Façades, Excuses, Sociopathy and Hogwash

No claim has been made that Seán Manchester is blocked from commenting on the ASSAP's Facebook page. To do so, however, would oblige him to become a member of that group and join the antipathetic ranks of Anthony Hogg, Trystan Lewis Swale, Erin Chapman, Redmond McWilliams and David Farrant et al, trolls every one of them ... not company Seán Manchester would especially care to be in. Moreover, the ASSAP group is fundamentally a place where cynics, sceptics and the scientifically-minded all meet to try and ridicule and debunk the paranormal when not providing a platform for the likes of Farrant who gives anything he is associated with a very bad name.

How many façades can Anthony Hogg hide behind? He has claimed in the past to be a Christian, albeit a "non-conformist," an amateur vampirologist, and an impartial researcher. He is none of those things, as it soon became clear when he began stalking and trolling Seán Manchester, who is a devout Christian, over a decade ago and took to recruiting all manner of ne'er-do-wells from the dark side in that process. Hogg is Facebook friends with Farrant's son, Jamie, Farrant's lieutenant, John Pope, who engaged in a series of Crowley-like attempts to summon a demon, and innumerable dabblers in the black arts. Seán Manchester observed about Hogg some years back:

"Anthony Hogg evinces exceptionally unChristian behaviour, eg profane and sacrilegious utterances against an ordained and consecrated Christian. There is hardly a day that passes where Hogg is not trolling and posting harassing comments about me somewhere on the internet. This self-proclaimed Christian's cyber-friends are either immersed in witchcraft and/or diabolism, or boast about their atheism. Constantly critical of me because I am a Traditionalist Bishop, Hogg [began his online presence under his real name] wearing a demonic 'devil' mask to hide his face and identity." 

Hogg came out of the closet in August 2014 when he began using his true likeness for the first time, realising self-publicity is pointless unless he basks in it and everyone is aware of who he is. Hogg offers all manner of excuses for his appalling behaviour, but none of them wash. He has had his account suspended many times by Facebook, and has been banned by a plethora of FB groups.

This is the man who accuses Seán Manchester of being a sociopath. (A sociopath is someone with a personality disorder manifesting in extreme antisocial attitudes and behaviour). Hogg is an unemployed man who lives in Melbourne, Australia, who has been stalking and harassing Seán Manchester ever since he was expelled from a forum a decade ago for refusing to stop posting about David Farrant whom the membership wanted to hear no more about. Hogg immediately began to attack Seán Manchester following this expulsion and started opening numerous forums, blogs, boards and websites with a common aim. One of the titles he uses for some of these vehicles is lifted from the headline of a news feature about Seán Manchester in the Hampstead & Highgate Express, 27 February 1970. His theme is always the same and he appears to many as a totally manic individual who is obsessed with Seán Manchester and events that occurred on the other side of the world long before before the Australian troll was born. Hogg is someone totally outside the four and a half decades' old Highgate Vampire saga who decided to insinuate himself into latter-day arguments long after the history itself had reached a satisfactory conclusion.

His attitude towards Farrant is perhaps more understandable, but he willingly allows himself to be manipulated and uses Farrant's propaganda as if it was his own. In being manipulated by Farrant, Hogg posts libellous material about Seán Manchester which is equal to anything the Farrant coterie resorted to at the height of their malice. In fact, Hogg frequently uses antipathetic sources such as the grotesque Don Ecker (an American friend and ally of Farrant) and seems to take immense pleasure regurgitating Farrant's unsubstantiated garbage, even to the extent of adopting a forename Farrant has erroneously employed when referring to Seán Manchester. There is something deeply disturbing about Anthony Hogg who is patently a stalker with malicious intent and clearly someone with deep psychological issues, possibly a narcissistic personality disorder, ie an inflated sense of self-importance, need for admiration, extreme self-involvement, and lack of empathy for others.

Anthony Hogg has adopted a variety of pseudonyms in the past, but these days is arrogant enough to use his real name, while running various sock-puppet, fake accounts along with two or three in his real name on Facebook. This allows him to spy on anyone who has blocked him, and there are quite a number who have blocked him. Hogg goes to considerable lengths to protect his own whereabouts to prevent prosecution for stalking, harassment, inciting hatred and goodness knows what else. He has adopted a variety of pseudonyms in the past, including The Inquisitive One, The Overseer, Amateur Vampirolgist and tnuocalucard ("Count Dracula" spelt backwards). He has published an address in full (offered for people wanting to receive signed copies of Seán Manchester's books) along with a  stream of vitriolic incitements against the person with whom the address is associated. These days he is arrogant enough to use his real name, but is still extremely careful not to have his address and precise whereabouts divulged in order to prevent an investigation into his harassment.

