The Church vs. the Undead, Pt. 4

We've had a peek at the views of Montague Summers and his "link" to Seán Manchester and the Vampire Research Society. Now we'll see what Augustin Calmet, and other notables within the Church, had to say about vampires.

Few authors, apart from Summers himself, are so closely associated with vampire studies than French Benedictine monk, Augustin Calmet (1672-1757). Renown for his Biblical exegesis, highly regarded as a scholar, yet he came under heavy fire from Voltaire and other eighteenth century philosophers for giving serious coverage to vampiristic phenomena.

His work on the subject was a best-seller. It went through three editions: Dissertations sur les apparitions des anges, des démons & des esprits, et sur les revenans et vampires de Hongrie, de Boheme, de Moravie, & de Silesie (1746), Dissertations sur les apparitions des esprits, et sur les vampires ou les revenans de Hongrie, de Moravie, & c. (1749) and Traité sur les apparitions des esprits et sur les vampires, ou les revenans de Hongrie, de Moravie, & c. (1751). What isn't often noted about these updates, is that they were marked by an increasing skepticism towards vampire belief.

Massimo Introvigne (b. 1955), the Italian director of the Transylvanian Society of Dracula and staunch Catholic, is assured that despite the cautious approach Calmet used in his books, he was far from a believer:

Personally, I would argue that Calmet did not really believe in the existence of vampires even in 1746, even if he was still undecided, and his writing style might have easily misled his readers. Many of his chapters include length quotations from other authors, manuscripts, anonymous works, newspapers and journals, without any comment. The work was, more than anything else, an anthology of contradictory statements, which should by no means be regarded as representing Calmet's own opinions ("Father" 606).

Selectively (and deceptively) representing one's source is a tactic the VRS uses in its "Vampirological Testimony", as we saw in Part 2 of this series. They even manage confuse the title of Calmet's first edition with its last (Fig. 1):

Fig. 1 The VRS incorrectly cites Calmet's 1746 book.

So what did Calmet actually have to say on the matter? Fortunately, for those of us who can't read French, Calmet's work has been published in English. The third edition, Traité, was translated by Rev. Henry Christmas and re-titled The Phantom World: or, The Philosophy of Spirits, Apparitions, & c. (London: Richard Bentley, 1850) in two volumes. Thanks to Google Books, you can read and download both of 'em online (See: Vol. I; Vol. II). The second volume's the one concerned with vampires. Calmet's views on the matter don't get any more clearer than this:

That the oupires, or vampires, or revenans of Moravia, Hungary, Poland, &c., of which such extraordinary things are related, so detailed, so circumstantial, invested with all the necessary formalities to make them believed, and to prove them even judicially before judges, and at the most exact and severe tribunals; that all which is said of their return to life; of their apparition, and the confusion which they cause in the towns and country places; of their killing people by sucking their blood, or in making a sign to them to follow them; that all those things are mere illusions, and the consequence of a heated and prejudiced imagination. They cannot cite any witness who is sensible, grave and unprejudiced, who can testify that he has seen, touched, interrogated these ghosts, who can affirm the reality of their return, and of the effects which are attributed to them.
I shall not deny that some persons may have died of fright, imagining that their near relatives called them to the tomb; that others have thought they heard some one rap at their doors, worry them, disturb them, in a word, occasion them mortal maladies; and that these persons judicially interrogated, have replied that they had seen and heard what their panic-struck imagination had represented to them. But I require unprejudiced witnesses, free from terror and disinterested, quite calm, who can affirm upon serious reflection, that they have seen, heard, and interrogated these vampires, and who have been the witnesses of their operations ; and I am persuaded that no such witness will be found (II: 240-1).

Testimony indeed. So how about other Church authorities not listed on the VRS page? Did any uphold belief in vampires? Let's go with Giuseppe Davanzati, another popularly cited eighteenth century Catholic authority. He's best-known for Dissertazione sopra i vampiri (1774; 1789). Here's what Introvigne has to say about his work:

Discussions between Cardinal Schrattembach, Bishop of Olmutz (a believer), and Monsignor Giuseppe Davanzati (1665-1755), Archbishop of Trani and later Cardinal (a skeptic), also led the latter to prepare between 1738-43 a report that, as we shall see, went on to play a crucial role in persuading the Vatican to condemn any, and all, belief in vampires as superstition ("Father" 600).

