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. †

Recollections of the Late David Farrant (continued)

"We do not have any relation or contact with Della and David Farrant, and we don't want to be associated with these two persons in any way, shape or form, because they have a sulfurous past, they have a reputation of being Satanists, and they are acquainted with people like Jean-Paul Bourre." - (Extract from an official statement made by Isaac Ben Jacob regarding David Farrant and the person variously calling herself "Della Maria Vallicrus," "Della Escarti" and "Della Farrant" - 2012).

Notwithstanding the combustible public relationship I had with David Farrant, in private we were very civil. There was no reason not to be, as he knew I could not be duped in the way so many others had been. He didn't even try to convince me that he was any of the things he claimed. All his talk of witchcraft was a means to an end. We privately discussed this and he frequently poured scorn on those who subscribed to such things. He certainly bore malice toward the self-proclaimed "King of the Witches," Alex Sanders. I had spoken to Sanders on a London radio station when he was planning to summon a demon on the stage of a Hendon cinema, and found him most respectful toward me. I also later came to personally know his wife, Maxine (to be styled "Queen of the Witches"), plus Janet and Colin Bord (who had been initiated into Alexandrian Witchcraft). These people were friendly toward me. Then again, I gave them no reason to be hostile. Farrant let it be known that he resented them.

I was extremely busy in the 1970s, but managed to stay in touch with Farrant from time to time. He even invited me to be present at some of his stunts, twice incognito. He made no pretence to me that they were anything other than photo opportunities. No genuine ceremony or ritual ever took place, and he could barely keep a straight face when he acted out something whilst being photographed. When I tape-recorded him, however, it was a different matter. He assumed a serious persona because he knew others would hear the recording for which he had given his full consent. I had to talk to him in the third person; otherwise all sense of reality would have flown out of the window.

Despite his incendiary media outbursts, invariably confined to tabloid and local newspapers, to fuel the notion of some fearsome feud, when alone he was cheerful in my company. Naturally, there were exceptions when he overstepped the line, and I took umbrage with good cause, but we were civil privately. Three events would change all that, as the 1970s reached midway and finally drew to a close.

The first was the effect prison had on him. We stayed in touch following his incarceration by corresponding via a third party, a lovely girl by the name of Elspeth who sometimes attended the Old Bailey during his trials and sat in the public gallery. As did I, of course. He wanted me to use a code name; so I did. He wrote care of Elspeth who forwarded his letters to me. I used her address and the code name provided when writing back. When he was eventually released on parole, however, he did not alert me, or tell me where he might be living. This I found strange, to say the least, and, had I not been travelling from Highgate through Muswell Hill to my destination further north, I might never have discovered his new address. It was a multi-occupied house facing Highgate Wood in Muswell Hill.

It was only a matter of time before we made contact, but something had changed about him. I bumped into him on one occasion, as he was walking along the dirt path that runs from Muswell Hill Road to lower Muswell Hill. We spoke for some time. It was during this conversation that he finally opened up about orchestrating "black magic telephone calls" to the Bradish household. This was a major stumbling block between us. It was, for me, why we couldn't be more than acquaintances.

“Self-styled witch king David Farrant – the man jailed for desecrating a tomb and threatening detectives with voodoo – has a new shock in store. What’s more, Britain’s best-known Prince of Darkness is dreaming of a traditional white wedding” (Sunday People, 16 April 1978). The article quoted Farrant saying: “I want to put my ghoulish past behind me now. Either I give up witchcraft or Nancy.” This sounded too good to believe, and, of course, it was. Soon after the story was printed, Farrant gave up Nancy O’Hoski, a speech therapist (Farrant suffered from a nervous stammer). They did not get married. This was a cruel stunt played by Farrant on his fiancée.

I met Nancy O'Hoski on a number of occasions, and found her to be open and honest. If only Farrant had genuinely turned over a new leaf, but she had no idea what was going on, any more than did I.

In the autumn of 1977, she heard Farrant on the telephone to a newspaper reporter where, between them, they conspired to frame me injuriously. The telephone was a house 'phone on the ground floor, just outside Farrant's room. He would later move to the attic on the top floor where he lived until the end of his days. Nancy O'Hoski heard enough of what Farrant was saying to be shocked. She told me that his disloyal and unacceptable behaviour toward me meant that she had seen his real colours, which meant he had not changed one jot or tittle, and was still a wrong 'un. When she read what he had done in the newspaper concerned, their engagement was over and she returned to Canada.

