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.
"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.
Obviously there is always more than one side to every story. I hope HPANWO Radio listeners will look at all sides. Ben
ReplyDeleteIn this case there are clearly conflicting claims which cancel each other out, ie both "sides" cannot be telling the truth. The discerning researcher will weigh up the evidence and reach decisions based on all the available facts, the laws of probability, and the application of clear thinking; instead of just listening to the utterances of a notorious publicity-seeker. Examine the evidence. That is all that is being asked. View the television footage from 1970 and also the plethora of newspaper interviews. Also, ask yourself why there are so many contradictions and anomalies in one side's account whose claims magnified and metamorphosed over time. Where is his evidence that he was anything he claimed to be?
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