Yeah, that's right. The Vatican. Just in case it's not clear how significant this condemnation is, let me remind you of the authorial role it has in the Catholic Church:

The Holy See (Latin: Sancta Sedes) is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and speaks for the whole Catholic Church. It is also recognized by other subjects of international law as a sovereign entity, headed by the Pope, with which diplomatic relations can be maintained.

And speaking of Popes:

By 1749, Rome had also spoken. In 1740, Prospero Lambertini became Pope and took the namre of Benedict XIV; he was regarded as a specialist of apparitions and other supernatural occurences without parallel in the history of the church. His book on the subject is still quoted and used by the Catholic Church in the 20th century when allegedly supernatural events occur. In the first edition of his book, published in 1734, Lambertini did not deal with vampires. In the second edition, however, published in 1749 in Rome after he had become Pope Benedict XIV, he added two pages on vampires, pronouncing them to be "fallacious fictions of human fantasy". He followed this with an apostolic letter to the Archbishop of Leopolis urging him to vigorously "suppress this superstition [of vampires]". "Tracing the source of it you may easily discover that there are priests promoting these stories in order to persuade the gullible populace to pay good money for exorcisms and Masses" ("Father" 608).

So, despite Manchester's insistence that the "Catholic Church has always accepted the existence of such things and the need to deal with them by way of exorcism", I'm yet to see any convincing proof to back this claim. The VRS's "Vampirological Testimony" is useless in this regard.

As you've seen, major Catholic authorities, even a Pope, have condemned belief in vampires as "superstition". The small circle of believers that Manchester does cite are partial to the VRS, or, in Summers' case, of dubious connection to the Church itself.

What are we to make of Manchester's claim? Without further proof, without further citations indicating the widespread belief he alleges, I think we can borrow Benedict XIV's words and mark Manchester's statement as the "fallacious fictions of human fantasy".

The Church vs. the Undead, Pt. 3

I've whittled down the VRS's so-called "vampirological testimony" to two people: Augustin Calmet and Montague Summers. They also bring our initial peek into Catholic views on vampires, full circle.

Let's get Summers out of the way, first. He was an English Catholic clergyman, although some doubt the validity of his orders. He wrote two companion tomes on the undead: The Vampire: His Kith and Kin (1928) and The Vampire in Europe (1929).

Unlike most of the non-VRS-affiliated sources incorporated into the Society's "Vampirological Testimony" page, Summers actually did believe in the existence of vampires. In his second book, he even hints at a conspiracy of sorts:

Of recent years the histories of Vampirism in England are perhaps few, but this not so much because they do not occur as rather that they are carefully hushed up and stifled (115).

By whom, he doesn't elaborate. Nor does he give further proof for his allegation. Nonetheless, he was a highly significant influence on Seán Manchester, who establishes an affinity with the late cleric:

I, like wise, began in the Church of England and converted to Roman Catholicism before entering holy orders in an autocephalous Catholic Church ~ as, of course, did Summers. We were both ordained within the context of the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church and, as Catholic Bishops, led self-governing and independent jurisdictions which held authority in Great Britain.

As I mentioned, the validity of Summers' orders have been questioned. So have Manchester's. But the Bishop also admits that his primary knowledge on Summers is derived from Summers, himself:

My appreciation of Summers’ work is a matter of public record. Yet I have no knowledge of his private life, or his degree of involvement in esotericism about which rumours abound. I do not question his ordinations, as have some commentators, but I am not qualified to access him beyond his published works.