It left a nasty taste in the mouth, of course, but two more events were about to occur that would make any future goodwill impossible. The first was his marriage to Colette Sully at the end of that decade, and his alliance with Jean-Paul Bourre soon afterwards. Bourre, a French Luciferian with a predilection for killing defenceless animals, and Farrant became close friends from December 1979.

What do we know about their brand of Luciferianism? David Farrant informs us in a magazine article called “Witch Report” (Penthouse [UK], Vol. 8, No. 8, 1973, page 19): “Satanists worship Lucifer, the supreme power of evil, whereas witchcraft is a neutral thing — it’s only evil if practised for an evil purpose.” Like several of his Luciferian acquaintances, Jean-Paul Bourre amongst them, Farrant, who had stated that he abandoned witchcraft in 1982, described himself as someone who “accepts Lucifer as an important deity” and that he “worships Lucifer.” He made a video for YouTube where he and a small handful of others, including a naked Colette Sully, went through the motions of a "Red Mass" à la Bourre. We hear Farrant mumbling incantations throughout the ritual, but it is pure gibberish.

And what of Jean-Paul Bourre? Farrant is quite explicit in his earliest self-published pamphlet from which the photograph and caption, below, appear. According to Farrant, his longstanding friend Jean-Paul Bourre is “a leading Satanist” and in the picture Bourre is seen attempting “to invoke the Devil.” 

Colette Sully (sometimes known as Colette Gee) became Colette Farrant in 1979. It was a rumbustious union, and they fought like cat and dog. Whether this was due to infidelities on one or both sides is difficult to ascertain (Farrant had a very poor record in that department), but he was not infrequently seen with scratches and cuts to his face that he chose not to explain. It was not long before they divorced. Yet they stayed in touch with Colette living at a different address in Muswell Hill. I do not doubt that she continued to assist his schemes for some time. Her sympathy for the dark occult was apparent from the start, and, being a graphic artist, she designed posters to that effect.

There is a school of thought that the person calling herself "Della Farrant" is Colette's daughter, but not necessarily with David Farrant as her father. Colette came to England from Australia, which is when Farrant met her. She was on a short stay visa. More importantly, she has Italian/French heritage. When "Della" first emerged on social media she went under the name "Della Vallicrus" and, less frequently, "Della Escarti." This could be homage to her origin whilst retaining her anonymity. From the moment she came out the shadows and started posting provocatively on occult and paranormal platforms, she hid her face from view. However, on those rare occasions where a glimpse was caught, it struck many people how similar she looks to Colette; some believing they are one and the same person. "Della" was conceived, however, after Colette Sully and David Farrant had separated.

Recollections of the Late David Farrant

I became acquainted with David Farrant at a time when those he knew called him "Allan." He preferred this nomenclature, inspired by his love of the film star Alan Ladd (3 September 1913 – 29 January 1964), to his given name of "David." The only music I saw in his modest vinyl collection were cowboy (country) records. He was especially partial to Jim Reeves. He showed no interest or liking for the popular music of the time, much less modern jazz. He apparently saw me playing in a small jazz combo on a Friday night at The Woodman where his wife, Mary, worked as a barmaid. I was totally unaware of him, or who he was, but somebody in the audience made a point of identifying me as a paranormal investigator to the young Farrant who was steadily downing more and more pints of ale. I really wish they hadn't.

It would seem that he didn't like the music on offer; indeed any form of jazz was abhorrent to him. He didn't seem awfully fond of classical music either.

We didn't become properly acquainted until that decade was spent and he was the occupant of a coal cellar provided by the man who had cuckolded him in 1968. Everything about Farrant was curious, to say the least, but it all became less puzzling as time passed.

His intimates knew him by the curious nickname "Birdman." This was due to Farrant's habit of daily frequenting the pubs he clearly loved so much with a large macaw on his shoulder.

Goldie was a male golden eagle who lived at London Zoo in England during the 1960s. He caused a nationwide sensation when he escaped for twelve days in March 1965. Goldie was finally caught on March 11th after the zoo's deputy head keeper tempted him to earth with a dead rabbit. Goldie escaped once again on 15 December 1965, and was recaptured 19 December 1965. On 8 March 1985, Goldie was sent to the Falconry Centre in Newent, and died there on or about 23 March 1986. Farrant was inspired by the national headlines provoked by Goldie to do a similar story featuring Oliver, his pet macaw. The fake story was never to emerge, however, because around this time, end of the 1960s, he heard tales in the pubs he frequented of an eerie presence sighted in Swains Lane, Highgate, close to its North Gate. Though some of these stories had vampire references, he stuck with what he felt to be a more plausible ghost when he wrote to his local newspaper, the Hampstead & Highgate Express.

