Not the Vampire Theory (conclusion)

Patricia Langley, an accomplice of David Farrant, claims "I had a friend, I still have him, I still know him. His name is Roger" whose surname has conveniently been bleeped out on the video, so we cannot even begin to trace him. Anyone would have thought that "Roger" is a vital witness Langley would have wanted present at the Symposium to lend weight to her allegations, but no sight or sign of "Roger" was evident except on the lips of Langley. Had she have produced a willing dupe to be a false witness, of course, his claims could have been challenged and eventually revealed to be lies.

"[In the year 1990] Peter Underwood was completely dismissive of the whole phenomenon of vampires." - Patrica Langley (forty-seven minutes into the video)

This attribution by Langley about the late Peter Underwood, now no longer able to defend himself, claiming that by 1990 he would not have entertained the idea of vampires, does not accord with the known facts. In that year he published his book Exorcism! where Seán Manchester's vampire account up to the year 1970 is retold in Underwood's own words in Chapter Six, which is given the title Exorcism and Vampires. It is clear, reading this chapter where a full page photograph of Seán Manchester with accompanying accoutrements appears, Peter Underwood supported vampire belief.

Seán Manchester can be seen (above and below) attempting to exorcise the suspected tomb at the heart of Highgate Cemetery in 1970. The exorcism was covered by the BBC and also in the Hornsey Journal which had earlier reported on a satanic outrage close to the same sepulchral location.

David Farrant attributed words to Seán Manchester which anyone examining the programme (Today, Thames Television, 13 March 1970) will find he did not actually utter. Farrant can also be heard in the video denying that he intended to hunt out the cemetery vampire even though, when interviewed by the Hampstead & Highgate Express, 6 March 1970, he is quoted as saying: "I for one am prepared to pursue [the vampire], taking whatever mean might be necessary so that we can all rest." 

Farrant follows this by claiming at the Symposium, "Mr Manchester was nowhere to be seen on that night." The night he is talking about, of course, is 13 March 1970 when a massive public vampire hunt took place at Highgate Cemetery. How would Farrant know? He did not venture anywhere near the graveyard himself, and spent most of that evening in the Prince of Wales pub which is where history teacher Alan Blood discovered him before Blood proceeded alone to Swains Lane with its gathering throng. David Farrant, needless to say, stayed away from Highgate Cemetery that night.

By which time, Seán Manchester was already inside the cemetery with his hand-picked assistants. Some of that account can be read by clicking on the newspaper headline from the following day:

"We were also honoured with the presence of Dr Jacqueline Simpson. Dr Simpson first became aware of the case of the Highgate ‘vampire’ through the work of her American colleague, Professor Bill Ellis. The ostension approach posited by Ellis is postulated by Dr Simpson, with consideration of the Highgate ‘vampire’ flap." - Della Farrant aka Anna Hinton (18 November 2015 )

Enter Jacqueline Simpson twenty-four minutes into the video. Simpson is dismissive of ghosts, vampires and all things supernatural. When Langley started bleating on about ley-lines, which she explains has no supernatural aspect, Simpson's facial expression turned quite sour as eyebrows raised and eyes rolled in a most disapproving manner. Simpson rambles on with her historical folkloric anecdotes until we reach the question period with those posing questions anonymously.

"In 1993 we [Folkore Journal] got sent a very interesting article on the Highgate case by a man called Bill Ellis who came to London specially to research the Highgate story and he met David [Farrant], interviewed David, took lots of notes from David, and he wanted to interview Seán but Seán did not wish to be interviewed, got on his high horse, and said he had put all that behind him and needed the time to devote to his Church. As a result, Bill Ellis' article is full of references to David, and full or quotations from newspapers [provided by Farrant], and does quote from Manchester's published book, but he has no interviews with Manchester. Consequently, as those of you who know the man will readily appreciate, in a few months there was an explosion." 

FACT: Bill Ellis was given a clear choice to either interview David Farrant or Seán Manchester. It was widely known and appreciated at that time that the latter would not participate in any project which involved the publicity-seeker Farrant. Ellis knew this, and chose to involve Farrant. When the article was published Seán Manchester contacted Folklore to point out some serious errors which were acknowledged by both the journal and Ellis who omitted the most offensive material in his article when he regurgitated it as a chapter about the Highgate case in his book Raising the Devil.