Little is known about Summers' private life, because he gave away so little of it, himself. His posthumously published autobiography, The Galanty Show (1980), left out a lotta detail. This void has left open rumours (?) about his supposed involvement in the occult and possible membership in the Order of Chaeronea, "a secret society for the cultivation of a homosexual moral, ethical, cultural and spiritual ethos." David Hilliard's essay explores this angle a little further:

A fellow member of the Order of Chaeronea and a writer of Uranian verse was Alphonsus Joseph-Mary Augustus Montague Summers. As an Anglo- Catholic he was ordained a deacon in the Church of England before being received into the Roman Catholic church in 1909. Rejected from training for the Catholic priesthood (though it is probable that he subsequently received priest’s orders through a schismatical source), he became a school teacher and antiquarian scholar, an author of voluminous works on Restoration drama, the Gothic novel, witchcraft, and demonology, and an active member of the British Society for the Study of Sex Psychology (16).

One of the sources for these charges is Brocard Sewell (1912-2000), one of Summers' biographers. It'd be surprising if Manchester wasn't aware of this stuff. Especially considering that he and Sewell, at one point, shared correspondence:

It has been assumed that Father Brocard Sewell and I were well acquainted. This is not the case, however; though a robust correspondence between us was occasionally entered upon; one might even say erupted. The topic of Montague Summers and, indeed, vampires was never too distant.

Of course, Sewell's coverage of this hidden angle of Summers' life is omitted from VRS coverage of the late biographer. All the same, the Bishop self-appointedly anoints himself as the heir of Summers' legacy: "Bishop Montague Summers died of a heart attack in 1948 and his mantle awaited the arrival of another." And just in case it's not clear who "another" is, the VRS elaborates:

Montague Summers died of a heart attack in 1948 and his mantle awaited the arrival in London of Seán Manchester who would there establish himself as the other celebrated vampirologist of the twentieth century.

The VRS's page on Devendra P. Varma (1923-1994) claims that Manchester had to assumed this "mantle" after the death of their Honorary Vice-President: "His text The Gothic Flame was his way of picking up the torch from Montague Summers, before the flame passed to Seán Manchester in October 1994."

We're presented with yet another spiritual lineage, bordering on reincarnation, at this point, when the VRS's Montague Summers page even claims that Manchester holds a Church position previously occupied by Summers:

Summers entered the Old Catholic priesthood in 1913 and, towards the end of his life, was elevated to the episcopate by Hugh George de Willmott Newman, Archbishop of Glastonbury ~ an office and See currently held by Seán Manchester.

A strange assertion, indeed, in light of Manchester not questioning Summers' "ordinations" and not knowing him "beyond his published works". The Database of Autocephalous Bishops also notes that Summers' ordination has "been disputed". More on autocephaly here.

Lastly, a brief word on Summers' connection to another VRS affiliate. Peter Underwood, (b. 1923) their Life-Member and Associate, recounts an interesting tale in The Vampire’s Bedside Companion: The Amazing World of Vampires in Fact and Fiction (London: Leslie Frewin, 1975), pp. 69-74. He claims that Summers bestowed him with an anti-vampire talisman. One Summers used against an actual vampire in Southern Transylvania, 1909. Yet, strangely, there's no mention of this incident in Summers' own vampire books.

Despite Summers' ecclesiastical credentials being up in the air, did his viewpoints reflect widespread Catholic attitudes to vampires? We'll take a look in the final installment when we examine what Calmet, and other prominent Catholic writers on the subject, had to say.

The Church vs. the Undead, Pt. 2

I looked into the impartiality of so-called "vampirological testimony" courted by Seán Manchester and the Vampire Research Society (VRS). Now we further examine the "testimony" of non-affiliated sources.

The remaining eight of the thirteen sources used within the VRS's "Vampirological Testimony" page are thankfully devoid of association to the organisation. In fact, they're commonly cited in works concerning vampires. Let's begin with the "testimony" of Leo Allaci aka Leo Allatius (c. 1586-1669).

A noted Catholic scholar, he's best known in vampire circles for his 1645 work, De Graecorum hodie quorundam opinationibus, which discussed Greek belief in a type of revenant called the bulcolaca. You might know it better as the vrykolakas. However, I should also point out that this subject only takes up a certain section of the book, namely, chapters 12-17.

