The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David Farrant
LONDON 1969, AND WIDE REPORTS WERE COMING INTO the British Psychic and Occult Society concerning a tall black apparition that had been seen lurking among the tombs of London’s Highgate Cemetery. Most of these reports were from people who claimed to have been confronted by this apparition which invariably took the form of a tall dark figure and petrified people both in, or passing, the cemetery. Where possible, most of these reports were followed up but unfortunately (as is frequently the case in psychic investigations) many turned out to be vague repetition of local gossip or the result of unqualified rumour.|
Eventually a man was traced, however, who claimed to have had a first-hand encounter with this phenomenon, although he requested that his name be withheld to avoid his account from being subjected to ridicule. According to this person (referred to here as ‘Thornton’), he had been ‘hypnotized’ by ‘something’ in the cemetery after he had gone there late one afternoon to look around.
As the light began to fail he decided to leave, but somehow, he became hopelessly lost. Not being a superstitious person or even believing in the existence of ghosts, he walked calmly around looking for the gate when he suddenly became aware of the presence of something behind him. Swinging around, less than six feet away, he saw a tall dark spectre hovering just above the ground. He found himself transfixed to the spot completely unable to move; drained of energy by some powerful ‘hypnotic force’ that in a matter of seconds rendered him unconscious to any sense of time or his surroundings. So great was the intensity of this force, that he remained like this for several minutes (or what seemed like several minutes) before the spectre abruptly vanished and he slowly regained his normal faculties.
Recalling the incident afterwards, Thornton said that it was almost as if some force of terribly evil proportions had actually sought him out with the intention of doing serious harm.
This account was intriguing. Thornton was a sincere and logical person and not the type liable to fantasy or exaggeration. (His profession as an accountant by itself suggested that his interests lay in things of a logical nature.) That he had seen ‘something’, there seemed little doubt, but what was especially interesting was that he had described the entity as ‘seeking him out’ and actually trying to cause physical harm; an uncommon occurrence with reports of ghostly confrontations when ghosts themselves are rarely reported as exercising any physical control over their human counterparts. It was a fair conclusion that the phenomenon was definitely malevolent by nature.
Several more people were interviewed in the following weeks, but again, most of these accounts turned out to be second-hand reports or exaggeration of what by now had become an already established rumour.
An exception to this, however, was one old lady who claimed she had been frightened by a ‘tall dark man’ who floated at her from within the cemetery gates. She had been walking her dog late one night but as she approached the gates of the cemetery, it started to howl and tried to retreat. She looked up and saw a figure with ‘glaring eyes’ staring at her. In a matter of seconds, it promptly vanished.
This account was also entered on the Society’s files, but it seemed the next step to obtaining more precise information was to visit Highgate Cemetery in daylight to check the sites of the phenomenon’s reputed appearances and perhaps discover some clues that could have otherwise accounted for its presence.
This visit was made by the author who had taken a personal interest in the case, although it turned out to be disappointing as nothing significant was found that offered any explanation – by way of a hoax or otherwise – for the two sightings.
I arrived at the cemetery in the morning and spent several hours there. It was the first time I had been there for over two years and the increase in vandalism was immediately apparent. Vaults had been broken open and coffins quite literally smashed apart. One vault near the top gate (although not visible from outside it) was wide open and one could see the remains of a skeleton where it had been wrenched from a coffin. Another vault on the main pathway had been thus entered and one of the coffins inside, set alight. Although this vault had been padlocked and chained, the door was made up of an iron grill and the vandalised coffin was available for all to see. Furthermore, it appeared that virtually no attempt had been made to repair any of the damage.
A strange thing that was discovered was a freshly dead fox lying in the middle of a main pathway. This was puzzling because there were no outward signs betraying the cause of death, and besides, a wounded animal would usually have crawled away and hidden itself if it sensed impending death.
All this, however, came no nearer to solving the mystery of the black apparition. Indeed, apart from rumour and other unsubstantiated local stories, the only real ‘evidence’ were the testimonies of just two people, and it seemed the only way to credit their accounts (or discredit them as the case may be) and thereby justify a full investigation, was to spend a night in the cemetery to see if the phenomenon – or whatever it was – could be witnessed. The place where Thornton had been confronted inside the cemetery seemed an appropriate place as it was secluded and there was no risk of being seen by anybody happening by the top gate – the place where the old lady had seen the entity. The date chosen was December 21st – the eve of the winter Solstice and a traditional time (due to the maximum hours of darkness) when potent psychic forces have easy access to the ‘earthly plane’. That the entity may be dangerous from a psychic point of view, was a fact not overlooked. But I was confident that previous experiences with potentially malevolent psychic forces would enable me to deal with any such possibility.
Around 11 PM on the proposed night, I set off for the cemetery. It was a bitterly cold night and the surrounding area was deserted. Walking down the narrow lane that ran alongside the cemetery, there was a sudden awareness of some ‘alien presence’. This was difficult to define, except in so far as there was a distinct impression of no longer being alone.
Reaching the top gate and preparing to scale this, I decided to wait a couple of minutes with the intention of perhaps noticing some material object through the gate (such as a shadow cast by a tomb-stone or from a tree moving in the wind), that could have otherwise accounted for the old lady’s phantom.
Peering through the rusty bars of the gate scrutinizing the pervading darkness, objects near the gate itself lining the pathway, were fairly easy to discern. But after 20 yards or so the path disappeared into impenetrable blackness. Staring into this, perhaps due to some trick of the light, there was a distinct impression of ‘something moving’. What appeared one minute to be a definite black shape or shadow, would suddenly alter its form or change in density. The wind moving through the undergrowth was probably the cause of this, but it was equally feasible that this could have been the cause of the ‘black apparition’ seen by the old woman.
To the right of the path, some large animal was scurrying through the undergrowth. Then suddenly, something caught my eye and looking up, just inside not 5 yards from the gate and clearly visible, was a tall dark shape.
Instinctively, my conscious mind rejected this figure as being supernatural. It was more consoling to assume that it was somebody wandering through the cemetery; notwithstanding that the figure appeared to be over seven feet tall. Any immediate doubts were soon dispelled when I saw two reddish eyes meeting my gaze from a ‘black mass’ at the top of the shape, which I took to be its ‘head’. But these eyes were not human, rather reflected some ‘alive presence’; they were dull and penetrating like some hungry wolf, although the rest of ‘it’ had no discernable features, apart from a vague ‘human’ shape.
The whole situation seemed unreal – like some unwanted dream – but with determined effort, I tore my gaze away realising that the entity was malevolent and that I had come under psychic attack. Without warning, the figure then suddenly vanished, and it appeared that for the moment, at least, the entity had retreated . . .
Part 2
An Investigation
THE NEXT MEETING OF THE BRITISH PSYCHIC AND OCCULT SOCIETY was mainly occupied by arranging an investigation into the Highgate Cemetery affair now that it could be reasonably assumed that at least some of the reports might be authentic.
It was decided that a continuous nightly vigil would take place at the cemetery, two Society members at a time being stationed in turn at the two places where the apparition had been seen to appear. Cameras and tape recorders would be set up, but as yet, no ‘psychic means’ – such as conducting a seance, for example – would be employed to bring about the entity’s materialization. This was because, it was concluded that in the initial stages of the investigation, the gathering of evidence and observation, were of greater importance than any attempt to make direct psychic contact – especially because of the entity’s apparently malignant disposition. Instead, the cemetery’s history would be checked out; in particular, sightings of any other unusual phenomena in the area that might be in some way connected. Anyone who laid claim to witnessing the entity would be interviewed and statements kept of their accounts. To obtain details of other sightings, it was agreed that a short and ‘non-alarmist’ letter be sent to a local paper inviting people to tell of any genuine experiences so that any subscribers could be interviewed first hand.
When the investigation proper began in January 1970, I undertook the task of checking the cemetery’s history. Some interesting things came to light … First, it became apparent that stories of an apparition at Highgate Cemetery had by no means begun with the current sightings. Indeed, similar tales dated back to the Victorian era and, interestingly enough, many of them had ‘vampiristic’ connotations.
Perhaps the reason for this was that Stoker himself had possibly been influenced by the existence of ‘something’ in Highgate Cemetery. When he wrote his unique book Dracula, he makes direct reference to Highgate Cemetery (or at least, an area in the close proximity of Highgate Cemetery) as being the last resting place of one of Count Dracula’s disciples.
Although Stoker may have also been influenced by the eerie case of Elizabeth Siddal who died in 1855 and who was buried in Highgate Cemetery. In 1862, her body was exhumed by a distraught relative anxious to retrieve some poems said to have been buried with her. A witness present, Charles Augustus Howell, described the ‘awesome sight’ of the undecayed body with ‘luxuriant red-gold hair’ that ‘practically filled the coffin’ – the implication being that Elizabeth was ‘Undead’, or in a state of catalepsy.
One of the common tales of that time also told of a ‘tall man dressed in black’ who used to disappear mysteriously through the cemetery wall. It was especially interesting to note the similarity between the Victorian sightings and the present day manifestations – especially as there was approximately 100 years difference between the two. If nothing else, this provided proof that the cemetery had been reputedly haunted for some time.
But perhaps most interesting was the ‘vampire-like element’ that had crept into these stories. Although it was difficult to pin-point the reasons or origins from whence the vampire legend came, it had nevertheless become an integral part of the cemetery’s supernatural traditions. The Victorians, with their deep-rooted fears of the unknown and self-righteous attitudes towards religion, morals and death, may have contributed towards establishing – or perhaps re-establishing – a legend that was already in existence.
Whatever the case, it is reasonable to suppose that the Highgate phenomenon could have been connected with stories of vampirism.
Something obviously gave substance to the original sightings, though whether this ‘something’ was occult in origin or had a rational explanation that had been dismissed by some superstitious mind, was only debatable. One thing seemed certain, however: whatever formed the foundation of the original sightings, predated the Victorian era. To begin with, Stoker’s reference to the immediate area in connection with ‘vampires’ almost certainly suggests that he was familiar with the local tales by then already in existence. But there was another fact to substantiate this. It dated back to the 15th century when Highgate was used as a mass burial ground for victims of the Great Plague. Highgate was probably chosen for this purpose as it was then an accessible outlying village within convenient range of London; far enough away to reduce the risk of further contamination. These unfortunate victims were brought out in cartloads from the Old City and deposited in an area which is now known as ‘Church Yard Bottom’, in Highgate’s Queen’s Wood.
All this, of course, was no more than historical fact. But what was interesting here was the possibility that the Plague deaths could have been the cause of many stories of vampirism. Basically, these burials were carried out quickly and in bulk and in all probability some people were buried whilst still alive – or in a cataleptic state.
Yet to return to the present day, the investigation also uncovered another fact of great significance, which alone possibly provided the key the current spate of hauntings. Exploration, and subsequent photographs taken in the cemetery, confirmed beyond doubt that Satanic masses had been taking place there. Furthermore, it became apparent that these masses had been conducted with great professional style (some in a maze of catacombs that ran beneath the cemetery) and were not the work of misguided amateurs.
One particular tomb hidden deep within the heart of the cemetery (in fact, a small mausoleum with a marble floor but which contained no coffins), had been converted into a small Temple, and, judging from the inverted pentagram and magical symbols inscribed on the floor and walls, was in regular usage. But more significant still, was the fact that the particular magical signs and symbols used, could only be applicable in a Rite dedicated to one of the most malign Deities to rule amongst the Old Kings of Hell and that such a Rite could only be performed by the highest of adepts, for no amateur would be capable of calling forth this Deiform.
In fact, in accordance with Satanic belief, this entity could only be summoned to the earthly plane if it was to perform some mission, and could not ‘return’ until that mission had been fulfilled.
Yet most important here, (and as I stated at the time), the fact that the cemetery was being thus used by dedicated Satanists, might also have a direct bearing on the frequently witnessed spectre. For just as this Deity might be invoked to visible appearance by means of a magical ritual, so might other forms of evil entities that might remain permanently ‘earth-bound’.
It was therefore quite feasible to assume that the cemetery phenomenon was an evil entity that had been summoned up as the direct result of a Satanic ritual or alternatively, that the Satanists had succeeded in ‘awakening’ the latter-day vampire which had laid dormant for so long.
Whatever the case, it was evident that the Force (or Forces) being dealt with was malignly supernatural and protective measures may eventually have to be taken to safeguard against psychic attack.
Such a possibility was not taken lightly, in view of the apparent performance of the entity so far and the added frequency of its appearances.
Already, just two weeks after the investigation had started, two of the nightly watchers spotted it again on two separate occasions.
The first time, it appeared behind two Society members on watch at the ‘Thornton spot’. Swinging around as if compelled by some over-whelming impulse, they both saw the entity hovering behind, but just as abruptly, it disappeared. Again, two other members saw it through the top gate on their way to keep the nightly vigil. On neither occasion, however, did the entity appear for more than a couple of seconds. It was almost as if it ‘knew’ it was being hunted down and had no intention of allowing anybody to fire flash-guns at it.
It should be said here that – contrary to popular belief – some types of supernatural phenomena, albeit not apparently discernable in the normal sense, can be photographed and there was every indication that the Highgate spectre fitted into this category. Although such photographs are rarely taken as credible evidence for the proved existence of ghosts, they would nevertheless have eliminated any logical causation (such as the possibility of hoaxing, for example) that could otherwise have accounted for the sightings.
But photographs did reveal several more foxes that were discovered dead in the cemetery. Unlike the previous one discovered, however, many of these had deep wounds to the throat.
There was no direct evidence to link these attacks to stories now circulating about a ‘vampire’, of course, but it was an interesting speculation (some might say a chilling reminder) to recall that in his book Dracula, Bram Stoker refers to a ‘vampiric entity’ that wandered in the vicinity of Hampstead at night and was responsible for ‘attacking’ young children.
In the meantime, there was a significant response to my letter to the local newspaper, The Hampstead and Highgate Express (Ham and High). This had taken the form of a simple request for information about the reported ghost, and to avoid any frivolous response, I had deliberately omitted any reference to a ‘vampire’.
The week after I had made this request, in fact, four people wrote in to the newspaper all moreorless confirming the phenomenon’s existence. One lady wrote:
My fiancée and I spotted a most unusual form about a year ago. It just seemed to glide across the path. Although we waited a little while, it did not reappear again. I am glad someone else has spotted it; I was convinced it was not my imagination.
Miss Audrey Connely.
(Ham and High, February 13th, 1970)
Another reader confirmed the existence of a ghost at the cemetery but although not having seen it himself, concluded …
The ghost will sometimes appear nightly for about a week, and then will not be seen again for perhaps a month. To my knowledge the ghost always takes the form of a pale figure and has been appearing for several years.
K. Frewin
(Ham and High, February 13th, 1970)
The Ham and High obviously noticed the local interest in the subject and themselves took up the story inviting other readers to write in and tell of their experiences. Although with typical newspaper sceptism, they warned that they would check the authenticity of all letters received lest anybody attempted to ‘spoof them with spooks’.
Prompted by this invitation, the following weeks brought many more letters from people who claimed to have seen the apparition.
Wrote one reader:
A figure such as that seen by readers does haunt Highgate Cemetery. I caught sight of it while I was walking around the cemetery. Suddenly, from the corner of my eye, I saw something move and immediately looked around to see a ‘form’ moving behind some gravestones. My first reaction was that it was somebody ‘mucking about’ but looking back it seems strange that the thing made no sound and seemed to disappear into nowhere.
D. Winbourne
(Ham and High, February 20th, 1970)
Another reader expressed great dismay that her house was perhaps situated a little too close to the cemetery and that in view of all the stories, the cemetery entity should be seriously looked into.
Yet some readers portrayed more than a little sceptcism. One wrote:
Swain’s Lane on a cloudy, windswept moonlit night, with its cemetery, overhanging branches, sparsely-peopled, ill-lit, and rather Gothic, has the same effect on some people as reading a good ghost story, and we all see ghosts after reading ghost stories …And he concluded:
… The British Occult Society is to be congratulated on fighting a brave last ditch battle on behalf of the romantics in bringing their ‘wampyr’ [vampire] out of its dusty covers and presenting it once again for public display, but alas, it is too late, by at least three generations.
S. Levitt
(Ham and High, February 27th, 1970)
Although some letters contained irrelevant fact, many contained valuable information and by interviewing their subscribers, it was possible to put together a fairly concise record about the nature of the phenomenon and its appearances. Basically, it seemed it usually took the form of a tall dark figure and appeared mainly in an area around the top gate.
This corresponded more or less exactly with my encounter, and those of Thornton and the old woman.
The Ham and High, however, seemed especially interested in the ‘vampire’ possibility and the fact that black magic had been taking place at the cemetery. On March 6th, 1970, they ran a front page story entitled, perhaps appropriately “WHY DO THE FOXES DIE?” The implication was, was that in some manner the ‘ghost’ was no less than a ‘vampire’ which had been responsible for the death of the foxes. It was interesting hypothesis, and one which had not been overruled by the author himself. In fact, I held the view that as the phenomenon seemed definitely malevolent by nature, it was quite conceivable that it possessed sufficient power to have some affect upon ‘weaker forms of intelligence’s’ – such as animals. Alternatively, there was the possibility that the foxes had somehow been trapped by the Satanists and used as sacrifices in black magic rituals.
In reality, the Satanic group that were using Highgate Cemetery hadn’t taken kindly to the Society’s investigation which had exposed their activities to the public view. The weeks that followed brought a spate of threatening letters to the Society. Essentially, these letters warned that the Society’s investigation at the cemetery must be stopped or there would be ‘disastrous consequences’ – namely, ‘death’ to be effected by means of black magic.
A typical letter to the author, read:
By your interference with the work of our High Order, you have invoked the wrath of Lord Hadit. By His element and the power of the Seven-Fold Cross, you shall now be destroyed. This is decreed by His Grace, and this wish will be fulfilled through our Order. Be it thus so …
The letter was signed in blood and adorned with satanic symbols; mainly to the effect that I had offended the Satanic god Hadit who, through the media of his worshippers, was about to reek terrible revenge.
There was no doubt that the sender – or senders – of these letters were genuine Satanists. For one thing, the secret signs which adorned the letters, would only be known to authentic practitioners of the Black Arts. Yet the letters did not cause undue concern. Previous experience by the Society with black magic groups gave us enough confidence to file these letters and forget about them.
In the meantime, public interest in the Highgate Cemetery affair had attracted the interest of Independent Television. They were preparing a programme on the ‘ghost’ and invited the author to give an account of the investigation. Initially, this request had to be denied, as Society policy forbade the release of any information to the media about internal investigations unless, or until, these were complete. But I finally agreed to verify my own personal encounter with the phenomenon. This programme was shown on 13th March, 1970 – although it was not filmed without some mishap. When the film crew began filming outside the top gate (they were not given permission to film inside, the cemetery Superintendent, Mr. William Law, explaining that this was ‘against regulations’), the camera man suddenly clutched his throat and passed out. The filming had to be postponed until a replacement took over. Sandra Harris, the interviewer, was visibly shaken; more so probably, as she had already witnessed the deplorable damage inside the cemetery. (In fact, whilst she was walking through the cemetery with the film crew and myself a little earlier, we had all witnessed a vandalised coffin that had been removed from an old vault and was lying in the middle of a pathway. Its lid had been ripped off, and the skeleton inside was clearly visible.)
During the interview, and to avoid any possible sensationalism about ‘vampires’, I took great care to avoid such a term when referring to the phenomenon. Of course, it was realised that local opinion tended to support a ‘vampire theory’, but I certainly didn’t accept the existence of vampires in their strictly commercialised sense and I had no intention of being misunderstood or misquoted. Another man who was being interviewed, however, (a somewhat theatrical character dressed in undertakers’ clothes who had been pestering local newspaper’s looking for publicity since he had first become aware of the Society investigation), claimed that the phenomenon was really the ‘King Vampire’ and, after producing a crucifix and a home-made wooden stake, announced that to destroy a vampire one must … ‘first drive a stake through its heart with one blow, chop off its head with a gravedigger’s shovel, then burn what remains’!
Of course, this amateurish verbiage would not have been taken seriously by genuine occultists but the situation was made worse when this person went on to claim that … ” ‘David Farrant’ would be returning to Highgate Cemetery that same evening’ to ‘perform this dangerous mission.” And for further effect, he warned of what he saw as the ‘dangerous consequences’ facing anyone foolish enough to take on the ‘King Vampire’.
Although these remarks were obviously intended to create maximum publicity, in reality, they were based on a misunderstanding of a report in the local Press the previous week when, humouring some over-zealous reporter, I had stated that if the apparition at Highgate Cemetery turned out to be anything like a ‘vampire’, I, for one, would be prepared to take any means necessary so that everybody could ‘rest in peace’.
But to make matters worse, this person’s remarks were put over the air, and later that night following the television transmission, several hundred people converged on Highgate Cemetery to witness a non-existent ‘vampire hunt’.
One of these was a school teacher from Essex called Alan Blood (in fact, his real name) who had traveled to London after seeing the programme to take part in the ‘vampire hunt’. He had even brought several students with him to join in this quest.
I was approached by Alan Blood who wanted permission to join in the ‘hunt’ but I was forced to explain that it was not possible to conduct any serious psychic investigation under the unfavourable conditions created by the television programme (people were flocking to Highgate Cemetery en-masse including groups of hooligans carrying beer cans and makeshift weapons to take on the ‘vampire’ and who looked as if they could have turned nasty) and that the whole charade had been instigated at my expense.
Needless to say, no Society members joined in this charade, but the ‘hunt’ still went ahead, its outcome being reported in the Press the following day.
The London Evening News reported the situation by saying:
Nearly 100 people joined in a vampire-hunt at Highgate Cemetery today. They included a vampire expert named Mr. Alan Blood who journeyed 40 miles to investigate this legend of an ‘Undead Satan-like being’ said to lurk in the area. Spectators gathered in the spooky darkness after watching a TV interview last night, Friday 13th, in which a man said he was going to exorcise an evil spirit he claimed he had seen three times.
Curious onlookers managed to scale the 10 foot wall in search of an open tomb. Several people scrambled back frightened claiming they had seen ‘something crawling’ in the dark.
Anthony Robinson aged 27 of Ostel Road, Hampstead came to the cemetery after hearing of the torchlight hunt.
“I walked past the place and heard a high pitched noise, then I saw something grey moving slowly across the road. It terrified me.”
“First time I couldn’t make it out, it looked eerie. I’ve never believed in anything like this, but now I’m sure there is something evil lurking in Highgate.”
The vampire expert, history teacher Alan Blood, 25, traveled from Chelmsford, after he saw David Farrant, 24, speak of his plans to stake the vampire through the heart with a wooden cross.
(Evening News, March 25th, 1970.)
Yet aside from the ‘sensational slant’ of this article, I remained sceptical about this particular sighting. It was more likely over-wrought imagination combined with a mild form of mass hysteria, had created ‘ghosts’ where there were none to be seen. There was more concern about the potential effects arising from such publicity for this was bound to attract further vandalism to the cemetery, which in turn, would hamper the investigation proper and upset both the cemetery authorities and the police. Added to this, was as a result of the unsubstantiated ravings made by the person on the television and subsequent coverage of these by the Evening News, ‘David Farrant’ had been irrevocably branded as the main instigator of this mass vampire hunt and a man who quite literally believed in the existence of ‘blood-sucking vampires’.
Meanwhile, the vigil by the Society at the cemetery continued, although there were no significant developments and the phenomenon was not sighted. It seemed the ‘vampire’ had not taken kindly to the mass intrusion of its privacy and had ‘gone to ground’ to avoid further persecution.
It was therefore decided to carry out the original idea and conduct an occult ceremony at Highgate Cemetery one night in order to summon the entity forth, and possibly, communicate with it. This ceremony was to be conducted with a High Priestess and other members of the Circle, some of whom were members of the British Psychic and Occult Society.
Unfortunately however, an unforeseen event prevented this planned ceremony from taking place, although it was agreed that another date be set for this at the first available opportunity. . .
Part 3
Arrest
IN AUGUST 1970, there was another development in the Highgate investigation. That month, the body of a woman was dragged from a vault in Highgate Cemetery, staked through the heart, and left lying in the middle of a main pathway. The fact that this was discovered by two schoolgirls made the incident even more gruesome. The Hornsey Journal’s reportage of this incident, perhaps also did little to allay the already public growing concern over reports of ‘black magic’ and vandalism at Highgate Cemetery.
Evidence of vandalism at the cemetery was, of course, no new thing. But the element of ‘staking the corpse’, seemingly as the aftermath of some black magic rite, pointed convincingly to the work of the Satanists and their possible connection with the phenomenon.
Soon afterwards, it was decided to conduct the postponed ritual; the object was to summon the entity, make psychic communication with it and then – if it proved to be malevolent, which seemed an obvious fact – banish it from the earthly plane by conducting an appropriate rite of exorcism. The view was held that, if indeed the author’s personal theory was correct, and the Satanic group were in some way responsible for ‘controlling’ the entity’s appearances by means of black magic, such an exorcism would also dispel much of this group’s power by negating the evil they had summoned into existence.
It was almost full moon (three days preceding the full moon and those immediately after being especially favourable for conducting magical ceremonies), and it was decided to hold the seance at midnight on August 17th.
Accordingly, Highgate Cemetery was entered late one night on the appointed date, the purpose basically, to conduct this psychical seance. The place chosen was the ‘Thornton spot’ as this was secluded and well within the cemetery.
In requirements for this ritual, a large circle was inscribed upon the ground which was adorned by protective symbols and ‘sealed’ with consecrated water and salt. Some ten feet away from this, where the phenomenon would be summoned to appear, a smaller circle was cast with protective symbols (it had not been overlooked that we were dealing with a particularly lethal form of psychic energy).
When the preparations were complete, the seance commenced but after only a few minutes, torchlight’s could be seen in the distance and there was the muffled sound of human voices. It was the police: still some way off but approaching the back gate of the cemetery. This presented something of a dilemma; for not only was it dangerous – from a psychic point of view – to leave the protective circle once the ceremony had commenced, but there was the very real problem of explaining such clandestine nightly activity and being believed, let alone being understood. Because of this, the psychic paraphernalia was quickly gathered up and respective members headed for different exits in the cemetery.
On a sudden impulse, I made for the back wall, which the police were approaching, thinking it was possible to reach this without being spotted and then scale this further along. After all, this was the only way out. Unfortunately, just by the wall, I was caught by a flashlight and quickly arrested. Luckily, however, the police must have assumed their captive was alone and they made no attempt to look for other people.
Perhaps ironically, any concern about being arrested was not so much for fear of having done anything wrong or illegal, but because the seance would be misunderstood and such misapprehension could attract adverse publicity to the investigation and the Society.
For this reason, the ceremonial paraphernalia I was carrying (which included candles, incense, a wooden cross adorned with protective magical symbols and a small tape-recorder) was quickly discarded in the undergrowth by the back wall hoping this would go unnoticed. Unfortunately, this was discovered and was to form the basis of a police charge of ‘being in an enclosed area for an unlawful purpose’ – although this ‘purpose’ was not clarified in the charge itself.
The case came before Magistrate Christopher Lea at Clerkenwell Magistrates’ Court two weeks later, although it had to be adjourned as the Detective Sergeant in charge, Neville Brown, had apparently suffered a mild heart attack. In any event, the police were unable to proceed and the case was re-scheduled for September 29th.
The main evidence put forward to support the charge was that the Defendant had been caught whilst leaving Highgate Cemetery with a cross and ‘wooden stake’ (this ‘wooden stake’ was, in fact, merely a pointed piece of wood used with string to cast – or measure out – a magical Circle), his intention (according to the Prosecution) to seek out and destroy the legendary vampire that slept in a coffin in the cemetery. During this process, the Prosecution claimed, coffins would have had to be opened to find the vampire.
Logically, of course, in principle some of this may have been correct, but, due to my reluctance to give details of the seance realising that these would never be understood because of their occult connotations, and my refusal to name members involved in the investigation, the facts had been grossly distorted.
It was not true, for example, that I had been arrested with just a cross and a ‘stake’ but the other items I had been carrying had ‘mysteriously disappeared’ and had not been produced in evidence. Neither was it true that there had been any intention to ‘open coffins’, but the established link between ‘vampires’ and coffins had been sufficient to give grounds to this allegation. Ignorance and superstitious assumption – and almost certainly a desire to produce a scapegoat for all the vandalism and desecration at Highgate Cemetery – had done the rest.
If I had any doubts about the latter these were quickly dispelled when Neville Brown proceed to read out a statement which amounted to a verbal admission by myself to the charge. The crux of this admission was as follows …
At midnight I went with the Cross and the stake to St. Michael’s churchyard” [which backs on to Highgate Cemetery] “to look for the vampire. Had the police not arrived when they did my intention was to make my way to the catacombs to search for it. I would have entered the catacombs and inspected the coffins in my search, and upon finding the supernatural being, I would have driven my stake through its heart and then run away.
How this statement had ended up in this form and in a vernacular totally foreign to that of the author’s, perhaps indicates how the whole thing was proceeding. But this notwithstanding, the case was dismissed, the Magistrate (this time Mr. DJ Purcell) accepting a Defence denial of this ‘admission’ and a further submission that I had already been featured on the television in connection with the investigation; and that, in any event, it was just as akin to ‘hunt for vampires’ as it was for some people to spend vast sums of money trying to locate the Loch Ness Monster.