A typical example of the exceptionally offensive manner in which the self-styled "Christian" Hogg hypocritically and abusively refers to Seán Manchester comes from one of his disabled blogs:

"I'm not going to disclose the identity of this potty prelate, wanker, total cock and blatant hypocrite. On an unrelated note, in the lead up to my blog's closure, I was subjected to repeated DMCA takedown notices issued by Sean Manchester."

Unsurprisingly, the blog on which Anthony Hogg posted his foul-mouthed outburst was suspended. Within days, however, he had transferred his profanity, word for word, to yet another blog.

What was that about being a sociopath? Hogg ticks all the boxes. And that's not Hogwash.

Groundhog Day or Final Conflict?

"Would you have me keep repeating myself for the rest of my life?" — Seán Manchester

Any notion of Seán Manchester entering into a slanging match with David Farrant should be dispelled from the outset, nor would he consider the prospect of sharing a platform with him that is tainted with partiality (as is clearly evident at ASSAP events). Seán Manchester would, however, consider one final confrontation where only he and Farrant participate before completely impartial adjudicators in a non-sensational atmosphere and environment. This could be a university debating chamber, or similar venue where strict controls are in place. The entire session would be recorded for posterity, and the presence of a polygrapher, though not infallible, made available for use by either side.

The neutral venue and impartial adjudicators would have to be acceptable to both parties. It is suggested that the latter be more grounded in law and logic than folklore and esotericism, as nothing supernatural can be proven or disproven. What can be established is the veracity of claims by either side where extant evidence can be forensically examined and put to the test. If one side makes claims about the other party, or indeed himself, his argument needs to be supported by evidence.     

A reasonable period for each side to make their submissions with evidence should then be followed by an informal discussion with the adjudicators who will be free to ask questions of their choosing. If it is felt that anything claimed by either party requires further testing this would then take place. The procedure in its entirety ought to be recorded and this unedited record made available to each party.

To clarify for anyone as slow on the uptake as Hogg, FoBSM obviously includes Seán Manchester among its number, and is therefore privy to whatever he chooses to share. The ASSAP's impartiality is evident in so far as it has only ever invited David Farrant in the past to discuss the Highgate Vampire case, even though Farrant played no part in the investigation of the vampiric entity.

The "terms" set out are suggestions to which Seán Manchester has agreed in principle, but would  Anthony Hogg really prefer if the venue and its adjudicators were not acceptable to both parties, that evidence should not be available for examination, and there should not be a polygrapher present? 

Believe that and You'll Believe Anything!

"There's just never once been anyone that's expressed any interest in hearing from [Seán Manchester about the Highgate Vampire case which he investigated from start to finish]." 

— Dave Wood (ASSAP)

"Paranoia" means unjustified suspicion and mistrust. The bias in favour of Seán Manchester's enemies by giving them a platform at ASSAP events, plus the absence of any balancing voice where the case he and his society led is concerned, as chronicled in The Highgate Vampire book, is self-evident. Seán Manchester cannot be guilty of any paranoia because the observations he makes are patently true and perfectly justifiable. The paranoia manifests from those supported by the ASSAP.

Let's identify exactly who is posting on the above ASSAP thread:

Robert Moore, like Dave Wood, is an ASSAP organiser and decision maker.

Patsy Sorenti, previously known as Patsy Langley, is someone who colludes in Farrant's fakery, fraud and fabrication, and revels in being described as "secretary" of Farrant's non-existent "British Psychic and Occult Society." Fantasy in never far from her fingertips. Sorenti (Langley) was born in 1960, and was therefore aged ten when the Highgate Vampire case first hit the national and international headlines. She is a self-proclaimed witch, spiritualist, medium and huge fan of Farrant whose phoney witchcraft and pseudo-occultism has been exposed many times by investigative journalists and the law courts. She produced a "casebook" comprising fifty or so stapled pages bearing Farrant's box address and self-styled imprint "British Psychic and Occult Society" as the work's publisher. The address behind the box numbered address is Farrant's bed-sitting room in London's Muswell Hill Road. The copy we have seen of her "casebook" 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 infringed image reproduced without consent from page 182 of Seán Manchester's The Highgate Vampire (1991).

