Scholarly Twisting of the Truth into Lies

The Lore of the Land (Penguin, 2005) is a thick guide to England’s legends co-written by Jennifer Westwood and Jacqueline Simpson. 

The task befell Jacqueline Simpson to provide an entry on London’s Highgate Cemetery which, in the event, included more than just a passing reference to its vampire. Simpson, according to Oxford University’s Library Journal, is “an esteemed British folklore expert.” This makes her coverage of the case of even greater concern.

“When the apparition was first discussed in the local press in 1970, it was merely called a ghost,” she begins. It was called all manner of things when first discussed, but was already being described as a vampire locally; even from as early as 1965. What Simpson is alluding to is the plethora of readers' letters in the Hamsptead & Highgate Express where various correspondents spoke of a figure, spectre, ghost and vampire. The British Occult Society, too, often use the term “spectre” as do I in my published account, but this does not contradict the term “vampire.” What she blurs is the fact that vampires (predatory demonic entities) exhibit many spectral aspects.

Simpson continues: “The publicity was initiated by a group of adolescents calling themselves the British Occult Society.” An adolescent is surely someone between childhood and adulthood. I was about to pass my mid-twenties at the time of the early media curiosity and television interviews. Many of those involved or showing interest in the Highgate Vampire case within the British Occult Society were considerably older. 

“David Farrant, their [the British Occult Society’s] leader, spent the night there,” she next claims, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. Farrant did not “lead” the Society. In fact, he owed no connection to the British Occult Society which was originally formed as an umbrella organisation circa 1860. Fellow members and close colleagues included Peter Underwood, Professor D P Varma and similar luminaries. Prior to its dissolution on 8 August 1988, it was presided over by me. I featured in a programme on 13 March 1970 (Today, Thames Television) to represent the Society’s investigation into happenings in and around Highgate Cemetery that had been accumulating since the mid-1960s. A number of witnesses to a vampire spectre were also interviewed by Sandra Harris. These consisted largely of children and a young man who was captioned “David Farrant.” I was captioned, along with my name, “President, British Occult Society.” No confusion existed as to who “led” the British Occult Society.

This picture is taken from the transmission itself.

Simpson then wrongly insists: “Hardly two informants gave the same story.” What was notable, apart from a couple of rather dubious entries subsequently found to be disingenuous, was the similarity in the accounts recorded by the media, not least the local press. They all spoke of a tall, floating figure with burning eyes and an evil aura.

She continues to describe me as “another local youth, Seán Manchester” (the Oxford Dictionary defines “youth” as “adolescence” and “inexperienced” etc) and attributes the quote “a 'King Vampire from Wallachia'” to me. That precise phrase did not appear in print, but a similar sentiment was expressed. However, I did not say anything of the kind and have explained at length in a book which Simpson read several years prior, and in correspondence concerning errors contained in Bill Ellis’ Folklore article, that the term “King Vampire” was a journalistic embellishment.

American Bill Ellis, on whom Jacqueline Simpson relied.

Referring to Highgate Cemetery, Simpson erroneously states: “both conducted rituals of exorcism.” Farrant did not. I carried out an exorcism at Highgate Cemetery on one occasion during August 1970 with the permission of the private cemetery owners. This exorcism was reconstructed by BBC television and transmitted on 15 October 1970.

Though completely unrelated to either Highgate Cemetery or the Highgate Vampire, Simpson includes: “Manchester challenged Farrant to a 'magical duel' on Parliament Hill.” I did not challenge Farrant to a “magical duel,” as confirmed by statements made by me at the time and coverage of this occasion in the Hampstead & Highgate Express (articles in April and May 1973) and in From Satan To Christ (1988) where the invitation to exorcise Farrant was incidental to the event itself. Farrant cried off and failed to appear. The Parliament Hill “Ring of Prayer” had nothing to do with a “magical duel” though some of the media exploited it as such due to misinformation fed them by the other party. Newspapers published retractions following complaints. 

Curiously, Simpson refers to only one criminal conviction: “Farrant ... was jailed in 1974 for damage to memorials.” Farrant, in fact, was sentenced to four years and eight months imprisonment in June 1974 for malicious damage, ie tomb vandalism, at Highgate Cemetery by inscribing black magic symbols on the floor of a mausoleum; offering indignities to remains of the dead, ie desecration via black magic rites where photographs were taken of a naked accomplice in a tomb where satanic symbols were marked out on the floor; threatening police witnesses in a separate case where his black magic associate was subsequently found guilty of indecent sexual assault on a minor; theft of items from Barnet Hospital where Farrant worked briefly as a porter in 1970; possession of a handgun and ammunition kept at his address where discovery was made of a black magic altar beneath a mural of the Devil that had featured in the press, not least full front page coverage of the Hornsey Journal, 28 September 1973. Simpson obviously felt she needed to downplay the seriousness of Farrant’s part in the Highgate Cemetery matter in view of her determination to lump him in with me.

Hornsey Journal front page feature article on 28 September 1973. 

Jacqueline Simpson, born in 1930 and a resident of Worthing, Sussex, was president of the Folklore Society from 1993 to 1996 and is currently its honorary secretary. She published exceptionally misleading and grossly inaccurate statements in The Lore of the Land, having placed reliance on her American colleague Bill Ellis whose flawed material in Raising the Devil is even more defamatory and damaging. Some of the press cuttings referred to in his book are wrongly attributed and what he has to say is incredibly biased. Ellis wrote the following response when I brought to his attention irrefutable evidence - in the form of copies of original reports - of his many errors:

“... we agree that the contemporary press handling was often inaccurate, and that most subsequent discussions were even more distorted. ... Mr Farrant, since he brought the matter into the papers and was repeatedly arrested for his activities in and around Highgate, clearly was 'central to events' in this sense. Credible, I don't say: I give his explanations for what they're worth and expect that most readers would also recognize that a judge and jury found them unconvincing.”

Jacqueline Simpson’s terse response to my concern over her damaging errors being repeated in a pending second edition of The Lore of the Land appeared on the internet:

“Wording changed to 'young people' and 'young man'. Name of organisation dropped, Farrant referred to simply as a 'member' of 'a group of young people interested in the paranormal.' Words 'which the paper called' inserted. No reference now to who did the challenging. Instead, neutral phrasing in allusion to press reports: 'rumours spread that a magical duel ...' The other points are rejected, and no changes will be made there.”

This is how some “scholars” apparently operate. The paperback edition contained an incorrect date for a crucial newspaper article about the mysterious death of foxes even though we had cleared that up well in advance. All reference to my episcopal standing, albeit not entirely accurate in the first edition, was completely expurgated. Factual accuracy suffers when a version like the one Ellis put into circulation is then adopted by other scholars who, despite evidence thrust at them, stick to their agenda. Yet the Wikipedia entry for the Highgate Vampire comprises an article by none other than Jacqueline Simpson. Attempts by me to add to or correct her material have always been thwarted.