Don's Inquiry Continued Again

For the previous installment of Don's Inquiry, click here.

As I later found out, one of the photographs that had been excised was a picture of the “vampire fang marks” on Ms. Wojdyla’s throat. Then of course was the death of “Lusia” by vampire attack, her internment and “resurrection” as a vampire creature. (And let us not forget, Manchester claims she turned into a giant spider vampire before he staked her.)

Reading the book, I was struck by the tone of Manchester’s prose. It was“almost” like reading Bram Stoker’s epic “Dracula.” Allow me to give an example. On page 172 of the second edition of “The Highgate Vampire”, here Manchester and “Lusia’s” sister “Anne” are standing at “Lusia’s” grave site.

Eventually I joined her at the graveside where several vessels containing holy water stood amongst wild garlic and various other impediments. Slowly she found her voice.

“What are these things doing here?” she asked, her eyes glazed with grief and anger.

“I believe that you know the answer.”

“I want you to tell me,” she shouted. “This is what you used all these years ago to protect my sister. Why use them now? How can you protect her from anything now?”

“It is too late to save Lusia from harm, but we must protect others.”

“What do you mean others?”

“The night is full of her voice calling me,” I heard myself saying as I stared with moist eyes at the lonely tomb. “Others have been attacked. There have been fatalities and recently a child …..”

“This is madness,” she interrupted. “I won’t listen to any more.”

Okay, sounds like good advice to me, but still if “Lusia” had died under mysterious circumstances then like any good cop I wanted to see a copy of her death certificate. However to do that, I had to know her real name, and there was no real name available.

I had a lot on my plate then. We had gone from publishing UFO Magazine every two months to publishing every month. I was still doing radio, radio interviews and occasionally television appearances, while trying to finish my book. My novel was finally published in 2004 by Gateway Publishing to good reviews.

This was a ton of weight removed from my shoulders and I could now concentrate on other things. Because I could not locate a name for “Lusia” I again decided to let the Highgate case rest, thinking the entire thing was a huge “put-on” by Manchester and his cronies. I must state however, I still found the case intriguing.

Along about 2006 I was approached by several film people about the possibility of making a major motion picture out of my novel “Past Sins.” Now, if you are not familiar with how THIS process works, well that is a subject for an entirely new “paper.” (And I will add that the film process is still ongoing.) I was feeling more and more withdrawn from UFO research, really hating the downward slide of sensational and unproven dreck that was becoming what all of UFO research seemed to be. I wrote an entire paper on my leaving UFO research and if you care to read my reasons go to, http://www.ufowatchdog.com/ufo_fog.pdf or “My 20 Years in the UFO Fog”. I was still doing my latest radio show “Dark Matters” and I would hit those weird stories on the show trying to use my logic as a counter-balance to the topics covered.

I also trolled the “net” on subjects that interest me and last year I came across a podcast titled “Worlds [sic] of the Unexplained” hosted by two interviewers named Jay Scott [J. Scott -ed.] and Trent Lackey (sp?) [this spelling is correct -ed.]. I found two shows that I immediately downloaded, the first with “Bishop Sean Manchester” and “David Farrant.” These interviews of course were not done at the same time because of the feud between Manchester and Farrant. (As I later found out in excruciating detail from all the parties involved.)

I listened with great and detailed interest to both interviews but it was the Farrant interview that caused me to have my “Ah Ha!!” moment. He identified “Lusia” on the show as one “Jacqueline Cooper” and I finally seemed to have her identity. [David's interview for World of the Unexplained, in which he makes this claim, can be downloaded here - ed.] Now my next step was obvious, locate the death certificate if she in fact was dead.

I wrote to my colleague John Spencer in the UK with this new information on “Lusia” and gave him my information. I asked him if he could make some inquiries on my behalf and do a document search for a death certificate. John told me he would do what he could.

Now, I was a published author, and any author will tell you that they do all they can to get the name of their product out there. Past Sins is on Amazon dot com and as I had mentioned earlier I have received good reviews on the book. I was on a “horror chat forum” on Amazon and gently pushing my book. (And as I mentioned, the book is vampire fiction.) In the course of the chat I asked a generic question if anyone was familiar with the Highgate vampire case. I proceeded to mention that as a former law enforcement officer I had always been very curious about this case and the actual identities of the alleged victims in Sean Manchester’s book “The Highgate Vampire.” I also mentioned that after years of being unable to ID the actual identity of “Lusia”, that I had stumbled upon a radio podcast show where David Farrant was interviewed and he mentioned her identity as “Jacqueline Cooper.” I also said,

“During the course of my study, I came across something called the "Highgate Vampire" case that supposedly took place in the UK. This case involved what wasdescribed in some quarters as an actual "vampire" haunting, and a lot of characters named in the investigation were still around.

The case began about 1968-69 at the Highgate Cemetery in north London, and the person most associated with the "Highgate Vampire" is a man named Sean Manchester. Later, after a several year investigation, Manchester claims he staked the vampire.

Now, I will be the first person to admit that on the surface ... this comes across as sheer lunacy. However Manchester is now a Bishop in the "Old Catholic Church" apparently recognized in the UK, and he has written several books on the case including "The Highgate Vampire" published by Gothic Press ... ISBN 1 872486 01 0. When I was writing "Past Sins", in chapter 5, I mentioned this alleged case in general terms. Have any of you heard of the Highgate case and what is your opinion concerning whether there could be a kernel of truth to the legends concerning the "undead?"

It was only a day or so later and I was checking my Yahoo email and I saw a note to me from someone called “FoBSM”. For some reason that struck me as familiar, but I had not yet finished my first cup of coffee and was still a bit fuzzy. I opened it and read,

To be continued...