Funny thing is, Allatius wasn't actually writing about vampires. At least, not the concept of them propagated by the VRS. After all, the vampire of folklore was a Slavic revenant-type unknown to Greeks of the time. This is notable by the fact that Allatius' account does not mention the bulcolaca, or its variants, drinking blood. Nor are common tropes, like warding them off with garlic, staking the corpse, etc., present. Instead, it's described as a "dead body, possessed by the devil, which rises black and swollen from the dead and roams the streets bringing disease and death." They were destroyed through cremation.

Allatius describes another similar revenant, the tympaniaios, which is a "body prevented from decaying by an excommunication from the church." They were "cured" by a priest absolving them, not staking them through the heart. It's this type of revenant that Allatius professed belief in. Not vampires. Hats off to Karen Hartnup's 'On the Beliefs of the Greeks': Leo Allatios and Popular Orthodoxy (Leiden: Brill Academic, 2004), p. 30 for the info. Oh, and I should also mention that the concept of the excommunicated, undecayed dead is primarily an Orthodox Church doctrine, not something the Catholic Church generally advocates.

Next up, there's Johann Heinrich Zopf (1691-1774), who the VRS page renders as "John Heinrich Zopfius". He's best known for his 1733 work, Dissertatio de vampyris Serviensibus. Admittedly, he did believe in vampires, acknowledging that "the devil could indeed animate the bodies of evil beings." See: Massimo Introvigne, "Antoine Faivre: Father of Contemporary Vampire Studies", Ésotérisme, Gnoses & Imaginaire Symbolique: Mélanges offerts à Antoine Faivre (Leuven: Peeters, 2001), p. 603.

It should be noted, however, that in spite of Manchester's claim that the Catholic Church accepted widespread vampire belief amongst its clergy, Zopf was actually an Evangelical Lutheran. Yep, a Protestant.

Now, back to Catholics. In this case, Joseph Pitton de Tournefort (1656-1708), who studied at a Jesuit convent, but became a botanist after his father's death. The VRS page draws upon an 1741 edition of his work, Relations d’un Voyage du Levant. The work was first published, posthumously, in 1717, and translated into English the following year.

It's best-known for the author's account of the spectacle surrounding a supposedly restless corpse on the Greek island of Mykonos. Once again, we're dealing with a vrykolakas. The inclusion of de Tournefort's account in the VRS's "vampirological testimony" was a hell of a gamble. It'd only make sense if they were banking on readers not being unfamiliar with the rest of what de Tournefort wrote on the subject.

Time and time again, he refutes the villager's claims of witnessing extraordinary phenomena around the exhumed body. It's hard to get more demonstrative of de Tournefort's dim view than this passage, as quoted in Paul Barber's Vampires, Burial, and Death: Folklore and Reality (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1988):

In so general a prepossession, we chose not to say anything. They would have treated us not just as fools but as infidels. How is one to bring an entire population back to its senses? Those who believed in their soul that we doubted the truth of the matter, came to us to reproach us for our incredulity and claimed to prove–by authoritative passages taken from the Shield of Faith of Père Richard, a Jesuit missionary–that there was such a thing as a vrykolakas. He was a Latin [Catholic -ed.], they said, and therefore you should believe him. Nor should we have got anywhere by denying the conclusion (23).

And this:

As for the Turks [Greece was under Ottoman rule at the time -ed.], it is certain that, at their first visit, they did not fail to make the community of Mykonos pay for the blood of this poor devil [the alleged vrykolakas -ed.], who became in every way an abomination and horror to his country. And after that, is it not necessary to point out that the Greeks of today are not the great Greeks, and that there is among them only ignorance and superstition! (24)

Hardly a glowing endorsement for the existence of vampires, is it?

And speaking of superstition, that's the same term Emily Gerard (1849-1905) used to describe Romanian belief in the undead. In fact, it was incorporated into the title of a July 1885 article she wrote for The Nineteenth Century. Was was it called? You guessed it: "Transylvanian Superstitions." It was later incorporated into her book, The Land Beyond the Forest (1888). No wonder the VRS chose to cite this relatively innocuous title, instead.

