for ages on the wall waiting and waiting. I wouldn't go in because it was a bit scary for me.

Ronnie Sanderson (left) and Tam Smith joined the vampire hunters
"I think somebody saw someone wandering about and the cry went up: 'There's the vampire!'
"That was it - that was the word to get off that wall quick and get away from it.
"I just remember scampering home to my mother: 'What's the matter with you?' 'I've seen a vampire!' and I got a clout round the ear for my trouble. I didn't really know what a vampire was."
There were no records of any missing children in Glasgow at the time, and media reports of the incident began to search for the origins of the urban myth that had gripped the city.
The blame was quickly laid at the door of American comic books with chilling titles such as Tales From The Crypt and The Vault of Horror, whose graphic images of terrifying monsters were becoming increasingly popular among Scottish youngsters.

(This is a long article and I've only posted half of it).

I found this photo of school children from the 1950s by doing a Google search - it's not the actual kids involved, but the smaller ones wouldn't have looked much different from this:



Can you imagine this lot charging at you with table legs and the odd sharpened plank from an old orange box?


[edit on 22-3-2010 by berenike]

Was just going to post this story and you beat me to it. I find it hilarious but I expect a lot of these kids were pretty scared. Very brave though, trying to tackle a vampire without adult help.

I'm Scottish too and this story takes me back, not to vampires in 1954 but to about 1972 to 76 when on occasion some folk at school would scream "the Hell's Angels are coming." Half the school would arm themselves with knives out of the school dining hall and sticks from the bushes behind the school wall, and we'd march off to find them during lunch break. The little five-year olds would be in hysterics and herded into the bike sheds with a couple of older kids to protect them and calm them down. We didn't even know what a hell's angel was. We felt invincible and had a very important job to do though. I expect the Gorbals Vampire hunters felt the same.

p.s. I wonder if ours was a local myth too, or one that had spread over to us from somewhere else - maybe from the Gorbals Vampire Hunters of 1954?

What a fascinating story S+F

I think it also demonstrates an element of innocence and honour... The fact that they believed the story shows their innocence... and the fact that they felt the need to arms themselves and deal with the monster (in order to protect other children) shows the honour.



reply to post by wigit

I'm Scottish too and this story takes me back, not to vampires in 1954 but to about 1972 to 76 when on occasion some folk at school would scream "the Hell's Angels are coming." Half the school would arm themselves with knives out of the school dining hall and sticks from the bushes behind the school wall, and we'd march off to find them during lunch break. The little five-year olds would be in hysterics and herded into the bike sheds with a couple of older kids to protect them and calm them down. We didn't even know what a hell's angel was. We felt invincible and had a very important job to do though. I expect the Gorbals Vampire hunters felt the same.

This story made me smile... A golden age of childhood when our imaginations would take us on amazing adventures allowing us to act out feats of bravery and daring... There is no computer game on the planet that can beat that!!!

What a shame today’s children are losing there imaginations to the digital realm!!


[edit on 22-3-2010 by Muckster]

Ah the foibles of youth eh?

Can't say I ever ventured down to the Southside when I was a bairn but Antonine wall at Ruchill was certainly a blazing playground for kids of all ages.

Be they Young Barnes Road, the Young Ruchill Boys, Posso Fleeto, The Valley, Gilshochill or Cadder.

Running The Miley and chucking stones at who you found were part and parcel of growing up.

Don't think kids could get away with half the stuff we used to do when we were their age.

-m0r

Haha. "The Gorbals Vampire".

I still see a few of those undead looking, ashen faced creatures wandering aimlessly in the Gorbals after dark. Only now they ask for 10p.....

Originally posted by m0r1arty

Don't think kids could get away with half the stuff we used to do when we were their age.

-m0r

I hope the BBC never decide to make a programme about my antics

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Wouldn't it be marvellous if one of those kids was the parent of John Smeaton who helped to apprehend the Glasgow Airport bombers? He's from Erskine, Renfrewshire - so not a million miles away.

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Just in case anyone missed this bit in the part of the article I didn't quote:
"The Gorbals Vampire will be broadcast on BBC Radio 4 at 2300 GMT on Tuesday 30 March, and will be available on BBC iPlayer".




[edit on 22-3-2010 by berenike]

This could well be the beast they were looking for -



The famous beast of Govan. Rab C Nesbitt."yer wee bastard so yer are"

[edit on 22-3-2010 by andy1972]