The motivation for the visits I made to the coal bunker (one of several within a much larger communal cellar where junk was stored) was to talk to him about the letter he had written to the editor of the Hampstead & Highgate Express, published by that newspaper early in February 1970. No matter how I tried to remain impartial, I found myself doubting his word from early on. That notwithstanding, we arranged to meet at Highgate Cemetery, just inside the North Gate, in early March. This, too, would be reported by the same newspaper in connection with foxes being found exsanguinated in the graveyard. 

This would be the first time that Farrant publicly mentioned his vampire hunting ambition; something I tried to dissuade him from almost immediately. I asked that he desist from his pending lone vampire hunt, as reported by the Hampstead & Highgate Express, 13 March 1970. On that same day a number of people were interviewed for Thames Television about the goings-on at Highgate Cemetery. I used the opportunity, as one of the featured interviewees, to mention what Farrant was proposing, and that it did not have my support. Some resentment might have begun from that point, but this would be the first and last time I would mention him in a broadcast interview of any sort. His plan was delayed because of me, but he nevertheless went ahead a handful of months later when in August of that year he was arrested at night by police looking for black magic devotees. Thus began what would develop into a parting of ways, but by now I was in absolutely no doubt that his prime and only motivation was self-publicity at any cost.

His mild manner and softly spoken voice belied Farrant's capacity for pettiness and cruelty. This was something I just couldn't understand, or ever come to terms with. For example, though I was unacquainted with James Bradish, I understood him to be someone who liked Farrant and always regarded him as a friend. That didn't stop Farrant putting stickers up in various pubs, particularly the Prince of Wales, containing childish cartoons and defamation aimed at Bradish.

I once asked Farrant why he would attack someone who was so friendly toward him. He explained that on at least two occasions Bradish had made a pass at Mary while alone with her in their Highgate flat. This brought to the fore another characteristic about Farrant. He never forgot and he never forgave. He bore grudges throughout his entire life and often dealt with them in a cruel and frequently puerile manner. He set Bradish (who was known in the pubs they both frequented as "Smoothy John") by organising the "black magic telephone calls" to the Bradish household in Manor Road, Barnet, which led to James Bradish ending up with a criminal record. Farrant had been staying there temporarily after his release from Brixton Prison in 1970. He was even resentful over being persuaded by Bradish to be sprung from jail because he was aware that all the newspaper coverage he had been enjoying would instantly dry up once he changed his original plea of "guilty" to "not guilty," but that is what Bradish wanted, and, in doing so, offered to have Farrant stay at Manor Road while also finding him a job as a porter for a couple of weeks at Barnet Hospital. These were conditions set for his release from prison.

Gillian Bradish was also someone I did not know, but was told by various people who patronised the Prince of Wales was of a fragile mental disposition. Farrant constantly mocked Bradish behind his back. and, with the stickers, almost to his face. I mentioned this to Tony Hill whose explanation was that Farrant simply blamed somebody else when his easily recognisable cartoons were brought to the attention of his friend. I suspect Bradish knew all along what Farrant was doing, but liked him enough (he did, after all, pay Farrant's bail in late 1970) to stick his head in the sand and ignore it. In other words, he was in denial. This was not what he wanted to believe.

A decade or more after the Bradish incident there came into the world someone who, having tried a variety of nomenclatures, settled for "Della Farrant." After emerging on the internet at the same moment as Jamie Coster (later to become Jamie Farrant), "Della" began impersonating real people and adopting their established persona until it became apparent to most people what was going on. She still sets up fake accounts to spread her twisted versions of the "truth," always heavily laced with malice, and frequently referring to happenings which took place long befoer she was born. “Della Maria Vallicrus” aka “Della Escarti” aka “Della Farrant,” for someone claiming to be the young girlfriend (and, since Hallowe’en 2011, wife) of a man born in January 1946 who immersed himself in the outer trappings of the dark arts, has flitted from being “Roman Catholic” to someone obsessed with magical rituals, shamanism, witchcraft and the occult. She employed images of a young Shakira as her own until she was rumbled. Then she occasioned upon Christine Moloney with whom Farrant was very loosely acquainted. Christine and “Della” have a similar build, are the same age and claim to have been married on precisely the same day (obviously to different people). Christine and “Della” apparently design websites, dabble with interior design and have CVs that are practically identical. The only website she appears to have designed is the one provided to David Farrant which she now runs on her own. Likewise, she runs his British Psychic and Occult Society, which amounts to no more than a FB group.

