The Highgate Vampire

[Ravenstone]

The discussion pages on the Wikipedia article make for....engaging.....reading.

The 'reality' of the vampire hunt is discussed at length. Much mud is slung.

[Jeff Leahy]

It does seem, though, that if the events did indeed occur it has to at the very least be a fascinating sociological study in what makes people believe in such things.

Events did occur, thats not in dispute. What is in dispute is exactly what did occur?

And from what i understood from David Farrent..the 'CARRY ON' explination seems closer to the truth than any other...

There were sitings of an entity..by locals..David investigated and claims he also came across something, which he discribed to me.

He claims he went back to proform an exorcisism...

He took with him a stick with a peice of string attached..inorder to draw a circle (to proform exorcism) The police had been tipped off...they arrested David Farrent and claimed the peice of wood he had (with string still attached) was a stake to preform 'Vampire' rituals..

It was all rather a carry on..press hesteria..

However David Farrent sticks by his original claim of what he witnessed that night..

Not a Vampire..but what various cultures and Mythologies discribe as an 'Incubus'.

I will try and dig out ome old notes on the subject..

But the phenomina of 'Incubus' is much older..and reaches a lot further back into history..and there are medically witnessed accounts (i beleive in Vietnam of people dying from such attacks) There are also some more amussing (buit also distressing) accounts of gay 'incubus' attacks in modern Zanzibar...

Is this discussion goin' to take place or are we still at the 'Bad psychic' was 'ere level of debate?

Pirate

PS..I think I've just bought meself a Pirate ship..once it arrives I'm changin' me name to 'Captain Pirate'...XX

[The Wednesday]

In my humble opinion,

The Highgate Vampire stuff is absolute nonsense. If you discuss the non-event then you will get 2 pensioners and another claiming and counter-claiming. One who claims to be ordained and who alledgedly is not, and the other who is allegedelly rather forgetful with the actualite. The other is allegedly a master of black arts and is an heir to Dracula, JTR etc etc with a "doctorate" but cannot spell etc.

Therefore, it's a deep pit of absolute nonsense in my opinion.

[Ravenstone]

I think the Highgate Vampire case is well worth discusssing, however I have to say I've got a timer on this thread to see how long it takes before someone with a more historical and public interest in the subject shows their hand. Or via someone else's hand.

I agree - something happened. The notion of a vampire, however, I find ludicrous. Particularly as described, which owes more to Hammer Horror films that it does to the old strigoii stories.

Possibly a genii loci? I have friends with experiences in thought-forms and suchlike.

[The Wednesday]

I'm afarid I have to be cynical here. Most of the threads on this website regard tangible events.

The Highgate Vampire is, in my opinion, the result of over indulgence in certain substances!

Thus we get a "supposed" Lord / Bishop and a "supposed" investigator of graves, coupled with a "supposed" Doctor of Metaphysics, master of the black arts (finish this off with other complete nonsense), battling it out from bedsits that range from Bournemouth to East London.

Oh well - discuss it, but you are right Ravenstone, you will get some interesting answers!

[kensei]

A more historical look at the subject then: SM's book describes the history of the area, that 700 years ago a large castle and an enclosed tract of land used for hunting deer comprised what is now Highgate and Finchley. The castle was rubble by the 16th century. Several luxury houses were constructed in the area in the late 17th century including the 3-story mansion of Sir William Ashurst, which stood on the ground now occupied by Highate Cemetery. Ashurst died in 1720 and his house was both owned and leased by various tenants throughout the 18th century, including an eastern European nobleman who emigrated at a time of great vampire hysteria (imagined or not) in his homeland. He is not named in the book, but has been named in various online sources as Tamas Orszag, suggested as being the Highgate Vampire. He died at Ashurst House and was buried on the grounds. The grounds were reported to be haunted by spectral figures after his death. In 1812 the house becme the Highgate School for Young Gentlemen and stories continued of a tall gray spectre prowling the property. In 1830 the Commissioners for Building New Churches bought Ashurst House and demolished it to make way for the church of St. Michael. The rest of the Ashurst estate was bought by the London Cemetery Company. What had been the mansion's foundations now formed catacombs beneath Highgate Cemetery, which opened in 1839.

All of the above I am merely relating from the book. Anyone with greater knowledge of the area's history, feel free to comment, critique, or correct. When I toured the cemetery in 2004, one small area of bomb damage from World War II was pointed out and I understand the area was heavily bombed during the blitz. SM's book then goes into supposed vampire events that started in the late 1960s, naming names of victims, showing a genuine photo of one and substituting a false name and professional model to portray and protect the identity of another, the main heroine of the story. Whether these events were actually involved with a vampire, or an incubus, or whatever it was, if we are meant to connect them with the activity reported in the late 18th to early 19th centuries then the phenomenon must have gone into a rather long dormant period.

Admittedly, the book is written in EXTREMELY melodramatic style. In it, SM describes meeting DF and dismisses him as rather inconsequential, not going into their continued rivalry at all. I would really like to see a good documentary film made about the Highgate Vampire case, but I'm sure it will never happen, because neither the principals involved nor the cemetery owners and staff will ever agree to participate in such a joint project.