It also makes you wonder why they chose to cite James Frazer (1854-1941). His 1934 book, The Fear of the Dead in Primitive Religions isn't written as a validation of "primitive" beliefs, but, rather, examines them from an anthropological and mythological viewpoint. He even personally believed that "human belief progressed through three stages: primitive magic, replaced by religion, in turn replaced by science." A strange choice of source, indeed, for an organisation presided over by a Bishop.

I admit that I haven't read Jean Marigny's (b. 1939) La Tradition Legendaire du Vampire en Europe (1987), another VRS source. I can't even speak or write in French. Ah well. Fortunately, I have a copy of one of his English-translated works! So, going by the contents of Vampires: The World of the Undead (London: Thames and Hudson, 1994), I think it's a pretty safe bet that Marigny doesn't believe in vampires, either:

The specific attribute of the vampire that sets it apart from other supernatural creatures of the night is that, to exist, it must drink the blood of living beings. The vampire myth was unquestioningly born of fantasies linked to blood, that precious life force whose loss could lead to death. The origins of these fantasies can be found in the most ancient reaches of human history (14).

Now we're down to two more sources on the VRS's "Vampirological Testimony" page: eighteenth century vampire authority, Augustin Calmet (1672-1757) and twentieth century occultist aficionado, Montague Summers (1880-1948). Both of 'em, Catholics. Will they attest to Manchester's claim that vampires are incorporated into Catholic doctrine? Wait and see!

The Church vs. the Undead, Pt. 1

To justify vampire hunting as part of his exorcistate role, Seán Manchester sometimes claims sanction from the Church. Does the Church actually encourage vampire belief? What have other Church members said about the undead?

During his interview with Andrew Gough, Manchester was asked "What position has the Catholic Church taken, both publicly and privately, with respect to your work?" He replied thusly:

The Catholic Church has always accepted the existence of such things and the need to deal with them by way of exorcism. I would only refer today, however, to the traditional wing of the Catholic Church in this respect and not the modernist, liberal elements who struggle to believe in the supernatural and question the very essence of Holy Scripture.

Oh really? Interesting. More on that, later. Meanwhile, the Vampire Research Society (VRS) website also incorporates a page on "Vampirological Testimony" featuring thirteen quotes from certain notables on the undead. Let's break these down a bit, shall we? Firstly, it's imperative to reveal that five of these quotes are derived from people who've had some sort of affiliation with the VRS.

The first such "testimony" comes from Life-Member and Associate, Peter Underwood. He wrote and edited The Vampire’s Bedside Companion: The Amazing World of Vampires in Fact and Fiction (London: Leslie Frewin, 1975). It's the same book in which Manchester contributed his account of the Highgate Vampire, on pp. 81-121.

Next up, we have Elizabeth Wojdyla, an alleged victim of the Highgate Vampire. At the time, she was Keith Maclean's girlfriend. Who's he? Oh, just the VRS's former Regional Area Secretary (Fig. 1). He's since been replaced by Robert Finch (Fig. 2).

Fig. 1 A cached page confirms the identity of the VRS's former Regional Area Secretary.

Fig. 2 The current Regional Area Secretary can be viewed on the VRS's homepage.

The next testimony comes from Gothic scholar, Devendra P. Varma. That is, the VRS's Honorary Vice-President, who died in 1994. Interestingly, Jeanne Keyes Youngson, the President and founder of Vampire Empire, alleges that Varma was critical of the VRS, when he visited her Dracula Museum in New York.

The last two of the VRS-affiliated quotes come from the same source. That's right, the VRS's own president President and founder: Sean Manchester himself. In this case, the "testimony" is take from two of his books, that is, The Highgate Vampire (1985, 1991) and The Vampire Hunter’s Handbook (1997).