The Magistrate added that there had been no intention to ‘damage coffins’ and that the cemetery was not an enclosed area in the strict legal sense.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the police were none too pleased at this decision or the publicity the case had attracted; although any publicity had only been forthcoming because they had brought the case to court in the first place and introduced outrageous statements throughout about ‘staking vampires’ attributed to myself which had no relation to the real facts of the investigation. It is little wonder that such outrageous statements were seized upon by the Popular Press, but the fact that many of these statements found their way into print but were not retracted afterwards when proved to be false by very virtue of my acquittal, (and even today, many of these earlier newspaper accounts lie erroneously on record), merely confirmed that serious psychic investigation could not be entrusted to the understanding of the police, or the Press.
In fact, some newspapers had a ‘hey day’ with all this sensationalism and some let their imaginations loose beyond the bounds of credibility. The Daily Express said, for example, that the Society had ‘over 100 members looking for vampires all over Europe’! Belief in vampires may well have been prevalent all over Europe in the Middle Ages, as originally stated, but this historical fact was certainly not the immediate concern of the British Psychic and Occult Society!
With a little more sobriety, although not without a hint of sarcasm, the Baltimore Sun observed that apparently it was ‘no longer a crime to hunt vampires in England’.
But the publicity brought by the court case made it impossible, at this stage, for the investigation to continue. Attracted by reports of ‘vampires’, scores of people visited Highgate Cemetery and desecration and vandalism of graves and tombs increased to an alarming degree. People flocked to the cemetery in droves and police were frequently called to evict groups of hooligans or self-professed ‘vampire hunters’. Indeed, the situation had become so grave, that on Hallowe’en night, 1970, police literally had to throw a cordon of police cars around Highgate Cemetery to prevent people from entering on the night of the undead.
One small group of aspiring occultists, however, seemed to have evaded the ongoing police presence and claimed to performed a ‘secret exorcism’ at a tomb in the cemetery that had been desecrated by Satanists; although the only ‘evidence’ to support this was a photograph that had been sent to the Hornsey Journal showing a man dressed in an evening suit brandishing a crucifix and wearing a ‘garlic necklace’ posing outside some unrecognisable tomb in the cemetery.
Contacting the Society for comment, the Hornsey Journal were informed that we recognised the person concerned as a well known prankster and, if in line with his past record, the whole thing was just a well timed publicity stunt.
Unfortunately, a sad side to all this activity at the cemetery, at least, as far as some elements in the police and the media were concerned, was that the Society itself was held directly responsible for influencing its occurrence. This was an especial irony, when I had already stated publicly on several occasions that this sort of activity was to be deplored and had nothing to do with genuine psychic investigation. Indeed, in a article I was to write for a local paper scarcely a year later, I stated that the growing menace of Satanism in general – especially at Highgate Cemetery – was a ‘very real menace indeed’. (This article appeared in the Islington Gazette on September 29th, 1972, and in it I also pointed out that it was the young, with their tendency to think they were invulnerable, who were most at risk to the dangers of Satanism. Attracted by some ‘dare-devil’ instinct to the challenge of Satanism, some would became entrapped in a web of corruption and degradation from which there was usually no escape).
But before the publication of this article, BBC Television decided to mount their own investigation and sent a team of cameramen and reporters to see if they could locate the ‘vampire’. Although they were unsuccessful, what they did find was a mass of desecrated coffins, many of which had been deprived of their lead. Invited on the programme, I explained that although most of the desecration was the work of vandals, the activities of the Satanic group was a very real problem, as was the existence of the ‘vampire-like’ entity that had been witnessed there. This programme was televised on October 15th, 1970 and went some way in vindicating my claims that black magic was being practised at Highgate Cemetery.
But regarding the threats from the Satanic group, they had apparently given up. The threatening letters suddenly ceased and it was likely that – as they saw it – the damage done by the Society in exposing their activities to the public view had already been done and so there was no point in continuing their vendetta.
Meanwhile, there was a major development at Highgate Cemetery. Reports were coming into the Society that a young girl had been ‘attacked’ by the ‘vampire’ in Swains Lane which runs alongside the cemetery. Eventually, the girl’s identity was discovered and I arranged a meeting with her. Although reluctant to discuss the matter at first, I assured her anonymity and she gave the following account:
She was returning home in the early hours walking down Swain’s Lane. As she passed the cemetery, a little way further on, she was suddenly ‘thrown to the ground’ with tremendous force by a ‘tall black figure’ with a ‘deathly white face’. At that moment, a car stopped to help her and the figure ‘vanished’ in the glare of the headlights. She was taken to Highgate Police Station in a state of severe shock suffering abrasions to her knees and elbows. The police immediately made a thorough search of the area but could find no trace of her attacker. More mysterious still was the fact that where the figure had vanished, the cemetery was lined by 15 foot high walls.
On hearing this, I felt a tinge of apprehension. Until now, the ‘vampire’s’ appearances had been mainly confined to frightening people. It seemed now, however, that the ‘creature’ was becoming ‘bolder’ and presented a real threat to innocent people. If it had attacked somebody once, it could do so again. Only next time, with more disastrous consequences.
It was decided to conduct a full scale ceremony in Highgate Cemetery whereby the phenomenon would be summoned and then banished back to its preordained place of existence.
This time, however, the Ceremony would involve the use of High Magic as a means of communicating with the demonic entity. It was not dared to use less than an advanced form of ritual. At least, if the ritual was not successful, it would be possible to control the entity, whereas Low magical techniques – albeit less complex – could not have afforded adequate protection …
Part 4
The Reckoning
ON JUNE 21ST, 1971, several members of a secret Occult Order gathered in Highgate Cemetery to perform one of the most dangerous magical rituals in existence. The motivation for performing this ritual was to counteract the activities of a Satanic Coven who had violated magical Law by evoking a malevolent evil force to execute their own desires; the basic object being to establish psychic ‘contact’ with the existing phenomenon (or ‘vampire’) and thereby negate the diabolical power that had been brought into existence.
Of course, such a task was by no means easy for, in magic, darker forces are most potent when summoned to the earthly plane and may only be revoked by a White magical ritual. Thus in context – and in accordance with magical law – an extreme force of evil may only be counteracted and neutralised by an equivalent force of Good. Any other method – if attempted – would have little effect and, in all probability, would only serve to aggravate an ‘opposing evil force’.
For the sake of the uninitiated, and to allay any confusion arising from this point, a few words should be said here to explain the difference between white magic and black magic, and black magic and Satanism.
Firstly, it should be understood that magic itself is neither ‘black’ nor ‘white’ – it is neutral. Furthermore, magic is only a psychic element through which ‘outside’ forces may be evoked, not itself active but only a channel through which such forces may be brought into operation.
Of course, these supernatural forces which can be summoned as a result of magical techniques are both good and evil (or ‘white’ and ‘black’), but even the definition of these forces is a man-made conception.
Yet this is not to say that magic alone is harmless, for although it may only act as a catalyst in producing an end result, the very nature of its source makes it lethal in the hands of those who don’t understand it – rather like a trainee chemist who does not know which chemicals, if mixed together, will cause an explosion.
Therefore, it may be seen that magic is only governed and subsequently labeled by the intentions of those using it. It follows, that a ‘black’ magician may also be a ‘white’ one, and vice versa.
With Satanism, however, it is a slightly different matter. For here, unlike a magician who can harness various types of forces at will and without obligation, a Satanist is dedicated to the continual service and worship of evil powers. And as he cannot retain the neutrality of the magician, (the very doctrines of Satanic belief make this impossible) he becomes bound, or possessed, by the dark forces he has pledged to serve. Thus, unlike black magic, Satanism is a form of religious belief, and because of the doctrines and requirements laid down in its beliefs, it is far more potent and dangerous.
The communication ritual was performed after taking all these things – and more – into consideration. According to the magical requirements of the ritual, a Circle was constructed on the ground in which were placed various ceremonial items. These included vessels of consecrated water, charcoal and salt, and protective talismans which each member must wear. Different coloured candles were placed at strategic points around the circumference to correspond with the elements of air, fire, earth and water. whilst a small fire burned steadily in the middle. To the North of the Circle a small ‘sealed’ triangle was cast (also containing a small fire) where the entity would be summoned to appear, and hopefully, be able to ‘communicate’ with a psychic medium who would be inside the protective Circle.
When all was prepared, the ritual commenced and was timed so that the vital part would coincide with midnight.
The first part of the ritual was dedicated to the relevant incantations and ‘Calls’ necessary to summon forth the entity. These magical ‘Calls’ were made in strict accordance with the form of ritual and served two purposes: to dispel any unwanted elementals which might have hindered the appearance of the entity, and to open a channel of psychic energy through which the entity could later materialise.
When the preliminary part of the ritual had been completed, the actual evocation to summon the entity then began.
The intrinsic details regarding this part of the ritual, however, may not be disclosed as this would violate magical secrecy; suffice it is to say that the entity would be magically induced to appear in the triangle where it would have a direct ‘psychic line’ to communicate with the medium.
As midnight approached, the medium began to make the Commands for manifestation and almost immediately the Circle turned icy cold as though some warm power had suddenly left it, and the candles went out. Simultaneously, the fire in the triangle was obliterated by a misty smoke and some sinister force seemed to be amidst everyone present. For the next minute or so, nothing happened. There was no wind and it seemed unnaturally silent and the fire in the Circle cast an eerie red glow over everything. Suddenly, the area was full of a dense mist, more intense around the triangle, and in this, scarcely discernible through the haze, was a quivering ‘black shape’ that seemed to be trying to materialise. The medium spoke aloud, attempting to aid ‘its’ materialisation and all at once, two eyes could be seen at the top of the moving black form. They were the same eyes that I had witnessed inside the gate, dull red and almost diabolically evil; only this time, they had increased in strength to such a degree that it was like being confronted by some ‘living presence’.
A girl present screamed and fainted, but such was the hypnotic power of the entity, that nobody was really conscious of her. There seemed to be a tremendous power emanating from the distinct eyes that was magnified even more by the flickering firelight and it was at this stage that I realised that the entity might be too powerful to control and we would be entrapped in the Circle. The whole thing was like a vivid dream; that you had a complete awareness of what was happening, only with little means of controlling it.
Strangely, (and this was an impression that other members later recalled) there was no sense of imminent ‘evil intent’ from the entity, it being more an impression that it was trying to ‘absorb’ you.
Seeing the dangers of prolonging the ritual, without hesitation – although not without some effort – the medium and myself performed a rite of banishment during which the entity promptly vanished.
Yet, notwithstanding the manifestation and urgent dismissal of the entity, the ritual had not been a complete success. For although the entity’s materialisation had proved a success and it had been possible to dismiss it, circumstances had not allowed time for a full exorcism and, to this extent, it still remained earthbound.
But the ceremony had established beyond doubt – at least as far as most serious psychic investigators were concerned – that the majority of sightings, and witnessed encounters relating to the Highgate phenomenon, were not entirely without foundation.
Unfortunately, however, it was realised that such proof would hardly be acceptable to the hardened sceptic, but we had at least succeeded in establishing that not only did some genuine psychic presence exist at Highgate Cemetery, but had also uncovered valuable information about the nature of the phenomenon and possible aspects that might have primarily caused its existence.
Of course, while it could not be irrefutably stated that this ‘demonic’ entity was the direct result of Satanic activity, it could be reasonably said that Satanic practices had perhaps been the cause of activating some age-old supernatural phenomenon.
Given that the investigation at Highgate Cemetery still remained incomplete – an opinion, shared by most Society members – not long afterwards it was decided to again return to the cemetery with a view to perhaps obtaining some photographic evidence by means of performing another ceremony.
This though, was never to be. The police, keeping surveillance as a result of continuing vandalism, arrested two members just inside the gates.
On this occasion, however, they were released as no offence had been committed but the Press picked up the story the next day (presumably as a result of police information) and more attacks were leveled against the Society’s name.
With the usual precision of Fleet Street, the Society investigation was irrevocably limited to a continuation of clandestine midnight manoeuvres that took place amongst dank decaying tombs inhabited by a ‘blood-sucking vampire’, whilst the author, in turn, was reduced to some modern-day Van Helsing type vampire hunter.
Ironically, perhaps, concerning the Highgate phenomenon itself, the Press may have for once come closer to the truth than they originally intended.
Copyright David Farrant
[Much of this material has been abridged from the 4th edition of the author’s book, “Beyond the Highgate Vampire]
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began
I’m not from London and I wasn’t very old in the 1970’s, so I don’t know much about the case, but reading about the Highgate Cemetery case it is somewhat like watching an episode of ‘Life on Mars’, meaning that the 1970’s, with cemetery vandalism, threatening occult groups, the media stirring up a frenzy, a hundred people descending on a cemetery looking to stake a vampire and the police unable to give out ASBO’s just seems somewhat strange today.
I found this clip on youtube from 1970 showing some of the vandalism and remains of occult activity, but it seems to be mixing Satanism and witchcraft all in one pot. At that point wicca was fairly new and this shows how the media portrayed it.
Given the circumstances with the vandals/occultists in the cemetery and the media interest being stoked with stories of vampires, the situation was not ideal for a thorough investigation, which is a shame as the experiences in themselves sound quite interesting, even if they aren’t related in anyway to each other. Rather than being caused by a roaming entity or spirit of some sort, they could all be totally separate and maybe should be investigated as such.
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
There is quite a lot of footage on youtube about Highgate, I remember reading about the Highgate vampire many years ago – interesting to find that Highgate is where Elizabeth Siddell is buried, and the legend about her being uncorrupted.
there is now an article about this on the site
http://www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk/england/greater-london/other-mysteries/elizabeth-siddal%E2%80%99s-grave.html
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
Considering how much money that’s been made on this, I trust the author as far as I can fling a cenotaph.
Summum Nec Metuam Diem Nec Optima
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
Regarding Elizabeth Siddal, surely the “distraught relative” was pre-Raphaelite painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Siddal).
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
The recent BBC dramatisation about the pre-raphaelites: Desperate Romantics was less than sympathetic about the reasons Dante Gabriel Rosetti had Elizabeth exhumed
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
“Ever since I became aware that Highgate Cemetery was the reputed haunt of a vampire, the investigations and activities of Seán Manchester commanded my attention. I became convinced that, more than anyone else, the president of the Vampire Research Society knew the full story of the Highgate Vampire which is probably the most remarkable contemporary account of vampiric activity and infestation ~ and cure. Can such things as vampires really exist? The evidence seems to be overwhelming and the author [of The Highgate Vampire] is to be congratulated on his knowledgeable and lucid account of the case which is likely to become one of the classic works on this interesting and mystifying subject.”
~ Peter Underwood, President of the Ghost Club Society; Life-Member of the Vampire Research Society; Member of the British Occult Society until its dissolution in 1988; and author of over fifty non-fiction books about the paranormal.
Seán Manchester informed the public on 27 February 1970 that demonic disturbances and unearthly happenings in the vicinity of Highgate Cemetery were vampiric. Shortly afterwards he appeared on television on 13 March 1970 to repeat his theory. The suspected tomb was located and an exorcism performed in August 1970. This proved ineffective as the hauntings and animal deaths continued. Indeed, they multiplied. All manner of people were by now jumping on the bandwagon; including film-makers, rock musicians and sundry publicity-seekers. Most were frightened off. Some who interloped became fascinated by the black arts with disastrous consequences. Meanwhile, Seán Manchester and his colleagues pursued the principal source of the contagion at Highgate until it was properly exorcised. It took them on a hideous nightmare journey into a nether region inhabited by terrifying predatory manifestations in corporeal form.
http://highgatevampire.blogspot.com
http://vampireresearchsociety.blogspot.com
http://www.gothicpress.freeserve.co.uk/Bookshop.htm
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
AND THERE CAME A GIANT SPIDER . . .
I have noted – in particular – that the poster of the comment about the Highgate ‘vampire’ case has carefully avoided disclosing his true identity here. One can only wonder why!
The ‘anonymous’ poster is entirely correct in that dozens of people tried to ‘cash in’ on the Highgate case and my central involvement in it – many of whom also did so as a means of attracting personal publicity to themselves.
Some stories about the Highgate phenomenon really boardered on the ridiculous; other invented fiction about the case (about a vampire turning into a giant spider before being staked, for example) really just enters the realms of childish fantasies.
However, as the involvement of others has been pointed out, I will elucidate upon this a little further here. Although not at this precise moment as I am working to a dead-line on another matter. So please watch this space!
David Farrant, President, The British Psychic and Occult Society/The Highgate Vampire Society.
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
I am no more “anonymous” than “Red Don” or “BaronIveagh” or “Mysteryshopper” who have all posted comments above without having attracted ire about their “true identity.”
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
The difference is.’Anonymous’, that all these people are giving their own objective opinions here. They are not writing ABOUT themselves in the 3rd person hiding behind aliases in order to make malicious allegations about other people. THAT is the difference. But don’t worry, your real identity is kmown to most people.
David Farrant, President, BPOS
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
An opinion is not “objective.” By definition an opinion is subjective. Neither am I writing about myself “in the 3rd person.” The forum rules would benefit from some scrutiny by this accuser. Moreover, the Vampire Research Society is not an “alias” (unlike the so-called “British Psychic and Occult Society” which exists in name only). The reason people know your identity is because you would die if they didn’t. You are a shameless publicity-seeker who has been exposed many times by the courts, press and wider media.
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
Well, seeing as nobody else uses this ‘cut and pasted’ reterick except YOU, you make your true identity even clearer ‘Anonymous’.
You might be able to diguise a teapot with a teapot cosy, but its obvious its still tea inside!
David Farrant, President, BPOS
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
People who have no apparent problem with ghosts seem to balk at the thought of vampires. Yet there has always been more evidence to support the existence of vampires than there is to support the existence of ghosts, which even the Society for Psychical Research has not managed to establish after investigating them continually since 1882. That is not to say we shouldn’t keep an open mind about ghostly apparitions of the dearly departed, but at least afford vampires the same open-minded approach when researching.
Vampirism has existed for millennia in cultures such as the Mesopotamians, Hebrews, Ancient Greeks and Romans had tales of demons and spirits that are considered the same phenomenon as modern vampires. The entity we know today is best identified with that found in early 18th century south-eastern Europe when traditions of the multi-ethnic groups of the region were recorded and published. In most cases, vampires are revenants of evil beings, but they can also manifest as a malevolent spirit possessing a corpse.
Belief in vampires became so pervasive that in some areas it caused panics and mass vampire exorcisms where graveyards squelched with blood. Although vampiric entities have been recorded in most cultures, the term “vampire” was not popularised until the early 18th century following the influx of vampire reports from areas where vampire cases were most frequent, such as the Balkans and Eastern Europe, although local variants were also known by different names, such as “vrykolakas” in Greece and “strigoi” in Romania.
Vampires are recorded in England as far back as the 12th century in “Historia Rerum Anglicarum” (a history of England from 1066 to 1198) by William of Newburgh which tells of “the extraordinary happening when a dead man wandered abroad out of his grave.”
Born at Bridlington, Yorkshire, in 1136, Newburgh went as a boy to the small and recently-founded Roman Catholic Augustinian priory. There he remained to the end as an Augustinian canon.
He is a major source for stories of revenants, ie souls who return from the dead, including early vampire stories. Because belief in souls returning from the dead was common in the 12th century, Newburgh’s “Historia Rerum Anglicarum” briefly recounts stories he heard about revenants, as does the work of Walter Map, his southern contemporary.
“If ever there was in the world a warranted and proven history, it is that of vampires: nothing is lacking, official reports, testimonials of persons of standing, of surgeons, of clergymen, of judges; the judicial evidence is all-embracing.”
– Jean Jacques Rousseau, “Lettre à Mgr. de Beaumont, Archevêque de Paris,” (Annex to the Contrat social) Librairie Garnier Frères, Paris, page 489.
“I shall not commit the fashionable stupidity of regarding everything I cannot explain as a fraud.”
– Carl Gustav Jung (20th century psychiatrist, influential thinker and founder of analytical psychology)
The Society for Psychical Research (SPR) was founded in London in 1882 as a group of prominent scholars for the purpose of investigating “that large body of debatable phenomena designated by such terms as mesmeric, psychical and spiritualistic”, and to do so “in the same spirit of exact and unimpassioned enquiry which has enabled science to solve so many problems” (quoted after Gauld in The Founders of Psychical Research, 1968, page 137).
No evidence for the existence of ghosts of dead people has been found after more than a century and a quarter of painstaking research and investigation.
“The fact is so improbable that extremely good evidence is needed to make us believe it; and this evidence is not good, for how can you trust people who believe in such absurdities?”
– Edmund Gurney (19th century SPR committee member, writing about ghosts)
“Ghosts are the mind’s way of interpreting how the body reacts to certain surroundings, say UK psychologists. A chill in the air, low-light conditions and even magnetic fields may trigger feelings that ‘a presence’ is in a room – but that is all they are, feelings. This explanation of ghosts is the result of a large study in which researchers led hundreds of volunteers around two of the UK’s supposedly most haunted locations – Hampton Court Palace, England, and the South Bridge Vaults in Edinburgh, Scotland. Dr Richard Wiseman, of the University of Hertfordshire, and his colleagues say their work has thrown up some interesting data to suggest why so many people can be spooked in the same building but provides no evidence that ghosts are real.”
– Aaron Frood (BBC News)
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
AND THERE CAME A GIANT SPIDER . . .
You seem to be confusing genuine witness accounts from many different people over the years about a ghost, ‘Anonymous’, with an account about literal ‘blood-sucking vampires’, originating from just one person. (And incidentally, reports of the entity or ‘ghost’ witnessed at Highgate can be traced back to Victorian times).
But you are right about one thing,’Anonymous’, reports about a real ‘vampire’ in and around Highgate cemetery, were all part of one contrived hoax. I am surprised that you even mentioned this; Freudian slip perhaps?
Many of the witnesses who have had psychic experiences at HC (either in the past or recent present) have now been filmed and this film is soon to be released. Pleople will then be in a position to see and hear these witnesses ‘in person’ and thus be able to make up their own minds rather than to listen to perverse fantasies like your own.
David Farrant. President, BPOS
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
Yes people do balk at the idea of Vampires and don’t approach them in the same manner as ghosts are treated, however, there are a lot more sightings and witness accounts supporting hauntings, whereas there are not many associated with vampires. What is the evidence that there was a blood sucking "vampire" in Highgate Cemetery? Surely the case must have been some kind of haunting.
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
Vampire reports are legion and reach back to the ancient world, whereas ghostly happenings are attributed to all manner of phenomena and are at best vague and uncertain. That might explain why there appears to be so many reports, ie these reports cover a large area of the unexplained of which spirits of dead people is only a small part, and frequently get explained away by perfectly natural phenomena. Traditionally many ghosts have been thought to be a demonic entity masquerading as the spirit of a departed person. I would have no problem with that definition. Vampire reports are not always found to be vampires and that too must be taken into consideration. But the vampire fits a particular definition and is identified by its capacity to exsanguinate.
To reiterate Rousseau:
“If ever there was in the world a warranted and proven history, it is that of vampires: nothing is lacking, official reports, testimonials of persons of standing, of surgeons, of clergymen, of judges; the judicial evidence is all-embracing.”
The Highgate Vampire was seldom mistaken as a ghost even in Victorian times where it was regarded as something demonic (the term “hobb” arising more than “ghaist”).
The ghost hoax is exposed by examination of correspondents’ letters to the Hampstead & Highgate Express in early 1970 from collaborating friends of the hoaxer. Two mentioned in the above article who colluded with the ghost hoax on behalf of the hoaxer are Audrey Connely and Kenny Frewin, each of whom were personal friends of his.
Some others might have thought they had seen a ghost and defined their experience as such in early 1970 under the influence of the ghost hoax, but when the experience of those who genuinely witnessed something is put under scrutiny it clearly more resembles something demonic and predatory than it does a ghost-like haunting. Those interviewed by the VRS certainly confirmed this to be the case. Others just wrote in with vague ideas of this or that local legend they had heard from an older generation and adapted it to the ghost hoax which initially received coverage in local newspapers until it became apparent to even the most pedestrian investigator that ghosts do not suck blood. Even so, ghosts and vampires are not mutually exclusive and Highgate Cemetery might well have been afflicted with both half a century and more ago
On 6 March 1970 the Hampstead & Highgate Express announced on its front page that foxes had been discovered drained of blood in Highgate Cemetery. Further outrages would follow where exsanguination featured. The vampire theory proffered by Seán Manchester suddenly became more plausible. Even the author of the above article is quoted in the same Hampstead & Highgate Express headline news story as saying:
“Much remains unexplained, but what I have recently learnt all points to the vampire theory as being the most likely answer. Should this be so, I for one am prepared to pursue it, taking whatever means might be necessary so that we can all rest.”
http://tinyurl.com/yawzb64
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
. . . in Highgate Cemetery. Further outrages would follow where exsanguination featured. The vampire theory proffered by Seán Manchester suddenly became more plausible. Even the author of the above article is quoted in the same Hampstead & Highgate Express headline news story as saying:
“Much remains unexplained, but what I have recently learnt all points to the vampire theory as being the most likely answer. Should this be so, I for one am prepared to pursue it, taking whatever means might be necessary so that we can all rest.”
“Suddenly became more plausible”, you are trying to kid us all surely, ;Anonymous’!?? It became nothing of the sort; if anything it just became more ridiculous!
You do little to help your case, ‘Anonymous’, by deliberately taking my words out of context.
In my book “Beyond the Highgate Vampire” (which you have read), I say (quote) . . .
“HUMOURING SOME OVER-ZEALOUS REPORTER” (words you have very conveniently omitted) ;
“Much remains unexplained, but what I have recently learnt all points to the vampire theory as being the most likely answer. Should this be so, I for one am prepared to pursue it, taking whatever means might be necessary so that we can all rest IN PEACE.” (Again, two words you seem to have conveniently left out).
I have never said I believe in blood-sucking vampires, ‘Anonymous’. Earthbound psychic entities, perhaps: but that is a completely different matter.
By attributing your own assumptions to myself, ‘Anonymous’, (rather ‘reversing’ these) you some yourself to be highly confused. I have never said I believe in vampires or ‘giant vampire spiders’. I don’t have to, when I can safely leave such nonsense to yourself ‘Anonymous’!
David Farrant. President, British Psychic and Occult Society.
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
Are there any medical records to back up the exsanguination claims? Were the foxes examined by medical professionals?
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
“In my book [sic] “Beyond the Highgate Vampire” (which you have read), I say (quote) ‘HUMOURING SOME OVER-ZEALOUS REPORTER’ (words you have very conveniently omitted).”
Your revisionist pamphlet was first self-published in 1991. I was quoting from the Hampstead & Highgate Express, 6 March 1970, in which the words you have added in capital letters (above) certainly do not appear. Nearer the time, of course, you made no such claim about “humouring some over-zealous reporter” and no record will be found of you doing so before 1991, which is twenty-one years after the fact. I do not ask anyone to take my word for it. They may examine your quoted statements in context and decide for themselves whether you were “humouring” anybody. This link provides the original article where your quotes appear in context:
http://tinyurl.com/yad6pvs
“I have never said I believe in blood-sucking vampires. Earthbound psychic entities, perhaps: but that is a completely different matter.”
Let’s examine the facts, shall we? For example, how do you explain the episode with journalist Barry Simmons where you entered Highgate Cemetery with him and a photographer at night to demonstrate your “vampire stalking” prowess?
This is what was reported by Barrie Simmons, accompanied by a selection of photographs showing you stalking a vampire with a cross in one hand and wooden stake in the other as appeared in the London Evening News, 16 October 1970:
“I joined a macabre hunt among the desecrated graves and tombs for the vampire of Highgate Cemetery. … David [Farrant], 24, was all set, kitted out with all the gear required by any self-respecting vampire hunter. Clutched under his arm, in a Sainsbury’s carrier bag, he held the tools of his trade. There was a cross made out of two bits of wood tied together with a shoelace and a stake to plunge through the heart of the beast. Vampire hunting is a great art. There is no point in just standing around waiting for the monster to appear. It must be stalked. So we stalked. Cross in one hand to ward off the evil spirits, stake in the other, held at the ready. David stalked among the vaults, past the graves, in the bushes and by the walls. When we had finished he started stalking all over again.”
And, of course, there is the notorious headline “Caught on the moonlight trail of Highgate Vampire” which featured your attempt to stake a vampire through the heart which led to your arrest in Highgate Cemetery at midnight on 17 August 1970, as recorded in almost every British newspaper.
Here’s a link in that regard to the The Sun, 19 August 1970:
http://tinyurl.com/2woneky
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
I’ll come back to your other deliberate distortions, ‘Anonymous’, but first can we deal with this:
“The foxes were examined by an RSPCA inspector who could not find enough blood for a forensic examination”.
Now as I was the person who first found the dear male fox in the middle of a main pathway inside Highgate Cemetery and reported it as part of the official BPOS investigation (also to the Ham and High newspaper, I believe), I should be in a better position than most to describe the incident, as opposed to wild speculation from people who wern’t even there.
The animal DID have blood around the back of its neck – and qute o lot of it.
