Long-standing residents could not easily forget the frenzy surrounding the ghostly sightings of the Highgate vampire in the 1970s – even though they might wish to.

Though vampire sightings in Highgate Cemetery may be a thing of the past, author Della Farrant is set to expose “the dark underbelly of Highgate” once more through a website launched today.

The website, Hidden Highgate, gives fans of the paranormal a platform to share their spooky experiences and features an interactive map detailing haunted hotspots in the village.

“Highgate’s got a lot more ghosts than it’s given credit for,” said Mrs Farrant, who lives in a “haunted” house in Muswell Hill Road.

“When you read the history books, it’s ‘Keats lived here and Coleridge visited here’, which is all valid.

“But there’s another side of Highgate’s history, the slum dwellings and cholera outbreaks, body snatching, murders and stuff that’s gone on over the centuries, which has kind of been forgotten about.

“It’s exposing a dark underbelly of Highgate, which gets brushed under the carpet.”

Mrs Farrant is married to David Farrant, the president of the British Psychic and Occult Society, who achieved notoriety in the 1970s because of his involvement in the alleged sighting of a Highgate Cemetery vampire, a Ham&High’exclusive’ which resulted in an international media frenzy.

She has set up the website as a precursor to her book, Haunted Highgate, to be published next Halloween.

“I had too much information for the book and it seemed a shame to waste it,” the 35-year-old said.

She hopes the website will act as a database to store people’s stories, which could reveal how certain environments might influence ghost sightings.

Mrs Farrant added: “It’s a fun resource for the community. It’s not heavy. People do believe in the supernatural but don’t like to talk about it, so they can always share their experience on the site.”

Visit www.hidden-highgate.org.