The Vampire of Croglin Grange by Augustus Hare

An intriguing account of vampirism was associated by a sure Captain Fisher, to Augustus Hare, who wrote of it within the Story of My Life. The Vampire of Croglin Grange is a vampire legend that was mentioned to have really taken place in Cumberland, England. The story first appeared in Story of My Life by Augustus Hare, written within the Eighteen Nineties. Hare claimed it was an precise story however when investigated, appeared similar to Varney the Vampire and when visiting the place, discovered many variations with the story.

The story tells the story about an previous home three siblings are renting. Throughout one summer season, the sister tries to sleep when an odd creature seems at her window and begins knocking on the window earlier than letting itself inside earlier than biting her.

The Vampire of Croglin Grange by Augustus Hare (1896)

“Fisher,” mentioned the Captain, “might sound a really plebeian title, however this household is of a really historic lineage, and for a lot of lots of of years they’ve possessed a really curious previous place in Cumberland, which bears the bizarre title of Croglin Grange. The good attribute of the home is that by no means at any interval of its very lengthy existence has it been multiple story excessive, but it surely has a terrace from which giant grounds sweep away in direction of the church within the hole, and a wonderful distant view.

“When, in lapse of years, the Fishers outgrew Croglin Grange in household and fortune, they had been sensible sufficient to not destroy the long-standing attribute of the place by including one other story to the home, however they went away to the south, to reside at Thorncombe close to Guildford, they usually let Croglin Grange.

“They had been extraordinarily lucky of their tenants, two brothers and a sister. They heard their praises from all quarters. To their poorer neighbours they had been all that’s most type and beneficent, and their neighbours of a better class spoke of them as a most welcome addition to the little society of the neighbourhood. On their half, the tenants had been tremendously delighted with their new residence. The association of the home, which might have been a trial to many, was not so to them. In each respect Croglin Grange was precisely suited to them.

“The winter was spent most fortunately by the brand new inmates of Croglin Grange, who shared in all of the little social pleasures of the district, and made themselves highly regarded. Within the following summer season there was at some point which was dreadfully, annihilatingly sizzling. The brothers lay below the timber with their books, for it was too sizzling for any energetic occupation. The sister sat within the veranda and labored, or tried to work, for within the intense sultriness of that summer season day, work was subsequent to inconceivable. They dined early, and after dinner they nonetheless sat out on the veranda, having fun with the cool air which got here with the night, they usually watched the solar set, and the moon rise over the belt of timber which separated the grounds from the churchyard, seeing it mount the heavens until the entire garden was bathed in silver mild, throughout which the lengthy shadows from the shrubbery fell as if embossed, so vivid and distinct had been they.

“After they separated for the night time, all retiring to their rooms on the bottom ground (for, as I mentioned, there was no upstairs in that home), the sister felt that the warmth was nonetheless so nice that she couldn’t sleep, and having mounted her window, she didn’t shut the shutters–in that very quiet place it was not vital–and, propped in opposition to the pillows, she nonetheless watched the fantastic, the marvellous fantastic thing about that summer season night time. Steadily she grew to become conscious of two lights, two lights which flickered out and in within the belt of timber which separated the garden from the churchyard, and, as her gaze grew to become fastened upon them, she noticed them emerge, fastened in a darkish substance, a particular ghastly one thing, which appeared each second to grow to be nearer, growing in dimension and substance because it approached. Now and again it was misplaced for a second within the lengthy shadows which stretched throughout the garden from the timber, after which it emerged bigger than ever, and nonetheless approaching. As she watched it, probably the most uncontrollable horror seized her. She longed to get away, however the door was near the window, and the door was locked on the within, and whereas she was unlocking it she have to be for an immediate nearer to it. She longed to scream, however her voice appeared paralysed, her tongue glued to the roof of her mouth.

“Out of the blue–she may by no means clarify why afterwards–the horrible object appeared to show to at least one aspect, gave the impression to be going spherical the home, to not be coming to her in any respect, and instantly she jumped away from bed and rushed to the door, however as she was unlocking it she heard scratch, scratch, scratch upon the window, and noticed a hideous brown face with flaming eyes obtrusive in at her. She rushed again to the mattress, however the creature continued to scratch, scratch, scratch upon the window.

