Dead Hungarian Scholar Logs onto Facebook!

Well, well, well.

Look who went and got a new admin!

Yes, that's right, the VRS Facebook group (as covered here and here) - under the direction of Sean Manchester - have decided to recruit the services of one "Arminius Vámbéry". That is, the same bloke I revealed to be a blatant plagiarist.

Evidentially, he's now helping fuel the VRS Propaganda Machine with regurgitated posts.

Vampire scholars may be familiar with the real Arminius Vámbéry (1832-1913) from his link to author of Dracula (1897), Bram Stoker. Here's what Vámbéry's Wikipedia entry says about it:

Vámbéry knew Bram Stoker and is believed by some biographers to have acted as his consultant on Transylvanian culture. The character of Professor Van Helsing in Stoker's novel, Dracula, is sometimes said to be based on Vámbéry, though there is no real evidence of this supposition. In the novel (chapter 23) the professor refers to his "friend Arminius, of Buda-Pesth University".

But, as renowned Dracula scholar, Elizabeth Miller, notes in Dracula: Sense & Nonsense (Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex: Desert Island Books Limited, 2000, p. 31):

There is no reason to believe that Arminius Vambery was the source for any of Stoker's knowledge about vampire lore. While it is unlikely, Stoker and the Hungarian professor might have talked about vampires; Vambrey might have sparked Stoker's interest sufficiently to send him scurrying off to the library to find some books. To say that he did is irresponsible.

Seriously, how much more desperate can the VRS get to further their "cause"? I mean, recruiting dead Hungarian scholars into their ranks? Come on!

Oh, and as of this writing, their Facebook page has a total of "179 members".

Stay Tuned No Longer!

I last mentioned Rob Brautigam's Highgate Vampire page, on his Shroudeater webpage, in "Stay Tuned...".

Well, looks like it's finally done, although, it now has a new name.

Check out "The Vampire Hoax of Highgate Cemetery", last updated May 3, 2009.

Truth be told, I was expecting something a lot more hard-hitting from his report, although it does come with an excellent bibliography.

Demonologist Gets Sidetracked

Unsurprisingly, TFO aka "Demonologist" bypassed my previous post and instead, shifted his focus on something truly insipid and paltry, via a comment he left on "Wanna Be Their Friend?".

The blog entry gave coverage to "rival" Facebook groups, namely the Highgate Vampire Society (presided by David Farrant) and the Vampire Research Society (presided over by Sean Manchester).

In the post, I pointed out that the VRS group "outranks David's group of "friends" (40 members against 77, as of this writing)".

TFO/Demonologist decided to "correct" this statement thusly:

It actually outranks Farrant's group by significantly more.

You might want to review your statistics.

The Vampire Research Society currently has 177 members (not 77).

While Farrant's Highgate Vampire Society has 43 members on Facebook.

Obviously, TFO/Demonologist isn't familiar with the term "as of this writing". The "statistics" were correct at the time of my blog entry's publication, i.e., Friday, May 1, 2009 1:44am.

Apart from the blatant error, I do wonder what TFO is getting at. Is he trying to say that because Manchester's group has more "friends", that it somehow makes it more legitimate?

What an odd way of upholding their claims!

Let's discount friend requests, spam, multiple user names and so forth, to think about this for a second. Let's say, for argument's sake, that all the people on the VRS's page genuinely want to be the Bishop's friend.

Has the VRS surveyed them to determine how many actually believe what the VRS claims? How do you know they're not merely "fans" of his writings and/or claims rather than actual believers?

Facebook is populated by a huge array of strange groups. Who's to say the VRS isn't viewed in the same manner?

Now that we've sorted all that out, will you get onto responding to my queries directed at yourself, Demonologist?

Demonologist Haunts My Blog

"Demonologist" aka TFO, recently posted a comment to "Discussing Public Figures on LiveJournal".

I'll now take this opportunity to respond to his ramblings:

I am personally acquainted with Bishop Seán Manchester and have been for some considerable time.

Oh really? In what capacity would that be? His International Secretary, by chance?

He is exceptionally learned in the field of demonolatry, especially vampire lore, and has given talks and lectures about these topics for four decades, having contributed to radio, television and film productions over the same period.

And still continues to do so, despite being publicity shy.

His works in print are among the most popular non-fiction books about vampires and vampirism to be found anywhere. The Highgate Vampire is probably his best known.

That's hard to determine, really. I mean, the VRS (you author/copy-n-paste a blog under their banner) still hawks his books at every available opportunity which is interesting, considering that The Highgate Vampire (I'm almost certain you're referring to the second edition) was published in 1991. His other non-fiction work on vampires, The Vampire Hunter's Handbook, was published in 1997. You guys must have a lot of leftover copies.