In my book “Beyond the Highgate Vampire” (and elsewhere) I wrote that I found this strange, as most wild animals will crawl away to die if they sense impending death. This suggested to myself that the animal had been been killed quickly. After I made this public, reports about dead foxes seemed to multiply overnight, with a certian person claiming this had to be the work of a ‘vampire’ . . . yes, well!
Now can you give us the name of the RSPCA inspector who you are now saying that the dead animals could not be examined forensically because their bodies contained no blood at all? Well? I am sure it would be quite in order to print his name here as it SHOULD be a matter of public record.
So, over to you, ‘Anonymous’.
David Farrant, President, BPOS
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
I do not intend to waste my time here by arguing your trivialities, ‘Anonymous’.
The quote I previously gave here is correct; I copied it verbatim from my 1991 book “Beyond the Highgate Vampire”.. Its really not my fault if you cannot read properly! I also told the journalist that if reports about ‘vampires’ turned out to be true (and I never said they were) then we could “all rest in Peace”.
As for this: (Your own quote, and strictly your own opinion in the second part)
“”I have never said I believe in blood-sucking vampires. Earthbound psychic entities, perhaps: but that is a completely different matter.”
Let’s examine the facts, shall we? For example, how do you explain the episode with journalist Barry Simmons where you entered Highgate Cemetery with him and a photographer at night to demonstrate your “vampire stalking” prowess? “
I really am unable to see your point. Yes, I went to Highgate Cemetery one night back in October 1970 after they had seen a television programme on myself. [BBC1 “24 Hours” hosted by Richard Dimbledee]. They wanted to explore Highgate Cemetery and photograph me following the BBC programme. Well, so what? You are the only person who seems to have taken exception to their subsequent article, ‘Anonymous’ – nobody else has.
In fact, Basil Copper said in his 1973 book on the Highgate ‘vampire’ case . . . “It made a fine stirring article”! So again, just what is your point?
Now, please don’t lets get distracted by this.
I am still waiting for an answer to my question: just what was the name of the RSPCA Inspector you claim stated that no forensic examination of the slaughtered animals was possible because they had absolutely ‘no blood left’?
Back to you again, ‘Anonymous’.
David Farrant, President, BPOS
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
“Now as I was the person who first found the dear male fox in the middle of a main pathway inside Highgate Cemetery and reported it as part of the official BPOS investigation (also to the Ham and High newspaper, I believe), I should be in a better position than most to describe the incident, as opposed to wild speculation from people who wern’t even there.”
A number of people found dead foxes at Highgate Cemetery, Swains Lane and in Waterlow Park. Only one of them was you. What you are claiming now (forty years later) cannot be substanstiated with anything on public record. Neither is there any record to support the existence of your “British Psychic and Occult Society.” It was not mentioned in 1970 and the public did not hear you refer to it until 1983.
What should be a matter of public record is your claim to have found a fox as you now describe. The Hampstead & Highgate Express, 6 March 1970, merely refers to you discovering a dead fox while adding: “Several other foxes have also been found dead in the cemetery.” You then continue to say: “The odd thing is there was no outward sign of how they died. Much remains unexplained, but what I have recently learnt all points to the vampire theory as being the most likely answer.”
“The animal DID have blood around the back of its neck – and qute o lot of it,” you now claim. So why was this not stated by you when interviewed? You told the Ham & High that there was “no outward sign of how they died.” This does not tally with what you are saying now. You also claim you were “the person who first found a fox” in Highgate Cemetery. How can you say that when you told the Ham & High at the time that “several other foxes have also been found dead in the cemetery.” A number of people found foxes in and around the graveyard. How do you know you were the first? The most important issue surrounding the dead foxes, of course, has been avoided because it, too, does not tally with what you are claiming today. Namely, you said at the time that the discovery of the foxes complimented the vampire theory which you supported and, furthermore, intended to act upon; which you did in the following August.
http://tinyurl.com/yawzb64
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
The foxes were examined by the RSPCA who could not find enough blood for forensic examination. The local newspaper at first believed there was no visible means of how the foxes died. Later it was admitted that small lacerations punctured the throat of each animal. A similar outbreak of mysterious deaths afflicted pet owners in neighbouring areas where cats, dogs and rabbits featured among the victims. There was even a pet goat exsanguinated. Once again, small lacerations around the throat area were discovered. Speculation about packs of wild dogs or other animals causing the deaths were dismissed by the RSPCA who admitted that the killings followed an almost ritualistic pattern. Something more diabolical was thought to be at work.
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
“‘Let’s examine the facts, shall we? For example, how do you explain the episode with journalist Barry Simmons where you entered Highgate Cemetery with him and a photographer at night to demonstrate your ‘vampire stalking’ prowess?’
I really am unable to see your point. Yes, I went to Highgate Cemetery one night back in October 1970 after they had seen a television programme on myself. [BBC1 24 Hours hosted by Richard Dimbledee]. They wanted to explore Highgate Cemetery and photograph me following the BBC programme. Well, so what? You are the only person who seems to have taken exception to their subsequent article – nobody else has.”
None of which is accurate or true. Most recently, amateur vampirologist Anthony Hogg, who is based in Australia, has taken exception to your absolute refusal to address both the contents of Barrie Simmons’ article in the Evening News or your brief interview during “Vampires” on the 24 Hours programme. You have been asked countless times by a variety of people on forums, boards and blogs about this and not once have you been able to address it. On Andrew Gough’s Arcadia, where Anthony Hogg raised it, you told him you would not answer any questions from him or anyone like him.
You say you are unable to see my point. Here is my point. You were arrested on the night of 17 August 1970 in Highgate Cemetery by police who had obviously been alerted. They discovered in your possession a wooden stake and a cross. You told them you were seeking the vampire thought to be active in the graveyard and that it was your intention to plunge the stake through its heart, which you believed was the only way to destroy it. This much is on public record. See newspaper report at the the link below.
http://tinyurl.com/2ewz5uv
Next you were invited to reconstruct what you were doing on the night of your arrest for the 24 Hours programme. This was the sole reason you had been invited onto a section of that episode which had been titled “Vampires.” This was transmitted by BBC television on 15 October 1970. You reconstructed your stalking among the tombstones with a cross in one hand and a wooden stake in the other. The interviewer only asked you about “this vampire,” a description that you did not challenge. At no point did you say “I don’t believe in blood-sucking vampires.”
The television report began with you entering Highgate Cemetery, removing the cross and stake from your belt, then demontsrating the vampire stalking method you had employed on the night of your arrest. The only reason you were on the programme was to reconstruct what you were doing on the night you entered Highgate Cemetery to hunt a vampire.
Laurence Picethly: “On August the seventeenth, [David] Farrant decided to pay a midnight visit to the cemetery to combat the vampire once and for all. At the cemetery, Farrant was forced to enter by the back wall [footage shows you entering via the rear of the cemetery], as he still does today. He armed himself with a cross and stake, and crouched between the tombstones, waiting. But that night police, on the prowl for vandals, discovered him. He was charged with being in an enclosed space for an unlawful purpose, but later the Clerkenwell magistrate acquitted him. Now, in spite of attempts by the cemetery owners to bar him and his friends [none of whom were discovered by the police, or subsequently identified by you], Farrant still maintains a regular vigil around the catacombs in hope of sighting either the vampire or a meeting of Satanists.”
The reconstruction continues with you demonstrating your vampire stalking technique with a cross in one hand and a sharp wooden stake in the other, and concludes with this brief interview between you and Laurence Picethly:
David Farrant: “We have been keeping watch in the cemetery for … [pauses] … since my court case ended, and we still found signs of their ceremonies.”
Laurence Picethly: “Have you ever seen this vampire?”
David Farrant: “I have seen it, yes. I saw it last February, and saw it on two occasions.”
Laurence Picethly: “What was it like?”
David Farrant: “It took the form of a tall, grey figure, and it … [pauses] … seemed to glide off the path without making any noise.”
The interview with you ended at this point. It is reproduced above in its entirety. The film then returned to Seán Manchester and the British Occult Society.
The president of the British Occult Society (an organisation in no way associated with you even though you would later fraudulently adopt its nomeclature) had already warned you to desist from your unwelcome and asinine behaviour. This Seán Manchester did on Thames Television’s Today programme, 13 March 1970, and on the front page of the Hampstead & Highgate Express, 13 March 1970, where it was reported:
“Seán Manchester, president of the British Occult Society … is opposed to Mr Farrant’s plans. ‘He goes against our explicit wish for his own safety’.”
In the same headline report it is stated that you “intend to visit the cemetery again, armed with a wooden stake and a crucifix, with the aim of exorcising the spirit.”
Then there is the episode with Barry Simmons where you entered Highgate Cemetery with the journalist and a photographer to demonstrate your “vampire stalking” technique. This was reported by Barrie Simmons, accompanied by a selection of photographs showing you stalking a vampire with a cross and sharpened stake in the London Evening News, 16 October 1970. The feature article was headlined “My midnight date with Highgate’s vampire.”
http://tinyurl.com/28evva4
Your familiar technique for avoiding the real debate is being employed here as it has been repeatedly employed elsewhere. You pick on a tiny detail and keep repeating that you will not respond to anything until you have your question answered even though your query came AFTER the questions you don’t want to address were raised. Often there is no answer because the detail you request is so insignificant, which is the case where the RSPCA is concerned. Indeed, newspapers only referred to an “RSPCA spokesman” and did not give a name. You might be confusing these reports with the RSPCA’s Inspector John Tresidder to whom you sent “voodoo dolls in the post with accompanying menacing poems” as admitted by you in an interview to the Hornsey Journal, 28 September 1973, headlined “I sent voodoo dolls – ‘High Priest’ Farrant.”
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
I prefer to stick to relevant issues, ‘Anonymous’. I have answered your two points very clearly and given you written references to what I actually stated.
I did NOT use the word ‘vampire’ to the BBC. They may have used it but that was only because they were repeating (or asking about)a ‘vampire’ after they had been told that by anther person.
I did not make that statement about ‘staking a vampire’, that was attributed to myself illegally by the police. I denided making this statement in open Court and was subsequently acquitted of that ‘vampire hunting’ charge.
Now, lets stay with your own crucial statement that you made earlier to support the existence of a ‘vampire’ at Highgate Cemetery. You stated (Quote):
“The foxes were examined by the RSPCA who could not find enough blood for forensic examination. The local newspaper at first believed there was no visible means of how the foxes died. Later it was admitted that small lacerations punctured the throat of each animal. A similar outbreak of mysterious deaths afflicted pet owners in neighbouring areas where cats, dogs and rabbits featured among the victims. There was even a pet goat exsanguinated. Once again, small lacerations around the throat area were discovered”.
This statement is erroneous. It was submitted to a local ‘journalist’ to support his ‘vampire’ theory. The newspaper published it in good faith, without realising who the person really was. The journalist’s name (that is the official journalist from the Finchley Press) was Graham Newson. Newson only reported these ‘facts’ as a result of the erroneous information supplied to him by this other person (to support the existence of a ‘vampire’ in the area).
You are now merely repeating erroneous information inadvertently published in a local newspaper. In doing so, you have now admitted here that you do not, in fact, know the name of this PSPCA Inspector. That really comes as little surprise – but it is why I asked you.
I have answered your question about the dead male fox which I discovered and then reported. THAT is a fact. You have given us no facts about all the dead animals you state were the result of a ‘vampiore’ attack.
So can we have some facts please about all these dead animals you claim were bitten by a ‘vampire’?
David Farrant, President, British Psychic and Occult Society.
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
“I prefer to stick to relevant issues. I have answered your two points very clearly and given you written references to what I actually stated.”
You have not. You have totally avoided the issue which is that you were promoting yourself as a lone “vampire hunter” throughout 1970, as confirmed in every interview you gave, whether on television or to newspapers. You armed yourself with a cross and a stake (even a Catholic rosary sometimes) and took journalists and photographers along with you for the publicity it would generate in the media. At the time and for two decades afterwards you never once complained that you had been misreported, misquoted or set-up by the police.
“I did NOT use the word ‘vampire’ to the BBC. They may have used it but that was only because they were repeating (or asking about)a ‘vampire’ after they had been told that by anther person.”
You did not need to actually say the word “vampire” when interviewed by the BBC because they said it for you. The programme was called “Vampires” and the only reason you were invited to be interviewed was because you had been caught vampire hunting in Highgate Cemetery by police. In the Hampstead & Highgate Express seven months earlier you did say the word “vampire” and indeed supported the vampire theory. Whatever anyone else on the BBC programme might have discussed, you alone demonstrated to viewers how you went about hunting a vampire with a cross in one hand and a stake in the other. The interviewer asked you about your pursuit of a vampire. You answered as if you were talking about vampires. There is no room for equivocation.
“I did not make that statement about ‘staking a vampire’, that was attributed to myself illegally by the police. I denided making this statement in open Court and was subsequently acquitted of that ‘vampire hunting’ charge.”
You were not charged with “vampire hunting.” This is yet another smokescreen. You were charged with being in an enclosed area for an unlawful purpose, and you were acquitted solely because Highgate Cemetery is not an enclosed area. The statement you made and signed is a matter of public record. You did not say it was false at the time. Now you are claiming the police made it all up. You appeared at Clerkenwell Court in August 1970 where you were charged with being in an enclosed area for an unlawful purpose. The magistrate was obviously obliged to acquit you of that charge because it was clear to all present, not least defending solictor Mr Jeffrey Bayes, that Highgate Cemetery cannot by any stretch of the imagination be described as “an enclosed area.” This technicality secured your release in September 1970. However, we should also remind ourselves of what the magistrate, Mr J D Purcell, said when you first appeared before him whilst on remand at Brixton prison: “You should be seen by a doctor.”
“It was submitted to a local ‘journalist’ to support his ‘vampire’ theory. The newspaper published it in good faith, without realising who the person really was. The journalist’s name (that is the official journalist from the Finchley Press) was Graham Newson. Newson only reported these ‘facts’ as a result of the erroneous information supplied to him by this other person (to support the existence of a ‘vampire’ in the area).”
The British Occult Society and also the Vampire Research Society carried out their own investigation and were absolutely satisfied that a number of people had found exsanguinated foxes in the area. You picked up on this and added your own claim without the slightest evidence to support it. Likewise, there is no evidence to substantiate what you are alleging about Graham Newson. You just feel safe to fabricate such a claim forty years after the fact.
“You are now merely repeating erroneous information inadvertently published in a local newspaper. In doing so, you have now admitted here that you do not, in fact, know the name of this PSPCA Inspector.”
Local newspapers referred to an RSPCA spokesman when quoting the matter of there being insufficient blood for their forensic examination. You were quick enough at the time to lay these dead animals at the door of the Highgate Vampire. You told the Hampstead & Highgate Express, 6 March 1970, that this all points to the vampire theory being the most likely answer.
http://tinyurl.com/yawzb64
And you have still not explained what you were doing with Barrie Simmons. The London Evening News published Simmons’ article on 16 October 1970:
“I joined a macabre hunt among the desecrated graves and tombs for the vampire of Highgate Cemetery. … David Farrant, 24, was all set, kitted out with all the gear required by any self-respecting vampire hunter. Clutched under his arm, in a Sainsbury’s carrier bag, he held the tools of his trade. There was a cross made out of two bits of wood tied together with a shoelace and a stake to plunge through the heart of the beast. Vampire hunting is a great art. There is no point in just standing around waiting for the monster to appear. It must be stalked. So we stalked. Cross in one hand to ward off the evil spirits, stake in the other, held at the ready. Farrant stalked among the vaults, past the graves, in the bushes and by the walls. When we had finished he started stalking all over again.”
If not an amateurish vampire hunt for the sake of your own self-publicity, what else were you doing in the dead of night with journalist Barrie Simmons and an Evening News photographer in Highgate Cemetery?
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
AND THERE CAME A GIANT SPIDER . . .
I have already answered your query about the London Evening News article, ‘anonymous’, and I do not intend to answer the same questions over and over again. If anybody want to, however, they can easily go back a little way here and read my original reply.
Regarding my court case for ‘vampire hunting’ in 1970,you still seem to be equally confused about the real facts. I am aware (and as I have said many times before) that you cannot be charged with ‘vampire hunting’, as it is not in itself an offence.
However, the charge against me for this offence in 1970 was for being in an enclosed area for an un lawful purpose. The crux of the charge lay in the words ‘for an unlawful purpose’. The police maintained this unlawful purpose was to open coffins and search through them until I found the ‘king vampire’. According to the police, I would have then … ‘driven my wooden stake through its heart, and run away’. We should remember, perhaps, that I did not give such a statement to the police. They based it on their own interpretation of the ‘vampire story’ circulating at Highgate Cemetery, which was in fact put around by another person.
I did not just have a cross and a stake with me when I was arrested, but for reasons best known to themselves, the police chose only to produce these two items as evidence in court. The judge remarked that he was quite satisfied that I would be unable to ‘open coffins’ with a wooden stake, and he also believed my denials that I had made such an admission to the police. I was therefore acquitted. The ‘enclosed area’ was not really an issue in question; only save insofar that the judge remarked at the end of the case, after his decision, that … “in any event, Highgate Cemetery was not an enclosed area in the strict legal sense.
So please try an get your facts straight, ‘anonymous’.
Also, it was not myself who spread all the nonsense about a vampire at Highgate cemetery, in fact, a certain other person went on television twice (the ITV and the BBC) and on each occasion described the way in which people should destroy a real vampire. Pulling a wooden stake from the back of his tight pinstriped trousers, he displayed it to the cameras, and declared that the only sure way to destroy a vampire was to … ‘stake it through the heart with one blow, cut off its head at dawn with a gravedigger’s shovel, and but what remains.’ He mad this statement twice on the respective television programmes, and as a result all sorts of hooligans and vandals were attracted to Highgate Cemetery, putting stakes through the bodies there. This was an entirely irresponsible way to act, and I certainly never made one hint in that direction regarding the existence of ‘real vampires’.
I do not wish to prolong this nonsense about the exsanguinated animals, claimed to have been bitten by a vampire in the Finchley area in 1979. This was indeed reported in the Finchley press by the reporter whom I named (Graham Newson), but my discovery of he dead fox, which I reported occurred some nine years earlier.
So who is really copying who? ‘anonymous’?
David Farrant, President, British Psychic and Occult Society.
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
“The police maintained this unlawful purpose was to open coffins and search through them until I found the ‘king vampire’.”
The police never once used the term “king vampire.” I shall quote Det Sgt Neville Brown directly from the court report reiterated in the Evening Standard, 18 August 1970:
“Farrant told the police that he had been in London four days after moving up from Weymouth, and that he had been in the Highgate area. It was while in Highgate that he heard people talking about the vampire of Highgate cemetery.”
At this point the newspaper explains: “In a statement, Farrant said that he heard that the vampire rises out of a grave and wanders about the cemetery on the look-out for human beings on whose blood it thrives.”
Det Sgt Neville Brown continues:
“His intention, he said, was to find it and destroy it.”
There is no mention anywhere of a “king vampire.” Only your explanation of what you were doing in Highgate Cemetery on the night of 17 August 1970, namely vampire hunting. The process described by you to the police to achieve this would obviously prove unlawful. But that was only your intention. You were not discovered hovering over an open coffin with a raised stake. You were merely discovered in the graveyard on your own with vampire hunting items.
Anyone wanting to read the Evening Standard report in full may do so at this link:
http://tinyurl.com/2ewz5uv
“We should remember, perhaps, that I did not give such a statement to the police,” you now say without any evidence to support this claim. There is nothing on record from 1970 where you publicly challenged the statement you made to the police. You were very vocal on most things, but not this. Why should we believe you decades later that the police invented the statement they attributed to you? Why would the police do such a thing? What about your other anomalies?
One example of you revising the past is the alleged number of times you claim you witnessed the Highgate entity/ghost/vampire (whatever you want to call it). In the Hampstead & Highgate Express, 6 February 1970, you claimed to have seen it THREE times:
“The first occasion was on Christmas Eve. … The second sighting, a week later, was also brief. Last week, the figure appeared, only a few yards inside the gates. … I have no knowledge in this field and I would be interested to hear if any other readers have seen anything of this nature.”
When interviewed for BBC Telvision’s 24 Hours programme, 15 October 1970, you claimed to have seen it just TWICE:
“I have seen it, yes. I saw it last February, and saw it on two occasions.”
When interviewed in June 2009 by Steve Genier on his Nocturnal Frequency blogtalk radio, and a few months later by Andrew Gough for his Arcadia website, you claimed to have only see the Highgate phenomenon ONCE.
How does a sighting of something so significant reduce from three occasions to two occasions to just one occasion?
Likewise, alleging the police contrived a statement in which you were vampire hunting with a cross and stake falls into a similar category of rewriting history. The only problem you have with that piece of revisionism is the fact that the police confiscated from you a sharp wooden stake and cross which became material evidence.
“All sorts of hooligans and vandals were attracted to Highgate Cemetery, putting stakes through the bodies there,” you claim happened after television programmes in 1970. One of these transmissions showed you brandishing a stake, which you pulled out of your trousers, and a cross while demonstrating to television viewers what you were doing on the night of your arrest, namely vampire hunting. Your clear intention was to plunge this stake through the heart of an undead corpse. That notwithstanding, only one outrage occurred where a corpse was mutilated in this way, and that was attributed by the police and press to the work of Satanists who had been frequenting the graveyard for years for the purpose of bizarre rituals involving bodies.
Since Highgate Cemetery became the focus of so much media attention in 1970, incidents of vandalism and desecration actually fell significantly. And, of course, in this context we should not forget that in June 1974 you were convicted of vandalism and desecration at Highgate Cemetery and sentenced to a term of imprisonment.
http://tinyurl.com/2d9egmo
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
For somebody who wasn’t even present at my case for ‘vampire hunting’ in 1970, ‘Anonymous’, you seem to have an unhealthy interest in my central involvements. For example, that case came to Court no less than three times before I was finally acquitted of that charge, and you are only relying on one newspaper report which, in turn, was relying on evidence given by one Police officer when the case first opened. Very shoddy research if you don’t mind me saying so. The word “King Vampire” WAS used in Court; indeed, the police made it in association with reports they must have gleaned from local newspapers.
This is the second time you have got your facts totally ‘back to front, ‘Anonymous’. The first was when you wrongly assumed I’d only been acquitted on a technicality (‘being in an enclosed area’etc).
The main ingredient of that charge which the police were trying to prove was the ‘for an unlawful purpose’ part. This was my intention (at least according to the Police) to break open coffins until I found the ‘King Vampire’ and then stake it through the heart (Oh, and then ‘run away’!).
I never said any of this. This fabricated statement was attributed and dependent on the evidence of one police officer only. Indeed, the Magistrate actually said when concluding his decision in the third Trial that it would have been impossible for myself to have opened a coffin with the sharpened piece of wood. He added that had he thought differently, the outcome would have been very different.
When you say that the case was dismissed only on a technicality, you are inventing a fact that simply just didn’t happen. People are entitled to ask why you would want to try and do that, ‘Anonymous’? I think the real reason is obvious to most people.
I refused to name the other people who had been with me simply because they also had done nothing wrong. Had I given my address, the Police would have gone to my flat and found their names in the records of the BPOS.
Because of my refusal to do this, I was kept in custody overnight.as a matter of procedure. The police stated this fact in Court (that I had refused to give my address), which is what led some newspapers to state “Farrant of no fixed address” when reporting the Police evidence.
YOU are the person who is so desperately trying to ‘re-write history’. As I said, most people reading this will know the real reason why!
David Farrant, President, British Psychic and Occult Society
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
“This fabricated statement was attributed and dependent on the evidence of one police officer only. Indeed, the Magistrate actually said when concluding his decision in the third Trial that it would have been impossible for myself to have opened a coffin with the sharpened piece of wood. He added that had he thought differently, the outcome would have been very different.”
Would anyone seriously imagine the wooden stake (submitted in evidence together with a cross) was for the purpose of opening a coffin? If your intention, as submitted by the police in a statement signed by you, was to plunge the stake you carried into the heart of the vampire it was clearly not an impliment for prising open coffins. Nobody is so stupid as to think a piece of wood such as that found in your possession could force the bolted lid off a casket. That would require an iron crowbar.
“That case came to Court no less than three times before I was finally acquitted of that charge, and you are only relying on one newspaper report which, in turn, was relying on evidence given by one Police officer when the case first opened. Very shoddy research if you don’t mind me saying so.”
The reason for the case coming to court more than the customary twice is because the magistrate ordered psychiatric reports to be carried out on you. These reports proved inconclusive; the two psychiatrists failing to agree on your sanity, ie whether you were fit or not to appear before the court. I have already referred to more than one newspaper court report. Every newspaper in the country covered the case, which is exactly what you wanted. They are duty-bound to report court cases very accurately. The policeman you are referring to is Det Sgt Neville Brown who was the officer in charge of your case. We are being asked by you to believe he fabricated your statement in order to make you appear like a vampire hunter. Why would a policeman want to do such a thing? You had already established in the Hampstead & Highgate Express, 6 March 1970, that you were prepared to do whatever was necessary to deal with the vampire which you accepted was the most likely culprit for the dead animals and spectral sightings.
“When you say that the case was dismissed only on a technicality, you are inventing a fact that simply just didn’t happen. People are entitled to ask why you would want to try and do that? I think the real reason is obvious to most people.”
Have you asked most people? It was stated at the time that you were acquitted solely because Highgate Cemetery is not an enclosed area and you had been charged with being in an enclosed area for an unlawful purpose. You did not deny at the time that your purpose was to hunt and destroy a vampire. You did not deny it when interviewed by newspapers. You did not deny it when reconstructing for the BBC what you were doing on the night of your arrest. It is perfectly reasonable for the police to assume this was your intention; especially as you were found in possession of a cross and sharpened wooden stake at midnight in the graveyard. What you have failed to mention, of course, is that you originally pleaded guilty to the charge brought against you and only later changed your plea to one of not guilty. A friend persuaded you to do this and when you did he paid your bail. You eventually became his lodger.
“I refused to name the other people who had been with me simply because they also had done nothing wrong. Had I given my address, the Police would have gone to my flat and found their names in the records of the BPOS.”
There were no “other people” involved apart from the person you probably arranged to telephone the police to have you arrested. You knew this arrest was absolutely essential to assure the coverage you subsequently achieved in the media. You didn’t give your address because you were living in someone’s coal bunker and didn’t want to be exposed as a figure of fun in the press. You were living in this bunker from August 1969 to August 1970. After you changed your plea from guilty to not guilty you were given bail and released from Brixton Prison. You lived with a friend in Barnet as a condition of your bail. You also secured brief employment as a porter at Barnet General Hospital, which was another condition of your bail. You did not have a “flat” for police to raid. At the time of your arrest you occupied a friend’s coal bunker (one of several in a communal coal cellar in Archway Road). A number of people visited you in the year you lived in that cellar. They were all aware that your arrest and vampire hunting claims were nothing more than a publicity stunt. Two of the correspondents to the Hampstead & Highgate Express readers’ letters column you have identified in the above article were personal friends of yours, namely Audrey Connely and Kenny Frewin. Their published letters, needless to say, are completely bogus and were written under your instruction. There were no “records of the BPOS” because there was no “BPOS.” You were a lone self-publicist who tried to involve friends and acquaintances in your stunts and schemes.
You have predicably skirted around the anomalies I raised previously, namely that you claimed to have sighted the entity three times in a letter to the Ham & High in February 1970, which became two sightings in an interview you gave on BBC TV’s 24 Hours in October 1970 and also in your self-published pamphlet “Beyond the Highgate Vampire” (1991), which then became only one sighting when interviewed in 2009 by Steve Genier and again by Andrew Gough in the same year. How do you explain the sighting of something so crucial reducing from three to two to one? If you sighted anything you would surely have a very clear recollection of how many times you actually saw it.
Another anomaly which might have occurred to the casual reader is the fact that retrospectively you have claimed to have been a “high priest of witchcraft” during the time of your arrest in Highgate Cemetery on the night of 17 August 1970. Yet you were found in possesion of a Christian cross! When you demonstrated what you were doing on the night of your arrest for the BBC, you wore a Roman Catholic rosary around your neck and brandished an enormous Christian cross. Photographs in various newspapers even show you wearing a Catholic crucifix and a rosary around your neck. (See example from the Evening News, 29 September 1970, at the link below). Why would a self-proclaimed pagan, a “high priest of witchcraft” no less, rely on Christian symbols such as a rosary, crucifix and a cross to protect himself?
http://tinyurl.com/28evva4
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
“We are being asked by you to believe he fabricated your statement in order to make you appear like a vampire hunter. Why would a policeman want to do such a thing? You had already established in the Hampstead & Highgate Express, 6 March 1970, that you were prepared to do whatever was necessary to deal with the vampire which you accepted was the most likely culprit for the dead animals and spectral sightings.”
I have already explained that, ‘Anonymous’, as I explained in my concise book “Beyond the Highgate Vampire”, I was just humouring some over-zealous reporter who was asking me about reports his newspaper had had about the entity being an actual ‘blood-sucking vampire’. This person had actually visited the editor of that newspaper (Gerald Issaman) dressed in a long black, red-lined cape, at the newspaper’s offices, and given him some ridiculous story about the ‘vampire’ really being a Hungarian nobleman who had been brought from Rumania by his followers in Victorian times in his coffin which they secluded in Ashworth House – the demolished mansion that once stood upon the site of Highgate Cemetery. Interviewed only last year in the Camden Journal (when reviewing another book about London ghosts), Gerald Issaman confirmed this and said the Ham and High had only ran this story ‘for laughs’.
