The Re-Post with Iron Teeth: The Gorbals Vampire Myth

There's an endless amount of confusion swirling around in the news lately about The Gorbals Vampire origin (thanks BBC), as well as recent misinformation on a couple of worthy comic book related blogs. Wading through it all it became obvious to me: time to drag out the Hy Fleishman tale "The Vampire with Iron Teeth" again.

I originally posted the scans below here at THOIA last year (CLICK HERE for that post), yet somehow over 6 months later this still isn't enough proof that a bunch of comic book spooked school kids in 1954 started The Gorbals Vampire legend (?!) People for years have blamed horror comics on this now famous incident, the same incident that sparked the enforcement of new comic book censorship laws in Scotland. But equally lame are the conspiracy kooks who for decades have claimed that "vampires are real" and that no such comic book story about a "vampire with iron teeth" ever existed, so this lingering doubt in Glasgow persisted, only adding more fuel to the vampire myth. It seems wild to me that until I posted this story back in Sept '09, no one up to that point in 60+ years had ever managed to find a copy of this comic book or come forth with it as proof--- I even have the thanks of one John Maclean of the Glasgow Press who says THOIA's post officially puts an end to all the theories that have plagued Glasgow for over half a century!

So if you're unaware of the full, fascinating story, CLICK HERE first, and then check out the scans. Seriously people, there are no such things as vampires. And this did not originate from a horror movie, or an EC story... though it could have possibly come from the bible, right?

Nah. It came from the 1953 issue of Dark Mysteries #15.








UPDATE: Artist Hy Fleishman's daughter Roberta has left a comment at the BBC Radio Scotland Blog:

At 12:27pm on 25 Mar 2010, Roberta Fleishman wrote:

I was first informed of this 1954 story last fall. I was in contact with John Maclean of the Glasgow Press who was convinced that a comic book story for which my father was the artist - "The Vampire With Iron Teeth", Dark Mysteries #15, 1953 - was the source for the hysteria that day. Whether or not the comic book story was the impetus for the response by the school children, the reaction to censor comic books was no different than the same response in America during the 1954 Kefauver hearings in the United States Senate. Also Steve Banes in his blog http://thehorrorsofitall.blogspot.com/ comments about the connection between the gorbals vampire and the 1953 Dark Mysteries story. I think there is more to the connection between the comic book and the September 1954 reaction in Glasgow than previous investigators have realized. Roberta Fleishman

Find out more on April 12th when BBC Radio Scotland airs The Gorbals Vampire story, or leave your own thoughts and comments at the BBC by clicking HERE!

Additional links about The Gorbals Vampire:
http://www.southernnecropolis.co.uk/page71.html

http://www.randomhouse.co.uk/catalog/book.htm?command=Search&db=main.txt&eqisbndata=1905211627

http://www.heraldscotland.com/sport/spl/aberdeen/the-gorbals-vampire-hunt-1.623152