She felt a form of psychological consolation within the data that the window was securely mounted on the within. Out of the blue the scratching sound ceased, and a type of pecking sound took its place. Then, in her agony, she grew to become conscious that the creature was unpicking the lead! The noise continued, and a diamond pane of glass fell into the room. Then an extended bony finger of the creature got here in and turned the deal with of the window, and the window opened, and the creature got here in; and it got here throughout the room, and her terror was so nice that she couldn’t scream, and it got here as much as the mattress, and it twisted its lengthy, bony fingers into her hair, and it dragged her head over the aspect of the mattress, and–it bit her violently within the throat.

“Because it bit her, her voice was launched, and he or she screamed with all her may and most important. Her brothers rushed out of their rooms, however the door was locked on the within. A second was misplaced whereas they received a poker and broke it open. Then the creature had already escaped by means of the window, and the sister, bleeding violently from a wound within the throat, was mendacity unconscious over the aspect of the mattress. One brother pursued the creature, which fled earlier than him by means of the moonlight with gigantic strides, and ultimately appeared to vanish over the wall into the churchyard. Then he rejoined his brother by the sister’s bedside. She was dreadfully damage, and her wound was a really particular one, however she was of robust disposition, not even given to romance or superstition, and when she got here to herself she mentioned, ‘What has occurred is most extraordinary and I’m very a lot damage. It appears inexplicable, however in fact there’s a proof, and we should await it. It can prove {that a} lunatic has escaped from some asylum and located his method right here.’ The wound healed, and he or she appeared to get nicely, however the physician who was despatched for to her wouldn’t imagine that she may bear so horrible a shock so simply, and insisted that she will need to have change, psychological and bodily; so her brothers took her to Switzerland.

“Being a smart lady, when she went overseas she threw herself without delay into the pursuits of the nation she was in. She dried vegetation, she made sketches, she went up mountains, and as autumn got here on, she was the one who urged that they need to return to Croglin Grange. ‘We’ve taken it,’ she mentioned, ‘for seven years, and we now have solely been there one; and we will at all times discover it troublesome to let a home which is just one story excessive, so we had higher return there; lunatics don’t escape daily.’ As she urged it, her brothers wished nothing higher, and the household returned to Cumberland. From there being no upstairs in the home it was inconceivable to make any nice change of their preparations. The sister occupied the identical room, however it’s pointless to say she at all times closed the shutters, which, nonetheless, as in many elderly homes, at all times left one high pane of the window uncovered. The brothers moved, and occupied a room collectively, precisely reverse that of their sister, they usually at all times stored loaded pistols of their room.

“The winter handed most peacefully and fortunately. Within the following March, the sister was instantly woke up by a sound she remembered solely too nicely–scratch, scratch, scratch upon the window, and, trying up, she noticed, climbed as much as the topmost pane of the window, the identical hideous brown shrivelled face, with obtrusive eyes, trying in at her. This time she screamed as loud as she may. Her brothers rushed out of their room with pistols, and out of the entrance door.

The creature was already scudding away throughout the garden. One of many brothers fired and hit it within the leg, however nonetheless with the opposite leg it continued to make method, scrambled over the wall into the churchyard, and appeared to vanish right into a vault which belonged to a household lengthy extinct.

“The following day the brothers summoned all of the tenants of Croglin Grange, and of their presence the vault was opened. A horrible scene revealed itself. The vault was filled with coffins; that they had been damaged open, and their contents, horribly mangled and distorted, had been scattered over the ground. One coffin alone remained intact. Of that the lid had been lifted, however nonetheless lay free upon the coffin. They raised it, and there, brown, withered, shrivelled, mummified, however fairly total, was the identical hideous determine which had seemed in on the home windows of Croglin Grange, with the marks of a latest pistol-shot within the leg: they usually did the one factor that may lay a vampire–they burnt it.”

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