Redmond McWilliams has been described as Farrant's ultimate flunkie by various people. He seems to be Farrant's general dogsbody who does much of the fetching and carrying. He runs websites, groups and Facebook pages to promote David Farrant's skewed propaganda and perverse perceptions. In recent years, Redmond McWilliams has confessed to using multiple false accounts in order to either infiltrate closed groups administrated by Seán Manchester and/or create mayhem. 

Erin Chapman is based in Vancouver, Canada, and colludes in a malicious vendetta against Seán Manchester run by Anthony Hogg with Trystan Lewis Swale. She is someone who is so obsessed with vampires that she occasionally takes to dressing up like one with "blood" flowing from her mouth. She assists Hogg, based in Melbourne, Australia, with a website and multiple Facebook groups that focus mostly on attacking Seán Manchester. She also joins in the stalking of anyone historically associated with him. Like Hogg, Swale, McWilliams, Sorenti and Moore, she has not had personal contact or met Seán Manchester. That does not stop her from being obsessed with him.

David Farrant has executed a personal vendetta and hate campaign against Seán Manchester (whom he first came into contact with in 1970) for the past four and a half decades. He has been described as obsessive, compulsive, harassing, deceitful, abusive, cruel, vindictive and malicious. Farrant has admitted sending voodoo death dolls to total strangers he took against, and there have been others he knew personally who received his curses and threats. He was sentenced to four years and eight months imprisonment in 1974 for graveyard vandalism, desecration, black magic death threats etc.

ASSAP's Tryst with Trickster Trystan

"Of particular interest to Highgate Vampire aficionados of course will be the synopses given for Messrs David Farrant and Trystan Lewis Swale." - Redmond McWilliams (12 August 2016)

The ASSAP (founded 1981) have returned to the topic of the Highgate Vampire case on numerous occasions in the past, but never once have they ventured to extend an invitation to the author of The Highgate Vampire who led the investigation into the case from start to finish. The ASSAP does have an inclination toward people like Farrant and Swale for some extraordinary, albeit bizarre, reason, and both have connections to others invited to speak, as well as each other. It is all rather incestuous.

Seán Manchester had a tumultuous, albeit undesired, association with Farrant in the 1970s which is covered in his books on vampirism and, moreover, Satanism, but he owes no connection to Swale who has been stalking him for several years due to a sociopathic obsession Swale has with both the author and exorcist Seán Manchester and the investigation that took place before Swale was born. 

The only time Swale had direct contact with the man he trolls and stalks was approximately three years ago when Seán Manchester received an unrecognised telephone call out of the blue.

"I received an un­so­licited telephone call from Swale in 2013 [Swale erroneously gives the year as 2012, but is prone to getting most things wrong.] My number is ex-di­rec­tory and he would have made its discovery via dubious methods. I treated Swale as cour­te­ously as I would treat anyone else, but I did not desire to have any conversa­tion with him and only spoke longer than I would have normally because he was about to bury his grand­fa­ther later that day. We spoke about that fact. We did not discuss Highgate, the su­per­nat­ural or my ministry," stated Seán Manchester closer to the time.

Yet how could Swale not remember the year of his grandfather's funeral unless it was a ploy to garner Seán Manchester's sympathy who would not have continued any sort of conversation on the telephone if he had not been told by the caller that he was about to attend his grandfather's funeral?

Now the ASSAP have provided a synopsis of Trystan Lewis Swale's intended Highgate Vampire talk:

"'The Trickster in Highgate Cemetery' looks at the relationship between anomalous phenomena and the trickster archetype that occurs in anthropology, Jungian psychology and literature. It explores this theme using the tale of the Highgate Vampire as an illustrative case study. As well as simple introductions to the case and trickster studies it features (a) previously unpublished witness reports to the Highgate apparition/entity, (b) previously unpublished testimony from an individual who was central to Sean Manchester's version of events, (c) an analysis of how the Highgate case has been revised by its protagonists through the years based upon their own written accounts; and (d) the arguments offered as to why tricksters may choose to behave as they do."

