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EARTHDATE: March 28, 2010

Official News page 6


REAL LIFE NEWS: HOW CHILD VAMPIRE HUNTERS GOT COMICS BANNED

by Hazed

Here's a fascinating piece of local history. Back in 1954, a group of children in Glasgow were convinced that a vampire stalked their local graveyard - and their actions fuelled demands for a ban on nasty, dangerous, imported American comics.

The story of the child vampire hunters made headlines around the world and caused a moral panic. It started when Police Constable Alex Deeprose was called to the Southern Necropolis one evening. He discovered a huge mob of children - hundreds of them, aged from four to 14, some of them armed with knives and sharpened sticks, patrolling the graveyard in search of a vampire. The 7ft tall beast had iron teeth, and had already kidnapped and eaten two local boys, or so the kids believed.

Despite denials from authority figures such as the police and a local headmaster, the children continued to show up every night for several days, all of them convinced the vampire was real.

Reporters knew of no children who had vanished or been killed, so they wanted to discover how this urban legend had started. They quickly found someone to blame: American comic books such as Tales from the Crypt and The Vault of Horror. Oooh, spooky! These comics had graphic images of terrifying monsters and were becoming increasingly popular amongst Scottish youngsters. So of course they were corrupting the youth of Glasgow, and therefore must be banned.

The public frenzy demanded action be taken - despite the fact that none of the comics featured anything like the Gorbals Vampire! And so the government banned the sale of horror comics to kids.

You can read the whole fascinating tale of the child vampire hunters here.

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