Forteana, Facts, Follies, Identity

The above appeared on the ASSAP group before Seán Manchester's ban. What appears below, and much more beside, appeared from the usual culprits after Seán Manchester's ban, but were eventually deleted when brought to the ASSAP's notice. These posts, and there are more from Hogg, Swale, McWilliams and Farrant, are in breach of the ASSAP's own declaration just a few hours earlier. Sadly, Robert Moore was sympathetic to some of the unfortunate comments made by this motley handful of troublesome trolls. On the matter of Fortean Times, raised by McWilliams, such was that magazine's reliance on Farrant, due to the hoaxer having close ties to two or three of its contributors, that everything written about Seán Manchester or the Highgate Vampire case was invariably factually incorrect, and sometimes defamatory. They very wisely steered clear of listening to Farrant on these matters, and now try to avoid these topics.

Redmond McWilliams bizarrely invites people wanting to know more about Seán Manchester to contact Alan Murdie, which opens up another portal. From 1962 author Peter Underwood served as President and many accounts of The Ghost Club activities are found in his books. Tom Perrott joined the club in 1967 and served as Chairman from 1971 to 1993. Both Tom Perrott and Peter Underwood knew Seán Manchester, and are indeed mentioned in his books. In 1993, however, The Ghost Club underwent a period of internal disruption. Peter Underwood, by now a close friend of Seán Manchester, left to become Life President of the rival The Ghost Club Society, taking some of the club members with him. During this period, Tom Perrott resigned due to the political turmoil, but was invited to return to The Ghost Club as chairman, which he accepted. The Ghost Club decided to abolish the "invite only" clause in its membership policy, to absorb the role of Chairman and President into one post, and to allow ordinary members to have their say in council meetings etc. During this period The Ghost Club also expanded its remit to take in the study of UFOs, dowsing, cryptozoology, and the like. This would not have been to the taste of Seán Manchester who had been made an Honorary Life Member of The Ghost Club, and openly supported Peter Underwood's rival Club in which he was also an esteemed Honorary Life Member. In 1998, Perrott resigned as Chairman while remaining active in Club affairs, and barrister Alan Murdie was elected as his successor. Kathy Gearing replaced Alan Murdie as Chairman in 2005. Alan David Murdie (born 1964) of Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, holds a more sceptical appraisal of the supernatural than did the late Peter Underwood, or indeed Seán Manchester, both of whom approach it with Christian and more traditional values. Murdie is of that later generation who reflect a liberal and often cynical approach.

The important fact is that Alan Murdie has never had any contact with Seán Manchester, much less met him. That he might have been influenced to some small degree by the claims of Farrant is always possible, but someone with the least scrap of intelligence would soon see through Farrant's fakery and foolishness. Any resentment that Murdie holds toward Seán Manchester, and there is no clear evidence that he does hold any resentment, would stem from the history of The Ghost Club.    

Anthony Hogg continues to erroneously refer to Seán Manchester as "Patrick," a name he parrots from Farrant, a poisonous source from where virtually all of Hogg's "(un)intelligence" can be traced.

Below are the relevant details from Seán Manchester's driving licence, marriage licence and passport (kindly shared by him) which clearly reveal his correct and legal name to be "Seán Manchester."

"Funny how if you look at the license photo, where it says 'copy' and has his name typed the background is different." - Erin Chapman (collaborator with Hogg, resident of Vancouver, Canada.)

Let's take a closer look at the area referred to by Chapman, and enlarge it without "COPY" on it:

That is how driving licences look in Great Britain, ie the background is slightly different in text areas.

Her colluding sidekick, Anthony Hogg, just felt he had to get in on the act to offer his two penneth; the problem being they are forged coins. He refers to FoBSM not being authorised to speak on Seán Manchester's behalf. He overlooks the fact, as stated on previous occasions, that FoBSM comprises some of his closest friends and is reliant on input from and consultation with Seán Manchester who will confirm this to the case should anyone contact him via Facebook. Hogg, as others have observed, likes to play games in order to obfuscate the simple truth; nor does he, nor Chapman, understand the law in the United Kingdom. To obtain a driving licence, marriage licence or passport, for example, original documents have to be provided. These would include an original birth certificate. A British passport must be in the same name as that appearing on the applicant's birth certificate.

Hogg, who resides in Melbourne, Australia, continues with the claim that "Patrick" is the name on a civil document also bearing the name "Marie." His source is Don Ecker, who resides in the United States and collaborates with David Farrant to the extent of regurgitating anything Farrant gives him about Seán Manchester without examination or substantiation. Some facts about the civil document on which "Patrick" appears ought to now be shared; though much of it is already on public record.

The document, were it genuine, would be private and confidential, ie not available to the public, and only legally available to the two people identified on it. Anyone else publishing, or otherwise disseminating, such a document will have broken British law. Thus they would be prosecuted. Hence the names are incorrect, so technically those people it is intended to represent are not identified. "Patrick" has been added to Seán Manchester's name, and someone whose real name was "Mary" becomes "Marie." How did this forged document come to be circulated? It had been created by a graphic artist to whom Farrant was married in the past and remained in contact. She shared his oddball ideas about witchcraft and black magic, and enthusiastically engaged in his hate campaign. 

Farrant has always had other people do his dirty work, but this particular mission was just too much of a hot potato for his usual collaborators. He shelved it until he could find a way to use the poisonous ammunition he had manufactured. Somebody in another country was unlikely to be prosecuted, so he eventually elected to use Don Ecker. But how could he explain being in possession of such a document in the first place? That was not going to be so easy. This is what he did, as confirmed by his ex-girlfriend who was with him for three years. Farrant arranged to have it posted to her at her home address in the north of England. She naturally showed it to him, and he then included it amongst the material he forwarded to Ecker who, of course, foolishly published it. Farrant claimed its origin was unknown and simply came from a "well-wisher." Farrant's ex-girlfriend, however, made some interesting observations about the package and its contents. Before she handed it over she, of course, examined it because it had been addressed to her. How many people would have known her address? Faint pencil writing was on the item, which she recognised. It was Farrant's handwriting. How did his writing get on a document he supposedly had not seen or touched? It was not long before she realised it was fraudulent. She was being used. This is something she now regrets, having allowed herself to be a link in the chain of those doing David Farrant's dirty work. 

It is generally agreed that Farrant is extremely lazy, and, unless others do things for him, he can't be bothered to do anything convincingly himself. He botches everything he touches. His phoney "ghost" back in 1970 he'd seen three times, then twice, and then only once. When interviewed it was "a tall, grey figure" that "glided." He told Sandra Harris in March 1970: "It looked like it was dead." This swiftly became a vampire-like entity with glowing red eyes, and later an amorphous black mist.