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Britain's Own Frederic Wertham – The Gorbals Vampire

Published Mon, 22 Mar 2010 06:31:38 -0500

Last updated Mon, 22 Mar 2010 10:05:48 -0500

It was a children's game that would garner headlines around the world and introduce some of the most anti-comics government legislation in the Western world.

Hundreds of young children in the Gorbals area of Glasgow were found running round a graveyard at night with knives and sticks hunting for a vampire with iron teeth, one September evening in 1954.

And when one policeman Alex Deeprose arrived, his report on the matter started a panic targetted at the influence of American horror comic books.

Of the seven foot vampire with iron teeth and a penchant for eating shooolboys there was no sign. But the legend of the Gorbal Vampire had somehow spread and this crowd of mini-Van Helsings were scouring the streets looking for him.

The blame was placed on the likes of EC's Tales From The Crypt and The Vault Of Horror, copies of which had entered the Glasgow ports, returned copies used as ballast rather than be pulped, and had become popular among some children.

There was no evidence that this creatire had appeared in any such comics, and it bore resemblance to a popular poem at the time, but the media and the public seized on these foreign cultural invaders as corrupting youth and the government was called upon to do something, the mood whipped up by a pressure group formed by an alliance of evangelical Christians, local Communist parties and teachers groups.

They introduced the Children and Young Persons (Harmful Publications) Act 1955 which banned the sale of such comics to children. Over the years this legislation woukd be used to seize comics and close down dealers and still has remnants in modern customs legislation which demands that horror comics be declared when entering the country.

The BBC are running a programme tomorrow on Radio 4 which looks at the origins of the act and the memories of the children involved – and it seems none of them had read such a comic at the time.

The Gorbals Vampire will be broadcast on Radio 4 on March 30th and will be available online here.

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