There was certainly no "explosion." Such a term is Simpson's way of currying favour with her host, David Farrant, at the Symposium. Seán Manchester and Bill Ellis had a very convivial correspondence throughout the entire episode. Jacqueline Simpson was rather more abrasive - and economical with the truth! By the time she co-wrote The Lore of the Land and long before she spoke at the Symposium, she was in possession of a CD (The Devil's Fool) on which Farrant can be heard being interviewed across the decades. When interviewed in the 1970s he makes clear that he hunted a vampire at Highgate Cemetery and is quite unapologetic about the fact. Details of his attempt are provided by him when interviewed. Simpson knew this, but remained tight-lipped when Farrant denied having any part in this ambition. It did not suit her anti-Seán Manchester agenda to rock the boat.

This is Bill Ellis' correspondence of 22 February 1996 to Seán Manchester:

(click on image to read letter properly)

In his correspondence, Bill Ellis writes:

"We agree that the contemporary press handling was often inaccurate, and most subsequent discussions were even more distorted. Mr Farrant, since he brought the matter to 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."

Not the Vampire Theory (Part 2)

(Click on image to view video)

The second part of the Symposium's supposed coverage of the vampire theory descends into a tissue of lies from the onset with Paul Adams coaxing David Farrant to tell all about an early witness recounted in Peter Underwood's anthology The Vampire's Bedside Companion by Seán Manchester and in even greater detail in The Highgate Vampire by the same author, Seán Manchester. An image of the witness, Elżbieta Wojdyla, published illegally at the Symposium for the audience but not in the video, can be seen below. Farrant's rambling, unsubstantiated claims are interspersed by rebuttals.

One minute and forty seconds into Part 2 of what is really not the vampire theory, Farrant alleges:

"I needed the girl's address that appeared in Peter Underwood's book, The Vampire's Bedside Companion, I can never pronounce her second name. Is it 'Wojdyla'? She's Polish. So I got this [unidentified] friend of mine to 'phone up her parents and it was either the mother of the father, I can't remember which way 'round it was. She said she wanted to speak to Elizabeth. For example, suppose it was her father, he said 'I can't speak English' and passed her to Elizabeth's mother who spoke really good English. And said, 'I'm sorry but I'll give you her work [telephone] number."

FACT: Elżbieta Wojdyla's father spoke excellent English. Indeed, considerably better than Farrant's stammered assault on English grammar. Her mother was not English. Neither was she Polish. Her accent was quite strong; probably stronger than that of her husband. They were warned about Farrant when they were both alive and were asked if anyone had ever contacted them as Farrant describes. (He has made this claim in the past). They stated unequivocally that they had not been contacted.

"My friend 'phoned and actually spoke to Elizabeth - she was very surprised - and said 'I'm looking for the address of Seán Manchester.' Elizabeth said, 'I'm sorry, I don't know. He used to live not many streets away from me, but I don't actually know the address.' And my friend said, 'Well, I thought you might do because I saw a picture of you, and I contacted the publishers and managed to trace your address. That's how I got your 'phone number and your mother gave me your work address'."

FACT: At the time that Seán Manchester and Elżbieta Wojdyla lived as close as anything being attributed in this fabricated conversation she visited him at that address and would have obviously known it. At the time Farrant claims her parents were contacted by his unnamed friend, Elżbieta Wojdyla was not living with them and her actual address was some distance away from where they lived. The publishers (Leslie Frewin Books and, later, Coronet) had absolutely no information about Elżbieta Wojdyla and could not have possibly disclosed her telephone number. Even Peter Underwood did not have any personal details of this kind about her. Only Seán Manchester did. It should also be added that Elżbieta Wojdyla's parent's telephone number was unlisted (ex-directory).

"[Elizabeth] said she hadn't seen Peter Underwood's book, and when it was described to her, and the caption read out, she burst out laughing. My friend asked her, 'What about those vampire marks on your neck?' [Elizabeth] said, 'Oh that was Seán just playing a joke."

