Not a Ghost of a Chance

"The black and white photograph or photographs of myself taken at the top gate of Highgate Cemetery in the snowy winter of 1970 were [of] a small group of us [who had] left the Prince of Wales pub in Highgate Village en route for a Christmas fancy dress party about half a mile away. To get to the house, we walked down Swain’s Lane, a steep hill that runs past Highgate Cemetery." - David Farrant (9 March 2015)

The photographs of Farrant wearing a top hat and a mackintosh with white flour all over his face and dark make-up around his eyes were taken by Tony Hill inside the top gate of Highgate Cemetery. None of the pictures were taken in Swains Lane. Hill also took photographs of Farrant clambering over the gate wearing his ghost make-up in readiness. There is no question or doubt about what he was doing in the graveyard when he was glaring through the wrought iron bars at any passers-by.

No group was in evidence on that or any other occasion. Tony Hill, the only other person present, has confirmed that Farrant's theatrical appearance had nothing to do with "a Christmas fancy dress party." How could it? The images reveal deep snow and it was either late February or early March!

There was no settling snow in the London area and Highgate, a North London suburb, in January 1970, some slight snow from mid-February 1970 and well above average snow during March 1970.

There was some occasional sleet with very light and infrequent flurries of snow that didn't settle during Christmas 1969 through to January and the first half of February. Late February to March, when there would have been significant snow to be seen on the ground, is hardly the season or time of year for revellers in fancy dress to attend a Christmas party!

Once again, Farrant has been hoist by his own petard.

Meteorological Office records for January, February, March 1970, confirm that snow that would settle on the ground only fell in the area from late February onward:

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/media/pdf/0/e/Jan1970.pdf

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/media/pdf/1/e/Feb1970.pdf

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/media/pdf/1/1/Mar1970.pdf

"A couple of photographs from that time taken of myself en route to a local party are currently being contrived as evidence that I in fact AM the Highgate ‘vampire’! At least one of the photographs showing Hill standing out [sic] the top gate of Highgate Cemetery also wearing this same hat with myself in the background has been published online! We were all just young ‘friends’ having fun together on our way to the party having met up in the pub! These harmless photographs of myself have been peddled to newspapers and magazines for decades, and more recently reproduced on the world wide web. Such is the desperation of one man who will clutch at any straw to deny the existence of a ghost which has been attested to by so many local people and visitors over the years." - David Farrant (5 May 2015)

Nobody has "contrived evidence" that David Farrant is the Highgate Vampire. That is just him again trying desperately to attach his name to the vampire account. There is clear evidence that he manufactured a phoney ghost story in the media and then pretended to be that ghost. That is why there is no need to "deny the existence of a ghost which has been attested to by so many local people." There was no ghost and the "local people" who attested to seeing one were mostly  friends and acquaintances of Farrant who allowed him to use their names and addresses on bogus correspondence to the Hampstead & Highgate Express throughout February and March of 1970.

"I was even asked to pass my hired top hat to another person (Tony Hill) by the photographer." - David Farrant (5 May 2015)

Apart from where Tony Hill is in a photograph holding the topper in his hand (taken by Gerry Wood who was passing), Hill was the sole photographer. He did not wear his topper in any of the shots.

The top hat was not "hired." It belonged to Tony Hill who allowed Farrant to wear it for the purpose of the photographs he took of him looking like the ghost being hoaxed in the press. Hence Hill is holding it in the image below while Farrant can be seen gawping through the cemetery gate's iron bars. Within less than a handful of years, of course, he would be peering through iron bars of a different kind.

Farrant also claims that only "a couple of photographs" were taken of him pretending to be a "ghost" in late February to March 1970. In fact, Hill used almost an entire roll of 35mm film which was taken of Farrant cavorting about on those nights he was wearing ghostly make-up and Hill's top hat.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Addenda (added in January 2016):

Breaking into near hysteria, enhanced by an unnecessary burst of capital letters, Farrant posted the following on his blog on 24 January 2016:

"My over-arching point, and one which certain ‘bandwagoneers’ to coin a bonky phrase seem to miss is this: I NEVER CLAIMED IN MY LETTER TO THE HAM AND HIGH IN JANUARY 1970 THAT THE ENTITY I HAD ENCOUNTERED WORE A TOP HAT. The verifiable top hat sightings, save for a letter from a Mr Docherty ... published in the spring of 1970."

Here are some salient reminders for our seventy-year-old hoaxer whose memory is not as lucid as it once might have been:

Farrant first wrote a letter about his sightings in February 1970, not January. 

He did not mention anything about a top hat in that letter, but for years afterwards referred to a ghostly figure in a top hat.

Someone named "R Docherty" wrote in a published letter in the Hampstead & Highgate Express (soon after Farrant's was printed) about "a tall man in a hat who walks across Swains Lane and just disappears through a wall into the cemetery."

This became a familiar theme that Farrant was not slow to adopt.

In his recent response of January 24th, Farrant also alleges:

"This bonky person [a reference to Seán Manchester] is now attributing [Tony Hill] to have been the sole photographer of this set of photographs; but wait just a minute, to ‘back this up’, he publishes one of these photographs of [Tony Hill] bowing (taking his turn) with the top hat. Whoops! [Tony Hill's] hands are in full view and he is clearly not holding a camera."

Apart from where Tony Hill is in a photograph holding the topper in his hand taken by amateur photographer and ghost-seeker Gerry Wood (but with Hill's own camera), Tony Hill was the sole photographer. He did not wear the top hat in any shots, and Gerry Wood seemingly had a regular presence at the time in Swains Lane, as confirmed by the Hampstead & Highgate Express. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

CLICK ON IMAGE TO READ NEWSPAPER PRINT

Farrant much later claimed he "inadvertently started it all" when all he started was a spate of ghost sightings (attributed largely to people he knew) and a ghost that was actually Farrant himself in an old mackintosh and top hat with a dusting of flour across his face and heavy eye shadow make-up.

The article in the Hampstead Advertiser, 23 July 1987, is an interview Farrant gave that newspaper where he stated that he "inadvertently started it all," referring to the cemetery vampire. Nothing could be further from the truth unless he is talking about his "ghost" which nobody could take seriously. It was a hoax. The fact is that there was no mention of a vampire in the media at the time of Farrant's fraudulent claims to the Hampstead & Highgate Express on February 6th. The very first mention was a front page article that featured Seán Manchester in the same newspaper on February 27th - three weeks after Farrant had attempted to convince the press and public of his phoney "ghost."