North London Food & Culture

A vampiric battle rages in our comments section – forty years on!

A quite surreal war of words between opposing factions in the Highgate Vampire legend has been addictive reading this week

Sean Manchester (left) and David Farrant once shared a Ham & High cover.
Sean Manchester (left) and David Farrant once shared a local newspaper cover. What happened? Image: Ham & High

A very unlikely turn of events this week underneath our Highgate Vampire feature, originally published back in October last year. Why? Well, an old battle has again erupted between two opposing factions surrounding what we called a “brilliant and fascinating example of modern day folklore.”

The war of words is largely between one Redmond McWilliams, of The Highgate Cemetery Vampire Appreciation Society (stay with us!) and the British Occult Society, both fighting over the credibility of the two men, David Farrant and Sean Manchester, at the centre of a rather hoary tale. Look at them pictured above, all chummy and that.

Dating back to the late 1960s, the Highgate Vampire legend emerged from the supposed discovery of “otherworldly presences” in the famous cemetery. And, before they fell out, vampire-hunters Sean Manchester and David Farrant were so notorious at one point that ITV even arranged interviews with them.

This week’s argument erupted on Monday over what really happened and what, of course, took place subsequently. It was still – unbelievably – going strong this morning, with some oddly personal jibes (“a rather bitter old pensioner”) and accusations of trolling and charlatanry on both sides.


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Interest piqued? Head here to the article to read up on all the comments.


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