Farrant's Final Feeble Fillip on the Flop

"A ghostly unexplained apparition . . . yes. Particularly everyone was in agreement with this, but not with other ‘crank theories’ that there was any substance in the Hammer Horror film portrayals of their horror films portraying vampires, when that international film company had given this idea to thousands – if not millions – of cinema goers throughout that 1960s periods and into the early 1970s. Many were influenced by the vampire horror movies (indeed, these attracted international audiences across the world) but many more tried to imitate this idea (especially college students) by actually trying to make their own amateur ‘vampire films’ in the cemetery itself. But these were really no match for a professional film industry such as Hammer, and such film projects were quickly forgotten, if seen by the general populace at all! But at the end of all this, the phantom figure witnessed in and around Highgate Cemetery lives on. It has been seen by too many witnesses to dismiss its credibility out of hand, as some sceptics and those attempting to jump on the ‘occult bandwagon’, apparently try to do. The conclusion of the 9-hour Symposium (which went on until well into the night ‘after hours’) on July 19th last year, was that this ‘phantom figure’ was still ‘there’. But that it was by no means a ‘blood-sucking vampire’! But after all, we have only got Hammer movie films, and a few of its pale imitators to thank for all that!"

— David Farrant, self-styled president of the non-existent BPOS (28 February 2016)

Seventy-year-old David Farrant, now slipping into some sort of strange undead slumber himself, feebly stuttered the above afterword on his practically lifeless blog two days ago. By "everyone" he means those participating in and attending the Highgate Vampire Symposium held on 19 July 2015. The contributors were a mixture of his flunkies like Redmond McWilliams and Paul Adams, plus an assortment of commentators and dabblers in the dark arts who harbour personal animosity towards author of The Highgate Vampire, Seán Manchester, who investigated the case from start to finish.

The audience, albeit carefully screened to omit any possible sympathisers of Seán Manchester, or anyone else likely to raise awkward questions, was far from in agreement about anything. We have heard from several who attended the Symposium who were less than happy about being fleeced of £12.00 to be sent to sleep by most who spoke from the platform where sat David Farrant and Paul Adams, only to learn nothing about the Highgate Vampire from any of the contributing speakers.

"Crank theories" abound from Farrant who imagines the phoney ghost he hoaxed in early 1970 isn't one, or that his desperate efforts latterly to convince the public and media alike of a "phantom" remaining in the graveyard bisected by Swains Lane, Highgate, amounts to anything more than him riding the "occult bandwagon" that he boarded forty-six years ago which ran out of steam when he was imprisoned for vandalism and desecration in 1974. By which time the predatory entity known as the Highgate Vampire had been successfully exorcised. Farrant, needless to say, played no part in the serious investigation of this case, but he did ruthlessly exploit it for his own attention-seeking purposes and was willing to jump on the vampire theory bandwagon in 1970 to further that ambition.

Those genuinely researching the peripheral madness surrounding events back in 1970 must wonder what Farrant was doing on numerous occasions with an armoury of stakes, crosses, crucifixes, rosaries, holy water and bibles? Was he merely inspired by Hammer's vampire films, or was he, as seems more likely, jumping on what he perceived at the time to be a publicity bandwagon, imitating Seán Manchester and his vampire theory publicised in February 1970, before moving onto more sinister and indeed diabolical attention-seeking magnets to hold the attention of newspaper editors?