The same person I an referring to (and please very carefully here, ‘Anonymous’) appeared on television very soon afterwards (March 13th 1970) and repeated his assertion that the witnessed entity seen in and around Highgate Cemetery was really a ‘vampire’; and he went on to tell viewers (rather encourage them) how a person should destroy a vampire. He said that the only certain way to destroy a vampire was to ‘stake it through its heart just before dawn, cut off its head with a gravediggers shovel, and burn what remains’. He also told the television cameras that ‘David Farrant (myself) would be returning to Highgate Cemetery that same night to do just that’. As this man’s statements were televised, hundreds of people returned to Highgate Cemetery that same evening expecting to witness a non-existent vampire hunt. Most were evicted by police with dogs.
Not long after this, this irresponsible statement caused many cranks and mentally sick people to go into Highgate Cemetery to enter Highgate Cemetery by night and drive metal stakes through corpses laid to rest there. Vandalism also increased to an alarming degree – mostly due to this person’s irresponsible statements.
The police were obviously aware of all this serious activity, and my arrest in HC on August 17th 1970 was set against this background.
When I was arrested at HC that night, the four other people went back to two cars parked outside the main gate (away from the direction that the police were approaching). I attempted to exit further along the back wall as I knew people who lived in South Grove and their garden literally backed onto Highgate Cemetery. But I got arrested with psychic implements that I was carrying, including a wooden stake engraved with Cabalistic symbols attached to a piece of white cord.
The police never produced these other implements in Court, and just a small cross and the stake, with the white cord conveniently removed. He purpose of the sharpened piece of wood was to cast a magical Circle on the ground: but the police maintained I intended to use it to ‘stake the King Vampire’.
I did NOT make the police statement attributed to myself. This was written out by Neville Brown which he read from in Court. I was acquitted.
The simple truth is that the police tried to make me a scapegoat for all the serious vandalism at Highgate Cemetery (including all the staked corpses’) which they had been alerted to as a result of this other individual’s statements in the newspapers and on the television. Their attempt failed and I was found not guilty.
I am not going to deal with all your other irrelevant assumptions, ‘Anonymous’. Hard facts I will deal with. Childish statements (or rather your bias interpretation of my personal circumstances) I will not.
David Farrant, President, BPOS
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
“I have already explained that, as I explained in my concise book [sic] “Beyond the Highgate Vampire”, I was just humouring some over-zealous reporter who was asking me about reports his newspaper had had about the entity being an actual ‘blood-sucking vampire’.”
So, let’s be absolutely clear about this, your response on the front page of the Hampstead & Highgate Express, 6 March 1970, “What I have recently learnt all points to the vampire theory as being the most likely answer”; your entering Highgate Cemetery at midnight on your own with a cross and stake and your arrest; your appearance on BBC Television’s 24 Hours where you reconstructed your vampire hunt with a cross and stake; and your “midnight date with Highgate’s vampire” accompanied by Barrie Simmons and an Evening News staff photographer where you again carried a cross and stake were merely for the purpose to “humour some over-zealous reporter”? Your appearance in court where your signed statement with intent to impale a vampire at Highgate Cemetery and interviews in the press confirming this were just to “humour some over-zealous reporter”? Does that sound remotely plausible, even to you?
Where was the “over-zealous reporter” when you entered Highgate Cemetery on your own on the night of 17 August 1970 with a cross in one hand and a stake in the other? Who were you humouring then? Yourself?
“He also told the television cameras that ‘David Farrant (myself) would be returning to Highgate Cemetery that same night to do just that’.”
The person you are referring to has been consistent throughout and, unlike you, has never revised the position he held on these matters from forty years ago. He informed the public on 27 February 1970 that demonic disturbances and unearthly happenings in the vicinity of Highgate Cemetery were vampiric. Shortly afterwards he appeared on television on 13 March 1970 to repeat his theory. The suspected tomb was located and an exorcism performed in August 1970. This proved ineffective as the hauntings and animal deaths continued. Indeed, they multiplied. All manner of people were by now jumping on the bandwagon, not least of all yourself. By 6 March 1970 you had already jumped on the vampire bandwagon and adopted the role of amateur vampire hunter, making your intention to take “whatever means might be necessary so that we can all rest” known to readers of the Hampstead & Highgate Express.
The president of the British Occult Society warned you to desist from your unwelcome intrusion and threat to take matters into your own hands. This the BOS president did on Thames Television’s Today programme, 13 March 1970, and repeated on the front page of the Hampstead & Highgate Express, 13 March 1970, where it was reported that the “President of the British Occult Society … is opposed to Mr Farrant’s plans. ‘He goes against our explicit wish for his own safety’.” In the same front page report it is stated that you “intend to visit the cemetery again, armed with a wooden stake and a crucifix, with the aim of exorcising the spirit.” And this is precisely what you attempted to do, at least in the eyes of the media for public consumption, on the night of 17 August 1970.
“Not long after this, this irresponsible statement caused many cranks and mentally sick people to go into Highgate Cemetery to enter Highgate Cemetery by night and drive metal stakes through corpses laid to rest there. Vandalism also increased to an alarming degree – mostly due to this person’s irresponsible statements.”
As already stated previously, the incidents of wanton vandalism decreased significantly, as did acts of satanic outrage, due entirely to the spotlight falling onto Highgate Cemetery as a result of mass media coverage of the vampire. One or two harmless youngsters, mostly students, did go on private vampire hunts. They did no damage whatsoever, and none were charged or convicted of causing any damage. You, on the other hand, were convicted at the Old Bailey in 1974 of malicious vandalism and desecration at Highgate Cemetery for which you were sentenced to a term of imprisonment. You were eventually released on early parole for good behaviour in the summer of 1976.
“He purpose of the sharpened piece of wood was to cast a magical Circle on the ground: but the police maintained I intended to use it to ‘stake the King Vampire’. I did NOT make the police statement attributed to myself. This was written out by Neville Brown which he read from in Court. I was acquitted. The simple truth is that the police tried to make me a scapegoat for all the serious vandalism at Highgate Cemetery.”
There was only one incident of mutilation, ie decapitation of a corpse, which everyone who investigated (including the police, press and BBC) agreed was the work of Satanists who had been interrupted during some diabolical necromantic ritual where they did not have time to hide the evidence. All other sensationalist claims made by only one individual were unsubstantiated and without any supporting evidence.
You had already established your intention to stake the vampire in the Hampstead & Highgate Express (6 March 1970 and 13 March 1970). Why would the police disregard your publicly stated ambition? After all, you were caught in Highgate Cemetery at midnight carrying a cross and stake. Why would the police need to make you a “scapegoat” for anything when you had provided them with all the evidence they needed? The fact of the matter is that you were not found to have caused any vandalism on that occasion and could only be charged with being in an enclosed area for an unlawful purpose, but intent is the hardest thing to prove in law and Highgate Cemetery is not an enclosed are; so you had to be aquitted of that charge. That notwithstanding, the police did not have to wait too long before you were successfully charged and convicted of vandalism and desecration at the same cemetery. Were you a “scapegoat” on that occasion too? If so, a scapegoat for what?
Television presenter Sandra Harris made it very clear to everyone she was interviewing for the Today programme that she was asking them about vampires. The unabridged text of an interview with you on Today (Thames Television), 13 March 1970, follows:
Sandra Harris: “Did you get any feeling from it? Did you feel that it was evil?”
David Farrant: “Yes, I did feel it was evil because the last time I actually saw its face, and it looked like it had been dead for a long time.”
Sandra Harris: “What do you mean by that?”
David Farrant: “Well, I mean it certainly wasn’t human.”
And that was the sum total of your input. Some children were also interviewed and asked about the vampire they claimed to have seen. The bulk of the programme was taken up by an interview with the president of the British Occult Society who naturally warned against your proposed lone vampire hunt in the graveyard. Your second interview was on 24 Hours (BBC TV), 15 October 1970. Viewers saw a reconstruction of you entering Highgate Cemetery, removing a cross and stake from your trouser belt, then prowling among the tombs, reconstructing your stalking of the vampire on the night of your arrest.
Whenever you face difficult or impossible questions you invariably resort to the “I am not going to deal with all your other irrelevant assumptions” tactic to try and wriggle out of dealing with the issue at hand. The fact is you cannot give an answer because there is no answer other than the obvious one, ie you encountered no entity at Highgate Cemetery and your claims of being a witch are phoney. However, what I have queried has nothing to do with any “assumption” of mine, but rather your own publicly stated claims.
In the Hampstead & Highgate Express, 6 February 1970, YOU claimed to have seen the Highgate entity THREE times:
“The first occasion was on Christmas Eve. … The second sighting, a week later, was also brief. Last week, the figure appeared, only a few yards inside the gates. … I have no knowledge in this field and I would be interested to hear if any other readers have seen anything of this nature.”
On BBC TV’s 24 Hours programme, 15 October 1970, YOU claimed to have seen the Highgate entity TWICE:
“I have seen it, yes. I saw it last February, and saw it on two occasions.”
Interviewed in June 2009 by Steve Genier on his Nocturnal Frequency blogtalk radio, and a few months later by Andrew Gough for his Arcadia website, YOU claimed to have sighted the Highgate entity ONCE.
These are not my “assumptions.” They are your public statements. They are also contradictory and anomalous. If you really did see something supernatural all those years ago, how can there be any doubt in your mind how many times you encountered it? It is surely a memory you would take to the grave.
You have not even attempted to address the fact that two of the correspondents published in the readers letters’ column you cite were personal friends of yours who you persuaded to write what they did to the Hampstead & Highgate Express in early 1970. There names are Audrey Connely and Kenny Frewin.
I am not making “childish statements.” I am stating facts. You are behaving childishly by refusing to address them.
It is a fact that you have retrospectively claimed to have been a “witch” prior and during the time of your arrest in Highgate Cemetery on the night of 17 August 1970. Yet you were found in possession of Christian symbols. When you demonstrated for television viewers what you were doing on the night of your first arrest you wore a Roman Catholic rosary around your neck and brandished an enormous Christian cross. During that BBC transmission these Christian protections are very visible. (See link below of an image taken from your vampire reconstruction). Why would a pagan, a self-styled “high priest of witchcraft” no less, rely on Christian symbols such as a rosary and a cross to protect himself? This is yet another contradiction you have failed to address despite it being a reasonable query to raise. We must deduce that the answer is that you were no more a serious witch than you were a genuine vampire hunter.
http://tinyurl.com/24enhzm
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
AND THERE CAME A GIANT SPIDER . . .
You seem to be getting even more confused about things ‘Anonymous’. The Ham & High reporter was inteviewing me about the ghost many people had reported seeing at Highgate Cemetery. He put it to me claims that had already been made to his editor in person that this entity was in reality a ‘blood-sucking vampire’. He asked me what I would do if this turned out to be the case. I laughingly told me (and here is my famous ststement – at least, which you seem to be so fond of repeating out of context) that I would ‘take what ever means were necessary (should this turn out to be the case) so that we could all rest in peace. My statement was published in the Ham and High newspaper. Its as simple as that. So I was humouring that reporter’s light-hearted assertion. I really don’t see your problem with this; you seem to be trying to make an issue out of nothing.
You are certainly now getting extremely confused when attempting to transfer this ‘humouring statement’ onto the Evening News reporters (one Barry Simmonds) who invited me to go to Highgate Cemetery on night (and to bring a cross and a stake) after having seen the BBC television programme featuring myself. They were doing (and did) a follow up story and I was showing them around Highgate Cemetery, that’s all. I really can’t see why you are making such an issue out of this. It certainly does not stand as proof that I believed in vampires, anymore than you could say Christopher Lee does in real life! You are the only person who seems to believe in these, which is so obvious by your continued comments. I don’t. Lets remember, that I told those reporters at the onset of this excursion . . . “I can’t guarantee that we will find any vampires”! My comment was published at the beginning of their article in the London Evening News.
And now to this:
“The suspected tomb was located and an exorcism performed in August 1970. This proved ineffective as the hauntings and animal deaths continued. Indeed, they multiplied. All manner of people were by now jumping on the bandwagon, not least of all yourself. By 6 March 1970 you had already jumped on the vampire bandwagon and adopted the role of amateur vampire hunter, making your intention to take “whatever means might be necessary so that we can all rest” known to readers of the Hampstead & Highgate Express”.
Shall we remind ourselves of what one individual said in a book he self-published about vampires and his remarks about this ‘exorcism’. Then we can perhaps see who was ‘jumping on any bandwagon . . .
He said he (and some unnamed ‘assistants’) entered this tomb on night after (illegally) ‘shouldering open the door’ and wrenching open the lid of a coffin. He goes on to describe a ‘putrid smell’ and seeing the vampire lying in the coffin with its eyes ‘horribly glazed’ and its mouth still ‘gorged with fresh blood’ (presumably from its previous night’s feast). He was about to stake it, but one of the assistants grabbed his arm and persuaded him not to do so as this ‘would be sacrilige’. So instead (he claims) they performed some mumbo jumbo exorcism in the tomb which involved using fresh garlic and sprinkling Holy water about.
Now, I have asked you on numerous occasions, ‘Anonymous’, on various Internet Forums just who it was who granted you permission to illegally enter this tomb to perform this ‘exorcism’?
I have given you three possibilities from where such permission might have been forthcoming: 1) Permission from the relatives 2) permission from the Home Office or 3) permission from the cemetery authorities. The answer to this has always been a deadly silence. So perhaps we could try again now, ‘Anonymous’, . . . exactly who was it that gave you permission? I am sure people here would be interested in hearing your answer ti this, ‘Anonymous’. Well?
The cemetery superintendent, William Law, was called as a prosecution witness by the police at my Old Bailey Trial for desecration in 1974. In evidence, he referred to the remarks made by the other person made to the television about ‘how people should stake vampires’ and went on to testify of how he had had to put coffins properly back in vaults after having found the corpses in them having been impaled with iron stakes.
Laws testimony was reported in the London Evening Standard newspaper (which you seem so fond of quoting) and I can give his exact quotes here lest you may have forgotten these.
To conclude, ‘Anonymous’, you might believe in ‘blood-sucking vampires’ but I do not!
Now please don’t forget to answer my question!
David Farrant, President, British psychic and Occult Society
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
“The Ham & High reporter was inteviewing me about the ghost many people had reported seeing at Highgate Cemetery. He put it to me claims that had already been made to his editor in person that this entity was in reality a ‘blood-sucking vampire’. He asked me what I would do if this turned out to be the case. I laughingly told me (and here is my famous ststement – at least, which you seem to be so fond of repeating out of context) that I would ‘take what ever means were necessary (should this turn out to be the case) so that we could all rest in peace. My statement was published in the Ham and High newspaper. Its as simple as that. So I was humouring that reporter’s light-hearted assertion. I really don’t see your problem with this; you seem to be trying to make an issue out of nothing.”
My problem is that your quoted statements taken in context with the front page headline news feature as a whole tell a very different story. There is nothing to suggest you were humouring anybody and when looked at in the context of your vampire hunting activities that year it is clear you were wanting your comments to be taken very seriously indeed by the newspaper in question. ie the Hampstead & Highgate Express, 6 March 1970.
Your comments can be read in context at this link:
http://tinyurl.com/yad6pvs
“You are certainly now getting extremely confused when attempting to transfer this ‘humouring statement’ onto the Evening News reporters (one Barry Simmonds) who invited me to go to Highgate Cemetery on night (and to bring a cross and a stake) after having seen the BBC television programme featuring myself. They were doing (and did) a follow up story and I was showing them around Highgate Cemetery, that’s all. I really can’t see why you are making such an issue out of this. It certainly does not stand as proof that I believed in vampires, anymore than you could say Christopher Lee does in real life! You are the only person who seems to believe in these, which is so obvious by your continued comments. I don’t. Lets remember, that I told those reporters at the onset of this excursion . . . “I can’t guarantee that we will find any vampires”! My comment was published at the beginning of their article in the London Evening News.”
No confusion whatsoever. The article in the Evening News, 16 October 1970, was headlined: “My midnight date with Highgate’s vampire” and all it described was your stalking a vampire at night with your cross and stake. Photographs of same were published with the article. Of course, you couldn’t guarantee you would find any vampires. Equally, you couldn’t guarantee you would find any ghosts or any other type of supernatural phenomena. Who can guarantee anything when they are making just one excursion with newspaper people in tow? The fact is you were portraying yourself as a real vampire hunter; not as an actor in a Hammer horror film like Peter Cushing or Christpher Lee. No record will be found anywhere in the 1970s of you saying you did not believe in the existence of vampires. Quite the opposite! Your dismissing their existence came much later.
“He said he (and some unnamed ‘assistants’) entered this tomb on night after (illegally) ‘shouldering open the door’ and wrenching open the lid of a coffin.”
Some assistants in this man’s investigation were identified. Others were not by their own request. You, on the other hand, have never identified a single assistant, witness or anybody who can actually be reached for verification. Some of this man’s witnesses have appeared on television programmes. Some have appeared in documentary films. His assistants have appeared in photographs. Where are your so-called “assistants” or “members”? The fact is you did not have any and you still do not have any. Hence their non-appearance. Ever! There has only been you and you alone involved in what can only be described as blatant attention-seeking and poorly-executed publicity-stunts.
He does not say that his entry into a vault was “illegal”; neither does he use the term “shouldering open the door.” What he says on page 85 of The Highgate Vampire (Gothic Press, 1991) is: “An assistant joined me in putting shoulders to the old door until, inch by inch, it creaked open …” Nor does he say the lid was “wrenched open.” On the same page we read: “I stepped forward and, with heart pounding, raised the massive lid.” No mention of “wrenching open the lid.”
“So instead (he claims) they performed some mumbo jumbo exorcism in the tomb.”
He performed a Latin rite exorcism using a crucifix, incense and holy water. Shall we describe the necromantic ritual you allegedly performed with a naked girlfriend and a dagger in Highgate Cemetery the following year, calling upon a “satanic force” to enter you (according to an article you wrote and had published in New Witchcraft magazine)? Shall we compare his Christian exorcism with your alleged diabolical attempt to raise a vampire?
“Now, I have asked you on numerous occasions, on various Internet Forums just who it was who granted you permission to illegally enter this tomb to perform this ‘exorcism’?”
I am not the person you seem to be addressing and I will not answer in his stead. But I know what the answer would be. Comments ought to be directed at you and the claims you make in your article, and should not be directed at someone against whom you have waged a vendetta since the incidents at Highgate first came into the public domain forty years ago; someone, moreover, who hasn’t contributed an article or anything else to this website.
“The cemetery superintendent, William Law, was called as a prosecution witness by the police at my Old Bailey Trial for desecration in 1974.”
The foreman at Highgate Cemetery, William Law, is the only person to have claimed that an iron stake was used to impale a corpse, but when asked by the media (television and the press) to provide evidence of this, he could not. Nobody could be found to corroborate Law’s claim and he went very quiet when the media pressed him on it. This was his fifteen minutes’ of fame, however, and he enjoyed it while it lasted. William Law clearly believed you were responsible for some of the damage at the graveyard. You were found guilty as charged of wanton desecration and malicious vandalism at Highgate Cemetery following the trial at which William Law gave evidence.
“Now please don’t forget to answer my question!”
You direct questions at me that are obviously intended for someone else while conveniently “forgetting” to answer mine! Sorry, that’s not how it works. You wrote an article where comments are invited. I raised queries and outlined problems with what you have alleged took place at Highgate. You have prevaricated and made excuses why you will not answer them while employing your old stratagem of asking questions instead of answering those already put to you.
For example, In the Hampstead & Highgate Express, 6 February 1970, YOU claimed to have seen the Highgate entity THREE times. On BBC TV’s 24 Hours programme, 15 October 1970, and also in your self-published pamphlet, YOU claimed to have seen the Highgate entity TWICE. In June 2009, when interviewed by Steve Genier on his Nocturnal Frequency blogtalk radio, and a few months later by Andrew Gough for his Arcadia website, YOU claimed to have sighted the Highgate entity ONCE. How do you explain your sightings of something so important altering so radically down the years?
And, you have retrospectively claimed to have been a “witch” prior and during the time of your arrest in Highgate Cemetery on the night of 17 August 1970. Yet you were found in possession of Christian symbols. When you demonstrated for television viewers what you were doing on the night of your first arrest you wore a Roman Catholic rosary around your neck and brandished an enormous Christian cross. Why would a pagan, a self-styled “high priest of witchcraft” no less, rely on Christian symbols such as a rosary and a cross to protect himself?
http://tinyurl.com/26g66am
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
AND THERE CAME A GIANT SPIDER . . .
“No confusion whatsoever. The article in the Evening News, 16 October 1970, was headlined: “My midnight date with Highgate’s vampire” and all it described was your stalking a vampire at night with your cross and stake”
NO confusion??!! You can’t even get the main headline right! The word ‘my’ was not used – you put that in.
The correct headine was . . . MIDNIGHT VIGIL FOR THE HIGHGATE VAMPIRE.
You’ve just disproved your own case again!
David Farrant, President, BPOS
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
“WHEN VAMPIRE HUNTERS STRUCK
Iron stakes were fond driven through corpses in a cemetery following rumours about a vampire, s court heard yesterday.. The foreman at Highgate Cemetery in North London, Mr William Law, told the jury in the Old Bailey ‘body snatch’ case.
“There was a story in the local Press that said that a 7ft-tall vampire had been seen hovering in the air over the top of a head-stone.
Then a coffin was broken into and an iron stake was put through the body. I have found other corpses that have been treated in a similar way”
Mr Law was giving evidence for the prosecution in the case of 28-year-old David Farrant of Archway Road, Highgate, who denies five charges including breaking into a catacomb and two vaults and interfering with corpses” . . .
DAILY MAIL, Thursday, June 15 1974.
Well, you have shown everyone now that you are extremely confused, ‘Anonymous’. And desperately trying to re-write history amidst your confusion.
I did not expect you to answer my question about obtaining permission before you broke into that vault, ‘Anonymous’. The truth is that you cannot answer it, simply because you did not have any permission.
And denying that you are not really yourself is really just pathetic. Everyone knows who you really are’ Anonymous’. I really don’t know why you bother!
David Farrant, President. British Psychic and Occult Society
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
“NO confusion??!! You can’t even get the main headline right! The word ‘my’ was not used – you put that in. The correct headine was . . . MIDNIGHT VIGIL FOR THE HIGHGATE VAMPIRE. You’ve just disproved your own case again!”
The London Evening News issued two editions on 16 October 1970, as was that newspaper’s practice. One edition carried a massive spread with many pictures of you supposedly stalking the vampire at night with your cross and stake. The other edition vastly reduced the illustrative content and had a slightly altered title above the article which nonetheless amounted to the same thing. How does my quoting the edition with Barrie Simmons’ article titled “My midnight date with Highgate’s vampire” disprove anything? It is clear that it was the journalist’s “date” with the vampire courtesy of yourself. The other edition carrying a slightly changed title effects nothing. The text describing your antics beneath either title remains the same: “I joined a macabre hunt among the desecrated graves and tombs for the vampire of Highgate Cemetery. … David Farrant, 24, was all set, kitted out with all the gear required by any self-respecting vampire hunter. Clutched under his arm, in a Sainsbury’s carrier bag, he held the tools of his trade. There was a cross made out of two bits of wood tied together with a shoelace and a stake to plunge through the heart of the beast.”
“The foreman at Highgate Cemetery in North London, Mr William Law, told the jury in the Old Bailey ‘body snatch’ case. ‘There was a story in the local Press that said that a 7ft-tall vampire had been seen hovering in the air over the top of a head-stone. Then a coffin was broken into and an iron stake was put through the body. I have found other corpses that have been treated in a similar way.’ Mr Law was giving evidence for the prosecution in the case of 28-year-old David Farrant of Archway Road.”
As previously stated, the foreman at Highgate Cemetery, William Law, is the only person to have claimed that an iron stake was used to impale a corpse, but when asked by the media he was unable to provide any evidence of this ever happening. Not one person could be found to corroborate Law’s claim and he went very quiet when the media pressed him on it. William Law clearly believed you were responsible for the damage at the graveyard, however, and, indeed, you were found guilty as charged of wanton desecration and malicious vandalism at Highgate Cemetery following the trial at which William Law gave evidence.
“Well, you have shown everyone now that you are extremely confused. And desperately trying to re-write history amidst your confusion. I did not expect you to answer my question about obtaining permission before you broke into that vault. The truth is that you cannot answer it, simply because you did not have any permission.”
I didn’t break into anything. Nor did the person your question is really aimed at “break into a vault.” He entered it by pushing the rusty door open. Anyone wanting to discover that party’s side of events may do so by reading his coverage of the investigation in The Highgate Vampire. If anyone has a particular question they wish to put to him they can raise it on his Q&A blog:
http://therightreverendseanmanchester.blogspot.com
I am not him and will not answer on someone else’s behalf.
I certainly didn’t expect you to answer my questions about the contradictory number of sightings of the Highgate entity you have claimed down the years, or the fact that you were apparently a “high priest of witchcraft” who relied soley on Christian (Catholic) symbols for protection.
I really don’t know why you bother to try and fool people.
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
Look, ‘Anonymous’, I am not prepared to argue all these trivialities with you about 40-year-old newspaper reports. Who really cares? Only you do it seems!
Just for the record, Highgate Cemetery foreman, William Law, stated at my Old Bailey ‘vampire trial’ in 1974, that he personally blamed comments made on two television programmes (namely on ITV and the BBC) about a man telling people about how they should ‘stake vampires’, that had led to a sudden outburst of cranks putting iron and wooden stakes through corpses buried there. He did NOT accuse myself of making these comments, although he did name the person who actually did. Law’s written statement was produced in evidence at my Old Bailey Trial. Now you can just guess who this person really was, ‘Anonymous’ – as if you don’t already know!
David Farrant, President, BPOS
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
“Look, I am not prepared to argue all these trivialities with you about 40-year-old newspaper reports. Who really cares? Only you do it seems!”
We are going around in circles with regard to William Law. He blamed media exposure and in particular a television programme in which you were seen removing a cross and stake from your trousers to reconstruct for viewers your actions on the night you were arrested while supposedly vampire hunting. There was no evidence to support Law’s allegation about vampire hunters going on the rampage as a consequence. The police, press and most others were satisfied that Satanists were entirely responsible for the desecration at Highgate Cemetery. Not a single vampire hunter was ever charged and convicted of a criminal offence. You, on the other hand, were charged and found guilty of offences at Highgate Cemetery which included vandalism and desecration. You were subsequently sentenced to a term of imprisonment.
These comments are supposed to be discussions about the article published above which, let’s face it, concentrates on 40-year-old newspaper reports and your alleged activities at Highgate from forty years ago. But if you want to discuss things more recent that that we need look no further than a blog entry you made last night to illustrate how you misrepresent almost everything said about you. Here is what you wrote to someone commenting on your blog:
“When you mentioned that newspaper about myself, I assume you mean the one in “The Sun” saying that I had ‘de-flowered 200 virgins at a ‘witchcraft ritual’?! If you do, it is just further proof that us ‘witches’ have a sense of humour . . .” (June 22, 2010 at 10:05 pm)
http://davidfarrant.org/TheHumanTouch/?p=878#comments
Does Virginia Wheeler’s report in The Sun, 31 October 2006, claim you had “deflowered 200 virgins at a witchcraft ritual”? No. it doesn’t. This is what her report actually says:
“A sex-mad witch and a 200-strong coven plan to celebrate Halloween tonight — by deflowering a teenage virgin. Creepy David Farrant boasted yesterday how he will oversee the orgy to initiate the girl into his cult. The 19-year-old trainee accountant will have full sex with a 30-year-old High Priest chosen by Farrant.”
In fact, “200 virgins” becomes just one virgin. You dismiss the report as “witches having a sense of humour” in much the same way you dismiss the quotes attributed to you in the Hampstead & Highgate Express, 6 March 1970, as “humouring” the journalist who interviewed you. It would seem that when something becomes uncomfortable or incompatible with revised versions it becomes “witches having a sense of humour” and should accordingly not be taken seriously. When, if ever, are we supposed to take any of your quotes seriously? You are quoted in The Sun report as saying: “Initiating a virgin on Halloween is very important for Wiccans in serious covens.”
“Serious covens”? But I thought you were having a bit of fun at the journalist’s and The Sun readers’ expense? Is this interview given by you to Virginia Wheeler serious or not? When will we know the difference? Is there a difference where you are concerned?
Setting aside (for the moment) the fact you have reiterated many times that you ceased being a witch who practices wicca as far back as 1982, you constantly bang the drum of not wanting to confuse witchcraft with Satanism. How does this tally with your own track record?
You were found guilty of sending black magic death dolls to police witnesses and sentenced to two years’ imprisonment. In your self-published pamphlet “Beyond the Highgate Vampire” you include a photograph of Jean-Paul Bourre who is captioned and described by you as a Satanist. What you do not explain to readers of your pamphlet is that you and Bourre are friends and have performed rituals together. I would posit these were for publicity purposes, as is everything else you do. The fact nevertheless remains that you were willing to appear to work side by side performing ceremonial magic with a self-proclaimed Satanist.