Christine and “Della” claim to come from the exclusive Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Christine and “Della” claim to have Roman Catholic origins. One could be forgiven for thinking that they are one and the same person. However, they are not. One of them, Christine, is real enough. The other, "Della," adopts other people's personas, even their CVs and interests. "Della" does not live in the Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. She lives in penurious circumstances in  a working class part of north London.

Gillian Bradish had a history of mental illness and was constantly medicated. She also had an alcohol problem. Within a few years of the events discussed comprehensively below, she had committed suicide. James Bradish was known to be a slippery customer by all who knew him. His predilection for sleaze and lechery on young women earned him a notoriety that circulated the Prince of Wales and other pubs.

"Della" is carefully omits the fact that the Daily Mirror on 26 November 1970 was obliged by the Press Council to publish a balancing statement following their inaccurate and biased coverage. In that legally required statement it was underlined that I emphatically denied the spurious allegations made by Gillian Bradish, and, moreover, sustained injuries as a consequence of the assault by Bradish.

I was the plaintiff who brought the case and John Bradish was the accused, ie defendant. Bradish, despite lies recited by his wife in court, was nevertheless found guilty of assault while, despite the false testimony given by Gillian Bradish whom I had never met, I received a considerable sum of money awarded to me by the Criminal Compensation Board.

Furthermore, Gillian Bradish could not have recognised my voice on the telephone because she had not been in my company, and had never heard my voice. The Bradish telephone number was ex-directory and could not have been known to me, but it was known to their recent lodger ... David Farrant!

David Farrant has a long history of sending fraudulent letters and there is absolutely no doubt that correspondence sent to the Bradish household in 1970, as is understood happened, was done so to provoke Bradish into doing precisely what he did do. Farrant, of course, attempted to make it appear as though it was sent from the person he was framing, namely me. Earlier that same year, Farrant had sent bogus correspondence to the Hampstead & Highgate Express to try and convince them of his phoney "ghost." The names and addresses on these letters were all acquaintances and friends of Farrant who allowed him to use their identities for what they believed to be a harmless prank.

Farrant was notorious in a number of Highgate pubs for affixing small stickers in their public lavatories attacking Bradish, a self-employed double-glazing salesman. He did this through 1969 and 1970, and there are a significant number of witnesses who will confirm this.

The stickers all bore "Bradish Defamation League" on them and a childish cartoon reviling Bradish. Farrant's cartoons were extremely poorly drawn, as if a four-year-old had done them, and, therefore, easily identifiable.

Bradish almost certainly knew who was behind this puerile behaviour, but didn't seem to mind, according to those who spoke to him about it.

What Bradish did mind was Farrant's involvement in the hoaxing of a ghost story in the press, and when he offered to stand surety to get his friend out of Brixton Prison it was on the strict understanding that Farrant would drop all his hoaxing in the media, especially newspapers.

Released on bail in September 1970, David Farrant, now living as a lodger in the Barnet home of Mr & Mrs Bradish, executed the revenge he had been planning against the two people he hated most.

These two people were Bradish and, of course, myelf.

I had publicly warned against Farrant's infantile behaviour, and refused to give the publicity-seeking nuisance any support when asked to do so by him in prison correspondence sent to me c/o the address where he had previously been residing in a coal bunker.

In the first few months of 1969, James Bradish had allegedly made unwanted sexual advances on Mary Farrant and she complained about it to her husband. Bradish had apparently done the same thing in the past and had earned a reputation as a sexual predator on young females.

When Bradish visited the flat the Farrants then occupied, he propositioned Mary Farrant and allegedly tried to fondle and kiss her.

Bradish might have guessed that Farrant knew about his advances on Mary, which would explain why he turned a blind eye to the sticker campaign in public lavatories that Farrant had been waging, especially during Farrant's time residing in a coal bunker (from August 1969 to August 1970). There can be little doubt that Bradish probably felt guilty about going behind Farrant's back and approaching Mary, but, equally, perhaps he thought he should keep a closer eye on Farrant by having him under the same roof? They were friends, after all, but Farrant has an unfortunate history of behaving spitefully toward his friends.

