Sean (or Seán) Manchester has decided to enter the Blogger arena with Metaphysical Meanderings.
As of this writing, it has two followers.
One's a bloke named Anant Verna (Words 'N' Views) and the other is - perhaps unsurprisingly - "Vampirologist" (aka "Gothic" aka "The Overseer"), plagiari- I mean, author of Did a Wampyr Walk in Highgate?.
Yeah, he couldn't even come up with his own title.
But, back to Manchester's blog.
A couple of things caught my attention. Well, apart from having shameless brown-noser/propagandist/sympathiser TFO being a follower of his blog.
Firstly, Manchester's "Luisa" entry implies that the black and white photograph featured, is none other than a woman who was allegedly turned into a vampire, then later staked by the author of The Highgate Vampire (1985; 1991):
Lusia has never been identified by her real name and, until now, a photograph at the time of my knowing her has not been published. Sufficient decades have perhaps now passed to permit the one shown from my archive.
It's certainly a brazen move.
Especially considering the potential legal ramifications.
The other item of note, is the link given in "My Web Page" within Manchester's profile page.
Where does it lead, you ask?
Why, to the Vampire Research Society's "Books by Seán Manchester" page, of course! Shop smart!
I first wrote about a mysterious commenter on my blog named "Gothic" in "Drive-By Comments".
In "Gothic Returns!", I also noted that
Every time I check the link to his profile, it leads me to a dead end. Should this happen again, his comments will be rejected for publication.
Well, I noticed something rather interesting when I tried the link again.
This time, it actually works!
But guess where it leads to?
Yup, that's right: none-other than the profile page of TFO!
However, he's had yet-another change of name. This time, he's using "Vampirologist" as his handle.
Interestingly, this is a handle that has been used for some years on the website he lists as his own, on his Blogger profile page.
So why the need to temporarily rip-off my own username? Especially after nonsensically claiming that I "adopted" his username...despite my use of it sometime beforehand. (see: "Insanity, Misrepresentations and Assumptions: Part One")
I also enjoyed his rather-telling view of himself, when criticising my rationale for refusing a comment by "Gothic" aka TFO aka "Vampirologist":
Something the FoBSM Administation did not mention, however, is the fact that Hogg allows no post to appear on his blog in the normal way when the commentator is sympathetic to Bishop Manchester.
So much for being "independent".
TFO aka The Pseudoseer's latest attempts to hijack my online name and "property" have inspired me to do something I've been holding off for a while: restarting my Windows Live Space site!
It was shut down some time ago, but you can now visit it here. I've even put up my first post. Ain't it precious!
This blog, of course, will still be seeing active service, so you'll have to tune in to see what kind of goodies I post on that one.
Out of necessity...
...I've had to move my MSN Group, Did a Wampyr Walk in Highgate? over to Multiply. So, if you're a current member of my group, you should be getting an e-mail notifying you of the change. The group should still be accessible. Until February, that is.I was unfortunately unable to use the same ident (that is DidaWampyrWalkinHighgate) as part of my new URL, as it was too long. Nor was I able to use my abbreviated "dawwih" (which I had previously used with my defunct Windows Live Space account) as this had already been taken. Take a guess by who.
Give up?
Yep, our old chum The (Fake) Overseer! And isn't that cute? He even decided to plagiarise my message board's username as well!
He even pinched my username, too. So, from henceforth, you'll recognise me on Multiply as...theoriginaloverseer! Try not to confuse us.
Oh, and by the way, my group can now be accessed here.
Here's the continuation of TFO's unruly comments against me.He chops their comments to pieces to interpolate his own frequently inaccurate and invariably tedious views. The commentator referred to below was told on Anthony Hogg's blog today by Hogg that he will no longer be allowed to post even in dissected form where Hogg uses selected passages as a springboard for his own tiresome rhetoric. To say this man is a pedant is putting it mildly indeed!
Yes, I chop them, interpolate them with my comments and I also do something you dread doing: I cite them! That way, if there are any disagreements with what I write, the reader can at least check the original source for the full story. Compare this notion to your practices covered elsewhere.
If you consider my views to be "inaccurate" and "tedious", that's fine. However, you might want to try backing up what you say with citations not accusations. There's a difference, you know.
For example, I never told anyone named "FoBSM Administration" that they couldn't post on my blog. They're more than welcome to, provided that their name doesn't lead to a dead-end like Gothic's did. Despite my warning to him. After all, if he's going to be a mouthpiece, then he should at least have some kind of accountability or authority to do so.
I'm sure even you grasp this concept. After all, you've got a blog yourself. It links to you and is covered by Blogger's terms of use agreement. Speaking of which, it also plagiarises the name of mine! Was that done "in protest" as well?
Oh, and I would have liked to have commented on FoBSM Administrations comments directly, as quoted in the rest of your message, but I came across this:
What a shame!
However, it was amusing to see a weblinked picture of a door from the Bishop's "private retreat", surmounted with a sign reading "Holy Grail" over the top, that leads to...
...a site selling books by Sean Manchester! Great stuff!
I guess calling his MSN Group Did A Vampire Walk In Highgate? (which now seems to be defunct) wasn't enough imitation for The (Fake) Overseer (TFO).