The video (link below) opens with Jean-Paul Bourre, but quickly moves to you in Swains Lane talking about the Highgate Vampire. It then moves to your home in Muswell Hill where you show viewers albums of naked girls. There is another video concerning Highgate on YouTube (not the one linked below) which includes a brief glimpse of you performing a ritual with Bourre whom you have known and worked with since early 1980. This confirms beyond any doubt that you wanted to be publicly seen in the company of a Satanist. Then there is your article published in New Witchcraft magazine where you claim to have cut a naked girl and drawn blood from her during a nocturnal ceremony in Highgate Cemetery to evoke a “satanic force.” If you want exact quotes I can provide them.
Recent video of you: http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ezDZBOZZcVQ
Here are my questions:
Why would someone who is constantly insisting that witchcraft and Satanism are not related want to be seen performing rituals with a notorious Satanist?
Why did you continue to claim in the media to be a witch, feeding them with stories like the one in The Sun, when you insist you ceased practicing witchcraft in 1982?
Why did you claim in a published article (written by you) that you evoked a “satanic force” in Highgate Cemetery in 1971 if you wanted to be portrayed as a wiccan?
Why did you show viewers an album of naked girls in the recent French television documentary at the above link unless you wanted to portray the very image found in The Sun newspaper in 2006 which you now tell us should not be taken seriously?
Please do not answer questions with questions, as often happens when you don’t want to explain something. Just answer the questions!
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
“Does Virginia Wheeler’s report in The Sun, 31 October 2006, claim you had “deflowered 200 virgins at a witchcraft ritual”? No. it doesn’t. This is what her report actually says:
“A sex-mad witch and a 200-strong coven plan to celebrate Halloween tonight — by deflowering a teenage virgin. Creepy David Farrant boasted yesterday how he will oversee the orgy to initiate the girl into his cult. The 19-year-old trainee accountant will have full sex with a 30-year-old High Priest chosen by Farrant.”
The Sun newspaper report also goes on to say this ‘Anonymous’ . . .
“The 200 onlookers then take part in a MASS ORGY at a property in Barnet North London” . . .
I am really not interested in the actual content of the Sun newspaper, ‘Anonymous’ (although you seem to be), but I am just pointing out your common practice to misrepresent newspaper reports – even sensational ones.
I do not answer questions from people hiding behind anonymous identities, ‘Anonymous’. I will answer any genuine questions anytime (and I invite anyone here to ask me any), but your ‘questions’ really only amount to your own projections about Satanism and vampirism which you somehow expect me to justify. I cannot do that simply because they are your own erroneous projections in the first instance.
If you come out into the open ‘Anonymous’ and ask me these question putting your REAL name to them (please note the word ‘real’), they will be answered.
But only subject to one condition. That is, that you tell us who it was exactly who gave you permission to illegally enter a private vault in Highgate Cemetery which you entered intending to ‘stake’ a vampire?
Please don’t repeat your common line . . . “Your question is directed at the wrong person”.
If that is so, perhaps you could just answer this question . . .
Why is it you attempt to answer 100% of everything else about the Highgate case, but are are unable to answer this?
I think most people already know the answer. So, how about an answer to this last question?
David Farrant, President, British Psychic and Occult Society
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
“The Sun newspaper report also goes on to say this … ‘The 200 onlookers then take part in a MASS ORGY at a property in Barnet North London’.”
This is what Virginia Wheeler’s report in The Sun, 31 October 2006, actually says under the headline “Witch Orgy To Take Virginity:
“Creepy … David Farrant oversees a Halloween orgy” [this is the caption beneath a picture taken of you standing before a “witchcraft” altar at your home with you dressed in a robe. This photograph was taken almost a quarter of a century AFTER you nowadays claim you had ceased to be a wiccan and a practitioner of witchcraft].
“A sex-mad witch and a 200-strong coven plan to celebrate Halloween tonight — by deflowering a teenage virgin. Creepy David Farrant boasted yesterday how he will oversee the orgy to initiate the girl into his cult. The 19-year-old trainee accountant will have full sex with a 30-year-old High Priest chosen by Farrant. As the teen writhes naked with the stranger on the floor, the rest of the priest’s coven drop their robes to watch the display in the nude. The 200 onlookers then take part in a mass-orgy at a property in Barnet, North London. Farrant, 56 [sic], is High Priest of the British Psychic and Occult Society. He claims to have bedded 2,000 women in similar Wicca religious ceremonies. He said last night: ‘Initiating a virgin on Halloween is very important for Wiccans in serious covens. After the girl has had full sex people are then free to have sex with one another. But it’s not an excuse for a mass orgy – sex is regarded as an essential life force. It’s all done in a private meeting place in Barnet with magical signs on the walls. This sort of thing has to be done behind closed doors because it is not understood by the modern day public.’ Farrant, from Muswell Hill, was jailed for nearly five years in the 1970s for damaging graves and sending voodoo dolls to police officers. His society now boasts 374 members [sic] and more than 200 are expected at tonight’s bash. Farrant, who also describes himself as a Vampire Hunter [sic], said in past years up to three women were initiated at the same time. He added: ‘These girls are mainly students or people who have left school and are disillusioned with life. They are all over 18 and we don’t initiate them if we believe they are just coming along for the sex’.”
Link: http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2-2006500393,00.html
Far from you having “de-flowered 200 virgins at a ‘witchcraft ritual’,” as claimed last night by you on your blog, the report mentions only ONE virgin who was “deflowered” by someone else while you watched.
You say that you are “really not interested in the actual content of The Sun newspaper,” but without your input they could not have possibly published that sensational article. You gave Virginia Wheeler an interview and provided the photograph. They didn’t invent what they published. They reported what you told Virginia Wheeler would happen at a fictional address in Barnet. The fact is that on Hallowe’en 2006 you were unable to walk down the stairs where you resided due to various infirmities; not least a severely damaged foot, leg and a bad back. The entire interview you gave is therefore a fantasy which you concocted for publicity.
You say that you “do not answer questions from people hiding behind anonymous identities,” but you do so all the time. Most people on the internet use an identity other than their own, including members of this forum. The truth is you do not answer questions which you find too difficult to answer and would expose you as a charlatan. Hence you wriggle out of responding by any means necessary. You will employ absolutely any stratagem to avoid dealing with queries such as the ones I have raised.
The question you keep repeating to me should be put to the VRS founding president who, as you well know, has already answered it more than once in the past. That notwithstanding, I have provided information to you, and anyone else reading this, how to put questions directly to the person who led the investigation into the case of the Highgate Vampire from start to finish. This can be done at:
http://therightreverendseanmanchester.blogspot.com
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
“You say that you “do not answer questions from people hiding behind anonymous identities,” but you do so all the time. Most people on the internet use an identity other than their own, including members of this forum”
I have already answered this many times in the past.’Anonymous’. I never do this or write underassumed aliases. I always sign my name to anything I may write. But you do this ALL the time – in fact there is nobody else doing it. You are doing it now!
I agreed at the onset that while many use ‘Internet names’ very few use them to hide behind while they make cowardly attacks upon others. You DO. And believe me, most people are aware of your true identity, and your comments and actions are certainly not very Christian.
David Farrant, President, British Psychic and Occult Society.
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
Ifind it extraordinary that a man who claims to be a priest,a bishop,no less,would claim to be so sanctimonious,as to critisise others.When it is clear that anybody would not buy his book The Highgate Vampire for its religious content.For anyone reading this,I have a copy of this book in front of me,and it has on the cover a lady draped over a grave,wearing a nightgown and very little else.The book is full of VERY interesting material,and says a lot about its author.Quite how he can claim anyone else is not whiter than white is beyond me.The entire book is full of references to blood,death,and eroticism.It isYOU who is interested in all that !I dont think ive ever come across such obvious hypocrisy.A priest would not write such a story!Or, only a very strange one.And a naughty one!So what have you got to say about that,huh?
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
You say you “find it extraordinary that a man who claims to be a priest, a bishop, no less, would claim to be so sanctimonious, as to critisise others.” He does not “claim” to be a priest and bishop. He obviously is a priest and bishop. He was neither, however, when the events recounted in his book took place. He was not even in holy orders when the first edition was published, and had only been a priest for not much more than a year when the second edition was published.
For your edification, the word “sanctimonius” means making a show of saintliness which clearly does not apply as you contradict that impression with your following comments. I have never viewed the author of The Highgate Vampire as being remotely pious, and I don’t see how you can from having read his book. In the first edition of his work he actually makes the point of saying he is not religious in the way you describe. More recently, on his blog, he says he regards himself as being more spiritual than religious.
You must have led a very sheltered life if you imagine that “a priest would not write such a story” because almost everything recorded down the ages about real vampires in Britain and Europe has been written by priests, and it is clergy who have been responsible for exorcising vampires in like manner to the man you feel obliged to criticise.
Clearly you are not educated in vampire lore. If you were you would appreciate that all the adjectives you apply to the book The Highgate Vampire are equally true of a great many works written by priests over the centuries.
The “lady draped over a grave” on the dustjacket of The Highgate Vampire depicts someone who actually did enter Highgate Cemetery “wearing a nightgown” in the author’s account. If “the entire book is full of references to blood, death, and eroticism” it is because they are the demonic components of the vampire’s universe; and the book is exclusively about a contemporary case of vampirism.
I really don’t understand what you mean by asking how can the author “claim anyone else is not whiter than white”? If you are talking about your friend who was jailed for vandalism, desecration and making black magic threats, he obviously isn’t “whiter than white.” I think the author of The Highgate Vampire let him off rather lightly and could have said a great deal more than he did. He published just one photograph of this charlatan (showing him wearing white face make-up by the cemetery’s gate at night, pretending to be a ghost) when he could have published so many really incriminating photographs from the VRS archive. Admittedly, some of this incriminating evidence managed to find its way into The Vampire Hunter’s Handbook a decade later, but even more blood had flowed under the bridge by the end of the century and a great deal more obviously needed addressing.
If you had ever read any autobiographical material about the author of The Highgate Vampire you would know that he does not paint himself whiter than white. And on his blog he states that absolutely everyone is flawed, not least of all himself.
You talk about “hypocrisy” while wearing blinkers when it comes to your friend who claimed to be a “high priest of witchcraft” whilst wielding Christian crosses, crucifixes and Catholic rosaries; who revises his story so many times it reads like several totally different accounts (jumping from three sightings to two sightings to just one sighting of the Highgate Vampire); and, most of all, denies ever having claimed to believe in vampires or gone through the motions (for the media) of hunting one when all the evidence overwhelmingly confirms he did. See this link: http://tinyurl.com/2f2x3ex
This is the man who protests his witchcraft and his magic were always white, but was sentenced to two years’ imprisonment for threatening people with black magic death dolls (see first link below). This is the same man who claimed to evoke a “satanic force” with a naked girl whose blood he drew at night in Highgate Cemetery (see second link below) and who befriended a notorious French Satanist with whom he performed luciferian ceremonies (recorded by the press, magazines, books and on video), yet who always claimed he was a “white witch” who did absolutely no harm. This is the man who let the press and public believe he sacrificed cats in bizarre witchcraft ceremonies (see third link below), but now denies he ever did such a thing. If that is not hypocrisy, I really don’t know what is?
http://tinyurl.com/3xpvb8u
http://tinyurl.com/3xaz7kz
http://tinyurl.com/2wa95oq
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
FOR LUCI
We should perhaps remember, Luci, that all sorts of ‘strange’ people were making up stories about ’blood-sucking vampires’ that lurked in and around Highgate Cemetery since my ‘vampire hunting case’ in 1970. You may recall that I was acquitted in that drawn-out Court case, but unfortunately, the damage had already been done by the Police and the Press and the original ‘ghost’ reported there by many independent people somehow got turned irrevocably into a vampire.
Of course, it was not one at all, but certain people tried to exploit that case for either monetary gain or reasons of self-publicity – or both.
One group of students clamed to be making a film there called “Vampires at Night” and even “Top of the Pops” used Highgate (the pop singer was Barry Ryan) for an atmospheric setting on their programme. The late Screaming Lord Sutch also announced his intention of making a vampire film in the cemetery, and of course, Highgate Cemetery had been used as a location for several Hammer Horror Films – “Taste the Blood of Dracula” being one.
As a result of all this activity, ‘sealed’ perhaps by my real-life Court case, it is hardly surprising that some people chose to exploit the situation (indeed, some still do), and to ‘copy’ all the stories about vampirism. But copying speculation and unfounded rumour, can never make this true. At best, it only succeeds in escalating further fiction.
Real vampires simply just do not exist. And I have never said that they do.
We perhaps all enjoy a good horror movie, but very few people assert that the monsters or vampires seen in them give these give them proof of existence merely because they are seen to appear in some film. Most sane people are aware that these have been provided for entertainment, that’s all!
David Farrant, President, BPOS
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
Thanks,David,He hasnt really said that much in his defence,except to verbally attack you.Which seems to be his only line of defence.His book isnt so bad for those interested in Hammer horror.All the elements of fiction are there,including the gratuitous gore!it is just that he sees fit to have a go at you,whilst very clearly,it is HIM who is obsessed with deflowered virgins,black masses,and lucife rian activities,because he cannot stop going on about these things.Clearly,he needs to get his telescope out and look at it through the other end,and look inside himself and his own heart,before looking at others imaginary sins.
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
“We should perhaps remember that all sorts of ‘strange’ people were making up stories about ’blood-sucking vampires’ that lurked in and around Highgate Cemetery since my ‘vampire hunting case’ in 1970.”
The only curious person pretending to have seen a ghost (and later a vampire) was you. This you did in the media throughout 1970 until everyone quickly grew tired of your blatant bandwagoneering and charlatanry. Then you turned to phoney “witchcraft” to attract attention in the press. Stories about the Highgate Vampire had been circulating locally since 1965. The VRS founder first became aware of a malevonent presence in 1967 when reports reached him from those who had witnessed it first-hand. There are other contemporary accounts which go back a further two years. The first person to make mention of this in the media was indeed the VRS founder who was then the BOS president. There is a record of where you were in 1967. You were not even living in the United Kingdom! Not, at least, until you returned from the Continent in August of that year to get married to someone who was called as a defence witness and gave evidence at your trial to the effect that you had no part in witchcraft or indeed paranormal investigation. She said your entering Highgate Cemetery was only done for a laugh and a joke. The following court report appeared in The Sun, 21 June 1974:
“The wife of self-styled occult priest David Farrant told yesterday of giggles in the graveyard when the pubs had closed. ‘We would go in, frighten ourselves to death and come out again,’ she told an Old Bailey jury. Attractive Mary Farrant — she is separated from her husband and lives in Southampton — said they had often gone to London’s Highgate Cemetery with friends ‘for a bit of a laugh.’ But they never caused any damage. ‘It was just a silly sort of thing that you do after the pubs shut,’ she said. Mrs Farrant added that her husband’s friends who joined in the late night jaunts were not involved in witchcraft or the occult. She had been called as a defence witness by her 28-year-old husband. They have not lived together for three years.”
“Highgate Cemetery had been used as a location for several Hammer Horror Films.”
No more than two films, in fact, which were always shot at the cemetery in daylight. The BBC did make a vampire film at night in the cemetery that was completed and televised in 1977; three years after the successful exorcism of the Highgate Vampire.
“Real vampires simply just do not exist.”
“If ever there was in the world a warranted and proven history, it is that of vampires: nothing is lacking, official reports, testimonials of persons of standing, of surgeons, of clergymen, of judges; the judicial evidence is all-embracing.” – Jean Jacques Rousseau, “Lettre à Mgr. de Beaumont, Archevêque de Paris,” (Annex to the Contrat social) Librairie Garnier Frères, Paris, page 489.
“We perhaps all enjoy a good horror movie, but very few people assert that the monsters or vampires seen in them give these give them proof of existence merely because they are seen to appear in some film.”
We perhaps all enjoy a good ghost story at the cinema or on television, but very few people assert that the ghosts or spectres seen in these give them proof of existence merely because they are seen to appear in some film.
“Most sane people are aware that these have been provided for entertainment, that’s all!”
Most sane people are aware that you entered Highgate Cemetery in August 1970 kitted out with vampire hunting equipment for entertainment, that’s all! See this link:
http://tinyurl.com/2ewz5uv
Perhaps we should give the final word to the then editor of the Hornsey Journal, Peter Hounam, who wrote in his newspaper on 16 July 1974:
“Farrant was a fool. Fascinated by witchcraft … he couldn’t keep his interests to himself. He was a blatant publicist. He told this newspaper of his activities, sent photographs and articles describing his bizarre activities.”
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
AND THERE CAME A GIANT SPIDER . . .
As Luci pointed out anonymous, your attacks upon myself not only disclose your true identity but are used in an attempt to digress from the real facts in this matter which are allegations you yourself made about the existence of a ‘blood-sucking vampire’ that lurked at Highgate Cemetery.
The person you are now trying to deny you are not, ‘Anonymous’, claimed to have staked this through its heart in its coffin, whereupon it gave out an almighty roar (‘as if from the bowels of hell’) and then turned to inhuman slime and viscera in the bottom of its coffin. It was then incinerated using petrol.
It was claimed this ‘vampire’ had already bitten a young girl called ‘Lusia’ who had since herself turned into a ‘vampire’. It was claimed that she was also tracked down to another cemetery nearby and staked through the heart after she had changed into a ‘giant spider’. As I state in my book “Beyond the Highgate Vampire”, what amateurish verbiage! But the real point is, ‘Anonymous’, why you keep trying to avoid these issues by making malicious attacks upon myself.
You are unable to even get your facts straight. I returned from Spain to London just after the New Year in 1967. My passport was stamped accordingly, apart from which, there are ample witnesses to attest to my return to London.
If you can’t get basic facts like these right, ‘Anonymous’, how do you expect anybody here to believe what you say?
Now, perhaps we can hear what you have to say about the ‘staked vampire’ and the ‘giant spider’?
Well, sure everyone is waiting!
David Farrant, President, British Psychic and Occult Society.
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
Please do not digress from the fact that comments made here should concentrate on YOUR claims made in the article you have published on this website. My identity, which, like most people on the internet, I choose not to disclose, is completely irrelevant and none of your business. All you can do is keep repeating the same old tired mantra “along came a spider” like some petulant child. Yet you are an old age pensioner!
Your protest about which month you returned to the United Kingdom in 1967 is not supported by others who knew you at the time. In fact, in a recorded interview given by you a decade later you actually disclose when you returned to England and it was certainly not in January. You were quite frequently travelling to France after your return, but you carefully overlook the fact that you travelled on two passports. So, which one are you referring to when you talk about your passport being stamped?
Nobody believes anything you say because, if nothing else, your constantly shifting claims do not have the support of your contemporaries and you keep changing your story from one year to the next.
Those who knew you, including those who knew of you in the pubs you freqented, back in the late 1960s and early 1970s, know full well that you were a figure of fun known locally as “The Birdman” until your incarceration when your publicity-seeking had clearly got out of control. Nobody viewed your publicity stunts as anything more than foolishness to attract attention to yourself. You had no members. There was no “British Psychic and Occult Society.” It has only ever existed in your own mind. You were completely on your own except for when a handfull of drunken revellers accompanied you on forays to Highgate Cemetery after the pubs had closed, as revealed by your wife when she was called by you as a defence witness at your trial, and recorded by the press: “They had often gone to London’s Highgate Cemetery with friends ‘for a bit of a laugh.’ But they never caused any damage. ‘It was just a silly sort of thing that you do after the pubs shut,’ she said. Mrs Farrant added that her husband’s friends who joined in the late night jaunts were not involved in witchcraft or the occult.” (The Sun, 21 June 1970)
Yet you have retrospectively claimed that you had been a practicing witch from way before the period you went on drunken excursions to the graveyard, and later lone vampire hunts with a Christian cross, rosary and wooden stake. How odd that you chose Christian symbols for protection if, as you later claimed, you were a “high priest of witchcraft”? Your occult claims and self-descriptions did not first start to emerge until 1971. There is nothing before that date and you can certainly produce nothing. You had exhausted fraudulent “vampire hunting” by the end of 1970 and phoney “witchcraft” was therefore the next publicity bandwagon you boarded, but with disastrous consequences.
Your “vampire hunting” was no more than a publicity stunt. You appeared at Clerkenwell Court in August 1970 where you were charged with being in an enclosed area for an unlawful purpose. The defence solictor, Mr Jeffrey Bayes, stated that Highgate Cemetery cannot be described as “an enclosed area” and this technicality secured your release in September 1970. However, we should also remind ourselves of what the magistrate, Mr J D Purcell, said when you first appeared before him whilst on remand at Brixton prison: “You should be seen by a doctor.”
You consented to tape-recorded interviews, photographic records, and filmed television reconstructions of your alleged “vampire hunting” which was never anything more than a desperate attempt to be in the limelight. Press photographers took pictures of you stalking the vampire for newspapers. These carefully posed pictures were not claimed by you at the time to be anything other than how you hunted the vampire on the night of your arrest. The BBC did likewise, ie filmed you reconstructing a vampire hunt you claimed you had carried out on the night of 17 August 1970.
Your part in the Highgate Vampire saga was fraudulent, but that does not mean others investigating the phenonemon from as far back as early 1967 (a time when you were not even resident in the UK) were anything other than genuine.
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
DELIBERATELY UNTRUE
“Please do not digress from the fact that comments made here should concentrate on YOUR claims made in the article you have published on this website. My identity, which, like most people on the internet, I choose not to disclose, is completely irrelevant and none of your business”
I am not ‘digressing’ from anything, ’anonymous’, by refusing to answer YOUR fabricated allegations. For there is only ONE person making these and that is YOURSELF. They do not come from anybody else and are callous and untrue. You are well aware of this which is why you are too cowardly to reveal your true identity. Most likely this is also because you realize your false allegations would totally conflict with the ‘Christian ideals’ which you attempt to portray that come from that other character that you have invented for yourself. You have been doing this for decades now, ‘anonymous’, and believe me you are not fooling most sane and rational people.
All you are capable of doing is quoting ancient newspaper reports completely distorting them or taking these out of context.
I explain one of your frequently cut ‘n pasted favourite one’s about my wife, Mary’s, evidence in my book “The Vampire Syndrome”. Mary had been following my ‘witchcraft trial’ at the Old Bailey in 1974 and was well aware of all the police allegations against me about breaking open coffins in Highgate Cemetery and ‘interfering with bodies’ and she knew none of this was true. That is why I called her to give evidence. In her evidence she did refute these police allegations, including one’s that I conducted ‘Satanic orgies’ in Highgate Cemetery. She, nor I, or others had ever been involved with the gory ingredients the police had introduced into the main charges (and I was later acquitted of the 3 major ones let us remember). So by merely selecting certain elements while deliberately ignoring others, ‘anonymous’, you are deliberately trying to mislead people here over the truth as to what really happened. Or in other words, by not telling the complete truth, you are deliberately lying.
Now, that is not a very Christian thing to do, is it ‘anonymous’?
David Farrant, President, British Psychic and Occult Society.
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
I have not written and submitted an article titled “How It All Began.” You have and the onus is on YOU to answer questions about your claims in that article. That is why this forum exists. Your strategy has always been to try and turn the tables on your critics by discussing their identity as a means to avoid answering. This is just another excuse to avoid facing the fact that your claims are without foundation and embarrassingly bogus. You say you will not answer my questions because like most internet users I choose to remain unidentified, but when Anthony Hogg used his real name on Arcadia and elsewhere you STILL refused to answer his questions. The reason? You couldn’t answer them without admitting your accounts contradict one another. And they contradict one another because you can’t remember all the falsehoods you have published down the years whereas if you were telling the truth there would be no problem.
I am not discussing Christianity or any other religion, but for some bizarre reason you are. I am discussing claims you have made on public record. I have backed my counter-claims with hard and irrefutable evidence which I have sourced. For example, you have claimed to have been a witch while employing Christian symbols for protection. That much is a FACT. You cannot avoid it and you cannot ignore it. The question is why? The answer is because you were not genuine.
I am not being “selective.” I am quoting exactly what your wife said in court under oath at one of your trials in 1974. What part of “for a bit of a laugh” don’t you understand? These were your wife’s own words, given under oath, to describe what you and your drunken friends were doing in Highgate Cemetery circa 1968/9. She also denied you were a witch or were involved in the occult. She was telling the truth. Everyone who knew you forty years ago knows she was telling the truth. The only person who disputes the truth is you. When you entered Highgate Cemetery at night prior to the vampire revelations hitting the headlines in February 1970 “it was just a silly sort of thing that you do after the pubs shut,” according to your wife. And that’s exactly what it was. Silly. There was no paranormal investigation. No ghost hunting. Just silliness.
“The wife of self-styled occult priest David Farrant told yesterday of giggles in the graveyard when the pubs had closed. ‘We would go in, frighten ourselves to death and come out again,’ she told an Old Bailey jury. Attractive Mary Farrant — she is separated from her husband and lives in Southampton — said they had often gone to London’s Highgate Cemetery with friends ‘for a bit of a laugh.’ But they never caused any damage. ‘It was just a silly sort of thing that you do after the pubs shut,’ she said. Mrs Farrant added that her husband’s friends who joined in the late night jaunts were not involved in witchcraft or the occult. She had been called as a defence witness by her 28-year-old husband. They have not lived together for three years.”
(The Sun, 21 June 1974)
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
More tea,vicar?
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
IT GETS WORSE!
You are really not doing yourself any favours, ‘anonymous’ by trying to mis-represent the Highgate ‘vampire’ case in relation to myself by falsely representing 40-year-old newspaper reports. Maybe you are relying on the fact, that some people can’t check back that far; indeed, who would really want to?
Instead you appear to be trying to ‘judge’ myself by your own misinterpretatation of these old Press reports.
Okay, you seem to be determined to set your own interpretation about the Highgate ‘vampire’ case on record. Fine. But lets now hear a little truth . . .
While there was an unexplained phenomenon at Highgate Cemetery seen by many witnesses in the late 1960’s, it was YOURSELF who chose to try and change this into a ‘blood-sucking vampire’.
You made personal statements to the Press and on the Television to this effect, which caused misguided hooligans to enter Highgate Cemetery and drive iron stakes through corpses. So much is fact.
The ‘vampire’ story crated by yourself was a complete hoax. There was no ‘vampire’ – but there were reports of some ‘ghostly phenomenon’ seen in and around Highgate Cemetery.
Subsequent investigations by the BPOS uncovered that such reports had been fabricated, and were based solely on an amateurish ‘vampire film’ made in 1969 that supposedly portrayed the Highgate ‘vampire’. This film might have been good fiction. ‘anonymous’, but it was nevertheless a fake film as opposed to later claims that it was genuine.
You know exactly what I am talking about, ‘anonymous’, as you were the person who was ‘starring’ in this film. I saw it personally, as did others.
David Farrant, President, British Psychic and Occult Society
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
You have in recent years (though not at the time) claimed that you were entertained with a screening of an 8mm horror movie made by and starring Seán Manchester, and that the papier mache (as you have described it) “vampire” which appears in the movie is what also appears in photographs of the corporeal shell of the exorcised vampire in Seán Manchester’s account The Highgate Vampire and in television programmes featuring photographs from that book. Needless to say, Seán Manchester strenuously denies this and invites anyone who saw such a movie as described by you to come forward and be identified. He states that no such movie was ever made; that you were not someone he would have considered entertaining in his home; and that, even when you did eventually become acquainted with Seán Manchester, he only visited you at Tony Hill’s coal bunker in Archway Road and later, following your term in jail, a bedsitting room in Muswell Hill Road. Hill, of course, was the person you colluded with more than forty years ago to hoax a ghosty story in the local press. Hill fell out with you because you didn’t keep to your part of the bargain which was to reveal it had all been a hoax soon after having duped the newspapers. You had got a taste for the limelight and continued with your hoax for the next forty years! Unfortunately for you, those you involved did not, and Hill placed on record what actually took place in 1969/1970.
http://tinyurl.com/2c5vs3r
Your friends Audrey Conelly and Kenny Frewin were also part of the hoax. They allowed you to use their names and addresses for fraudulent letters which were published in the Hampstead & Highgate Express in early 1970. You even now have the audacity to mention this fraudulent correspondence in your article above.
On pages 62-63 of The Vampire Hunter’s Handbook, Seán Manchester reveals:
“His alleged sightings of the vampire were to coincide with the time when he was ensconced in [Tony Hill’s] coal cellar. His wife was gone and so were the people who had helped him squander his money. His interest was not the occult at this time, but pub-crawling and the collecting of exotic birds; mostly cockatoos, parrots and macaws. This earned him the nickname ‘Birdman.’ Ironically, Hill had the nickname ‘Eggman.’ Relishing the attention he was now receiving, following his alleged sightings of a vampire, he took foolish risks and ended up being arrested in August 1970 for being in an enclosed area for an unlawful purpose. His ‘vampire hunting’ days were over.”
