Peruvians say Blackburn lady is a vamp

DRACULA'S bride, who comes from Blackburn, Lancashire, was due to rise from her grave in the Peruvian town of Pisco last night.

Witch doctors, local people and the world's press, armed with crucifixes and garlic, gathered by the graveyard to see the fulfilment of an 80-year-old curse allegedly made by Blackburnian vampire Sarah Helen Roberts. Expectant mothers have fled the town for fear of the vampire being reincarnated in their babies, and the gravedigger is said to be worried.

The town has sold out of anti-vampire kits (a crucifix, mallet, wooden stake and string of garlic for just pounds 1.60) since a television programme about vampires was broadcast in Peru some months ago. According to the legend, Roberts was sentenced to death in Blackburn on 9 June 1913 for practising witchcraft and then buried alive in a lead coffin.

Her husband, John Roberts, is said to have wandered the world for four years after her death seeking a country where the authorities would allow his wife to be buried. He is known to have arrived in Pisco, paid pounds 5 for his wife to be buried and then disappeared. Before she died, Roberts is said to have vowed to rise from the grave 80 years after her death.

The hysteria has been boosted by reports that cracks have appeared in Roberts's gravestone in the last few days.

However, bemused librarians in Blackburn revealed yesterday that Roberts had died in Peru. Her death notice was found in an old local paper. By late last night, nothing had happened. But Pisco's mayor, Edgar Nunez, was not worried - the town has enjoyed a 60 per cent jump in tourism. He even wants Pisco and Blackburn to become twin towns.