It appears to have been replaced by another that apes the abbreviation I use for my blog and forum, i.e., "DAWWIH" (See, for example, "DAWWIH Designs").
On top of that, I've also had the pleasure of having a thread, on his forum, dedicated in my honour!
As it concerns me, I'll address its contents, especially in light of the accusations It's made against myself. We'll start with Message 1:
The following message was left by the Friends of Bishop Seán Manchester Administration recently on the Friends of Bishop Seán Manchester (FoBSM) forum which I found interesting in view of the fact it is about self-styled "amateur vampirologist" and "Overseer" Anthony Hogg who adopted my user name on the same day I opened Did A Wampyr Walk In Highgate? and has continued to employ it across the internet despite having claimed that it refers only to him "overseeing" his blog and message board. It is a term normally reserved for those holding a position of church leadership, irrespective of denomination, but it can also be used to mean someone in a supervisory position. This is how I use it to oversee those commenting on the Highgate Vampire case.
Hmmm. So I "adopted [his] user name on the same day [he] opened Did A Wampyr Walk In Highgate?"? That's hilarious. Especially in light of this little ditty, courtesy of the Vampire Research Society board:
The manager of Did A Vampire Walk In Highgate? took to employing the pseudonym The Overseer in protest against Hogg's misuse of the title.
Interesting. So, if TFO had my username first, how could he have then adapted it "in protest" afterward? Strange.
It's especially amusing that my use of "The Overseer" username initially aroused the wrath of Dennis Crawford, International Secretary for the Vampire Research Society, claiming that it is more befitting of a Bishop. Does that instead make TFO an actual Bishop, considering that his use of it has gone unchallenged by Crawford? No, because he now claims to use the term in a "supervisory" fashion. In other words, pretty much the same reason I gave back in 2006. What a coincidence!
Amidst this comedy of errors, TFO can't even get his own message board's name right. His group was most certainly not called Did a Wampyr Walk in Highgate? before mine was. I previously gave his group (Did A Vampire Walk In Highgate?) a lot of coverage here.
Attempting to change its title long after the formation of my message board (which has always used the same name) does not change the facts. Shame that his defunct message board's URL also gives away its actual original title (i.e., Did A Vampire Walk In Highgate?). Something not so easy to hide from, no matter how revisionist he wants to be.
One must even question whether TFO even founded the board he upholds, considering that it's original welcome message was by someone dubbed "The Informative One".
Anthony Hogg was not born when the case erupted and only very recently read an illicit copy of the first edition of The Highgate Vampire which had been disseminated in breach of copyright law by a certain Craig Adams, a foul-mouthed individual who openly supports and lives in close proximity to someone convicted of serious crimes at Highgate Cemetery in the 1970s. Adams is half his collaborator's age and has scant regard for the law, which will inevitably one day catch up with him.
Whoa, whoa, whoa! Wait up!
I wasn't born at the time the case happened? And...? Does that mean I'm only allowed to write about things from a particular era or place I personally happened to be at? If so, you'd be condemning a lot of authors...
But since you raise the issue: were you there, TFO? Did you see it happen? Did you witness the predations of a bloodsucking, possessed corpse, which was subsequently staked through the heart, disintegrated into sludge and cremated? If so, I'd love to read your account of events.
As to this illegal copy of Manchester's book, how exactly do you know if I've read it or not? Is it because I quote Manchester as saying he wasn't "pre-eminently religious" at the time of the happenings, despite other sources saying that he founded the Ordo Sancti Graal in 1973? Or is it because I know that Manchester used necromantic rituals in order to summon a vampire (Sean Manchester, The Highgate Vampire, London: British Occult Society, 1985: pp. 134, 143-145), despite necromancy being a practice forbidden by the Catholic Church?
Anthony Hogg, a self-professed "Christian," has no problem viewing stolen material and seems to accept at face value almost anything he is told by the convicted felon's lewd and disgraceful flunkies of which Adams is one.
Come again? Would you mind telling me exactly what I have taken at "face value"? You seem curiously unable to divulge it in your post.
Something the FoBSM Administation did not mention, however, is the fact that Hogg allows no post to appear on his blog in the normal way when the commentator is sympathetic to Bishop Manchester.
Utter tosh. What TFO seems to be referring to is a mysterious commentator by the name of "Gothic". I've got no problem if someone is sympathetic to Manchester. If someone chooses to believe in his account of undead corpses, or, for that matter, Farrant's account of "vampirelike" psychic entities, then that's up to them.
What I don't like, however, is people being unaccountable for providing potentially libelous information, and posting it on my blog. Gothic was one such example. After posting comments on my blog, via a dead username, I warned him thusly, in "Gothic Returns":
Every time I check the link to his profile, it leads me to a dead end. Should this happen again, his comments will be rejected for publication.
And guess what? He did it again.
He chose to ignore my warning. That's hardly targeting Manchester sympathisers.
It seemed like the (fake) Overseer had gone quiet for a while.
That is, until I encountered this. Yep, just like me, he's gone and got himself a Blogger page!
So, if you like your usual dose of VRS regurgitations and other assorted plagiarism, then pop on over there. You might even encounter some strategic links threaded throughout his blog entries, that'll conveniently lead you to pages proffering VRS merchandise!