FACT: When the paperback edition appeared in the year following the first edition's publication, Elżbieta Wojdyla was spoken to by a national newspaper when they reviewed the vampire anthology. She supported what had happened to her, as she did when interviewed much closer to the time. 

FACT: Elżbieta Wojdyla has been asked about Farrant's allegations by Seán Manchester who spoke to her directly. She totally denies everything Farrant claims; categorically refuting the absurd notion of her being contacted by him (or anyone else) with regard to the Highgate Vampire case. She was also adamant that her parents were also not contacted by anyone in this connection. David Farrant, as far as she is concerned, is a liar. Moreover, if what he falsely attributed to her was remotely accurate it would make her liar, which she is far from being, as she gave testimony to the occurrences she witnessed and experienced. Recorded at the time, these have since been televised.

Click on the book in question (below) on which cover her image from the 1960s is visible, and listen to her own testimony in person, fifty-five seconds into the video True Horror: Evidence of Vampires:

One minute and thirty-seven seconds into the same video, Elżbieta Wojdyla can be heard saying: "One day I woke. I went downstairs, and there were two lumps on my neck. They weren't lumps. They were like pin holes." In the full interview recording (available on CD), Elżbieta Wojdyla tells of nightly visitations and specks of blood appearing on her pillow after such nightmarish experiences. Her brother even asked if she had been bitten by a vampire when the marks became more prominent; indeed, developed into open punctures.

Farrant claims she told his "friend" that the marks were Seán Manchester "just playing a joke." Listen to the brief extract from Elżbieta Wojdyla's recorded testimony from 1969 again. Then decide whether it was "just a joke."

Seven minutes into the video we hear from Patricia Langley who collaborates with Farrant's fabrications to the point of making up ones of her own. She is frequently described by Farrant as the "secretary" of his "British Psychic and Occult Society," which he invented circa 1983 after being repeatedly exposed in the media as having fraudulently hijacked the nomenclature of the British Occult Society, one of the first organisations to publicly expose Farrant as an inveterate charlatan and  impostor.

"About 2003 to 2004, when I began researching this case, I had a friend, I still have him, I still know him. His name is Roger [surname bleeped out on the video], and he is a computer scientist. In the 1960s [when Patricia Langley herself was a young child; she was barely ten when the case first hit the headlines in the following decade], he was studying computer science at the University of London and my friend Roger was into the vampire scene, the vampire sphere. And the sphere, the whole paranormal was something he was into and is still into. And he came into contact with Mr Manchester and became a good friend of his. And Roger, in 2004, told me when I was researching, 'Do you know about the film that was made?' And I said, 'Well, I know of it. Can you tell me about it?' And he said, 'Well, yeah, I can tell you about it because he invited me and a few other students that were studying at the University of London to go to a screening at his house one Saturday evening and this Jacqueline was there laying on a few nibbles, and drinks and things, and they settled down to watch this film, The Vampire Exhumed."

FACT: Seán Manchester wrote a manuscript, later a screenplay, in 1979 that he gave the title The Vampire Exhumed. A French art house film was made soon afterwards with an independent director, starring the French film actress Sylvaine Charlet who was a very close personal friend of Seán Manchester. The film was titled Le Vampire Exhumé. This was made professionally by a French production company at the turn of the 1980s. Seán Manchester did not meet a computer scientist by the name of "Roger" and had no contact with any students at the University of London. Nor did he entertain this mythical "Roger" and his student friends, or indeed anyone else, in the way described.

"And this Vampire Exhumed was the story of a vampire hunter who chases out a vampire, seeks out a vampire, in Highgate Cemetery. Made in colour, but it had no sound. It was full colour, but it didn't have any sound. Mr Manchester on film was playing both the vampire hunter and the vampire. And so I said, 'Well, this is the second independent case of the film actually having been seen by someone other than David [Farrant]  who saw it with others, and for which Mr Manchester categorically denied it. And Roger then revealed some quite good technical details about the film. He said, or he offered to me, details about the decaying scene of the vampire. What it was, Mr Manchester covered himself in flour, wet flour on his face, let it dry and after a little while it dried and fans were used and a hot breeze was used to blow the flour from his face so it looked as if his skin and the muscles and everything of the vampire's face and body was disintegrating. And I knew at that time Mr Manchester was a very good photographer. Very adept in technical effects of this kind. And Roger told me that this is how the effects of the vampire decomposing were achieved."