Bradish obviously did not want any of this getting back to his wife, Gillian, and would need to regain some control of the situation.

So he placed Farrant in his debt, and in doing so thought he had the matter under control. Little did he know what would happen next!

No sooner had Farrant been released on bail and lodged with the Bradishes than he orchestrated his "killing two birds with one stone" strategy by framing me with fake correspondence to the Bradish address, and by making threatening black magic telephone calls to Gillian Bradish; making all this appear to come from his "enemy" by telling the couple that it was me doing it, someone, of course, they did not know.

James Bradish reacted by attacking me on the steps of the British Occult Society's offices. Bradish was convicted of assault, but, due to the lies given in evidence by Gillian Bradish, wittingly or not, about the telephone calls, the magistrate decided to bind me over for a few months to keep the peace in the sum of £200. Bradish still ended up with a criminal conviction, but the "black magic threat" smear was something that I immediately realised was Farrant's handiwork.

Thus Farrant scored a double victory for the first and last time in his life.

I asked on innumerable occasions in the past that Farrant take a lie detector test on this matter, as it was the root of the feud between us, and I agreed to do the same, ie also take a polygraph test.

Farrant always evaded, avoided and ultimately refused to take such a test where identical questions relating to the Bradish matter would be put to both parties with witnesses present and the outcome placed on record. Though a private person nowadays, I would nevertheless agree to a public institution supervising and conducting such a test. The Bradish set-up, for me, at least, is the root cause of enmity.

In the following year, David Farrant used the police to take me to court for allegedly removing without permission some incriminating spools of tape from an address where they were being looked after while Farrant resided in the coal bunker. This was the first and the last time I would be taken to court by anyone. I did not use a solicitor, and, defending myself, won the case outright. Farrant's allegation was thrown out of court and the case was summarily dismissed. The police, however, started to realise at this point that Farrant was using them in his personal vendetta against me. They did not forget and kept a close eye on the trouble-maker from that moment. Three years later, Farrant was arrested and charged with numerous offences. He appeared at the Old Bailey and was sentenced to a term of imprisonment approaching five years. In the interim, he had threatened innumerable people with black magic. These included a doctor's wife, an RSPCA inspector and even pop singers. He received a two years' prison sentence for sending black magic effigies impaled with pins to witnesses in John Pope's sex case. Pope was found guilty of sexual assault on a young boy.

Unlike me, Tony Hill saw "Smoothy John" and his wife from time to time in the Prince of Wales and,  on occasion, spoke with him: "She [Gillian Bradish] was definitely a head case and he was something of a spiv. Nobody liked him in the Village. Farrant was his only friend in the Highgate area which "Smoothy" liked to visit (he lived further north in Barnet) because he was such a terrible snob. On the evening of the court case, Farrant was boasting to a number of people in the Prince of Wales that he made the threatening 'phone calls to Gilly and framed Seán Manchester. I have never seen him so pleased with himself. 'Smoothy John' was not drinking in the pub that night. The photo showing 'Smoothy' brandishing a large Kukri knife with the threatening poster 'Death to Manchester' immediately behind him was taken after Farrant's release from prison in September 1970 but before the court case that followed. It demonstrates that 'Smoothy' (James Bradish) had been primed by Farrant and enlisted in his hate campaign against Seán Manchester who wouldn't have known who 'Smoothy' was because he never came into contact with him until the assault and ensuing court case."

The Curse of Parasitic Journalists

 

Reading through this total misrepresentation of the facts, it would be quicker to single out anything accurately stated by Nicole Lampert in the Mail online which, incidentally, published at exactly the same time the article appeared: "We are no longer accepting comments on this article." They never did, of course, which is why I have with good reason not spoken to a journalist for literally decades. My own writings, documentaries, interviews and recollections give the lie to this cobbled-together travesty which you can read by clicking on the photographs above. The one of me is published by the Mail without my consent. It is not their copyright. The one of Farrant was provided by "Della."