What do we know about Trystan Lewis Swale, apart from the fact that he stalks Seán Manchester and anyone he believes has a connection to the exorcist, including those who wish to be left alone?

1. Swale is an atheist, sceptic and believer in nothing spiritual, mystical, paranormal or supernatural.

2. If there is an agenda, particularly where Seán Manchester is concerned, it is Swale's extreme left-wing bias. He openly supports violent groups who physically attack anyone and any organisation deemed vaguely patriotic or pro-British. Needless to say, Swale is unpatriotic, globalist and Marxist.

3. Swale often seems troubled and evinces sudden bouts of paranoid rage, having turned on most of his past friends, including Righteous Indignation podcast co-host Hayley Stevens. In the past the pair of them interviewed Farrant sympathetically, which does not square with Swale's scepticism until it is viewed, as more people have come to accept, that Farrant is an atheistic disingenuous fraud.

4. Swale now deceitfully claims to have "previously unpublished testimony from an individual who was central to Seán Manchester's case." Elsewhere he has stated: "I’m not going to name people who have a reasonable right to anonymity." Why not if they're bona fide? This stratagem suggests that Swale's "witness" either (a) does not exist, or (b) is a stooge. Farrant's so-called "secretary," Patsy Langley (aka Patsy Sorenti), colluded in a similar deceit, but, of course, could not produce a scrap of evidence, much the less her "witness," because it had all been fabricated to support a falsehood originating with Farrant. As Seán Manchester revealed after being notified of Swale's synopsis on the ASSAP's website: "Those involved in this controversial saga remained by their own request anonymous, or were given pseudonyms [in The Highgate Vampire] by me. Those who allowed use of their real names I am still in contact with, and they have not had contact with Swale."

5. Such is Swale's obsession that he purchased a website domain with the same title as one of Seán Manchester's bestselling books. Employing images infringed from Seán Manchester's published works and online presence, Swale uses the site to malign, attack and defame Seán Manchester.

6. Swale lies, cajoles and intimidates to achieve his ends. When not pretending to be an accredited journalist, he takes his deception to the extreme by claiming to have links to "the security services." 

"I still have no idea why Trystan has turned against me the way he has. Did I do him wrong and then forget about it? I suspect that Trystan has simply become what is known as an 'SJW- Social Justice Warrior.' The SJW is a brand of fool who is very unique to the early 21st century. For example, it would be very difficult to explain to somebody just twenty years ago how what should have been a momentous occasion, the landing of a spacecraft on a comet, was trashed by a gaggle of whining malodorous little Twitter-pugilists because of the shirt the scientist involved was wearing. Trystan says I believe in 'casual racism.' I think this means that I am a white heterosexual male who does not open every sentence with an apology for existing. I refuse to condemn myself and my fellow WHM people as 'EEEEEEEEEEEvil!' In fact I consider that kind of thing cultural Marxism."

— Ben Emlyn-Jones (HPANWO Voice, 11 August 2016)

The ASSAP include this disclaimer at the foot of their list of invited speakers to the non-event next month: "Speakers are invited to ASSAP conferences to provide a range of views on subjects requested by delegates. Appearance does not imply endorsement of speakers' views or background."

Like many obsessed sociopaths before him, the Cheltenham clown is skating on paper thin ice.

Most Shocking Misrepresentation

"The Most Shocking Paranormal Hoaxes In History"?

"Some might argue that everything that passes for 'paranormal' is a hoax. " - Cheryl Eddy (26 Dec 2014)

Someone by the name of Anna Olvera wrote the briefest of articles on a website called The Ghost Diaries under its "shocking hoaxes" category, and had the temerity to include a nocturnal image of Highgate Cemetery taken by Seán Manchester almost half a century ago and used in his book The Highgate Vampire (BOS, 1985; Gothic Press, 1991). Albeit no more than a paragraph in length, Olvera's article managed to get everything wrong, adding insult to injury by claiming the following: 

"One of the nearby residents claimed to be a 'vampire slayer' and supposedly had defeated the creature. He said the creature told him he was a man from Romania who used to practice magic and was immortal, but he was nonetheless able to slay him. Sometime later that man confessed to having lied about the situation and that it was all a hoax to gain publicity."

