David Farrant spent the night in Highgate Cemetery. In a letter to the Hampstead and Highgate Express he wrote that he had glimpsed "a grey figure", which he considered to be supernatural, and asked if others had seen anything similar. On the night of Halloween a graveyard desecration by persons unknown occurred. These persons arranged flowers taken from graves in circular patterns with arrows of blooms pointing to a new grave which was uncovered. A coffin was opened and the body inside disturbed. Their most macabre act was driving an iron stake in form a cross though the lid and into the breast of the corpse. A second local man, Seán Manchester was just as keen as Farrant to identify and eliminate what he and Farrant believe was a supernatural entity in the cemetery. The Hampstead and Highgate Express quoted him saying that 'a King Vampire of the Undead', a medieval nobleman who had practiced black magic in medieval Romania had been brought to England in a coffin in the early eighteenth century by followers who bought a house for him in London. He was buried in Highgate Cemetery and modern Satanists had roused him. The right thing to do would be to stake the vampire's body, and then behead and burn it, this would nowadays be illegal. The ensuing publicity was enhanced by a growing rivalry between Farrant and Manchester, each claiming that he could and would destroy the specter. Manchester announced to his associates that he would hold an official vampire hunt on Friday the 13. According to his narrative, he and companions entered the cemetery and tried to open the door of one particular catacomb to which a psychic sleepwalking girl had previously led him; but try as they might, it would not budge an inch. Failing in this, they climbed down on a rope through an existing hole in its roof, finding empty coffins into which they put garlic. Some months later, on 1 August 1970 charred and headless remains of a woman's body were found not far from the catacomb. The police suspected that it had been used in black magic. This time Farrant was found by police in the churchyard beside Highgate Cemetery one night in August, carrying a crucifix and a wooden stake. He was arrested, but when the case came to court he was dismissed. A few days later Manchester returned to Highgate Cemetery. He claims that this time he and companions did succeed in forcing open, inch by inch, the heavy and rusty iron doors of a family vault. He was about to drive a stake through a body when a friend persuaded him to desist. Reluctantly, he put garlic in the coffin and left. Later Manchester returned to the vampiric corpse, and staked and burned it. Farrant was jailed for damaging memorials and interfering with dead remains in Highgate Cemetery.Vandalism and desecration which he insisted had been caused by Satanists, not him. The feud between Manchester and Farrant remains vigorous to this day; each pours scorn on the other's alleged expertise.
David Farrant has never claimed that a 'vampire' stalked Highgate Cemetery.He has stated in interviews since the 70s that he thinks it was a 'tall dark figure with red eyes'. The night he was arrested he actually went to the cemetery to find a logical explanation for what was happening in and around Highgate Cemetery.He and a few associates were in the middle of conducting a ritual to either summon or 'exorcise' the 'spirit/supernatural entity' when he was arrested. Sean Manchester on the other hand is a complete nut job.He is apparently a 'Bishop' but no evidence exists of him being ordained .His book 'The Highgate Vampire' 1985,writes in the fashion of a Bram Stoker novel A girl named 'Lusia' sleepwalking,apparently led Manchester to the 'vampires' tomb in the cemetery.He then tied rope around himself and descended toward the coffin.Bear in mind all this was taking place while hundreds of local people near and far were descending upon the cemetery in what was to be known as 'Britains Biggest Mass Vampire Hunt'. 'Lusia' then turned into a giant spider and Manchester staked her! With four years passing,Manchester finally tracks down the 'Vampire' on the borders of Highgate/Hornsey in a neo Gothic mansion.Drags the coffin in the garden,stakes it and pours petrol on it and sets it alight! All this is documented in his book (Which i don't own) with black and white pics of the 'vampire' in various stages of decomposition(Some say that it looks a lot like Manchester) It's true that there was a feud between Manchester and Farrant.I say 'was' because David Farrant passed away in April this year.But that's not stopped Manchester from commenting on that nobody told him that David Farrant was ill and if he had been informed he would have paid a trip to his bedside.How much of this is true i don't know. There's acres of this stuff online about the feuds,magicians duels on Parliament Hill etc. If anyone's remotely intersested i suggest researching it and drawing your own conclusions. It makes interesting reading. Nick