Hi all,
Thought some of you might appreciate the above still from a short skit filmed recently at Highgate Cemetery. It features my friend Kev Chesham, who is over in England for a few months, sorting out work and personal affairs, Redmond McWilliams, myself and a few other people. Working title: “Five Go Mad in Highgate Cemetery”. Will try to put up some preliminary excerpts in the next week or so. And no, don’t worry, we didn’t get ‘in trouble’ – far from it as you will see!
In other news, I am giving a talk in September which I hope some of you will attend.
Actually two – the ASSAP conference on Sep 7th in Bath which I may have mentioned here before, and a talk for London Haunts and Horrors in conjunction with the Spooky Isles on Sep 23rd. They are both Highgate ‘vampire’ related, and I will be throwing fresh light on the mysterious goings on and the inter-rivalry which surrounded the events at Highgate Cemetery in North London (and still apparently does!)
My second talk in September is at The Green pub in Clerkenwell on the 23rd which is a Monday. You can read more about it here: https://www.spookyisles.com/highgate-vampire-fact-david-farrant/ There are lots of people going and it seems as though it is going to be a very friendly and sociable event (we are even planning a humorous ‘Highgate Vampire’ themed pub quiz to end the night with). And hopefully there will be a few surprise speakers too!
If any readers want to attend it might be an idea to book soon as apparently tickets are going fast.
You can read more about the Talk below.
Well, hope you are all coping OK with the extreme heat. Kev is delighted as he is accustomed to a much warmer temperature in Saudi Arabia, and was quite shocked when he landed back in the UK! However the hot climes over there never prevented him from continuing with his athletic events and training; I really don’t know how he does it at his age, and when he can’t even have a cool beer to ‘chillax’ with afterwards (Kev doesn’t drink, smoke or indulge in occult activities – so compared to me, I suppose, he’s an angel!)
Speaking of which, things to do, so will sign off now, and hope at least a few of you can make it to the talks. If you can, see you there; if perchance not, then I’ll keep everyone updated on here.
For now,
David
London Haunts and Horrors is proud to present a talk by the legendary David Farrant, who will explore the myths and realities of the world-renown Highgate Vampire case.
Discover how a ghost reported since the Victorian era became hijacked by the 1970s vampire craze – and reduced to an urban myth.
What really exists at Highgate Cemetery, and if it was a vampire, allegedly staked in the 1980s, why do people still encounter it today?
How did a relatively harmless ghost lead to a sensational Old Bailey ‘witch trial’?
David Farrant explains the facts of this infamous case, exposes the vampire hoax and explores the unanswerable – just what IS the Highgate ‘vampire’?
About David Farrant
David Farrant rose to international notoriety during the early 1970s because of his role in the Highgate ‘vampire’ scare which was dominating the headlines of the popular press.
Branded a Satanist, black magician and necromancer, he was sentenced to nearly 5 years imprisonment at his infamous and corrupt Old Bailey ‘witch trial’ in 1974, the first trial of its sort since 1944 – despite the witchcraft Act being officially repealed in 1951.
But Farrant, then a practicing Wiccan High Priest, has always maintained that the rituals which he undertook in Highgate Cemetery were intended to counteract the activities of real Satanists who had invoked the entity which is still seen today in and around the cemetery – the same apparition which has become branded (albeit erroneously) a ‘vampire’.
Encouraged by his mother to embrace spiritualism and the ‘Old Religion’ from a young age, Farrant has devoted his life to psychical research, delving into the origins of unexplained phenomena across the UK. He is founder President of the British Psychic and Occult Society (est. 1967), and the author of ‘Beyond The Highgate Vampire’ and many articles pertaining to the paranormal and mysticism, about which he is regularly asked to give talks and broadcasts.
Still resident in Highgate, Farrant is married and has two grown up sons.
The Talk: “The Highgate Vampire: Fact or Fiction? Talk with David Farrant” will be held on Monday, 23rd September, at The Green, Clerkenwell, from 7.30pm. Purchase your tickets here at London Haunt and Horrors or here at Eventbrite.