Needless to say,  Seán Manchester has never used the term "vampire slayer" to describe himself; did exorcise the demonic entity known as the Highgate Vampire (which is a matter of public record); has never claimed the "creature" spoke to him, much less told him that "he was a man from Romania who used to practice magic and was immortal"; and has never "confessed to having lied about the situation and that it was all a hoax to gain publicity." So why did The Ghost Diaries publish this woman's rubbish? Perhaps we'll never know, but despite Seán Manchester receiving an apology from the site owner and his stolen photograph being removed with the explanation that Anna Olvera's article had probably not been properly vetted, the replacement article remains full of error and guilty of claiming the case is a hoax. The only "hoax" we can detect is this article and its predecessor.

Here is the replacement article, unedited and in its entirety:

"England seems to be a mecca for paranormal hoaxes, and here’s yet another. Back in the 1970’s [sic]when cemeteries were a major target of vandalism, a group of misfits decided to break into Highgate cemetery in London. It was a cold December night right before Christmas when one of them decided to sleep the night away. The following day, he went to newspaper outlets claiming he had seen a grayish tall dark figure of a man who was stalking him around the cemetery and even put him in a trance.

"This is how the controversy started and millions of people were drawn by the phenomenon. Soon thereafter, witnesses claimed to have seen the same figure roam near the gates of the cemetery at night, along with a woman with super white skin and long gray hair. Some people still believe there’s a vampire roaming Highgate, so if you’re ever in England, don’t forget to visit the spot and let us know if you get stalked by a vampirish creature."

1. England is not a mecca for paranormal hoaxes. On what evidence is such an absurd claim made?

2. Cemeteries in England were no more a target for vandalism in the 1970s than they were in previous and subsequent decades. Following the mass vampire hunt of March 1970, acts of vandalism at Highgate Cemetery reduced significantly. Other graveyards suffered far worse attacks.

3. Who were the alleged "group of misfits" who broke into Highgate Cemetery? This might be a reference to the public vampire hunt involving hundreds of people on the night of 13 March 1970, but they were not a group of misfits. They comprised curiosity-seekers, paranormal students, vampirologists, concerned members of the general public, a team of vampire hunters, exorcists and, of course, the print media. Plus a very large police presence. Nobody was arrested on that night.

4. The cold December night "witness" to seeing a figure is quite obviously David Farrant who wrote to his local newspaper in February 1970 about his claim of seeing a "ghost" on Christmas Eve 1969. However, Farrant did not participate in the event of 13 March 1970; so he was not "one of them."

5. The controversy started not due to Farrant's letter to the editor of the Hampstead & Highgate Express, but because of what had happened throughout the previous decade, culminating in a number of horrific incidents around the turn of the 1970s. These included mysterious animal deaths and a man being discovered covered in blood in Highgate Cemetery who later died of throat wounds.

6. Though many people had been witnessing a terrifying spectral entity in the vicinity of the cemetery's north gate in Swain's Lane for many years (long before 1970), nobody is reported as having seen "a woman with super white skin and long gray hair." This is unadulterated fabrication.

7. No serious students of the occult, paranormal, vampirology or unexplained phenomena believe there is a vampire "roaming Highgate" today. From time to time, people who are transparently publicity-seekers - and the local press - exploit the history for their own purposes. Yet no experts seriously any longer believe that the malign supernatural holds sway in or around Highgate Cemetery.

This new article insults the readers' intelligence and offensively brands the case as a "hoax," but at least it does not refer to Seán Manchester, or repeat the libellous allegations of the original article.

To view The Ghost Diaries' continuing misrepresentation of the facts, click on any of the images.

Assortment of Sceptics Speaking About Pointlessness (ASSAP)

ASSAP 35th Anniversary Conference - Seriously Strange

Saturday, 10 September 2016 at 9:30am - Sunday, 11 September 2016 at 17:30pm (GMT)

The Association for the Scientific Study of Anomalous Phenomena (ASSAP) is a United Kingdom based education and research charity whose stated mission it is to apparently investigate, scientifically, paranormal and anomalous phenomena. Investigating the paranormal scientifically is an oxymoron because once phenomena becomes scientifically verifiable it discounts the paranormal, as genuine paranormal phenomena defies all known science and cannot be measured or quantified. If it can be, it is preternatural; in other words, not supernatural. It is natural, but not yet understood.