Therefore, I take offence to the suggestion that Bishop Manchester has ever harassed anyone when, in fact, plenty of people have taken it upon themselves to harass and stalk him.

I find this a little amusing, considering the tactics the VRS (Manchester is their prez) employ, themselves. The FoBSM are no better.

Firstly, if you want an example of obsessive blogging, check this out. Secondly, you're obviously referring to David Farrant; a guy who leaves such a bitter aftertaste in your mouth, that you can barely bring yourself to say his name.

An American by the name of Alex Lucard has been obsessively blogging about Bishop Seán Manchester for years, employing calumny from the usual source, ie a man convicted for tomb vandalism and desecration in Highgate Cemetery during the 1970s who was sentenced to four years' eight months' imprisonment; someone who has done nothing more with his life than pursue malicious vendettas, most particulary against Bishop Manchester, and someone who views the bishop as his arch-nemesis regarding the Highgate Vampire case.

Also, if you think David, alone, views Manchester as his "arch-nemesis", then how do you explain this. And this?

Alex Lucard, whose issues of transparent envy might stem from the fact that he is a horror film fan, makes the unsubstantiated and absurd claim that because his self-advertised surname and initial - "A Lucard" - spell "Dracula" backwards Bishop Seán Manchester must therefore inevitably be stalking him with view to driving a stake through his heart!

Or he could have been joking? After all, his blog - Icon. Showstoppah. Main Eventah. - makes several jokey references to getting staked. And not all in association with Sean Manchester, at that.

Only a a very silly youngster with an obsession about such ideas could dream up something like that!

Or, a silly old bugger unsavvy enough to take him literally!

Bishop Seán Manchester has not “stalked” anyone, least of all Alex Lucard whom he does not know, has never heard of and, if he had, would not be remotely interested in. Why would a celebrated English author and consecrated bishop be interested in someone thousands of miles away in another country with a penchant for asininity?

So if Manchester wasn't aware of Lucard...then who reported his blog to LJ Abuse? How could a faceless, non-entity be behind the closure of a blog if the person it "maligns"...didn't even have any awareness of it?

Lucard, in actual fact, has a history of stalking Bishop Seán Manchester on the internet, not the other way around.

Prove it. Let's see where Lucard has "stalked" Manchester.

Apart from a similar rebuttal (probably made by me), you will find no mention of Alex Lucard on any of Bishop Seán Manchester's boards and forums. You will, however, find plenty of mention of Bishop Seán Manchester on Alex Lucard's multifarious websites where convicted UK felon David Farrant often inserts his libellous abuse and malicious falsehood when Lucard is not repeating it himself.

Yes, I've seen your spiel about Lucard reiterated/copy-n-pasted elsewhere. Most notably here, here and here, with very little variation in between.

Why is Lucard so obsessed with Bishop Seán Manchester? That, I suppose, is strictly something for Alex Lucard and his psychiatrist to work out.

The question is, why are you obsessed with Lucard? After all, you aren't Manchester's rep - at least, this is something you won't presently divuldge. As I've pointed out, you've posted extremely similar posts on Lucard, elsewhere. If Manchester doesn't even have any awareness of this man, then why are you fanning the flames?

However, if you want to know why Lucard is "obsessed" with Manchester, you could check out his side of the story here, in which he also notes: "Eventually though he [Manchester -ed.] decided to play nasty. He would complain to LJabuse that his name was showing up in my LJ and that it was an invasion of his privacy."

Strange actions for someone unaware of Lucard.

All I hear is talk about what this or that misfit is threatening to do against Bishop Seán Manchester - usually from the safety of another country and always with the culprit hiding behind a computer. Nothing ever happens, of course, because these people are cowardly non-entities trying to steal some limelight for themselves by making false allegations and fabricating nonsense in order to ride briefly on the coat-tails of a much admired figure in England who is not even aware of their existence.

So, again, why are you drawing attention to them? You follow a blog dedicated to David Farrant.

As to "hiding behind a computer", that's pretty rich for someone (yourself) I've exposed multiple times as a plagiarist (as has an actual vampirologist) and user of different aliases.

You've previously ripped-off my username, falsely accused me of ripping it off you, started a blog that rips its title off mine (and my forum)... You're hardly an innocent yourself.

And now what are you doing? Firing off potshots at someone (Lucard) - from the "safety of another country" (i.e., the UK) - all the while hiding behind your computer, also. Such blatant hypocrisy.

Oh, by the way, it's really a nice touch to see that you follow your own blogs!:

Trying to bolster your "readership"?

Discussing Public Figures on LiveJournal

Check out the coverage given to "Alex Lucard" and his involvement with Sean Manchester and the Highgate Vampire Case, over at Exposing LJ Abuse.

Lucard originally wrote about Manchester via his LiveJournal site. However, complaints were made to staff and...you can read the rest of what happened in the article.

