The Croglin Vampire

In the summer of 1875, a creature attacked Amelia Cranswell through the window of Croglin Low Hall in Cumberland. It had burning eyes, brown skin, and long nails that tore at her throat. Her brothers shot it as it fled. When the village searched an ancient vault, they found a corpse with a fresh bullet wound. The Croglin Vampire became one of England’s most famous vampire legends.

The Setting

Croglin Low Hall

The location:

• A small manor house in Cumberland (now Cumbria)
• In the village of Croglin
• Near the Scottish border
• Dating to the medieval period
• With an ancient churchyard nearby

The Cranswells

The tenants were:

• Three siblings from the south of England
• Amelia Cranswell and her two brothers
• They had recently rented the hall
• Seeking a quiet country retreat
• Unfamiliar with local legends

The First Attack

Summer 1875

On a hot summer night:

• Amelia couldn’t sleep
• She left her window open for air
• She watched the moonlit churchyard
• She noticed two lights among the graves
• They appeared to be eyes

The Approach

She watched as:

• A figure emerged from the churchyard
• It moved toward the house
• It approached her window
• She could see it clearly in the moonlight
• Brown, desiccated skin
• Long fingers with sharp nails
• Burning, luminous eyes

Frozen with Fear

Amelia:

• Tried to scream but couldn’t
• Wanted to run but was paralyzed
• Watched as the creature reached the window
• Heard it pick at the lead between the panes
• Saw it remove a pane of glass
• Watched its hand reach through

The Attack

The creature:

• Unlatched the window
• Opened it
• Entered the room
• Seized Amelia by the hair
• Bit her throat
• She finally screamed

Her Brothers’ Response

Edward and Michael Cranswell:

• Heard her screams
• Ran to her room
• Found the door locked
• Broke it down
• Saw the creature at her throat
• It fled through the window
• They saw it run toward the churchyard

Amelia’s Condition

She was:

• Wounded at the throat
• Bleeding but alive
• Traumatized
• Confined to bed for recovery
• Eventually sent to Switzerland to recuperate

The Second Attack

The Following Year

The Cranswells:

• Refused to be driven from their home
• Installed shutters on all windows
• Kept loaded pistols ready
• Resumed their lives
• Waited for the creature’s return

Winter 1876

On another night:

• Amelia heard scratching at her shutters
• She saw the same burning eyes through gaps
• She screamed for her brothers
• They responded immediately

The Chase

The brothers:

• Ran outside with pistols
• Saw the creature fleeing
• Michael fired
• He hit the creature in the leg
• It fell but continued crawling
• It escaped into the churchyard
• It disappeared among the graves

The Investigation

Following the Trail

The next morning:

• The brothers gathered villagers
• They followed a trail of blood
• It led to an ancient vault
• A family tomb in the churchyard
• Long unopened

Opening the Vault

Inside they found:

• Multiple coffins
• All disturbed and opened
• Bodies scattered and mutilated
• One coffin intact
• Containing a brown, mummified corpse
• With a fresh bullet wound in its leg

The Destruction

The villagers:

• Removed the corpse
• Burned it completely
• Destroyed the ashes
• No further attacks occurred
• The Croglin Vampire was ended

The Account’s Origin

Augustus Hare

The story was recorded by:

• Augustus Hare, a Victorian writer
• In his memoir The Story of My Life (1896)
• He claimed to have heard it firsthand
• From Captain Fisher, a friend
• Who knew the Cranswell family

The Fisher Account

Captain Fisher allegedly:

• Knew the true family (not named Cranswell)
• Visited Croglin himself
• Verified details of the attack
• Saw the bullet-damaged coffin
• Confirmed the story’s truth

Problems with the Story

Historical Issues

Researchers have found:

• Croglin Low Hall didn’t exist until 1680
• The churchyard is some distance from any hall
• No records of the Cranswell family
• No documentation of the events
• The geography doesn’t match

Variant Versions

Different tellings:

• Place the events in different years
• Change the family name
• Alter the number of attacks
• Modify the creature’s description
• Suggest earlier dates (some say 1680)

Hare’s Reliability

Augustus Hare:

• Was known for embellishing stories
• Collected folklore and ghost stories
• May have fictionalized the account
• Heard it secondhand
• Published it decades later

Possible Explanations

Pure Fiction

The Theory

• Hare invented or heavily modified the story
• It’s a Victorian gothic tale
• Based on other vampire legends
• No historical basis

Support

• Lack of contemporary documentation
• Geographical inconsistencies
• No verifiable Cranswell family
• Hare’s reputation for embellishment

Based on Real Events

The Theory

• Something happened at Croglin
• Details were changed or confused
• An attack occurred, nature uncertain
• The vampire element was added

Support

• The specificity of the account
• The claimed firsthand source
• Similar attacks documented elsewhere
• Vampire panic was real in history

Medical Explanation

The Theory

• A person with porphyria or similar condition
• Mental illness leading to attacks
• Misinterpreted as supernatural
• The “corpse” was coincidence

Escaped Lunatic

The Theory

• An escaped asylum patient
• Committed the attacks
• Was killed by the bullet
• Body placed in the vault
• Natural explanation

The Vampire Tradition

English Vampires

The Croglin case fits a pattern:

• British vampire accounts are rare
• This is one of the most famous
• It combines multiple tropes
• The burning eyes, the vault, the bullet

Comparison to European Lore

Similar to:

• Eastern European revenant traditions
• The necessity of burning the corpse
• The creature returning to its grave
• The community response

Croglin Today

The Village

Modern Croglin:

• Is a small village in Cumbria
• Has a church with an old graveyard
• Draws paranormal tourists
• The “Low Hall” location is debated
• The legend persists

Investigation Attempts

Researchers have:

• Searched parish records (nothing found)
• Examined possible hall sites
• Interviewed local families
• Never verified the story
• Never definitively debunked it

Legacy

Cultural Impact

The Croglin Vampire:

• Is one of England’s few vampire legends
• Appears in vampire compendiums
• Has inspired fiction
• Remains debated

The Pattern

The story follows classic structure:

• Isolated victim
• Supernatural attacker
• Ineffective first response
• Community action
• Destruction of the undead
• Resolution

The Question

In a Cumberland manor house, something came through the window.

It had burning eyes and withered skin. It drank blood. It fled to the graves.

When they opened the vault, they found what they were looking for - a corpse with a bullet wound that should have been centuries old.

They burned it. The attacks stopped.

Did it happen? Augustus Hare said it did. Captain Fisher said he knew the family. The details are specific enough to suggest something real.

But records are absent. The geography is wrong. The dates don’t match.

Perhaps something attacked a woman in Cumberland in the 1870s. Perhaps the vampire elements were added later. Perhaps the whole thing is Victorian fiction.

Or perhaps, in an ancient vault in a Cumberland churchyard, something once waited for night to fall.

Something that drank blood and couldn’t be stopped by bullets alone.

The Croglin Vampire. England’s most famous vampire case.

True or false, it captures something primal about our fear of the dead that won’t stay dead.

And in Croglin, the old churchyard still stands.

Waiting.