The recorded purpose of the ASSAP is "to obtain, store, process, and disseminate information concerning areas of human experience and observed phenomena for which no generally acceptable explanation is as yet forthcoming; to encourage and aid investigation and research into these phenomena by investigative groups; and to provide a multidisciplinary forum for the exchange of views and information concerning these phenomena." However, despite its clear interest in the Highgate Vampire case, the ASSAP in all its years (it was founded in 1981) has never once approached the author of The Highgate Vampire who personally investigated the case from start to finish. Instead, it has, both in the past and now, approached David Farrant to talk about the case.

SPEAKERS (during the forthcoming annual conference in September 2016) include the following:

Rev Peter Law [sic], Dr Hannah Gilbert, Dr Terry Palmer, Steve Parsons, Ann Winsper, David Saunder [sic], Anthony Peake, Jayne Harris, Malcolm Robinson, David Farrent [sic], John Fraser, Alan Murdie, Dr Leo Ruickbie, Lara Wells, Deborah Hyde, Trystan [Lewis] Swale, Richard Freeman.

Peter Laws is described on the internet as a "Baptist minister currently on Leave of Absence and working as a freelance writer and speaker." This is what he says about himself: "I am an ordained Reverend in the UK, but I’ve been a horror fan way longer than I’ve been a Christian. I write a horror column in Fortean Times magazine and run my own site called The Flicks The Church Forgot. My love of horror gene kicked in pretty young." An ordained minister in the Baptist Church? Unlike the Catholic, Anglican and Orthodox churches, Baptists believe ordination does not endow a person with any special powers or authority. Baptists use the word ordinance, rather than sacrament because of certain sacerdotal ideas connected, in their view, with the word sacrament. Their only real sacrament is baptism whereas Catholicism and other mainstream episcopal churches have seven. When asked if he believes, as all Christians must, in the phenomenon of demonic possession, Laws fudges it with responses such as this: "We should always be aware of the socio-cognitive element of possession. Social Cognitive Theory says that we learn how to think and behave by observing the actions and patterns of others ... I mean I know people who think I’m possessed because I’m a Christian who loves Halloween and horror! So I’m very cautious about pointing the demonic finger." He balances this with the following equivocation: "Now God might not exist of course and this world might be purely rational, natural. But I suspect that God may well exist and therefore that opens the door to his counterpoint, the devil." He, finally, ends his interview on the Love Horror website with these words: "Whether or not there’s any supernatural power at work is up to you to decide. I like to keep an open mind…which I find makes life quite interesting. And horror movies, a little more thrilling."

Dr Hannah Gilbert researches people's experiences and runs workshops. She says about herself: "My doctoral thesis took a sociological approach to the study of British spirit mediumship. Using observational studies of mediumship demonstrations, semi-structured one-on-one interviews with practising mediums, and a selection of medium autobiographies, I examined some of the ways in which mediums represent their spirit contacts for audiences, how they reflect upon their experiences of spirit, and how they represent and reflect upon their identity as practising spirit mediums." 

Dr Terry Palmer teaches self-hypnosis and writes of himself: "I studied psychology at Canterbury Christ Church University, and with a certificate in hypnotherapy from the Proudfoot School of Hypnosis and Psychotherapy I embarked upon a career as a hypnotherapist and clinical researcher."

Steve Parsons has "hunted for ghosts since childhood and has been a full time investigator for more than twenty years." He is described as having been "involved in many areas of psychical research and has developed and pioneered many new methods of investigating ghosts and haunting phenomena and he remains at the forefront of true scientific ghost hunting."  "Scientific" again.

Ann Winsper (above) co-founded "Para-Science" who stress they do not conduct exorcisms, wears a "Ghost Buster" T-shirt, but said in an interview in the Liverpool Echo: "I firmly believe people believe they see and hear things. But do I think ghosts are dead people coming back to try to talk to us? No. Why would they?" Indeed, why would anyone investigate something they do not believe exists?

David Saunders specialises in Neuropsychology and Parapsychology, and has received research grants form the Society for Psychical Research's Survival Research Committee for his research into dreams of the deceased. His talk will probably consider what "potential evidence can be provided from dreams to support the notion of the survival of human personality beyond bodily death."