[Jeff Leahy]

Spectrophilia

Spectrophilia:

The idea of sex with spirits goes back to the dawn of history. Roman, Greek and Egyptian societies all beleived their Gods came to earth and bore children with mortal man. In most pagan societies the pleasurable function of sex was as important as its biological function. Although early Christian sects may have embraced the idea of spiritual sex as monotheism developed the idea of spectrophilia was soon demonised.

Those who had intercourse with demons were changed from victims to perpetrators of the most heinous and bestial sin. Although there were sexual demons for both genders, in practice incubi vastly out numbered succubi as a consequence of women more frequently indulging in demonic intercourse. The inquisition were ruthless in weeding out this practice and in the fifteenth century thousands of women went to teh stake.

In the 19th century a French preist called Abbe Boullan was excommunicated for having sex with ghosts and demons. His name has recently been linked with the early Christian sect 'The Order of Sion" made famous in Dan Broans book the De Vinci Code.

Even the prudish Victorians explored sex through Spiritualism, there were many rreported cases of people having sex at seances and mysterious pregnancies, though whether any of these can be put down to spectrophilia is highly unlikely. One of the worlds most famous 'claimonts' to spectrophilia was philosopher and Occultist Alister Crowley. His name is linked to the dark side of occultism and was said to summon the power of demons by masturbating in in church yards. Many societies have sought to reincarnate the souls of their ansestors by having sex in grave yards, or during the feasts of the dead. Even as late as the 1940's the Nazi SS recommended its followers to have sex on the graves of war heros in order to be imbued with their magical powers.

Sex continues to be used for a range of magical purposes in modern Paganism. In the initiation rites of Finland, the would be Shaman journeys into the forest to encounter strange spirits. One of these magical beings might be a beautiful woman, or man, who appears and seduces the neophyte. The act of spectrophilia becomes the final statement of acceptance by the spirit world. Confirming the Shaman in their new vocation. Although there are Shaman in many different societies globally these themes and experiences seem to be very common. However their rites involve the use of hallucinogenic potions and it is difficult to discern whether external spirits are at work or if these experiences are generated by the brain.

It may be that monotheism demonised this concept to create the rather ghoulish image of the incubus/succubus. Sex magic need not take place with an incarnate human being, but could be with a spiritual entity. many myths from around the world involve shape shifting as part of the seduction. Sex on the astral can involve all sorts of bizarre permutations.

To be continued:

Pirate

PS..While I dont dispute what Wednesday has said about the pensioners and occultists.the witnesses were not good..please do not attack people who are dyslexic for not being able to spell...

You wouldn't find it acceptable to attack people in a wheel chair for not being able to walk, or a blind man for not being able to see. Please do not attack disabled people in chat rooms...many thanks.

[Ravenstone]

I notice a house has been built in Highgate Cemetary which is supposed to be entered in Grand Designs or somesuch property programme. It looks like a great glasshouse from the picture I've seen.

[HighgateVampireArchivist]

“I have spent most of my life studying accounts of vampirism, and have indeed visited Highgate Cemetery on numerous occasions. How it has changed over the years! I am interested in research into any accounts of actual vampirism, from the writings of Dom Augustine Calmet through to modern day accounts. I have a copy of The Highgate Vampire [by Seán Manchester] which I found very interesting. I remember the events at the time they happened and the various newspaper reports. It was then that I first came across the name ‘David Farrant.’ I met him once in a pub near Highgate and found him to be a compulsive liar and there was something shifty about his mannerism. I have since warned many people to stay clear of him.” ~ Andy Pryce, 19 February 2001


These are the facts as I know them, having researched them thoroughly down the years. Tony Hill first knew David Farrant in 1968 when Farrant’s wife, Mary, was working as a part-time barmaid in The Woodman, Archway Road, just up from where Tony lived. Following Tony’s six month “sojourn” with Mrs Farrant, her unfortunate husband made himself destitute by declaring himself bankrupt within a few months of squandering an inheritance and was summarily booted out of his apartment (also in Archway Road). Tony offered his coal bunker in the communal cellar under his ground floor flat. Farrant jumped at the chance and remained Tony’s “tenant” for the period from August 1969 to August 1970. It was during this time that Tony colluded with Farrant to fake a ghost story in the local press and took photographs of him prancing about graveyards for that purpose. Then Farrant heard about the legendary vampire at Highgate Cemetery in pubs he frequented and thought it a convenient bandwagon to hop on. This he did by writing to his local newspaper, pretending to have seen it no less than three times. Tony took more pictures of him brandishing stakes and goodness knows what else. Some were published in newspapers. The rest, as they say, is history. When Farrant tired of exploiting the vampire situation he joined the growing witchcraft craze and became known as a “wicked witch” locally because of the nasty pranks and evil stunts he pulled on people. This behaviour quickly landed him in jail with a stiff sentence, by which time Tony was giving him a very wide berth. Farrant was always his own worst enemy. His problem was that he made countless threats, none of which he could ever back up. Journalists understandably tired of him. Everyone tired of him. Despite a son born in 1967, another born in 1969, neither of whom he ever had contact with after the 1960s, a further brief marriage and yet another divorce in the 1970s, Farrant was already the lonely and pathetic figure he is today, a worn-out shell filled with simmering malice toward those he despises and secretly envies, a talentless non-entity immersed in his own foolishness, a man eaten away with deep hatred who spends his existence in a bed-sitting room from where he produces streams of bile with which he poisons the web. Born in 1946, this tragic old man still shuffles back and forth to the sorting office in London’s Muswell Hill to collect his mail from the post office box address he has been hiding behind for years, oblivious to the fact that Royal Mail will reveal the address behind a box upon request. Meanwhile, he publishes on the web his victims’ names and private addresses alongside hateful incitements designed to cause maximum damage and upset. He especially targets Seán Manchester, an author and exorcist in holy orders, who exposed Farrant as an interloping charlatan in 1970. He also investigated Farrant's black magic activities around the time of the latter's imprisonment and declared him an incorrigible publicity-seeker. He sees Farrant as a lost soul who lost his way as a youth and never regained it, a man who early on made a pact with the Devil and invited darkness to take possession of him. Seán Manchester's appraisal of Farrant's history in connection to Highgate can be read online at http://clearlblogs.com/highgatevampire


