A Lancashire Vampire in Peru
One grave in the local cemetery in Pisco, a fishing town in southern Peru has a strange legend behind it. The grave holds the remains of Sarah Roberts, a Lancashire woman who died in 1913 and who was reputed to be one of the brides of Dracula.
According to the locals, Sarah was condemned as a witch and vampire by officials from Blackburn, Lancashire in June 1913. She was flung alive into her lead-lined coffin, but before the lid was shut, she cursed her judges and swore vengeance- an event that was to occur rather curiously in 1993. Fearful of the threats, Sarah was forbidden burial in any of the local graveyards, leaving her husband was left to wander the world until Pisco eventually took her. After this, he disappeared mysteriously, never to be seen again.
In 1993, there was an earthquake in Pisco. Sarah’s grave was one of the few to survive the quake intact all except for the gravestone that cracked. This was enough to give the legend new life. Pregnant women avoided the cemetery for fear that their unborn children would become a vehicle for the vampire’s spirit. Other braver individuals ‘staked’ out the standard tools of the vampire hunter just in case Sarah decided to reappear.
The supposed bride of Dracula was conspicuous by her absence-probably because she was a simple cotton weaver. Records show that Sarah Roberts was born, bred and married in Lancashire with no other incident. When her brother-in-law moved to Lima to manage a cotton mill, Sarah and her family visited him- and it was on one of those trips that Sarah died. The only thing that was resurrected in 1993 was her peculiar legend, which arose because of misunderstanding, ignorance and an environmental disaster.
As for her grieving husband, his disappearance is no great mystery. He simply returned to Lancashire and opened a grocery shop.