David Farrant

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== Beliefs ==
 
== Beliefs ==
  
Although he cheerfully posed for newspaper and TV cameras in the early 1970s holding a cross and stake and affirming his intentions to hunt down and destroy the Highgate Vampire, Farrant appears to have tempered his views of the affair over the years. Today he claims not to believe in [[vampire]]s, and says that a "dark figure" or some kind of "psychic entity" was to blame for the Highgate hysteria. He doesn't even like the word "[[ghost]]s," preferring instead to call them "images replayed from the past."<ref>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Aw_7JUts9g</ref><ref>http://www.davidfarrant.org/faq.html</ref> Despite not believing in vampires, he is the head of the "Highgate Vampire Society."<ref>http://www.davidfarrant.org/about/index.html</ref> On at least one blog entry he refers to himself as a "[[Witchcraft|witch]]" (albeit in quotation marks).<ref>http://davidfarrant.org/TheHumanTouch/?p=536</ref> According to one UK tabloid, Farrant founded a number of occult or [[Satanism|Satanic]] circles, putting in particular effort to recruit young women, saying, "They are all over 18 and we don’t initiate them if we believe they are just coming along for the [[sex]]."<ref>[http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article69185.ece The SUN - Witch orgy to take virginity]</ref>
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Although he cheerfully posed for newspaper and TV cameras in the early 1970s holding a cross and stake affirming his intentions to hunt down and destroy the Highgate Vampire, Farrant appears to have tempered his views of the affair over the years. Today he claims not to believe in [[vampire]]s, and says that a "dark figure" or some kind of "psychic entity" was to blame for the Highgate hysteria. He doesn't even like the word "[[ghost]]s," preferring instead to call them "images replayed from the past."<ref>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Aw_7JUts9g</ref><ref>http://www.davidfarrant.org/faq.html</ref> Despite not believing in vampires, he is the head of the "Highgate Vampire Society."<ref>http://www.davidfarrant.org/about/index.html</ref> On at least one blog entry he refers to himself as a "[[Witchcraft|witch]]" (albeit in quotation marks).<ref>http://davidfarrant.org/TheHumanTouch/?p=536</ref> According to one UK tabloid, Farrant founded a number of occult or [[Satanism|Satanic]] circles, putting in particular effort to recruit young women, saying, "They are all over 18 and we don’t initiate them if we believe they are just coming along for the [[sex]]."<ref>[http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article69185.ece The SUN - Witch orgy to take virginity]</ref>
  
 
== Feud with Sean Manchester ==
 
== Feud with Sean Manchester ==

Revision as of 20:32, 22 February 2013

David Farrant is a British occultist and author best known for his connection to the nationally-publicized "Highgate Vampire sightings" in London, England during the 1970s. He served a prison sentence for desecrating Highgate cemetery and mailing voodoo effigies to the police.[1]

Contents

The Highgate vampire

In the early 1970s reports of supposed supernatural activity at London's Highgate cemetery triggered a "media sensation". Farrant, along with self-proclaimed exorcist and vampire-hunter Sean Manchester appeared in the press and on television, each claiming the exclusive "discovery" of a 'paranormal entity' (often describing it as a vampire) that they said was lurking in the graveyard. After one ITV broadcast, a mob of thrill-seekers swarmed the cemetery and climbed over the gates despite police efforts to control them. Farrant was a regular feature in the UK tabloid press during the era. He was jailed in 1974 for damaging memorials and interfering with dead remains in Highgate Cemetery. He insisted the vandalism and desecration was caused by Satanists, not him.[2] Over the years, Manchester and Farrant continued their rivalry; both wrote separate books on the topic of the Highgate Vampire and sometimes publicly challenged each other to "magical duels".[3]

Beliefs

Although he cheerfully posed for newspaper and TV cameras in the early 1970s holding a cross and stake affirming his intentions to hunt down and destroy the Highgate Vampire, Farrant appears to have tempered his views of the affair over the years. Today he claims not to believe in vampires, and says that a "dark figure" or some kind of "psychic entity" was to blame for the Highgate hysteria. He doesn't even like the word "ghosts," preferring instead to call them "images replayed from the past."[4][5] Despite not believing in vampires, he is the head of the "Highgate Vampire Society."[6] On at least one blog entry he refers to himself as a "witch" (albeit in quotation marks).[7] According to one UK tabloid, Farrant founded a number of occult or Satanic circles, putting in particular effort to recruit young women, saying, "They are all over 18 and we don’t initiate them if we believe they are just coming along for the sex."[8]

Feud with Sean Manchester

Farrant's rivalry with Manchester may stem from the latter's status as a "bishop," and Farrant's status as an "occultist." The pair has quarreled publicly over the years, taken part in mock "occult duels" and endless debates on Internet forums. Farrant distributes a series of satirical comic books called The Adventures of Bishop Bonkers which portray Manchester as a delusional paranoiac whose evil plans are humorously undone by Farrant's apparent charm and guile.[9] Manchester has responded on various of his blogs by creating oil paintings that depict Farrant as a demon.[10] Manchester has also accused Farrant of having "narcissistic personality disorders", and alleges that he is peddling a line of defamatory "anti-Bishop Manchester merchandise" such as T-shirts, drinking glasses, and mugs.[11]

In what appears to be evidence of a much more recent feud, an Australian blogger critical of Farrant named Anthony Hogg accused Farrant of "depicting me as a pig" in The Adventures of Bishop Bonkers comics.[12] Hogg protests the existence of a character named 'Cousin Hoggy' who is depicted as ascending to Heaven after being butchered for a fictional Farrant-Manchester Christmas dinner.[13]

Paranormal theme park?

In 2012, Farrant sought to turn a private estate in Yorkshire reputed to be the site of Robin Hood's grave (where he claims to have exorcised evil spirits years earlier) into a "paranormal tourist attraction." Sketches found on his blog reveal plans to move the grave (guaranteed to stir up those restless spirits again) to make way for an IMAX theater, a restaurant, and a golf course on the property.[14][15]

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Footnotes

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