"Highgate Cemetery was built in 19th century and by the 1880s, the time of Dracula, was one of the most fashionable burying places in London."

 Considered by many who are familiar with Victorian London to be the model for the cemetery Bram Stoker used as the setting for the Westenra's family tomb, Highgate is crowded with "weeping marble angels, massive mausoleums, even a place called the Terrace Catacombs."

 With its gloomy, gothic atmosphere, Highgate is the type of cemetery loved by TV and movie companies, although they are now charged "a large fee" for the privilege of filming in the cemetery itself. However, in the not too distant past, Highgate Cemetery attracted the attention of another, less desirable type of visitor.

 Events were set in motion when Highgate fell out of favor as a cemetery around the end of WW2. Sections of it became overgrown to the point they were a haven for foxes, rats and other wildlife. Not only was it difficult for visitors to walk through the cemetery, especially the older sections, it was actually dangerous for them to do so.

 Inevitably, the rumors and stories of ghosts being seen and of secret ceremonies being held began to circulate. But these were tales typically told of old cemeteries and did not attract the unwanted attention Highgate was soon to receive. That attention came in the late 1960s when two girls, who were passing the cemetery, claimed they saw corpses rising from the graves. One of the girls began to exhibit symptoms similar to those suffered by Lucy Westenra once Dracula had made her his victim.

 As might be expected the number of sightings of a corpselike figure within the cemetery grew and the tales being told grew more elaborate, with one man telling of how the figure had actually knocked him down! Rumors began to spread that a vampire had risen in Highgate. Adding fuel to these rumors was the discovery of numerous bodies of dead animals (mostly foxes) within the grounds. Those who believed the vampire story scoffed at the idea that these animals had been killed by the caretaker's dog. They pointed out that the animals' bodies had been drained of blood, and discounted the idea that this had happened when the dog had dragged the bodies around.  

Naturally, the stories of a real vampire residing within gloomy Highgate attracted all types to the cemetery, among them Sean Manchester and David Farrant, and soon Highgate found itself overrun by vampire hunters and vandals.

 The damage done to Highgate Cemetery by some of these "visitors" was extensive. Fences were damaged, vaults were broken into, bodies were dragged out, and in one instance a corpse was actually dug up and burned. "In 1974, an architect, who made the mistake of parking near the cemetery one night, returned in the morning to find a headless corpse in his car."