In the Shadow of a Plagiarist

It doesn't really surprise me that the author of a blog called, In the Shadow of the Highgate Vampire (ITSOTHV), is a blatant plagiarist akin to TFO (if he isn't TFO, himself. "Coincidentally", TFO is also the blog's only follower, as of this writing).

Not only is the title of ITSOTHV "borrowed" from David's latest autobiography, the banner "borrowed" from one of my posts (both mentioned in the previous entry), but it also seems he can't keep his grubby little hands off Manchester's work, either.

Compare ITSOTHV's "Introduction" against "Introduction by the Author" in Manchester's Aftermath of the Highgate Vampire: Final Struggle Against a Post-Demonic Infestation at Highgate (AOTHV:FSAAPDIAH).

Then, match up ITSOTHV's "Hymn to Pan" with AOTHV:FSAAPDIAH's "Part the Ninth". Now, ITSOTHV's "Invoking the Vampire" and AOTHV:FSAAPDIAH's "Part the Second". And then ITSOTHV's "A Convenient Bandwagon" with AOTHV:FSAAPDIAH's "Part the First".

I'm sure you're getting the picture now, but I'll cite two more, just to drive a stake through this undead beast.

Compare ITSOTHV's "Dark Secrets" against AOTHV:FSAAPDIAH's "Part the Eighth" and, lastly, ITSOTHV's "Source of Falsification" with AOTHV:FSAAPDIAH's "Part the Third".

Yes, essentially we have a Blogger blog featuring regurgitations from Manchester's still-extant ClearBlogs blog, "written" (i.e., copy and pasted) by a bloke naming himself after a dead Hungarian scholar.

You might be asking yourself, quite rightly, "what's the bloody point?"

That's an interesting question in light of the "endorsement" ITSOTHV is given by the VRS, by virtue of it being linked via their Facebook group. Its administrator is Sean Manchester himself. Evidentally, the VRS/he supports wholesale plagiarism.

Unless, of course, it's not plagiarism at all, but Manchester regurgitating his material under a pseudonym, using a variety of forums to rehash the same old stuff.

But why would a vampire-huntin' Bishop want to do something as crazy as that?

Wanna Be Their Friend?

You can't keep a good vampire down. Vampire group, that is.

Now you've got your choice of two! And you can add them both via the wonders of Facebook: the latest medium the opposing sides of the Highgate Vampire Case are using to promote their...uh...cause.

David gave me a heads-up on his group's Facebook presence ("The Highgate Vampire Society") in an e-mail dated Tuesday, 21 April 2009 9:55:38 PM. The e-mail I sent him prior to that (Tue, 21 Apr 2009 7:46 am) concerned answers to a batch of questions I'm awaiting his answers to.

Interestingly, the date given on the Facebook page for his Society's founding ("1996") contradicts the account given by Marc Mullen:

David Farrant, president of the British Psychic and Occult Society, founded the Highgate Vampire Society in 1997.

Oh, and David's own website:

But in 1997, following a mass of speculation about the so-called Highgate Vampire and misguided controversy that had come to surround his name - not least because this had spread to a world wide interest in the case - David Farrant decided to form the Highgate Vampire Society, its purpose (as he said at the time) . . . “One of our main aims will be to become a repository for all the oral history and written data concerning the Highgate Vampire”.

And now, contrast this raison d'être with the one found on the Facebook page:

The Highgate Vampire Society (THVS) was established in 1996 to investigate ongoing reports of any unexplained phenomenon in and around Highgate Cemetery, in North London.

Hmm...

Next, we have the Vampire Research Society.

It outranks David's group of "friends" (40 members against 77, as of this writing), but, of course, there's not much else you'd find on it, that you couldn't find from the VRS's website. Hell, even its "blurb" is taken from there.

Apart from three links to books available for sale (accessible via its links page) by the VRS (can't say Manchester ain't an opportunist!), it also features links to blogs (Vampire Research Society, Journal of a Vampirologist and Did A Wampyr Walk In Highgate? [no, not my one]) by the decidedly suspect TFO. You'd think Manchester (the site's administrator) would would to step back from such connections. Not embrace them!

But, there's also another blog featured on the VRS's Facebook group links page. One I haven't seen before: In the Shadow of the Vampire (subtitled, "The Life of a Lack-lustre Luciferian Layabout"). Is it a mere coincidence that it shares the same primary title as David's autobiography?

Mmm, I doubt it.

Oh, and it also "borrows" the screencap I took for "Farrant on YouTube".

Did I mention that the blog is attributed to a guy who died in 1913? Its author bills himself as "Arminius Vámbéry". Nice and subtle there. Anyway, I think we'll look more into that blog, later.

Oh, by the way, if you join either of those Facebook groups, you do so at your own peril! If you find that your personal info has or hasn't been, possibly, used against you, can't say you weren't warned!