The Curse of the Highgate Vampire

 

Twisted History

 

Forbidden Fruit

 

Il Vampiro di Highgate

 

Oblivion Effaces Him

 

Two years ago today, David Robert Donovan Farrant (Born 23 January 1946) slipped away into the darkening shadows of the late evening. Though I have been prepared to discuss his life, or aspects of it, and answer any questions folk might have about the misreported past, nobody seems remotely interested. Neither his friends, nor indeed his enemies, want to keep his memory alive in any shape, size or form. So be it. The gates to that place where once he dwelt, and still dwells in some people's minds, are now, as far as I am concerned, irrevocably closed. I shall continue to pray for his soul. †  

                                                                                                                                         — †Seán Manchester

Quantum Queries

 

The Highgate Cemetery Vampire Hunt

 

The Castleton Report

"I think it's a wonderful story though totally madcap." — David Castleton

The following claims by David Castleton in his article of 9 December  2018 are either false, unsubstantiated, fabricated, embellished beyond all recognition, or do not stand up to any form of examination whatsoever.

"Vampire hunters claimed to have broken open coffins, and plunged stakes into – and even burnt – the corpses of the ‘undead’."

Nobody made such a claim, and nothing of the sort happened.

"But  another local young man with an interest in the supernatural, Sean  Manchester, was intrigued by what he read [about Farrant]."

†Seán Manchester had been investigating the case since the 1960s, and, far from being intrigued by what he read in the readers' letters' column of the Hampstead & Highgate Express, warned against Farrant's ambitions, both in the aforementioned local newspaper and on television on 13 March 1970.

"Though Farrant had never claimed the dark figure he’d encountered was a vampire."

Farrant did claim the figure he encountered was a vampire in his earliest television interviews. See: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bahSRljtG9E

"Manchester alleged that ‘a King Vampire of the undead’ ... etc"

This piece of journalistic embellishment was challenged the moment it was employed by the newspaper's editor, as revealed in one of †Seán Manchester's books that deal with the topic.

"One film – the Hammer Horror production Taste the Blood of Dracula – had actually been shot in Highgate Cemetery just a year before the Highgate Vampire incidents began."

Taste the Blood of Dracula (7 May 1970) was shot over two days in broad daylight. No scenes were  filmed after dusk. The Highgate Vampire incidents began, as confirmed in  †Seán Manchester's book of the same name, in early 1967. Other researchers, eg Peter Underwood, recorded even earlier incidents of a vampire presence in the same decade, ie the 1960s..

"Farrant,  meanwhile, still unconvinced the spooky presence was a nosferatu,  complained that media hysteria and local superstition had turned the  Highgate entity into a vampire."

David Farrant's interviews on television in 1970 confirm he believed the entity to be a vampire. He was arrested around midnight in Highgate Cemetery by police  on the night of August 17th, armed with a cross, rosary and a wooden stake. In press interviews at the time he confirms his intention of impaling the vampire with a wooden stake. In later years, he revised this claim considerably.

"Both Farrant’s and Manchester’s entourages were groups of young people led by charismatic young men."

There  is no reason to suppose that those associated with †Seán Manchester's pursuit of the  Highgate phenomenon were "young people"; in fact, some were older than †Seán Manchester and, equally, some were not. †Seán Manchester was in his late mid-twenties when he first hit the headlines.

"Their escapades did include breaking and entering, vandalism etc."

Farrant was convicted of vandalism, but the accusation is being levelled at both by David Castleton. †Seán Manchester has no  criminal convictions whatsoever. Castleton's claim is therefore libellous.

"The name Lucy (Lucia) is also connected with the secondary infestation in the Great Northern London Cemetery."

The identity of the female was not revealed, and has still not been revealed. Castleton fails to get the nom de plume †Seán Manchester gave her in his book correct. The pseudonym is Lusia, not "Lucia."

"Still,  it would seem that much of the Highgate Vampire mythos may well have been moulded by the propensities of local youngsters for legend tripping and ostentation."

Due to a total lack of proper research, David Castleton assumes rather than knows. 

"Local youngsters" might have assembled in Swains Lane after the broadcast on television by †Seán Manchester on 13 March 1970, but even that crowd were by no means all young. The schoolteacher, Alan Blood, who was among them and featured on the front page of a national newspaper the next day, could hardly be described  as a youngster. There is a propensity on the part of David Castleton to project his own agenda, which is hostile to the facts found on public record, and testimonies by witnesses that were taped or filmed at the time. Some of the crowd that assembled outside Highgate Cemetery's north gate on that fateful night can be seen in this photograph. All adults.

"Did a Wampyr Walk in Highgate?" Fifty One Years Ago