Portal

 

Mary

 

Last Word

 

13th March 1970

 

The Highgate Vampire

 

“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 book] 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, highly respected paranormal investigator and author of over fifty books about the supernatural.

In 1990, Peter Underwood retold the events of the Highgate Vampire case (up to the first discovery of the suspect tomb in Highgate Cemetery) in his book Exorcism! He commented in chapter six: “The Hon Ralph Shirley told me in the 1940s that he had studied the subject in some depth, sifted through the evidence and concluded that vampirism was by no means as dead as many people supposed; more likely, he thought, the facts were concealed. … My old friend Montague Summers has, to his own satisfaction, at least, traced back ‘the dark tradition of the vampire’ until it is ‘lost amid the ages of a dateless antiquity’.”

In his anthology, The Vampire's Bedside Companion (1975) which contains a chapter with photographic evidence from the Vampire Research Society, written and contributed by Bishop Seán Manchester, Peter Underwood wrote: “Alleged sightings of a vampire-like creature ~ a grey spectre ~ lurking among the graves and tombstones have resulted in many vampire hunts. … In 1968, I heard first-hand evidence of such a sighting and my informant maintained that he and his companion had secreted themselves in one of the vaults and watched a dark figure flit among the catacombs and disappear into a huge vault from which the vampire … did not reappear. Subsequent search revealed no trace inside the vault but I was told that a trail of drops of blood stopped at an area of massive coffins which could have hidden a dozen vampires.” And probably did! In the previous year, two schoolgirls had reported seeing the spectre rise from its tomb. One of these would eventually be interviewed by Bishop Seán Manchester. The case of the Highgate Vampire was about to open.

Bishop Manchester, then as now, held fast to traditional Christianity, having also studied the paranormal and the occult. During the 1970s and 1980s he sometimes operated covertly within occult circles to gain first-hand intelligence. This much became apparent in 1988 with the publication of From Satan To Christ and in 1997 it was again confirmed in The Vampire Hunter's Handbook.

The reason why Bishop Seán Manchester initially wrote his bestselling book (The Highgate Vampire) was due to so many people contacting him to ask what really happened. Letters ran into hundreds, and this accumulated following the commission from Peter Underwood and his publisher, Leslie Frewin Books, to give an account of events up to and including the failed exorcism of August 1970. Bishop Manchester thought this might stem the flow, but the case itself was not yet solved, and reports of unsavoury incidents continued to filter into the columns of local newspapers. Hence the complete and unexpurgated account first published in 1985. A more intimate account was given in a special edition published by Gothic Press in 1991 where the rear fly on the dust jacket states:

“[The author] recognises the immense public interest in the Highgate Vampire case which is why he has written the present volume as a final comment on what, in his own words, is ‘hopefully the last frenzied flutterings of a force so dight with fearful fascination that even legend could not contain it’.”

It was never Bishop Manchester's intention to try and convince anyone of the existence of the supernatural; yet still he receives correspondence asking him to do precisely that. Nor was it his wish to stimulate undue interest in these matters; though he accepts this has been an unintended consequence. By writing a comprehensive recounting of those events surrounding the mystery, he merely sought to provide a record of his unearthly experience for those who wanted to read about it.

In the wake of his book, and personal appearances where he discussed its contents, some individuals were not slow to engage in shameless exploitation of his work. The majority of enthusiastic readers of Bishop Seán Manchester's work, however, have shown immense empathy and encouragement.

British Occult Society

"Sean Manchester, who claimed to be president of the British Occult Society." - Nicole Lampert (Mail online, 15 October 2021)

Why, then, when †Seán Manchester was captioned as "President, British Occult Society" on Thames Television in March 1970, and Farrant was captioned simply "David Farant," did this televised status go unquestioned? Farrant was constantly contacting the media, but no challenge was made by him. 

