Charles Cameron is known as the Godfather of Bizarre Magick. He was a founding member of the Edinburgh Magic Circle, created highly innovative spooky and macabre effects, authored influential books and articles on magic and the supernatural, and was revered by magicians across the world. Born in Edinburgh on Halloween 1927, Charles spent much of his life in the city before moving to a nearby village with his wife, Nan, and two daughters. Between 1976 and 1989, he worked as the curator of the Edinburgh Wax Museum, a highly popular tourist destination in the heart of the city that attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. Unfortunately, Nan passed away in 1994, and Charles moved back into Edinburgh a few years later. When Charles passed away in 2001, his partner, Alexandra Wallace, and magician, Karl Bartoni launched a campaign to erect a memorial bronze plaque at what had been the entrance to the Wax Museum. The campaign attracted a huge amount of support and the imposing plaque now acts as a lasting reminder of Charles’ remarkable achievements.
I came to Edinburgh University in the late 1980s to study for a doctorate in the psychology of the paranormal. Charles and I shared a love of the weird and uncanny, and we had many fascinating chats about Bizarre Magick. But Charles didn’t just talk the talk, he also walked the walk. He frequently performed macabre magic for the public and even created his own stage show: Castle Dracula. Unlike most Bizarre Magick, Castle Dracula was not presented as a spook show or séance. Instead, it was far more fantastical and fun. Unfortunately, little has been written about the precise nature of the show. Eugene Burger includes a photograph of Castle Dracula in his book Strange Ceremonies, Peter Zenner briefly describes the start of the show in the weekly magic magazine Abracadabra, and there are a handful of intriguing but fleeting references scattered across the internet.
I have always been curious about Castle Dracula. At Alexandra’s suggestion I contacted one of Charles’ closest magic friends, David Lees. David kindly shared some stories about the show, and urged me to contact Charles’ daughters, Lesley and Fiona. I was delighted to discover that both were in Edinburgh and that they had many of their father’s possessions, including a mysterious black scrapbook and associated ephemera dedicated to Castle Dracula! We met up and they kindly brought along this important archive containing some fascinating magical history.
The scrapbook is a portal to the past, and contains a remarkable treasure trove of photographs, newspaper cuttings, and marketing material. Together with the collection of scripts and programs, this material has not been shared with the magical community before and reveals some fascinating insights into the Castle Dracula show.