The Hampstead & Highgate Express, 6 March 1970, records your meeting with Seán Manchester on its front page, under the banner headline “Why Do The Foxes Die?” The newspaper recounts:
“David Farrant … returned to the spot last weekend and disovered a dead fox. ‘Several other foxes have also been found dead in the cemetery,’ he said at his home in Priestwood Mansions, Archway Road, Highgate. ‘The odd thing is there was no outward sign of how they died. Much remains unexplained, but what I have recently learnt all points to the vampire theory being the most likely answer. Should this be so, I for one am prepared to pursue it, taking whatever means might be necessary so that we can all rest.’ The vampire theory was suggested last week by Mr Seán Manchester, president of the British Occult Society. … Mr Farrant and Mr Manchester met in the cemetery at the weekend.”
http://tinyurl.com/yad6pvs
The British Occult Society (1860-1988) was an investigation bureau which existed solely for the purpose of examining occult claims and alleged paranormal activity. It gave birth to the Vampire Research Society, which still survives. You carried out your threat to “pursue [the vampire], taking whatever means might be necessary” and were arrested on the night of 17 August 1970. The Daily Express, 19 August 1970, reveals your explanation:
“‘My intention was to search out the supernatural being and destroy it by plunging the stake [found in his possession when arrested in Highgate Cemetery by police] in its heart.’” The report continues: “David Farrant pleaded guilty at Clerkenwell, London, to entering St Michael’s churchyard, Highgate Cemetery, for an unlawful purpose. Farrant told police he had just moved to London when he heard people talking about the vampire in Highgate Cemetery. In a statement he said that he heard the vampire rises out of a grave and wanders about the cemetery on the look-out for human beings on whose blood it thrives. Police keeping watch for followers of a black magic cult arrested him. He was remanded in custody for reports. Last night, Mr Seán Manchester, leader of the British Occult Society, said: ‘I am convinced that a vampire exists in Highgate Cemetery. Local residents and passers-by have reported seeing a ghostlike figure of massive proportions near the north gate.’”
http://tinyurl.com/2ewz5uv http://tinyurl.com/2woneky
How am I “misrepresenting” newspaper reports of your publicity-seeking stunts and court appearances when I provide each time links to the original newspapers themselves? For example, here is a link to three original newspapers’ coverage of your wife’s appearance at one of your trials in 1974 where she discusses your games in Highgate Cemetery:
http://tinyurl.com/32ql66c
Which part of what I have previously said misrepresents anything found in those newspaper reports? What have I omitted that would make the slightest difference to the fact that you and your drunken friends were in the cemetery for just a laugh and a joke; indeed, “giggles in the graveyard.” None were involved in witchcraft, the occult or paranormal investigation, least of all yourself.
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
We can see that you have now started naming yourself. ‘anonymous’, or rather talking about yourself in the 3rd person as you have been doing all along.
I have said all along that there was no ‘blood-sucking vampire’ at Highgate Cemetery.
You are right, though, that I have clearly stated in my books, Talks, articles and other writings, that the ‘vampire’ claimed to have been ‘staked’ near Highgate Cemetery in the winter of 1973 was a sheer invention on the part of an amateur occultist (whom you know more than well!); as was his later claim to have ‘staked’ one of its disciples after she had changed into a ‘giant spider’ in 1982.
It is sheer and utter invention on the part of a person who has apparently deluded himself into believing that vampires really exist. They do NOT – except perhaps in the warped confines of this person’s imagination.
You are also correct when you say I have stated that pictures (rather stills) of this ‘decomposing vampire’ were taken from an amateur home-made cine film made around 1969. These pictures were taken from that film and published on the Internet (as well as being published in magazine and shown at least three times on television) as ‘evidence’ to support that person’s story that the Highgate ‘vampire’ really existed. For your information, ‘anonymous’, that made up vampire that appeared in this film was the same person who appeared in this film disguised as a ‘vampire’, and you are only too aware who this person really is, aren’t you ‘anonymous’?!
You have apparently introduced this issue here, ‘anonymous’? May I ask why? Could it perhaps be a subconscious reflection of your own knowledge of the real truth?
You waffle on elsewhere about some interview I gave where you say I have ‘contradicted myself’. I have never contradicted myself in any of my public Talks or recordings. The only tape I can think you are referring to was when I agreed to allow yourself to interview at my home in 1977. This tape was then offered by the spurious “Vampire Research Society” who were selling it for £4.99 excluding postage.
Only problem was, this tape had been deliberately ‘doctored’ and large sections of what I had acually said had been ‘cut’ or removed completely from the copy being sold. For example, I had explained why Wicca had nothing whatsoever to do with black magic or Satanism and how the Police had given fabricated evidence at my Old Bailey trial in 1974 in this respect. All this material had been removed from the ‘VRS’ copy. Why?
However, all is not lost. I have over 50 tapes of conversations I had with yourself, ‘anonymous’ between the late seventies up until 1986.
Fairly recently I published a large selection of these recordings in my book titled “The Seangate Tapes”.
These tapes completely disprove most of what you are saying here and elsewhere, ‘anonymous’.
The tapes (as does the book) prove yourself to be a calculating liar – not least the fabricated allegations about myself that you have been making on this Forum.
David Farrant, President, British Psychic and Occult Society.
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
“I have clearly stated in my books [sic], Talks, articles and other writings, that the ‘vampire’ claimed to have been ‘staked’ near Highgate Cemetery in the winter of 1973 was a sheer invention.”
Yet in the Finchley Advertiser, 30 July 1987, (for which you were interviewed) you openly admitted that you started “rumours of a vampiric haunting” in 1970 concluding with these words: “Mr Farrant supported the vampire theory in the local and national press, but now concedes the idea was ‘just pure fiction’.”
What you actually attempted to start rumours over in early 1970 was a ghost haunting the cemetery, not a vampire, but you quickly shelved your proposed ghost hoax and jumped onto what you perceived to be a publicity bandwagon; something with rather more substance than your attempt to dupe the public and press with a non-existent ghost (which in reality was you with white face make-up in a black coat). Hence you taking up your cross and stake and being photographed for newspapers “vampire hunting”; something you also repeated for television in October 1970.
“I have stated that pictures (rather stills) of this ‘decomposing vampire’ were taken from an amateur home-made cine film made around 1969.”
You have, but only in relatively recent times and always without any supporting evidence. Anyone can see by looking at the archive photographs published in The Highgate Vampire (Gothic Press, 1991) that you are talking utter rubbish. If this mythical cine film existed as far back as 1969, why did we hear nothing from you about it for at least three decades? I put it to you that you have fabricated the film allegation along with just about everything else you claim in connection with Highgate.
“You have apparently introduced this issue here, ‘anonymous’? May I ask why?”
Not “apparently.” I clearly HAVE introduced it because it is a falsehood you have repeatedly claimed in recent times. Why? Well, obviously because the Vampire Research Society (in whose archive the images of the decomposing vampire are found) is not the least bit concerned by your very silly allegations which do not bear any scrutiny or examination.
“I had explained why Wicca had nothing whatsoever to do with black magic or Satanism.”
No, you did not. You explained in a 1978 interview given to the VRS founder that what you said and did back then could and probably would be construed as black magic and that most people would regard you as being a Satanist. You also claimed to have been in contact with Satanists from as early as 1970. This much you openly admitted, along with claiming to worship Lucifer.
Wicca and Satanism are not the same thing. You have never been a wiccan or a Satanist. You used a pseudo-occult mantle laced with theatrical diabolism to attract attention to yourself in the media. The tricks of your trade, ie your devices and stratagems, are shock followed by denial followed by publicity. It worked for a couple of years by which time you were being repeatedly exposed in the media as a phoney. You are a lone publicity-seeker who believes in absolutely nothing. That has not altered since you first contacted the press in 1970. These are your own words from three years ago:
“Firstly, can I just say (as I have said many times before), I do not really ‘believe’ in anything.” – David Farrant (#385 ) Thursday 12 April 2007, 10:47 AM
http://forums.randi.org/showpost.php?s=c2b7d8e4f8c79c58a35b553d05660c6d&p=2514186&postcount=385
Anyone who has listened to your so-called secret tapes is immediately aware of two things: the amateurish doctoring and splicing together of words in some cases, plus the exceptionally poor quality (making them virtually inaudible most of the time). Your so-called tapes serve only to prove what a devious person you are and how desperate you must be to go to such lengths to doctor and fabricate recordings.
There exists secretly made tape-recordings, however, from 1969/1970 of you and Tony Hill conspiring to hoax a ghost story for the press. You discuss and name other people whose identities and addresses you used to send fraudulent letters to the Hampstead & Highgate Express. You can also be heard discussing various ways to garner publicity for the hoax you planned with Hill who made all these tapes available to VRS a few years ago. It would obviously be illegal to publish such material as the recordings were made without your knowledge and consent, but it is not illegal to allow private individuals to listen to them. Those who wish to do so may contact the VRS to arrange hearing these secretly recorded tapes.
You were officially declared a “calculating liar” by the law courts, many newspaper editors and journalists. Few people can top that.
The November 1972 case where you were found guilty of indecency at Barnet Magistrates Court is a prime example. It was revealed in court by the Crown Prosecution that you had colluded with a journalist (who just happened to be related to your co-defendant) to orchestrate your own arrest in a churchyard with a female for the sole purpose of self-publicity in the media. This was confirmed by one of the more reputable newspapers in their coverage of the court proceedings where you and your co-defendant were both found guilty of indecency.
The Hampstead & Highgate Express, 24 November 1972, revealed:
“Mr P J Bucknell, prosecuting, said Mr Farant had painted circles on the ground, lit with candles, and had told reporters and possibly the police of what he was doing. ‘This appears to be a sordid attempt to obtain publicity,’ he said.”
It would not be the first or the last time that you colluded with newspaper reporters to arrange to have the police conveniently arrest you in the middle of a supposed “witchcraft ceremony” with reporters and photographers standing by to witness the whole event.
What has been established beyond all doubt is that you were a phoney witch; something the national press, eg “Phoney Witch Sent Out Dolls Of Death” article on page 5 of The Sun, 4 July 1974, dubbed you when you were sentenced at the Old Bailey to almost five years’ imprisonment in 1974. It follows that you are a phoney everything else.
The cry of “I’m not a Satanist!” while manufacturing what is clearly a piece of satanic theatricality for the press would become your modus operandi. What were you doing, for example, writing an article and providing photographs of yourself and a girl naked in bed, stating in it that you raised a “satanic force” at Highgate Cemetery?
These are your exact words published in New Witchcraft magazine (issue 4, 1975):
“We then lay in the Pentagram and began love-making, all the time visualizing the Satanic Force so that it could – temporarily – take possession of our bodies. The entity was present. We felt our bodies being ‘charged with Power’ and there was now a visual Force all over us.”
What then follows amounts to a regurgitation of Aleister Crowley’s “sex magic” at its most disgusting where orgasms lasting “seven minutes” are alleged, or rather fantasised, by you.
You were commissioned to write the article from your jail cell by the magazine’s editor, Brian Netscher, who had negotiated with someone collaborating with you on the outside. However, Martine de Sacy, the naked girl in one of the published pictures in New Witchcraft had already admitted to the News of the World, 30 June 1974:
“I don’t think David’s occultism was serious. He was just dabbling in it for the sense of self-importance.”
Twenty years later, when interviewed by the News of the World, 17 July 1994, you are quoted as saying:
“As High Priest I have to have sex with a girl at her initiation, but if she is very unattractive I might pass the task on to someone else. I’m only human.”
The report goes on to describe orgies and rituals involving “policemen and politicians.” You also laid claim to having the ability to “cure cancer and make the blind see again” through the use of your phoney “witchcraft.” This is the miserable fantasy world of depravity and deception by which you attempted to infect the public via the media.
It is only a matter of time before people see through you.
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
AND THERE CAME A GIANT SPIDER . . .
I am not going to waste people’s time on here, ‘anonymous’, by arguing against your own fabricated version of all your careful selection of ‘cut and pasted’ newspaper accounts. You have been employing this strategy for decades now, and believe me, people have seen through it long ago and, moreover, realise who you really are – a very sick individual notwithstanding that you try and hide behind the mantle of ‘Christianity’. That is really the ‘sickest’ part of your whole multiple personalities.
The film I refer to did exist and was made in 1968 or 1969. I was invited to see this film along with four other people in 1969 and you should remember this as you were also present. The film was made in colour, but had no sound, and in it, the film showed a ‘decomposing vampire’ at its climax, which was obviously an amateurish attempt to copy the original 1958 Dracula film starring the late Peter Cushing and Chistopher Lee.
Another person has since come forward who was shown this film on another occasion and it was explained to him (by the maker of the film) how this sequence was filmed The person disguised as a vampire (now I wonder who that could be, ‘anonymoun!?) used flour, eye make up and paper mache, which was then covered with flour. A fan heater was then used to blow the flour away but filmed in ‘time sequence’. The film was then reversed in slow motion . . . result? One ‘decomposing vampire’!
Still reproductions from this home-made movie (in b/w) were later shown on a TV programme presented by Jonathan Ross in (around) 1998 and on “Dial Midnight” in 2000 presented by Anathasia Cooke (hope I’ve spelled that right!). Later, in 2004, colour copies of these same photographs were transmitted the French TV channel TFI on “Mysteries” on March 11th 1994 after they had been submitted to them by the maker of this film (who was also interviewed). Shortly afterwards, the producer of that programme, Corienne Spaak, gave an interview to the French showbiz magazine “Entrevue” was quoted as saying . . .
“When we got the video tapes saying that [the person in question] was a bishop, we didn’t check any further. And no British journalist told us about his past. The only thing they told us was his obsession for vampires”. And (to the magazine’s Editor) . . . “Now you say that, it must be that. But its disgusting that they left us to show such rubbish”.
Yes, there WAS a film , ‘anonymous’. Now I suggest you just go back and look in the mirror!
David Farrant, President, British Psychic and Occult Society.
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
ForVampire researcher.You are clearly a very disturbed individual.You are envious of David Farrant.Lets face it,YOU would like to be in the papers,but no one writes about you,because of your silly and ridiculous book.However,your envious nature is obvious,from the way you keep going on about satanic orgys,vampires,sex and other similar subjects.Be honest,you are obsessed with these things.Lets face it,you would love the papers to write about YOU!But you are too stuck in your silly phoney religious act.Anyone can tell by reading your book,with all its lurid undertones,that you are not what you seem??? You should have admitted it was all a silly story.Instead of inventing this ridiculous vampire and yourself as an equally ridiculous vampire hunter.Its your responsibility that people laugh at you, you stupid pratt.
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
Well, I guess that’s all I was trying to say Luci – only a little more politely! Not that ‘he’ really deserves it, after his unfounded attacks upon mtself here! But thanks anyway for your point of view.
David (Farrant)
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
Well, I guess that’s all I was trying to say Luci – only a little more politely! Not that ‘he’ really deserves it, after his unfounded attacks upon mtself here! But thanks anyway for your point of view.
David (Farrant)
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
“I am not going to waste people’s time on here by arguing against your own fabricated version of all your careful selection of ‘cut and pasted’ newspaper accounts. You have been employing this strategy for decades now, and believe me, people have seen through it long ago and, moreover, realise who you really are – a very sick individual notwithstanding that you try and hide behind the mantle of ‘Christianity’.”
This is your way of NOT answering queries I have raised that relate to claims made in your published article on this site.
What exactly have I “cut and pasted”? This is another of your oft-repeated allegations that hold no water. My comments are in direct response to your own statements.
What “carefully selected newspaper reports” have I “fabricated” by quoting from them? Especially as I often provide a link to the complete newspaper article in question.
I have not mentioned “Christianity” or any other religion with regard to myself. I HAVE questioned, however, why a self-proclaimed “high priest of witchcraft” would exclusively employ Christian symbols for self protection. What I believe or don’t believe is completely irrelevant to the question I have put in relation to yourself and your claims.
“The film I refer to did exist and was made in 1968 or 1969. I was invited to see this film along with four other people in 1969.”
What you claim is impossible given that you did not make the acquaintance of the BOS president until March 1970. There was no film such as you describe and nobody will be found to support your claim because it is manufactured. Moreover, this is a recent false allegation to have been levelled by you. Why didn’t you make any mention of it throughout the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s? Why did you need to wait until the 21st century before anyone heard anything about this mythological film?
You now claim: “The film was … obviously an amateurish attempt to copy the original 1958 Dracula film starring the late Peter Cushing and Chistopher Lee.”
Are you not confusing your own antics in Highgate Cemetery with a film that was never made by your archnemesis and aren’t you describing a supposedly filmed “vampire” which bears a startling resemblance to your own “ghost” make-up?
The argument put forward by you that because Christopher Lee played Count Dracula in films it does not make him a vampire is spurious and yet another smokescreen to mask what really happened in August 1970 and the reconstruction of your “vampire hunt” on BBC television which followed in October 1970. This was filmed by the BBC solely because of your arrest to demonstrate what you were doing when arrested. You had been on remand at Brixton prison during some of the interim before the BBC reconstruction was shot, but it clearly showed you stalking a vampire with a cross and stake in a manner not dissimilar to Van Helsing in a Dracula film from the Hammer Horror studios. What are we supposed to make of this photograph (see link) of you taken by a newspaper photographer for the Hornsey Journal:
http://tinyurl.com/37j77f2
“Another person has since come forward who was shown this film on another occasion and it was explained to him (by the maker of the film) how this sequence was filmed The person disguised as a vampire (now I wonder who that could be?) used flour, eye make up and paper mache, which was then covered with flour. A fan heater was then used to blow the flour away but filmed in ‘time sequence’. The film was then reversed in slow motion . . . result? One ‘decomposing vampire’!”
Someone no doubt who will never come out into the open and, if he did, would turn out to be an associate of yours and a sworn enemy of the man you are accusing of making the film. Who is this so-called witness? Let’s question him/her and see how long his/her story survives scrutiny and examination.
You have also repeatedly claimed that this non-existent filmed vampire made of paper mache and flour is the same as the archive photographs of the decomposing vampire in The Highgate Vampire (Gothic Press 1991). Anyone viewing those pictures can see what a complete load of rubbish you are talking.
There WAS someone, however, who applied flour to his face to be photographed in early 1970 as a ghost hovering near the gates inside Highgate Cemetery. Mmmmmm. I wonder who that person could possibly be? Maybe these photographs of you taken by Tony Hill in 1970 might help:
http://tinyurl.com/346ovea
http://tinyurl.com/32p3w9z
Your face is clearly covered in flour to make you look like a ghost. Hill says this was your attempt to dupe passers-by by convincing them a ghost haunted the cemetery. They’d probably have died of laughing if they had caught a glimpse of you! Are these the “giggles in the graveyard” your wife had witnessed in the years prior? Is this the true inspiration for your fake claims about a vampire film made by the man you have held a grudge against for forty years? I put it to you that the ghost hoax you attempted in collaboration with Hill is the true source of all this flour on face nonsense. Take another look at those images of you pretending to be a ghost at Highgate Cemetery to fool the public into believing your hoax which, in any event, was quickly eclipsed by concerns of something rather more demonic at large, something that was very real.
Please explain what you were doing with flour on your face!
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
AND THERE CAME A GIANT SPIDER . . .
I think people will have noticed you have deliberately avoided answering the comments of the producer of the French TF1 channel, ‘anonymous, whereby she admitted (at least in the full article) that the pictures supplied to them of a ‘decomposing vampire’ (by a ‘bishop’) had been deliberately faked. Not only had they been faked, but they were of the person himself wearing make up which consisted of flour and paper mache.
I saw this film myself in person along with 4 other people in 1969. I have not only ‘just recently’ mentioned this films I made and Talks I gave dating back some 30 years or so. You may not have been personally present; but these are nevertheless all on record.
The pictures taken of myself in Highgate Cemetery (and the one’s of your close associate, Hill) back in 1970, ‘anonymous’ were taken by yourself as you well know. But there was no flour on my face. If there is now then it must have been put there by some photographic computer programme, which you do all the time with photographs in your vain attempts to ridicule people you may not happen to like. We should perhaps remember that both yourself and the person ‘Hill’ once used to work in a photograph studio; which is no doubt where your learned your ‘special vampire effects’.
On one occasion in the early 1980’s, ‘anonymous’, when visiting me at my flat, you gave me some six photographs (including some from this set) which you were asking me to send to French author Jean Paul Bourre who lived in Paris. For some reason, you had fallen out with your ‘chum’ at this time (although at this time we had both signed a ‘Peace Treaty’) and were trying to get myself to send incriminating photographs of himself to Paris as proof that he was a ‘black magician’ and a ‘Satanist’. In a couple of these pictures your ‘chum’ was dresses in woman’s clothing and in another he was completely nude. You admitted to having taken these photographs yourself, ‘anonymous. You left these pictures with me to send. I said I would post them, but in fact, never did,
The point here. ‘anonymous’ is that I can prove what I say, or at least you can because I secretly recorded the whole of this conversation. I still have many of these original tapes, and can make copies for anyone interested.
In the meanwhile, I transcribed many of these conversations and published them in my book “The Seangate Tapes”. The conversation described above is among them.
This book is not some ‘underground publication’, by was assigned an official number and deposited with the six main University Libraries. And it is still very much available.
So before you keep insisting in telling all your ancient lies about myself, ‘anonymous’, I suggest you consider that I can prove anything that I have stated. You can not, simply because it is not true. This is not a very ‘Christian way’ to carry on, is it ‘anonymous’!?
David Farrant, President, British Psychic and Occult Society
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
PS ‘anonymous’,
Maybe I should send a copy of “The Seangate Tapes” to more people on Forums such as these. I amj sure they would be interested in what you originally said . . .
David Farrant, President, bPPOS
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
These photographs of you have not been altered and I invite anyone to closely examine your face in them:
http://tinyurl.com/346ovea
http://tinyurl.com/32p3w9z
You have applied something like flour to your face to give the appearance of a ghost. This was at a time when you were attempting to hoax a ghost story in your local newspaper. That you were doing this has been corroborated by virtually everyone who knew you four decades ago, including the man who colluded with you in that endeavour. He only went along with your hoax as long you later admitted to the public via the media that it had all been a massive hoax. You didn’t believe in the supernatural and wanted to put two fingers up at those who did while demonstrating how easily the press can be fooled.
When you didn’t keep your side of the deal with Hill and refused to come clean about the hoax you had perpetrated, Hill wanted no more to with you and you were left on your own. This is when you turned to vampires, witchcraft and the occult to attract attention to yourself. You became so desperate for publicity and to see your name in print that you were driven to making more extreme claims in newspapers.
http://tinyurl.com/2wa95oq
This led to your ultimate downfall which resulted in a stiff prison sentence.
http://tinyurl.com/3xpvb8u
I cannot address the remainder of your rant because it is meaningless gibberish from the darker recesses of your confused and paranoid mind. I do not know you and have never met you. What I know of you, however, is quite sufficient. You are a sad and lonely individual who dwells in the distant past where you live among non-existent ghosts formed by your own twisted and poisonous imagination. Everything you write and self-publish is fixated with attacks and abuse directed at just one person who nowadays ignores you while you have spent an entire lifetime waging a mindless vendetta. Nobody in their right mind takes you remotely seriously and every stable person can see through your baleful intent. The tiny clique you persuade to join your hate campaign are transparently unbalanced and disturbed.
Some people feel sorry for you because you come across as utterly pathetic and lost. But I am not one of them. I see you for what you really are: vindictive, malicious and evil.
The hatred that is your sustenance has ultimately come to devour you and left the shambling wreck we witness before us. I could put it no better than the man you have failed to harm despite making the attempt for almost half a century:
YOU ARE YOUR OWN WORST ENEMY!
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
“You have applied something like flour to your face to give the appearance of a ghost. This was at a time when you were attempting to hoax a ghost story in your local newspaper”
No. YOU have really caught yourself out now, ‘anonymous’! Those original photographs were taken at Highgte Cemetery in 1970 by yourself in person, as you well know. You have now ‘doctored’ two of these, probably using photoshop or something.
So lets examine the actual evidence, shall we,? not your fabricated version.
A close up of one of those photograohs was first published in No 1 of “New Witchcraft” magazine in 1975 and, incidentally, was sent to the magazine editor, Brian Netshar, whom you were then in direct correspondece with using your real name. New Witchcraft used you photograph to accompany an article I had submitted to them about Wicca title “As she is Spoke”.
This photograph filled nearly the whole page of the magazine and my face can be seen in detail (I still have the original magazine). There is no ‘white substance’ on my face whatsoever, so we can only ask ourselves now, just exactly how did it get in a photograph (or photographs) now referenced by yourself here?
There is no need to say anything further really ‘anonymous’.
You have just proved yourself to be an absolute faker; and all ths without any help from myself!
You are obviously only trying to ‘reverse’ my exposure of how your so-called Highgate ‘vampire’ photograph was faked by using flour. And people don’t have to look twice at that photograph to see who it really is.
Whoops, ‘anonymous’!
David Farrant, President, British Psychic and Occult Society
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
http://tinyurl.com/346ovea
http://tinyurl.com/32p3w9z
Examine closely the face in the photographs at the above links. They have belonged to the VRS archive since, together with the negative film, they were donated by the photographer who took them along with later pictures of you cavorting in Highgate Cemetery with a cross and stake in your hands. See http://tinyurl.com/37x8r2d
Nothing has been “doctored” or “photoshopped” as examination reveals. You have made yourself look like a ghost and in one of the images you are clearly attempting to hold a frightening expression. The photographer and others have confirmed that this was part of your attempt to hoax a ghost story in early 1970.
You babble on about New Witchcraft magazine and then say “there is no need to say anything further really.” Oh yes there is! Let’s see the picture you refer to in New Witchcraft and compare it with the ones at the links provided by me from the VRS archive. If it is the same image it will still show your face as ghost-like, as if flour or something similar has been applied to give the appearance of death. The question as to why you did this is the stumbling block you cannot get past.
There can be no shortage of photographic experts who are more than welcome to examine these photographs of you with a white face. Let’s see whether they think the face has been tampered with or doctored in any way, shall we?
When you had exhausted fake ghosts stories and copy-cat vampire claims, you found a new bandwagon to embark upon: phoney witchcraft! Perhaps you would care to explain to everyone the meaning of the Hornsey Journal article at the link below? Its headline is “I will sacrifice cat at Hallowe’en: Farrant” and in the article it is revealed you told the newspaper you had purchased an “unwanted” cat for the purpose of ritual sacrifice in a witchcraft ceremony.
http://tinyurl.com/2vsrfdo
This was around the time you were notoriously sending clay effigies impaled with pins to all and sundry in a desperate bid to conjur up some publicity for yourself. In the image below you are seen with a ritual dagger in one hand and one of the clay effigies in another:
http://tinyurl.com/39rgdf9
Why would you want people to believe you were putting curses on them with black magic dolls?
Why would you want everyone to believe you sacrificed cats in disgusting ceremonies where you claimed to use the blood of the animals to perform bizarre witchcraft rituals?
http://tinyurl.com/2wa95oq
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
“Let’s see the picture you refer to in New Witchcraft and compare it with the ones at the links provided by me from the VRS archive.”
I have named the magazine (New Witchcraft No 1) who published the photograph YOU sent to them anonymous. This photograph and others in that set were all taken on the same occasion and they were taken by YOURSELF, ‘anonymous’. I have irrefutable proof of this, as you can be clearly heard admitting to myself on tape that you held the copyright and the negatives of these photographs. I have published transcripts of these conversations in my book “The Seangate Tapes” and I would invite anybody here to send me a PM should they want to read this book. I would then send it to them. If they were still in any doubt, I would also send them a copy of the original tapes/s and they could then see exactly who it is who is lying here.
You say that the ‘vampire research society’ obtained these photographs from some unnamed photographer. Then perhaps you could verify for us who this was, ‘anonymous’, and the date you obtained these. That should be not be too difficult for you . . . if it was true at least. Shall we all see how you evade answering that. ‘anonymous’, which you obviously will!
None of this ‘Data Protection Act’ nonsense which you are so fond of employing when you get yourself into a tight spot, ‘anonymous’ – just identify the photographer.
Now, you have persistently (and adamantly) stated that the first time you met myself was on March 13th 1970 – the date ITV were interviewing both you and myself about the Highgate ‘vampire’. That’s very strange, because many of your photographs from that set (including the two you have since ‘doctored’ for us here) clearly show snow on the ground in Highgate Cemetery. Would you care to explain that?
I am sure we are all waiting!
I am not going to get involved in accusations against Barbara Green on another thread. I simply do not have the time.
But I did NOT say that the “bishop” in question had admitted receiving the booklet. What I said was, was that YOU, writing under the alias of ‘demonologist’, had later admitted that the manuscript from the woman in question had been received by a ‘VRS’ member but was ‘thrown straight into the bin’. But I also made it quite clear that as “demonologist” was only an alias employed by the “bishop”, this point was really only a technicality ‘demonologist’ (sorry, meant to say ‘anonymous’ there, slight ‘over-sight’!). Stop deliberately trying to twist my words, ‘anonymous’.
But back to the Highgate Cemetery photographs . . . Who was the photographer who took these photographs ‘anonymous’, and how come there was snow on the paths of Highgate Cemetery? Well?
David Farrant, President, BPOS
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
” I have irrefutable proof of this, as you can be clearly heard admitting to myself on tape that you held the copyright and the negatives of these photographs.”