In fact, †Seán Manchester being head of the BOS was beyond dispute, and was only eventually questioned by David Farrant after he had decided to hijack the society's name and use it fraudulently. 

Farrant nevertheless later relinquished his false claim to create the "British Psychic and Occult Society" (BPOS) in the early 1980s whose first and only known member at this time was John Pope.

†Seán Manchester was President of the British Occult Society (often described as an "occult investigation bureau," eg in Dr J Gordon Melton's encylopedic The Vampire Book) from 1967 to 1988 when †Seán Manchester had it formally dissolved. Its purpose was to investigate, not practice, all things considered occult, eg hidden, unexplained, supernatural.

Regarding "magical duels," the Sunday Mirror, 8 April 1973, reported alongside a photograph of self-proclaimed witch David Farrant and a nude girl: “The bizarre ceremony will involve naked witches, demon-raisings and the slaughter of a cat.” †Seán Manchester was quoted, saying: “My opponent intends to raise a demon to destroy me by killing a cat - I will be relying solely on divine power.” †Seán Manchester's opponent insisted: “Blood must be spilled, but the cat will be anaesthetised.” The Sun newspaper, 23 November 1972, had earlier quoted †Seán Manchester stating that the other person’s boasts ought to be put to the test: “The quickest way to destroy the credibility of a witch trying to earn a reputation for himself is to challenge his magical ability before objective observers.”

http://britishoccultsociety.blogspot.com/2011/09/president-of-british-occult-society_26.html

Recollections of the Late David Farrant (concluded)

"What if David, whose life was a hundred percent Highgate Cemetery, what if he is now part of the story but in a different realm?" — Andrew Gough

David Farrant's life was not "a hundred percent Highgate Cemetery," and were his shade to be sighted anywhere, it would be in the Prince of Wales and kindred pubs he gleefully frequented in Highgate. The cemetery was merely a means to an end. In the beginning, it helped him become a focus of attention, having boarded what he perceived to be a potential publicity bandwagon. Andrew Gough visited Farrant at his Muswell Hill bedsit, and included him in a documentary* when I was unwilling to participate in it. Yet, like so many journalists, he did not know Farrant. He only knew the persona Farrant presented.

                      * 

Now there is no longer Farrant to promulgate his "ghost," journalists are attempting to turn the deceased figure of Farrant into a ghost to enable them continue their exploitation of what was a fabricated story in the first place. Farrant didn't even believe in ghosts, and certainly not vampires, but he utilised both to attract the attention of newspapers and the broader media. He had listened to tales of a vampiric entity in the pubs he frequented in Highgate Village after his return from France and Spain to marry his wife in 1967, and, at the turn of 1970, conspired to spook locals with a ghost story of his own. His plan was, after two or three weeks, to expose the ghost in the local newspapers as something he had invented; thus proving that supernatural phenomena was hysteria and not real. To assist in this scheme, he enlisted the help of a handful of acquaintances, many patrons of the Prince of Wales, to write fraudulent correspondence to the editor of the local press. Their fake letters were published, and, sure enough, what appeared to be genuine testimonies followed. By which time Farrant was caught under the armpits and was no longer willing to abide by his original plan. This angered some of those who had helped in the charade. But Farrant now felt himself being carried off by something that soon turned into an addiction to self-publicity. From March 1970, he jumped on the tail-coats of the emerging vampire revelations. His doing so was unwelcome, and I let him know this in no uncertain terms. The rest really is history.

"Alex thinks that the voice he heard [recently in Highgate Cemetery] was Farrant." — Steve Higgins

I do not see these claims made by the likes of Alex as anything other than wish fulfilment to serve the ravenous appetite of unscrupulous journalists who want to replace one fake ghost with another. As someone who knew Farrant in those most crucial years between cellar and prison cell better than a lot of people, I would opine that he does not walk beyond the grave (bearing in mind that he was cremated), and is now frozen in eternity in a form of spiritual limbo. May his soul finally find peace. †