David Farrant's Criminal Convictions:

November 1972 (Barnet Magistrates’ Court):

Indecency in Monken Hadley churchyard (Ecclesiastic Courts Jurisdiction Act 1860).

June 1974 (Central Criminal Court, London):

Malicious vandalism in Highgate Cemetery by inscribing black magic symbols on the floor of a mausoleum.

Desecration evinced by offering indignities to remains of the dead via black magic rites in Highgate Cemetery where photographs were taken of a naked female accomplice in a mausoleum containing satanic symbols.

Threats to police witnesses in a separate case where his black magic associate, John Russell Pope, was subsequently found guilty of indecent sexual assault on a young boy named Blackwell. Pope, on his current website “London Horror Tours,” describes himself as a “master of the black arts.” These black magic threats resulted in Farrant being found guilty of attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Theft of items from Barnet Hospital where the offender worked briefly as a porter in late 1970.

Possession of a handgun and ammunition kept at Farrant's address, which also contained a black magic altar beneath a massive mural of a face of the Devil that had featured in various newspapers, not least full front page coverage of his sending voodoo dolls with accompanying menacing threats to a doctor's wife and an RSPCA Inspector because they had publicly criticised his claims in the media to have sacrificed cats in bizarre witchcraft ceremonies (Hornsey Journal, 28 September 1973).

Prison Sentence: Farrant was arrested in early 1974 and held on remand until his trials at London's Old Bailey in June 1974. He received a prison sentence of four years and eight months.

[Ravenstone]

Well, yes, most interesting and all that. But we're discussing - or trying to discuss - the Highgate Vampire. Not David Farrant's personal history.

[HighgateVampireArchivist]

"An honest man"?

Certainly, David Farrant always comes across as an honest man, genuine in his belief, and consistent.

Some might feel your comment that Farrant "always comes across as an honest man" requires the balance I have provided which is sourced in fact, not mere opinion.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article69185.ece

Perhaps Ravenstone would care to expand on what he/she means by "genuine in his belief"? What belief exactly? This is what Farrant posted on the James Randi Educational Foundation Forum:

"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?p=2514186&postcount=385

[anna]

Was going to ask a question about Vampires,but can't be bothered now..

What I will say is this.....

IF he had sacrificed cats,in bizarre witchcraft ceremonies....and wasn't talking a load of,what Suz calls "toot"....

then he deserved everything he got....

[HighgateVampireArchivist]

"He did not witness a vampire"?

David Farrent was clear about what he saw..and as I have said..he did not witness a vampire..not as is generally accepted by the meaning..

Farrant reconstructing the "vampire hunt" he undertook on the night of 17 August 1970 (when he was arrested by police searching for black magic devotees in Highgate Cemetery) for a television programme transmitted in the autumn of 1970. Note the cross and wooden stake. These are items normally associated with hunting vampires in the accepted meaning of the word "vampire."

[Jeff Leahy]

Farrant reconstructing the "vampire hunt" he undertook on the night of 17 August 1970 (when he was arrested by police searching for black magic devotees in Highgate Cemetery) for a television programme transmitted in the autumn of 1970. Note the cross and wooden stake. These are items normally associated with hunting vampires in the accepted meaning of the word "vampire."

I beleive that this this photo is a reconstruction by a TV company..

taken after Farrents arrest..

However I was aware that Farrent is an Ocultists..what ever that means.

As I personally dont believe in such things..I dont see any reason to discount his evidence on those grounds...

Still its all jolly exciting stuff..next

[HighgateVampireArchivist]

"If he had sacrificed cats in bizarre witchcraft ceremonies ..."?

IF he had sacrificed cats,in bizarre witchcraft ceremonies....and wasn't talking a load of,what Suz calls "toot"....then he deserved everything he got....