That aside, it is a matter of public record that Tony Hill transferred copyright of all the pictures he took of you at Highgate Cemetery throughout 1970, including the negative film, to the BOS president who is also the current VRS president. The original copyright obviously belonged to Hill. It does so no longer. Hill himself will vouch that this is the case. Hill’s photographs of you were taken from early 1970 (when there was snow on the ground) to August of that year.
You can clearly be heard on secretly recorded tapes from over forty years ago to be conspiring with Hill to hoax a ghost story for your local newspaper. Hill tape-recorded you without your knowledge. If you give the VRS consent to publish these tapes (required legally because they were made without your knowledge and consent) we will gladly publish them on the internet along with extracts on sound files. All we need is your signed permission to do so. If you prefer to send a signed document to this effect on a jpeg file to the VRS that will be acceptable.
“Now, you have persistently (and adamantly) stated that the first time you met myself was on March 13th 1970.”
I have never met you. I have only seen your ugly mug on televised interviews. That is quite enough for me, thank you very much. See http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ezDZBOZZcVQ
What I am waiting to hear is how you came to witness the entity three times which later became two times which later became only one time? How did you manage to forget the number of times you saw the supernatural being?
What I am also waiting to hear is why you exclusively employed Christian symbols for self-protection when you later claimed you were a “wiccan”; indeed, a “high priest of witchcraft” according to your retrospective scribblings.
And, of course, everyone would be fascinated to learn why you wanted the media and the public to believe you sacrificed cats in so-called witchcraft ceremonies at Highgate Woods among other places?
See http://tinyurl.com/2vsrfdo and http://tinyurl.com/2wa95oq
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
That’s fine, you have now admitted what I have been saying all along. That Toni Hill was a close friend of your’s and worked in a ohotographic studio with yourself. Between the pair of you, you concocted all kinds of publicity-making stunts. The most well known of these was your assertion to have ‘staked’ the Highgate ‘vampire’ after it had moved to the cellars of a derelict Gothic mansion in Crouch end (you then clain you incinerated it using a can of petrol) and then to have ‘staked’ this ‘vampire’s’ disciple to another North London cemetery in 1982 after she had turned into a ‘giant spider’. Hardly anybody believes this, so why should they believe any of your other claims – including the obsessive one’s you keep making about myself?
Another small point: You adamertly assert (though another lie)that you never met myself before March 13th 1970 (the date of the television filming). How then do you explain a photograph of us both together in Highgate Cemetery that appeared on the front page of the Ham & High newspaper a week earlier?
I have answered your question about the ‘ghost sightings’ on numerous occasions, so the question really is, why do you keep repeating a question that I have already been answered?
I have explained that when I first wrote to the newspaper requesting information about the widely reported ghost (that you agree dated back to Victorian times), I stated that the entity had been seen (then that is) on at least 3 occasions. This is the case, and I had spoken to 3 witnesses who claimed to have sighted it. These witness I may identified in my book Beyond the Highgate Vampire. I did not say I had seen it ‘on three occasions. That is just the way my reader’s letter ended up being edited.
Two of our nightly watchers also spotted the figure again (at least one of them did) while keeping a nightly vigil in HC trying to get some photograph evidence of the reported entity. So in all it was sighted twice by Society members
(up until the time of my letter) including my own sighting.
Now, how about telling us all about this ‘giant spider’. It would certainly make a change from all your groundless allegations against myself!
David Farrant, President, BPOS
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
I,Personally,think that what you did to that old tramp you found in that house in Crouch End,is terrible!What must the poor mans relatives have thought when they were informed that a member of the public had attacked their poor old Dad with a stake,and then attempted to pour petrol all over him.You should be thoroughly ashamed of yourself!I spoke to one relative and they said ” the last we heard was Dad was sleeping rough,and this nutter came along,found Dad and kept ranting about vampires!”Newspaper reports at the time commented that the police were called to a house in Crouch End where they thankfully,caught a man who was about to pour petrol on an old tramp.The clearly disturbed arson maniac,kept on about vampires,and was still taken away ranting to the local mental home.the relative added “Hes a complete nutter,we dont want his sort round here”.Police added that it would be a long time before the man, who could only answer to the name of “tea cosy” was let out.
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
“Between the pair of you, you concocted all kinds of publicity-making stunts.”
You can’t be referring to me, but, given who you are trying to malign, where is the evidence to substantiate your allegation?
Tony Hill played no part in the Highgate Vampire investigation. He was not a member of the British Occult Society or the Vampire Research Society. He was loosely associated with the VRS founder at a time when he worked part-time in the latter’s studio darkroom as a printer, but that relationship soured in 1969 when Hill ran off for six months with someone known to you, someone who was not his wife. Almost a decade passed before things were on the mend, at which time copyright of pictures and film were donated by Hill to the VRS.
For the record, Hill does not believe in the supernatural, rather like yourself, and has provided irrefutable evidence in the form of secretly recorded conversations of you and him that in early 1970 you were both trying to hoax a ghost story. You fell out with Hill in September of that year when you renaged on the deal with him to come clean about the hoax you had both colluded in.
“Hardly anybody believes this, so why should they believe any of your other claims – including the obsessive one’s you keep making about myself?”
Look, hardly anyone believes in anything genuinely supernatural unless they are religious or have experienced such phenomena personally themselves. The claims I keep making about you are backed by sourced evidence via links. You will not, probably cannot, answer any of the questions I raise.
“Another small point: You adamertly assert (though another lie)that you never met myself before March 13th 1970 (the date of the television filming). How then do you explain a photograph of us both together in Highgate Cemetery that appeared on the front page of the Ham & High newspaper a week earlier?”
You are addressing me as if I am the VRS president. I am not. I am nonetheless a VRS member. Nobody has ever claimed you both didn’t meet before 13 March 1970. It is claimed by me that you met in March 1970. The VRS president himself often decsribes his first meeting with you as late February or early March 1970. Either way, the Hampstead & Highgate Express front page displaying a picture of you meeting the then BOS president is dated 6 March 1970. See links:
http://tinyurl.com/yad6pvs
http://bishopseanmanchester.blogspot.com/2009/02/candlemas.html
“I have answered your question about the ‘ghost sightings’ on numerous occasions, so the question really is, why do you keep repeating a question that I have already been answered?”
No, you haven’t. Where is your answer? More important, what is your answer? I only keep repeating this question because it has NOT been answered. See link to the contradictory claims you have made regarding sighting the Highgate entity:
http://highgatevampire.blogspot.com
“I stated that the entity had been seen (then that is) on at least 3 occasions [by other people].”
No, you didn’t. You claimed in your letter to the Hampstead & Highgate Express, 6 February 1970, that YOU had seen it on three occasions. These are your exact words:
“On three occasions I have seen what appeared to be a ghost-like figure inside the gates at the top of Swains Lane.”
Your published letter then goes on to describe those three sightings, all of them happening between Christmas Eve 1969 and a week before you wrote your letter in February 1970. Each time you preface your sighting with “I saw it …” etc.
“These witness I may identified in my book Beyond the Highgate Vampire.”
Your pamphlet Beyond the Highgate Vampire identifies nobody whatsoever beyond reference to the non-existent “Thornton” who has NEVER been produced because he does not exist. Your pamphlet contains two pages of text stolen from The Highgate Vampire and infringes photographic copyright.
“Two of our nightly watchers also spotted the figure again (at least one of them did) while keeping a nightly vigil in HC trying to get some photograph evidence of the reported entity.”
You had no “members” and your so-called “society” did not exist. You keep forgetting the secretly tape-recorded conversations you had with Hill. Everyone who knew you, including your own wife, will attest to the fact that you had a few drinking associates and that is all. You were not involved in witchcraft, the occult or paranormal investigation. In 1970 you made no pretence about it. You were a lone publicity-seeker looking for a bandwagon to hop on. Everyone who knew you back then has confirmed this to be so.
http://tinyurl.com/32ql66c
Now, how about telling us what you were doing with Christian symbols for self-protection when you later claimed that all along you had been a “high priest of witchcraft”? See link:
http://tinyurl.com/28evva4
And what about your claim to have ritually slaughtered cats in bizarre witchcraft ceremonies? See links:
http://tinyurl.com/2vsrfdo
http://tinyurl.com/2wa95oq
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
FOR LUCI
I have heard about this ‘old tramp’ story before, Luci. I have never been able to substantiate all the facts but I can tell you that in those days (the 1970’s onwards) all sorts of maniacs were entering Highgate Cemetery and driving stakes through corpses there. This activity started after a certain individual had gone on national television programmes twice telling viewers that a real ‘vampire’ existed there and advising them how to ‘stake a vampire’. So much is fact, and the police called the then cemetery foreman, William Law, to give evidence to this effect at my Old Bailey trial in June 1974. He did so, but let me point out, it was not myself who offered this advice neither was I ever charged with ‘staking corpses’.
The Highgate Cemetery charges against myself strictly related (at least according to the police) of conducting ‘witchcraft rituals’ in the cemetery – indeed my Trial became dubbed as the “Nude Rituals Trial” in the Media. I was acquitted of 3 of the 5 charges against me said to relate to Highgate Cemetery and the two I was convicted of contained all the Prosecution’s introduced ingredients of ‘Satanism’, ‘nude orgies’ and ‘black magic’. In reality, I did not commit these two offences but the police were trying to make me a ‘scapegoat’ because of my known association with the cemetery.
For the record, however. (and as I point out in my book “Beyond the Highgate Vampire”), a man was found dying in Highgate Cemetery in September 1971 with deep wounds to his throat and chest. I say in my book that the circumstances surrounding this man’s death were ‘highly suspicious’ and I also point out that the police were anxious to cover the whole thing up because of all the ridiculous vampire stories.
So yes, there were some very unsavoury maniacs running around Highgate Cemetery actually using stakes . . . but ‘no’, I was not one of them! My television and newspaper appearances were representations of all these ‘vampire hunting’ allegations, nothing more than that!
David Farrant, President, BPOS
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
AND THERE CAME A GIANT SPIDER . . .
“For the record, Hill does not believe in the supernatural . . . ” etc, etc.
For the record, ‘anonymous’, Hill most certainly DID believe in the Supernatural. Like yourself, he had an unhealthy interest in Satanism and black magic.
I have a tape of yourself, ‘anonymous’ where you are telling myself about an occasion Hill once claimed to yourself of how he ‘conjured up the devil’. A crystal clear recording in which who are aslo admitting to having taken photographs of him dressed up in woman’s clothing. you were trying to persuade me to send these to a French journalist for publication, although I never sent them. I have, however, reproduced one of these photograohs in my book “The Seangate Tapes”.
I am not going to waste my time answering all the rest of your trivial waffle.
What I think most people will be wondering, however, is why you have deliberately ignored my request to give us more information about the staked ‘giant spider’.
Well, why?
David Farrant, President, BPOS
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
“All sorts of maniacs were entering Highgate Cemetery and driving stakes through corpses there.”
There is not one piece of evidence to substantiate that wild and foolish claim. The foreman of Highgate Cemetery did allege there was ONE incident where an iron pole had been driven through a coffin. This turned out to be vandals who smashed a heavy glass aperture over a large sunken vault with a pole which fell down onto one of the coffins beneath. These were the same sort of vandals Highgate and other cemeteries had suffered for many years prior. Thankfully, the vandalism dwindled and almost ceased altogether due to the focus the graveyard received from police and security guards from early 1970 onwards. It has never returned on the scale witnessed in the 1960s.
“This activity started after a certain individual had gone on national television programmes twice telling viewers that a real ‘vampire’ existed there and advising them how to ‘stake a vampire’.”
This is gross hypocrisy. You went on television with a cross and stake to demonstrate how to hunt a vampire. You were filmed in Highgate Cemetery by the BBC stalking a vampire with your stake. This was a reconstruction of what you were doing on the night of your arrest in the graveyard (17 August 1970). How many people saw YOU and might have been inspired to copy YOUR antics? Even so, worse things were to come when a couple of years later you claimed to have ritually sacrificed cats in occult ceremonies. I daresay some disturbed individuals might have emulated what you were claiming for publicity. Your cat slaying claims were all over the national press and it was even mentioned by you in the High Court during a libel case as late as 1979. See link:
http://tinyurl.com/36rfq78
As well as the Hornsey Journal’s lurid headline “Ritual sex act and cat sacrifice” of 16 November 1979, the same link contains a lengthy extract from an earlier expose in the News of the World, 23 September 1973, where you had the audacity to tell the reporter you were “president of the British Occult Society” when you were nothing of the sort.
“I say in my book [sic] that the circumstances surrounding this man’s death were ‘highly suspicious’ and I also point out that the police were anxious to cover the whole thing up because of all the ridiculous vampire stories.”
There is no evidence to suggest “the police were anxious to cover the whole thing up because of all the ridiculous vampire stories.” These are your words and your words alone.
“So yes, there were some very unsavoury maniacs running around Highgate Cemetery actually using stakes . . . but ‘no’, I was not one of them!”
Yes, you were! In fact, you were the ONLY “unsavoury maniac” prancing about Highgate Cemetery at night with a stake with the proclaimed intention of impaling an undead corpse through the heart. See newspaper reports at these links:
http://tinyurl.com/2ewz5uv
http://tinyurl.com/2woneky
“Hill most certainly DID believe in the Supernatural. Like yourself, he had an unhealthy interest in Satanism and black magic.”
And your evidence for alleging this is what exactly?
“Hill once claimed to yourself of how he ‘conjured up the devil’.”
Well, not to me personally. Whatever Hill said about the Devil spontaneously appearing out of cigarette smoke to other people, he later withdrew the claim and put it down to an hallucination. This incident happened before he became acquainted with the BOS president and certainly before he ever knew you. He recounted it to lots of people.
Hill has admitted that he conspired with you in early 1970 to hoax a ghost story in a local newspaper. He secretly recorded you in conversation with him at his flat above the coal cellar where you resided. Your consent and signature will result in those taped conversations being made public, as it is illegal to publish recordings made without the subject’s knowledge. You have not yet given your consent.
http://tinyurl.com/2c5vs3r
Why have you avoided answering my query about your supposed attempt to raise a “satanic force” in 1971 at Highgate Cemetery, as claimed by you in New Witchcraft magazine? Why did you claim to have smeared a nude female with blood in the graveyard in order to raise the vampire? See link:
http://tinyurl.com/3xaz7kz
If you have any questions regarding The Highgate Vampire (which, incidentally, is a proper book in hardcover with a dustjacket etc and not a flimsy pamphlet held together by a couple of staples) you should address them to its author on his Q&A blog. You already know the URL. Lyndall Mack, reviewing the book in Udolpho (magazine of the Gothic Society) said: “The Highgate Vampire will certainly be read in a hundred years time, two hundred years time, three hundred years time — in short, for as long as mankind is interested in the supernatural. It has the most genuine power to grip. Once you have started to read it, it is virtually impossible to put it down.”
I somehow doubt they’ll be reading your pathetic, hate-filled pamphlets in a hundred or so years’ time!
http://vampireresearchsociety.blogspot.com
“I am not going to waste my time answering all the rest of your trivial waffle.”
Of course you’re not because you can’t address questions that expose you as a fraud and a cynical self-publicist.
How could you possibly explain why you claimed to have seen the Highgate Vampire on a different number of occasions? And you do say that it was YOU who saw it three times, then two times, and then just once! On the Today programme (Thames Television, 13 March 1970) you are heard telling the interviewer how many times you saw the vampire (she and the programme called it a “vampire”). Then you told Steve Genier and Andrew Gough last year that you actually only had ONE sighting, which totally contradicts what can be heard on the television interview. Then there is the not insignificant matter of you protecting yourself with Christian symbols when you later claimed to have been a “wiccan” and a “high priest of witchcraft”! You have no answer for that one! Then there is the little matter of cat sacrifice which you absolutely refuse to discuss. Yet it throws into question everything and serves to support my contention that you are a publicity-seeker and everything else about you is bogus.
When interviewed on the Today programme (BBC Radio 4; not to be confused with a television programme with the same name on which you also appeared) in 1973 about your Hallowe’en cat sacrifice, you did not deny it. There was also an interview with a doctor’s wife, Mrs Annette Wilson, who opposed your publicly stated intention of sacrificing a cat in an occult ceremony. Moreover, the Hornsey Journal, 28 September 1973, who also interviewed you, stated on their front page beneath its headline “I Sent Voodoo Dolls – ‘High Priest’ Farrant,” that “Farrant, as the Journal reported, admitted slitting a ‘stray’ cat’s throat at the height of a bizarre ritual before his coven of eight hooded men and a naked High Priestess in Highgate Woods recently.”
The same newspaper also confirmed that you “sensationally admitted to sending the dolls, with pins through their heads and accompanying poems, in a desperate ‘leave me alone to continue my work’ bid. Inspector John Tressider of the RSPCA received his package direct and Mrs Wilson’s ‘gift’ was sent to Journal reporter Roger Simpson for forwarding.”
On the front page feature of the Hornsey Journal, 28 September 1973, it was reported: “Questioned about the enormous outcry against his work involving ritual slaughter, Farrant stressed that he would not halt sacrificing animals.”
When you were interviewed in the News of the World, 23 September 1973, by Sue Kentish, we learn: “He spoke matter of factly about a ceremony watched by 12 naked, chanting individuals during which he severed a cat’s head with a dagger. All the participants then smeared themselves with blood before indulging in sex. ‘I did not enjoy having to kill the cat, but for one particular part of the ritual it was necessary,’ said Farrant. ‘The sacrifice of a living creature represents the ultimate act in invoking a deity. I do not see animal sacrifice as drastic as people have made it out to be. Thousands of cats are used for medical research. The very livestock we eat have their throats cut. And, at least, I anaesthetised the cat before I had to kill it’. With a shrug of the shoulders he admitted mercislessly pursuing grievances.”
When you were interviewed in the Hornsey Journal, 31 August 1973, by Roger Simpson, we discover: “A cat was sacrificed to a horned god in a macabre night ritual at Highgate Woods during the weekend involving eight hooded coven members and a naked High Priestess who left at the scene a blood-stained carving knife, blood-splattered stockings and offal. … A North London coven later claimed responsibility and the coven’s High Priest, David Farrant, told the Journal in an interview at his Archway Road flat: ‘Hundreds of years ago a naked virgin would have been sacrificed, but obviously we couldn’t do this now so we had to have an animal for the important ritual.’ The victim was a stray cat and Farrant stressed that the animal was anaesthetised for the 45 minutes ritual which culminated in the slitting of the cat’s throat. The ritual slaughter was a part of the festival of the Black Moon – an important date in the witchcraft calendar.”
A court report in the Hornsey Journal, 16 November 1979, under the headine, “Ritual sex act and cat sacrifice,” revealed: “Self-styled ‘high priest’ David Farrant told a High Court jury this week of the night he performed a ritual sex act in an attempt to summon up a vampire in Highgate Cemetery. He also admitted that he had taken part in the ‘sacrifice’ of a stray cat in Highgate Wood.”
http://tinyurl.com/36rfq78
I have raised many more questions on this forum over recent days, all of which you have evaded and avoided. Well, why?
Please note:
This thread is about you and the claims you have made in the article you have published above. Don’t try and turn it on someone and something that has nothing to do with you and your article. That is a cowardly thing to attempt and everyone will see it for what it is. You are too much of a wimp to answer questions put to you, having already achieved the publicity you crave with a manufactured and totally fraudulent article. There is little more one can say because you won’t say anything when it comes to facing facts on public record.
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
For David,Iknow you didnt have anything to do with these ridiculous antics.They were the work of this highly disturbed individual they call Tea Cosy.and by the way,Tea Cosy,if you are reading this,i dont see why people shouldnt wear crosses and crucifixes?Its just fashion.Pagans or witches can wear them if they choose.Tea Cosy,you wear them but i do not think that you are so holy?What have you got to say about that?
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
Oh and by the way why do you keep bringing up what was said in the Sun newspaper,and all that sort of rubbish?Any one who is educated,would not read a paper that prints Freddie Starr ate a hamster,or this crap.If you really are a Bishop,Id have thought youd read the Guardian,Tea Cosy.?Why do you read these sort of newspapers?They are full of lurid rubbish.But then,that would suit you,i suppose?
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
FOR LUCI
I think you are stating what most people know already. The individual writing here under the guize ‘anonymous’ is just a very sick individual who (unfortunately) has some obsession with myself. He spends most of his waking life writing his evil propaganda about myself, and sits behind his solitary computer all day just trying to use ancient newspaper reports about ‘witchcraft’ and ‘Satanism’ to ‘fit in’ with his evil propaganda. The person has been doing this for years, but, perhaps most amazingly, has fooled himself that people do not know his true identity! They DO! He is a very sick individual, Luci, and – as most people will note – carefully avoids answering any questions about his own published statements about having ‘staked’ a real vampires that dwelt in Highgate Cemetery or its disciple after she had changed into a ‘giant spider’!
I am not inventing these stories. This person has stated this himself in newspapers, on his tiny message boards, in magazines and on television. His statements served to encourage all sorts of cranks who went into Highgate Cemetery putting stakes through corpses (‘vampires’) in vaults and then has the affrontry to accuse myself of being a ‘Satanist’.
From a person who dresses up in Christian garb, that in itself is almost laughable!
Still, I suppose we are living in a very sick world sometimes where delusion can so often take the place of reality!
David Farrant
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
I stated:
“Hill once claimed to yourself of how he ‘conjured up the devil’.”
You replied, ‘anonymous’:
“Well, not to me personally. Whatever Hill said about the Devil spontaneously appearing out of cigarette smoke to other people” etc, etc . . .
Thank you ‘anonymous’ for this is exactly what you said to me, which I have on tape. It is a tape recording of YOURSELF, ‘anonymous’, which somehow makes a nonsense of your claim about trying to pretend to be somebody else. Otherwise how could you have possibly known this?
I am not going to waste my time here answering all your other purile allegations that you conveniently ‘cut and paste’ from ancient newspaper reports.
I have NEVER sacrificed any animal, which you yourself acknowledged in the first edition of your self-published book on the Highgate ‘vampire’.
You wrote that you did not personally believe (and I can give you the exact quotation if you want me to) that you did not personally believe that I had ever sacrificed an animal, ‘even for the sake of publicity’.
You also wrote that you did not believe I was guilty of the two counts of vandalism that I was convicted for at Highgate Cemetery.
YOU wrote this, not myself! If you want me to give people here your exact words, just tell me and I will do so.
I am not going to waste people’s time here by answering all your other sensationalistic waffle.
But people will see that you deliberately keep avoiding the issue of your claim to have staked a beautiful young vampire after she had changed into a ‘giant spider’.
This is a pity, as I am sure that many people here could use some real amusement!
Over to you ‘anonymous’.
David Farrant, President, BPOS
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
“The individual writing here under the guize ‘anonymous’ is just a very sick individual who (unfortunately) has some obsession with myself. He spends most of his waking life writing his evil propaganda about myself, and sits behind his solitary computer all day just trying to use ancient newspaper reports about ‘witchcraft’ and ‘Satanism’ to ‘fit in’ with his evil propaganda.”
You have just described yourself. What did your first self-published pamphlet dwell on? What does your most recent pamphlet concentrate on? What have all the tracts, pamphlets and booklets inbetween obsessed about? What do you keep banging on about on your message board, personal blog and Facebook wall? The answer? Someone you have been obsessing over for forty years; someone you at first tried to ingratiate yourself with and emulate; someone who quickly exposed you as an interloping bandwagoneer; someone whose wife, family, friends and colleagues you have sent your hate-filled material to unsolicted through the post.
There is not a day of your life over the last four decades when you have not engaged in some vindictive scheme against this man. Every waking moment of your life during that period has been filled with envy, malice and scheming to try and cause trouble for this man who last mentioned you in a book (to set the record straight) in the previous century, and has subsequently advised people who contact him to ignore you even though they want to confront you.
http://therightreverendseanmanchester.blogspot.com/2009/11/adventus.html
If you check the boards, blogs and Facebook wall of the person you are obessed with you will find no reference to yourself apart from a couple of entries on his blog where people have raised questions which mention you. Otherwise there is nothing whatsoever about you. The VRS have set certain things straight on sites, but that is all. Now check your own internet presence. It reveals your obsession with this man where you refer to him, usually in code, every day you visit your own forum, blog and Facebook (and whenever you visit other peopel’s). Now let’s examine the interviews you give. You cannot get through one interview without bringing up the subject of your hatred. You run out of things to say when interviewed and quickly resort to attacking your archnemesis. People are tired of hearing your boring rhetoric which is unconvincing and transparently part of your vendetta. Now turn to the object of your obsession. Since 1970 he has not once mentioned you in a radio or television broadcast. In fact, he makes this a condition for giving an interview, as Andrew Gough and anyone else who has interviewed him will confirm.
SO WHO IS OBSESSED WITH WHOM?
And reports about your phoney “witchcraft” and bogus occult stunts are hardly “ancient” when they date back to as recently as a year or so ago (first link below to television interview) and three and a half years ago (second link below to newspaper interview).
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ezDZBOZZcVQ
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article69185.ece
“He is a very sick individual, and – as most people will note – carefully avoids answering any questions.”
This thread is about YOUR claims in the article YOU have published on this site. Don’t try and turn it onto someone and something that has nothing to do with your article.
SO FAR YOU HAVE ANSWERED ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, HAVING EVADED AND AVOIDED EVERY QUESTION RAISED IN CONNECTION WITH YOUR CLAIMS.
“His statements served to encourage all sorts of cranks who went into Highgate Cemetery putting stakes through corpses (‘vampires’) in vaults.”
These are yours and other people’s statements published in newspapers:
“Much remains unexplained, but what I have recently learnt all points to the vampire theory as being the most likely answer. Should this be so, I for one am prepared to pursue it, taking whatever means might be necessary so that we can all rest.” – David Farrant in the Hampstead & Highgate Express, 6 March 1970.
“My intention was to search out the supernatural being and destroy it by plunging the stake in its heart.” – David Farrant in Evening Standard, Evening News and The Sun.
“He [Farrant] heard that it rose from a grave and wandered the cemetery ‘on the lookout for human beings on whose blood it thrives.” – Detective-Sergeant Neville Brown in the Evening Standard, Evening News and The Sun.
“I joined a macabre hunt among the desecrated graves and tombs for the vampire of Highgate Cemetery. … David, 24, was all set, kitted out with all the gear required by any self-respecting vampire hunter. Clutched under his arm, in a Sainsbury’s carrie bag, he held the tools of his trade. There was a cross made out of two bits of wood tied together with a shoelace and a stake to plunge through the heart of the beast. Vampire hunting is a great art. There is no point in just standing around waiting for the monster to appear. It must be stalked. So we stalked. Cross in one hand to ward off the evil spirits, stake in the other, held at the ready. David stalked among the vaults, past the graves, in the bushes and by the walls. When we had finished he started stalking all over again.” – Barrie Simmons in the Evening News, 16 October 1970.
The photograph (at the link below) of you with wooden stake raised, clasped in both your hands, wearing a Roman Catholic rosary plus a large crucifix around your neck, was published in the Evening News, 29 September 1970.
http://tinyurl.com/28evva4
There is no evidence to substantiate the claim that “all sorts of cranks went into Highgate Cemetery putting stakes through corpses.” The foreman of Highgate Cemetery did allege there was one incident where an iron pole had been driven through a coffin. This turned out to be vandals who smashed a heavy glass aperture over a large sunken vault with a pole which fell down onto one of the coffins beneath. These were the same sort of vandals Highgate and other cemeteries had been plagued by for many years prior. There is evidence, though, that you were considered a crank who vandalised and desecrated graves in Highgate Cemetery.
The Sun newspaper, 26 June 1974, reported:
“The judge [Michael Argyle QC sentencing David Farrant] said any interference with a corpse during black magic rituals could properly be regarded as a ‘great scandal and a disgrace to religion, decency and morality’.”
The Sun, 4 July 1974, reported:
“David Farrant, self-styled priest of the occult, saw his weird world of witchcraft collapse yesterday. An Old Bailey jury found him guilty of trying to stop two detectives giving evidence by sending them voodoo death dolls. And he heard Judge Michael Argyle remand him for psychiatric reports before deciding his sentence. For 28-year-old David Farrant it was the final proof that his phoney black magic was a failure. He had been convicted in three separate trials fro desecrating graves in London’s Highgate cemetery, stealing linen from Barnet Hospital and sending the death dolls. In his first trial he bragged he would be cleared because three members of the jury were frightened of his powers. … In his final trial he was said to have sent clay effigies to Detective Constable Michael Westmore and Detective Constable David Reid to stop them giving evidence against a member of his coven, John Russell Pope, who faced a sex charge.”
The charge against John Russell Pope (aka John Pope de Locksley), indecent sexual assault on a young boy, was later proven. In an article published in 1975 (written while you were serving a four years eight months jail sentence) for New Witchcraft magazine, issue 4, you stated:
“The intrinsic details regarding this part of the ceremony however, must remain secret; suffice it is to say here that the entity (in its now omniscient form) was to be magically induced by the ritual act of blood-letting, then brought to visible appearance through the use of the sex act. … I disrobed the Priestess and myself and, with the consecrated blood, made the secret sigils of the Deity on her mouth, breast, and all the openings of her body. We then lay in the Pentagram and began love-making, all the time visualizing the Satanic Force so that it could ~ temporarily ~ take possession of our bodies.”
http://tinyurl.com/3xaz7kz
“From a person who dresses up in Christian garb, that in itself is almost laughable!”