FACT: This is the steadily evolving account that owes its origin entirely to David Farrant who has even claimed that images of the vampire corpse in The Highgate Vampire were taken from this non-existent film. "Roger," of course, will never come forward to be identified because he does not exist. Langley claims that she "knew at that time" that Seán Manchester was "a very good photographer" and "very adept in technical effects of this kind." In fact, Seán Manchester was a portrait photographer with his own studio and a permanent staff of five people, but he did not have any expertise in ciné film, much less technical effects using ciné film. How would Langley know such a thing? She would have been practically a babe-in-arms at the time. Farrant is her exclusive source.

"When I put this to Mr Manchester in my research - it wasn't just David I interviewed, I did eventually ask for an interview with Mr Manchester and I did put these points to him in 2004 - not only did he categorically deny that this film exists, existed, but [he] told me I was all wrong, a complete liar, that I was a member of Farrant's evil cabal, and so on."

FACT: Seán Manchester has never spoken to Patricia Langley and has never discussed anything to do with the Highgate Vampire case with her. She did not interview him. The whole thing is fabricated. Langley was born in 1960, and was therefore still in junior school when the Highgate Vampire case first hit the headlines. She is a self-proclaimed witch, spiritualist, medium and number one fan of Farrant whose phoney witchcraft and pseudo-occultism has been exposed many times by investigative journalists and the law courts. The latter saw fit to sentence him to a term of almost five years’ imprisonment for crimes associated with his publicity-seeking behaviour at Highgate Cemetery in the early 1970s where he threatened witnesses in the case of his demented and perverted associate John Pope, a self-proclaimed Satanist found guilty of sexual assault on a boy.

What Langley describes as her “casebook” comprises fifty or so stapled pages bearing Farrant’s address and self-styled imprint “British Psychic and Occult Society” as the work’s publisher. The publishing address is Farrant’s attic bed-sitting room in London’s Muswell Hill Road. The copy we have seen bears a front cover containing a stolen image, as does the rear cover which displays a copyright protected photograph of Seán Manchester. Inside (on page 47 near the pamphlet’s conclusion) is another stolen image reproduced without consent from page 182 of Seán Manchester’s The Highgate Vampire. No photograph can be found of Langley, who opts to be known as “Patsy.”

Farrant apologist Gareth Medway provides the Introduction to Langely’s stapled effort. He is the only person willing to lend his name to the printed pages and quickly runs out of steam reprinting the same invective we have seen dozens of times before in Farrant’s malicious tracts that concentrate on pursuing his principal obsession. Medway, an apologist for Left-hand Path occultists and sundry diabolists, also has an axe to grind with Seán Manchester. Like Patricia Langley, he has never had contact with Seán Manchester, but is a very close friend of Farrant with whom he has conducted publicity stunts involving an illicit, albeit phoney, “occult ritual” over a private grave in April 2005.

Patsy Langley’s little “casebook” is a clear attempt to make money off the success of Seán Manchester’s The Highgate Vampire, and she is reliant on an ex-convict waging a personal vendetta.

Twenty minutes and twenty seconds into the video, David Farrant makes the following claim:

"A person also on the programme [Today, Thames Television, 13 March 1970], being interviewed by Sandra Harris stepped forward and he said, 'No, it's definitely not a ghost. It's a vampire. And, as if to emphasise this point, as he said that he pulled a large wooden stake out of his trousers and produced a very large silver-plated crucifix."

FACT: No such words were uttered by Seán Manchester, as examination of the transmission will confirm, and no "large wooden stake [came] out of his trousers." Nor did he at any time "produce a very large silver-plated crucifix." At least, not in the Today programme of March 1970. Farrant did, however, produce a large cross and stake from inside his trousers, as confirmed four minutes and forty seconds into a video of him reconstructing for BBC the night in August 1970 when he went vampire hunting. Seán Manchester was also asked to demonstrate a Christian exorcism, as had taken place earlier in the year at Highgate Cemetery, and elucidate on the ancient practice of impalement, which he did by revealing a small wooden stake. Click on image below to view video:

                                                                                                               (... continued ...)