Anthony Peake, having lived in many parts of the United Kingdom, has returned to his roots on The Wirral where he continues to explore "borderline areas of human consciousness," and in his spare time worries about the decline of his beloved football team, Tranmere Rovers. Some of his writings borrow from Gnostic terminology, ie that all human beings consist of two centres of consciousness.

Jayne Harris is apparently going to discuss "talking dolls"; so on and so forth, until we come to the case of the Highgate Vampire with the bizarre inclusion of David Farrant and Trystan Lewis Swale. 

"We've been reliably informed that both David Farrant (psychic investigator) and Trystan Lewis Swale (folklorist and sceptic) will be covering the Highgate Vampire saga in their respective talks. Messrs Farrant and Swale (not surprisingly perhaps given their particular professions), take opposing positions as to the precise origin(s) of the alleged supernatural phenomena that occurred at Highgate Cemetery (West) during the late sixties/early seventies." - Redmond McWilliams (28 July 2016)

Neither were involved in the case (Swale was not born at the time) and neither believe in the existence of vampires in any shape or form. Swale has sympathetically interviewed Farrant for his podcasts in the past when fellow sceptic Hayley Stevens was still involved. Swale has since fallen out with Stevens and just about everyone else outside of his unholy trinity of Anthony Hogg, Erin Chapman and, of course, himself. He has attacked many he was previously very amicable towards, eg Angie Mary Watkins, Barbara Green, Redmond McWilliams and David Farrant etc. He has that much in common with Farrant (who banned Swale from attending his farcical symposium last year). Farrant has also fallen out with innumerable people he once regarded as his friends and supporters.

The only opposing position that these two could possibly hold is Swale debunking anything and everything vaguely supernatural with Farrant sticking to his fraudulent "ghost story," which, if truth be told, David Farrant does not remotely believe in, as confirmed by all who knew him at the time.

Addendum:

The Truth Staked

Click on image to listen to podcast.

The material regarding Highgate Cemetery does not commence until forty minutes into the HPANWO Radio podcast where David Farrant trots out familiar contradictory nonsense about himself, eg that he "was involved in a mystical order many years ago" etc. What absolute poppycock!

The purpose of the wooden stake was apparently to drive into the ground to make a circle for magical purposes, Farrant alleges somewhat unconvincingly to Ben Emlyn Jones interviewing him. Yet documentated material from the time reveals him to be "vampire hunting" with a cross and stake.

He claims early on in the interview that he denied the entity was a vampire back in 1970. Completely untrue. Farrant, more than anyone else, jumped on what he perceived to be a publicity bandwagon and stated in an interview given to the Hampstead & Highgate Express, 6 March 1970, that his intention was to do everything in his power to rid the place of its vampire. Moreover, on 17 August 1970, he was arrested at midnight in Highgate Cemetery by police who found him to be in possession of a sharp wooden stake, a Roman Catholic crucifix and similar religious items, eg rosaries etc. 

Interviewed by BBC television's "24 Hours" programme two months later on 15 October 1970, David Farrant confirmed that he was vampire hunting when arrested, and indeed reconstructed the events of that night which involved him creeping about in the same graveyard with a cross in one hand, a wooden stake in the other, plus a rosary around his neck - all for the benefit of the television camera.

"He actually pulled a wooden stake out of his trousers," says Farrant, referring to Seán Manchester. The images show Farrant a few moments after pulling a wooden stake out of his trousers on the BBC transmission. He lied to Ben Emlyn Jones about the reason he was shown with a cross and stake. When the original programme is watched it is clear he was reconstructing his behaviour on the night of his arrest at Highgate Cemetery two months earlier. He was an unaccompanied amateur "vampire hunter" seeking publicity and not the undead. Click on either colour image for confirmation of this.

David Farrant can be seen above demonstrating his "vampire hunting" prowess. What nobody realised at the time is that he had orchestrated his own arrest on 17 August 1970 by having the police anonymously alerted just before he entered the graveyard. This was to ensure maximum publicity in the media. It worked, and he was acquitted of being in an enclosed area for an unlawful purpose because Highgate Cemetery is not an enclosed area. Next time he wasn't so lucky. Farrant was found guilty of indecency in a churchyard in November 1972 at Barnet Magistrates' Court.

When the layers of pretence are slowly peeled away, the man underneath is revealed to be charlatan.