You are obviously referring to the focus of your obsession whose image you are so compelled to distribute that you infringe photographs of him with libellous captions in illegal pamphlets which inevitably concentrate only on defaming him and anyone thought to be close to him. However, what exactly are we to make of the garb you are wearing in the picture at the link below? And why are you holding a dagger in one hand and a clay effigy in another?
http://tinyurl.com/39rgdf9
“Thank you ‘anonymous’ for this is exactly what you said to me, which I have on tape.”
Not me. I have never met you. But anyone recounting Hill’s story would say exactly the same as I have told you on this forum. Many people heard it. The VRS president even mentions Hill’s alleged encounter with the Devil and his later retraction in his memoir. That aside, what the VRS has on tape is you and Hill discussing hoaxing a ghost in early 1970 to dupe the press and public. All we need is your signed consent and we can let everyone on the internet read the transcript and have access to the recordings themselves. Without your consent we’d be breaking the law because they were taped secretly and without your knowledge.
“I have NEVER sacrificed any animal.”
So why did you tell a radio programme in 1973 and many newspapers that you did sacrifice animals. You even stated that you had sacrificed a cat under oath in the High Court. If you are now saying you were lying you committed perjury. When interviewed on the Today programme (BBC Radio 4; not to be confused with a television programme with the same name on which you also appeared) in 1973 about your Hallowe’en cat sacrifice, you did not deny it. There was also an interview with a doctor’s wife, Mrs Annette Wilson, who opposed your publicly stated intention of sacrificing a cat in an occult ceremony. Moreover, the Hornsey Journal, 28 September 1973, who also interviewed you, stated on their front page beneath its headline “I Sent Voodoo Dolls – ‘High Priest’ Farrant,” that “Farrant, as the Journal reported, admitted slitting a ‘stray’ cat’s throat at the height of a bizarre ritual before his coven of eight hooded men and a naked High Priestess in Highgate Woods recently.”
The same newspaper also confirmed that you “sensationally admitted to sending the dolls, with pins through their heads and accompanying poems, in a desperate ‘leave me alone to continue my work’ bid. Inspector John Tressider of the RSPCA received his package direct and Mrs Wilson’s ‘gift’ was sent to Journal reporter Roger Simpson for forwarding.”
On the front page feature of the Hornsey Journal, 28 September 1973, it was reported: “Questioned about the enormous outcry against his work involving ritual slaughter, Farrant stressed that he would not halt sacrificing animals.”
When you were interviewed in the News of the World, 23 September 1973, by Sue Kentish, we learn: “He spoke matter of factly about a ceremony watched by 12 naked, chanting individuals during which he severed a cat’s head with a dagger. All the participants then smeared themselves with blood before indulging in sex. ‘I did not enjoy having to kill the cat, but for one particular part of the ritual it was necessary,’ said Farrant. ‘The sacrifice of a living creature represents the ultimate act in invoking a deity. I do not see animal sacrifice as drastic as people have made it out to be. Thousands of cats are used for medical research. The very livestock we eat have their throats cut. And, at least, I anaesthetised the cat before I had to kill it’. With a shrug of the shoulders he admitted mercislessly pursuing grievances.”
When you were interviewed in the Hornsey Journal, 31 August 1973, by Roger Simpson, we discover: “A cat was sacrificed to a horned god in a macabre night ritual at Highgate Woods during the weekend involving eight hooded coven members and a naked High Priestess who left at the scene a blood-stained carving knife, blood-splattered stockings and offal. … A North London coven later claimed responsibility and the coven’s High Priest, David Farrant, told the Journal in an interview at his Archway Road flat: ‘Hundreds of years ago a naked virgin would have been sacrificed, but obviously we couldn’t do this now so we had to have an animal for the important ritual.’ The victim was a stray cat and Farrant stressed that the animal was anaesthetised for the 45 minutes ritual which culminated in the slitting of the cat’s throat. The ritual slaughter was a part of the festival of the Black Moon – an important date in the witchcraft calendar.”
A court report in the Hornsey Journal, 16 November 1979, under the headine, “Ritual sex act and cat sacrifice,” revealed: “Self-styled ‘high priest’ David Farrant told a High Court jury this week of the night he performed a ritual sex act in an attempt to summon up a vampire in Highgate Cemetery. He also admitted that he had taken part in the ‘sacrifice’ of a stray cat in Highgate Wood.”
http://tinyurl.com/36rfq78
http://tinyurl.com/2wa95oq
http://tinyurl.com/2vsrfdo
You have attempted to wriggle on the hook over the conflicting amount of times you have claimed to have seen the Highgate Vampire in interviews after your initial letter published in February 1970. You are now trying to claim that your letter was edited and altered. This is a bare-faced lie. It was published unedited and complete, as Gerald Isaaman, the then editor (who is still alive), will readily confirm. There is also, of course, your televised interview with Sandra Harris on 13 March 1970 where you claim you sighted the vampire more than once. Now you are claiming it you saw the vampire only once. In you initial letter in 1970, however, you stated you saw it on THREE occasion. This is your unedited letter as it appeared in the Hampstead & Highgate Express, 6 February 1970:
“Some nights I walk home past the gates of Highgate Cemetery. On three occasions I have seen what appeared to be a ghost-like figure inside the gates at the top of Swains Lane. The first occasion was on Christmas Eve. I saw a grey figure for a few seconds before it disappeared into the darkness. The second sighting, a week later, was also brief. Last week, the figure appeared long enough for me to see it much more clearly, and now I can think of no other explanation than this apparition being supernatural. I have no knowledge in this field and I would be interested to hear if any other readers have seen anything of this nature.”
Why have you consistently lied about these sightings?
http://highgatevampire.blogspot.com
“But on these occasions, the witnesses were other people whom I had witnessed by this time.” – David Farrant on Andrew Gough’s Arcadia forum, 12 December 2009.
Pull the other one, its got bells on it! You would have insisted on having anything altered in the letter you wrote corrected in the following week’s issue if that had really happened. But, of course, it did not happen. There is no record of you having asked for a correction. There is no record of an amendment appearing even though your relationship with that particular newspaper remained ongoing for the next few weeks. Indeed, the newspaper made a point each week of saying that, while letters too long might be shortened, they were not edited in any other way. Your original letter was quite short to begin with and required no editing. There are records of you sticking with your personal “three sightings” account until October of that year when it suddenly reduced to “two sightings.” Now it has become “one sighting.”
We are bound to wonder whether a further passing of time will establish “no sighting”? That, at least, would be more honest.
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
“The foreman of Highgate Cemetery did allege there was one incident where an iron pole had been driven through a coffin. This turned out to be vandals who smashed a heavy glass aperture over a large sunken vault with a pole which fell down onto one of the coffins beneath. These were the same sort of vandals Highgate and other cemeteries had been plagued by for many years prior.”
This is a deliberately false statement, ‘anonymous’.
The cemetery superintendand stated under oath in Court that many coffins had been opened and stakes put through the corpses indide them. He said (again under oath) that he was frequently having to reseal coffins where this had happened. He said that he personally blamed all this this activity on the two television programmes on which a man (ie yourself) was advising people how to ‘stake vampires’.
He agreed with myself (under cross examination) that there had always been a fair amount of vandalism at Highgate Cemetery but people putting stakes through bodies had only started after the television programmes.
You can try and swear that black is white as much as you want to, ‘anonymous’, but that was Law’s evidence (or part of it) whether you like it or not.
I am not going to debate your confused interpretation of ancient newspaper reports about Satanisn and black magic. You do not ask genuine questions; you state erroneous facts and then expect me to agree with your erroneous assertions. This I will not do – most especially because you are merely showing people that you have some kind of unhealthy with myself that exists within your mind, and your mind only.
Now, how about answering my point about the beautiful young vampire that you claimed you staked through the heart (sorry, really mean ‘middle’) after she had turned into a giant spider.
Well, come on ‘anonymous’! I am sure people would like to be cheered up here, rather than just listening to yous morbid ravings!
David Farrant, President, British Psychic and Occult Society.
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
Luci—you are right about the dangerous situation in pouring petrol over a sleeping tramp an enarly setting him on fire. If you read the advice in the Highgate Vampires Handbook there is all manner of dangerous humbug which if put into practise could cause injury or death,to people like tramps, drug addicts or acoholics who tend to fall over and sleep rough, not to mention distress to people whose dearest and dearest have been dug up from their graves as suspected vampires. You know once I asked Manchester what to do on his Cross and Steak Pie site, I said I thought here was a vampire up our road and I was very worried. I used a false name–he reckons he knew from the start being such a mastermind and all that–well he just referred me to his book and told me where to write the cheque to, but I persevered and said I was very worried and my friend had got bittten. Even if it was an experiment to see if he could put his money where he mouth was, and it could have been true, he was as much help as a chocolate teapot( with a cosy!)
It seems odd to me that he can spout off and hold forth in such florid prose about being the most famous vampire huntere in the world , but when someone seeks his help, even if he suspects an imposter, –though why shoul he—he offred no help. I said I had been to see some monks and they told me that there were no such things as vampires–this was actually true–he flew off the handle at that and demanded to know which monks, so I said the Jesuits as I reckoned they would know how to deal with a mad vampire hunting padre.
Then I said my friend was in hospital dying from a mystery illness, should I tell the doctors it was a vampire–well I guess that blew the story, but just think, if all these bitten people were dying mysteriously from blood loss, the Coroner would soon be asking questions! There might be a few people around who mess around with blood drinking and what not, but the bish was talking about the undead.
tata greenwych
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
Oh,im sure he cantanswer any questions about vampires.He pinched that spider thing from a Hammer film.Which wasnt very intelligent,considering all the people that watched it.Im sure it was called The Devil Rides Out,and had Christopher Lee in it.After watching this,He became obsessed with giant spiders.The silly tea pot.
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
“You do not ask genuine questions; you state erroneous facts and then expect me to agree with your erroneous assertions. This I will not do.”
My questions are absolutely genuine, but YOU refuse to answer them. I make no “assertions,” erroneous or otherwise. I only put to you what YOU have said when interviewed in the media, and ask why you claimed such things back then when you now dispute it?
What you will not do is give a straight answer to a straight question. There is a reason for that. You can’t.
http://tinyurl.com/2c5vs3r
“If there is one thing I cannot abide, it is hyporcrisy. … Never lie, is really my motto. Just hold to the truth, and you can never really go far wrong!” (January 15th, 2008 at 6:14 am)
Link: http://davidfarrant.org/TheHumanTouch/?p=162#comments
You can’t abide hypocrisy? You never lie? Let’s look at some facts, shall we?
“I do NOT believe [in] vampires. I cannot say it more clearly than that.” – Farrant
http://forums.randi.org/showpost.php?p=2818271&postcount=934
“As to the question of whether a vampire still exists at Highgate Cemetery, well, I can only say yes it does.” – Farrant, In Search of the Highgate Vampire Video (1998)
Tony Hill first became acquainted with you in 1968 when your wife, Mary, was working as a part-time barmaid in The Woodman, Archway Road, not far from where Hill lived. Following Hill’s six month “sojourn” with Mrs Farrant, you made yourself destitute by declaring yourself bankrupt within a few months of squandering an inheritance and were summarily booted out of your flat (also in Archway Road). Hill offered his coal bunker in the communal cellar under his ground floor flat. You jumped at the chance and remained Hill’s “tenant” for the period from August 1969 to August 1970.
It was during this time that Hill colluded with you to fake a ghost story in the local press and took photographs of you cavorting about in Highgate Cemetery for that purpose.
Then you heard about the legendary vampire at Highgate Cemetery in pubs you frequented and thought it a convenient bandwagon to hop on. This you did by contacting your local newspaper, pretending to have witnessed it. Hill took more photographs of you brandishing stakes and goodness knows what else. All the items you used for “self-protection” were Christian. Some of Hill’s pictures were published in newspapers. See links:
http://tinyurl.com/2d9egmo
http://tinyurl.com/37x8r2d
http://tinyurl.com/28evva4
When you tired of exploiting the vampire situation, having been exposed as an interloper by the BOS president, you joined the growing witchcraft craze and became known as a “wicked witch” locally because of the nasty pranks and stunts you pulled on people. People can still remember them. Your new witchcraft persona quickly landed you in jail with a stiff sentence, by which time Hill was giving you a very wide berth.
Your problem has been that you made countless threats, none of which you could ever back up. Journalists understandably tired of you. Everyone tired of you.
Born in January 1946, you still shuffle back and forth to the sorting office in London’s Muswell Hill to collect your mail sent to the post office box address you hide behind, oblivious to the fact that Royal Mail Customer Service are obliged to reveal the address behind a box upon request.
Interviewed on Thames Television’s Today programme in March 1970 by Sandra Harris you claimed you had seen a seven foot high figure, identified in the programme as a vampire, only twice – not on “three occasions” as stated in your letter to the editor of the Hampstead & Highgate Express in the previous month. What you described was a walking (or “hovering”) corpse which “looked as if it had been dead for a long time.” Sandra Harris asked you if you thought the walking corpse was evil. You replied: “Yes, I did think it was evil.”
The description given by you in March 1970 bears no resemblance to your description of the entity two decades or so later where the corpse-like figure now became an ectoplasmic mist with red eyes. No mention of red eyes was ever made by you during the 1970s. And certainly no mist.
However, in the interim Seán Manchester’s bestselling The Highgate Vampire had been published where a shape-shifting mist with red eyes is described. Draw your own conclusions.
You revised your already highly dubious account of walking corpses to ley line activity coupled with a mist with two red eyes when pressed to explain your experience of 1970 in later years and the two sightings would further reduce to just one sighting of the vampire when interviewed by Steve Genier and Andrew Gough on separate occasions in 2009.
On 20 April 1996, you told a Fortean Times Unconvention audience that you did not believe in the existence of evil, and on the Michael Cole Show, 20 December 1998, you stated that you did not believe in vampires or the existence of the Devil. In your self-published pamphlets you claim that you have never believed in vampires and, moreover, did not engage in vampire hunting in 1970.
During your interview for the BBC’s 24 Hours, transmitted on 15 October 1970, however, you were seen demonstrating your vampire stalking technique with a cross in one hand and a wooden stake in the other. In both your Today interview, 13 March 1970, and the 24 Hours interview, 15 October 1970, you made it absolutely clear that you were a self-styled vampire hunter. This was reflected in newspaper interviews and reports about you throughout 1970. See links:
http://tinyurl.com/yawzb64
http://tinyurl.com/2ewz5uv
http://tinyurl.com/2woneky
Let us return to your letter in the Hampstead & Highgate Express, 6 February 1970, to discover exactly why it is so dubious. You open with the words: “Some nights I walk home past the gates of Highgate Cemetery.” At that time you were residing in a coal bunker beneath the ground floor flat at 294 Archway Road. Anyone who knows the general area will be aware that to walk home to that address from any of the pubs in Highgate Village you drank at most nights could not possibly take you “past the gates of Highgate Cemetery” because the graveyard is in the opposite direction. So, after drinking ale all night, you apparently walked home by taking a route that would create a detour miles out of your way instead of just nipping down in the opposite direction to where you resided in Archway Road just fifteen minutes’ away? You obviously hadn’t thought your ghost hoax story through properly before sending it for publication to the editor of a local newspaper.
In the same letter to the Hampstead & Highgate Express you state: “I have no knowledge in this field.”
No knowledge in this field? For once you were telling the truth!
Finally, this is what someone called Wheezebucket said to you on the James Randi forum:
“You’re a liar and a thief, so far as I can tell. Well done, you’re following the woo path rather nicely. I wonder how long it’ll be before you start actively advertising and charging for your various ‘services’? You look pretty old, better get started soon.” – Wheezebucket
Link: http://forums.randi.org/showpost.php?p=3000160&postcount=1057
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
Guys, your all putting a lot of work into these arguments, but wouldn’t they be better suited to the forum. I know the owners of the website personally and from the very start they reserved the right to edit any posts put up under articles on the main site and over time they intend to just delete those that have little or no value to the said article. So I imagine that given some of the comments in these posts they could be edited or just removed without warning. If this ongoing discussion is important to you, it maybe better to start afresh on the forum.
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
I have to agree Red Don that these comments (made only by one person let us importantly remember) are not relevant in the course of any genuine discussion about unexplained psychic phenomena. In fact, the cut and pasted comments, (which are posted any place on the Internet where that perso happens to spot my name or that of the Society)really show the makings of someone with an extremely confused mind: someone who obviously believes in vampires quite literally (and giant ‘vampire spiders’!) and is desperately trying (although unsucessfully) to convince people here that I share such beliefs. I do NOT. In fact, quite the opposite. I have stated quite clearly, both here and elsewhere, that a literal belief in vampires really amounts to ‘just pure fiction’.
I have given my version of the Highgate ‘vampire’ case and long since concluded that stories and tales told to ‘prove, the existence of a blood-sucking vampire at Highgate Cemetery were the inventions of a very disturbed person.
The majority of the tales told about the unexplained phenomenon seen there, however, are genuine. I am not claiming to be able to explain all of these, only that the accounts from witnesses I have spoken to in person, are authentic.
Stories about a ‘blood-sucking vampire’ that once had its home in Highgate Cemetery, however, or about one of its disciples that was staked after turning into a ‘giant spider’, I think can be safely consigned to the realms of fiction.
David Farrant
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
You might claim to not see the point, but anyone reading this thread will not miss it, I can assure you!
I suspect your spurious argument is more devious than ignorant. Whether people believe or disbelieve in certain forms of supernatural phenomena is clearly not the issue.
You claim that you have given your “version of the Highgate Vampire case,” but that is where the problem arises because you have given so MANY versions of your alleged part in those events forty years ago, and they all contradict one another. The issue, therefore, is NOT whether you believe in vampires. The question must be why does everything you claim have absolutely no consistency and fail to add up?
You have produced NO witnesses to back up anything you have claimed. Not one person has come forward.
You have produced NO members for your non-existant “BPOS.”
Your alleged sightings of the phenomenon at Highgate Cemetery changed in appearance and even the number of occasions you supposedly witnessed it.
You employed solely Christian items for self-protection, but later claimed to have been a practitioner of witchcraft at the time you were entering the graveyard in 1969-1970. Your wife, under oath, denied you were involved in witchcraft and the occult. She stated your “silly games” in Highgate Cemetery were for “a bit of a laugh and a joke.”
http://tinyurl.com/32ql66c
Tony Hill admits that he colluded with you during early 1970 to hoax a ghost story in order to dupe the press and public alike. He secretly tape-recorded conversations with you at his home that confirm beyond any doubt that your intention was to perpetuate a hoax. Fraudulent letters were sent to the Hampstead & Highgate Express, 13 February 1970, using the names and addresses of your friends Audrey Connely and Kenny Frewin. Their names appear in your article above, while you were the person who actually wrote these letters in order to give your hoax some credibility.
So, the issue is not one of vampire belief (I happen to know for a fact that you believe in nothing supernatural), but rather the attempt by you to commit fraud and later interlope where a serious investigation was already underway. There is an incredible amount of evidence against you in the VRS archive. You have produced absolutely NO evidence to substantiate your claims down the years.
And there the Vampire Research Society rests its case.
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
“There is an incredible amount of evidence against you in the VRS archive. You have produced absolutely NO evidence to substantiate your claims down the years.”
There is no ‘evidence’ against me ‘anonymous’ because the ‘VRS’ simply does not exist. It was a ‘one-man band’ operation thought up by yourself in 1988; some 30 years after the formation of the British Psychic and Occult Society.
Speaking of ‘evidence’, why do you blatantly ignore what I keep asking you? Where is YOUR evidence for staking the Highgate ‘vampire’ (as you claim) or for ‘staking’ its beautiful disciple in 1982 after she had changed into a ‘giant spider’? Well?
David Farrant, President, BPOS
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
AND THERE CAME A GIANT SPIDER . . .
And on another important point, ‘anonymous’, why do you keep omitting the point of a serious dispute concerning Society membership being reported by the Press throughout the 1970’s and into the 1980’s? Indeed, this is the reason that several ‘magical duels’ were reported in the newspapers during this period.
You seem to have conveniently ignored this on-going Press story. So that really only really leaves the question ‘why’?
You are only referring to claims yourself made, ‘anonymous’, about Society membership, but ignored Press investigations that questioned the validity of such claims.
Just tell me if you have somehoe mislaid these as I have them all on record.
David Farrant. President, BPOS
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
Why have you suddenly chosen to put reams of your cut and pasted repetition on Barbara Green’s book review thread “Spirit of the Greenwood”, ‘anonymous’? None of your material is at all relevant to her book about her book about the legendary Robin Hood, or its review there.
Now, I pointed out yesterday here that your personal claims about the British Occult Society (as it was then called) were short-coming as you had conveniently forgotten to remind people that this issue was the subject of much newspaper coverage throughout the 1970’s and well into the 1980’s – the basic issue being the ongoing dispute I had with yourself over Society membership.
The Press apparently loved this and it provoked headlines such as . . . “Occultist’s Feud Goes to Court.
A feud between friends led to the court appearance at Highgate last weekof the President of the British Occult Society, Mr. Sean Manchester,26, who alleged that allegations made against him by the Founder of the Society, Mr David Farrant, were ‘part of a maiicious war of nerves against him’ etc, etc.
(Ham and High, April 16th 1971)
I have no desire to ‘go back into history’ to relive all this abcient dispute, ‘anonymous’. It is ancient news – but you seem to be entirely stuck there! Well, have fun, although I am sure nobody is really interested!
David Farrant
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
He cant think of any way to answer my comments and questions ,so resorts to his old trick of copy and paste and whinging and moaning about what you did in the year dot–this from the fella who supposedly–according to his Vampire dottydickipoggy party mates –never wishes your evil name to offend his delicate ears ever again—yet his so called “mates” still keep banging on about you( and me also) and churning out the same old pompous hoity toity ****** precisely for the purpose of keeping the situation going! Crazy! Though why its gone on the Robin Hood site goodness knows, they must have got their wires crossed!
tata for now
greenwych
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
AND THERE CAME A GIANT SPIDER . . .
Yes Barbara, and Moderator Ian Topam has since confirmed (on "Spirit of the Greenwood") that all these introduced issues by the ‘anonymous one’ are totally off topic.
In fact, they are totally irrelevant here as well, yet they do prove to show that ‘anonymous’ seems to be totally obsessed with myself – with himself as well, in fact.
Very few people – if any I imagine – would be interested in sensational newspaper reports of some 40 years ago.
I wrote up the basic facts of my central involvement in that case here, with the accompaning witnesses, times and dates as best I can remember them.
But I also introduced two or three very important questios about the alleged Highgate ‘vampire’ which are very much on topic. The ‘anonymous poster’ always very carefully avoids answering these, attempting to ‘cloud’ these instead with his own misrepresentations of my own involvement in that case.
I asked his about two widely published assertions he has made (both in books, magazines, on the Internet and on television) about HIS version about the alleged destruction of two vampires; the ‘Highgate vampire’ and of its disciple he calls ‘Lusia’.
In the case of the Highgate ‘vampire’, his version is that this was tracked down to a derelict Gothic mansion in Crouch End, North London in 1973. The person (together with his unidentified companion he just refers to as ‘Arthur’) found the vampire’s coffin in the basement, dragged this out into the over-grown back garden and there he staked it through its heart. It let out a ‘terrible roar’ (as if ‘from the bowels of hell’) and then turned to a ‘mass of inhuman slime and versea’ in the bottom of the casket. They then built a pyre in the garden and set the coffin alight using petrol.
But not before ‘Arthur had managed to photograph it, and these photographs were then produced on National Television and on the Internet as ‘evidence’ to support the existence of the Highgate ‘vampire’.
Some years later, in 1982, that version goes on to state that he then found the grave of a beautiful youg vampire that the Highgate ‘vampire’ had bitten. He keeps a nightly vigil at her graveside after casting a protective ‘magical circle’ beside it in which was contained a small fire.
He waited there with a stake. ‘Lusia’ eventually turns up in her undead vampire form, but then spotting the ‘vampire hunter’ (clad only in a purple robe), promptly turns into a ‘giant spider’ She (‘it’) scurries furiously around the perimeter of the circle, but he commands her to ‘be still’. To his amazement, sh ‘freezes. and he takes this opportunity to impale her with a flaming stake. She .gives out a piteous scream ("it will haunt me till the end of my days"),and he then collaspes back in the circle ‘weeping uncontrallably’.
When daylight eventually arrives, he then sees that impaled on the stake, no longer the giant spider, but ‘Lusia’ in her ‘true dead’ form. "It was poor Lusia – no longer the devil’s undead’ but one of God’s true dead".
He then reburies her, and this is truly the end of the line of the Victorian nobleman from Romania who he claims was really the ;Highgate Vampire’.
Now, ‘anonymous’, instead of reverting to more of your irrelevant waffle about myself perhaps you would care to qualify that I summarised this correctly?
This matteris VERY MUCH on topic so perhaps you would care to answer this. I am sure everybody is waiting!
David Farrant, President, President, British Psychic and Occult Society.
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
As stated on 10/07/2010 at 10:01, having proffered many questions relevant to this thread – and having had them either evaded, avoided or ignored by David Farrant – the Vampire Research Society now rests its case.
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
What!? You mean you have ‘rested your case’, ‘anonymous’, and still avoided answering the two relevant issues I raised about your public statements to have staked two ‘vampire’ directly connected to Highgate Cemetery (one of which had changed into a ‘giant spider’, let us remember!).
Could it be that you have no case to rest, ‘vampire research society’? But that are simply unable to answer the fiction I have asked you to explain?
Your answer . . . deadly silence (excuse the pun!)
David Farrant, President, British Psychic and Occult Society.
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
For Researcher.Can you please stop talking to your friend,the moderator atArcadia.Irefuse to have large pieces of my posts cut out.Quite why that should be the case,is a mystery to me.You really have pushed it this time.I refuse to have large pieces of what i say,cut out,just because i use the expression”Tea Pot”.Iam entitled to use these words.I dont see why you are so oversensitive about these words?Why cant you just lighten up?
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
I don’t think that moderator at Arcadia is exactly his friend, Luci; in fact, I happen to know he isn’t.
But the one who insists on walking around wearing a hat that resembles a ‘tea pot cosy’ is ultra sensative to his self-imposed status; so much so, that he regularly threatens to sue anybody who makes fun of it. Some people just can’t be bothered with all the hassle; which is why he gets away with it.
Or I guess you could say its a question of . . . If the cap fits, wear it!
David Farrant
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
Well,all i can say is that the whole thing is getting ridiculous.By the way,there is another impostor on the Spirit of The Greenwood,why does he bother?The bloke must have about 10 aliases,and NEVER answers the questions about his giant spider,or decomposing vampire.Some biology students were quite interested,as it was being hailed as a medical breakthrough.There was a great furore when it was announced that claims had been made about “the woman who turned into a spider”All the newspapers were interested,as this biological miracle was revealed.But then sad to say,everyone was let down.It was discovered that the person making these claims was no other than the mental patient who had been previously,put away,then let out again ,the one everybody knows as Tea Pot.A spokesman for the medical coucil said today”it is a great shame thatI have to report that these great claims of people being able to turn into spiders are,in fact,not true.The medical miracle turned out to be a huge hoax,and the man calling himself Dr Cosy,is in fact,an imposter.Police didnt press charges however,as Dr Cosy is now recieving psychiatric help.
Re: The Highgate Vampire – How It All Began – by David …
This was posted in the Mysterious Britain Facebook Group.
Two ghost hunters and a medium were spooked when they ran into a spirit in Highgate Cemetery without their specialist equipment.
Mr Gocool said the spectre was gaunt and pale but did not look menacing.
He said: "He looked like the sort of guy that you take home to meet your family."
The ghost, which vanished after a split second, was also a shock for new medium Gemma Louise Pugh who only started with the team six weeks ago.
However, they now plan to investigate the sighting and see if they can find out anything about its background in or around Highgate.
Lead investigator Mr Gocool, from Lordship Lane in Wood Green, describes himself as an investigator rather than a psychic. The team gathers supernatural evidence before allowing people to make up their own minds.
The team carries out investigations at houses and public spaces in and around north London, looking for evidence of supernatural activity.
North London Paranormal Investigators Micky Gocool, 46, and Louise Roche, 23, were giving their newly recruited medium a tour of their patch when a tall, dark figure appeared in front of them.
Mr Gocool, who spoke to the Haringey Independent in April after bumping into singer George Michael in Highgate during an investigation, said: “That is the first time in my life that I felt frightened – it was just meant to be a tour for our new medium.
“I was really shocked because I didn’t know what to do."
The paranormal investigators, who claim they saw the ghost just after 10pm on Wednesday, June 20, arrived in Highgate without the specialist equipment they normally use to track and record spirits.
Mr Gocool said the team at first thought the ghost could have been a vampire rumoured to frequent Highgate Cemetery. But he now believes it is more likely to be the spirit of an undertaker because it was smartly dressed in a suit.
He added: “It really was not a sinister presence. He was a normal, average Joe Public but because he was so tall he actually looked like a vampire.”
This story appeared in the Haringey Independent.