Before we proceed onto the next part of this investigation, let's get a clear definition on exactly what "testimony" is, in this context. Obviously, the quotes used on the VRS's "Vampirological Testimony" page, are intended to indicate a demonstrated belief in vampires of the people cited, thereby justifying their promotion of the reality of the undead. Thus, the quotes serve as "testimonials". So, let's say that testimony is "is evidence provided by a competent witness."

In the next installment, I'll examine the "testimony" of the other eight people featured on the page and we'll soon get to the heart of the Church's views on vampires.

Don't Ask, Just Buy the Book

I've touched on certain similarities between the opposing figureheads of the Highgate Vampire Case and their sympathisers. I've also confronted David about his hucksterism. But another parallel can be drawn there, too.

Dave's not the only one with a tendency to hawk his wares online. An Unexplained Mysteries forum member named Sno shared his thoughts on the Highgate Vampire Case in the wake of posts made by fellow member, VampireResearchSociety. Here's what he had to say:

IMO it sounds like a group of people got together and made up this story about The Highgate Vampire and copyrighted the material so you would have to buy the book to learn their "truth". Every time VRS is asked to show proof we are referred to the book, hmmm pay us for the information that only we have, I’m not thinking so.

If there was such an event happening wouldn't more than just a select group of people be able to get some information about it? There are accounts from people who have lived near there that have stated that the only things happening in the cemetery were some Satanists/Occultists hanging out. Maybe the people “performing” the exorcisms were the Satanists/Occultists?

All in all, this entire thing sounds fishy.

It's good to know that despite the hostility evinced by the opposing sides towards each other, that they resort to similar methods to get their "message" across. It proves that they have something in common, after all.

DAWWIH Branches Out

I was having a browse through the Highate Vampire Society and Vampire Research Society Facebook groups, when I thought "Hmm, I want a piece of that."

So, I've gone and made myself a Facebook profile and started up a Did a Wampyr Walk in Highgate? Facebook group!

Try not to get too excited.

Thus far, I've added Dave, Manchester, Arminius, Patsy, Alex, Carol and David Carter-Green to join my Facebook profile. Let's see if they do. Hahaha!

I've also joined the HVS and VRS Facebook groups, too. Let's see how long I last. In the meantime, here's my first posting to the VRS:


And here's my first posting on to the HVS:

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Hunchback

As I've previously pointed out, VRS member "Arminius Vámbéry" has no qualm in making light of David's deformity.

One of his Hallowe'en entries, "The Hunchback", says

The Hunchback was born on the border of Crouch End and Highgate, London, on 23 January 1946, some believe (though this is unconfirmed) at six minutes past six o'clock in the morning. It was discovered he was foetally-hunched.

So why does Vámbéry keep his Farrant-fixiated blog hidden?

If you access his profile, you'll see (as of this writing) only one entry under "My Blogs":

So why doesn't he disclose The Hunchback of Muswell Hill on his list?

Is it because he's ashamed of it? Is there a more sinister reason? And, if that blog is hidden...how many others might he have tucked away?

Can you believe that the VRS actually "hires" people like this?

Making Fun of Hunchbacks

John Baldry's Cat discusses one of the latest anti-Farrant blogs issued from the Vampire Research Society.

It's called The Hunchback of Muswell Hill and was created by Arminius Vámbéry, who obviously has no sensitivity towards people who suffer from kyphosis.

This, from a guy who bills himself as

a trained and seasoned researcher of the arcane, the paranormal, and especially those dark areas of humanity where few dare to venture, namely vampirism and demonolatry.

More Clues to TFO's Identity

In "Dennisologist?", I related some clues that point to TFO's (aka Gothic aka Vampirologist aka Demonologist) identity.

Well, I've just uncovered some more, courtesy of Bloody Feather (BF), an online "community of dark adult writers."

As we've established, "Vampirologist" is one of TFO's several usernames.

As it happens, it's also the username of someone registered with BF.

A male, from England, who lists 6 VRS-related message boards and 4 links to sites on the VRS webpage as his websites.

He also describes himself as, "International Secretary of the Vampire Research Society". He reasserts his vocation in this blog entry for his BF journal.

The VRS's homepage says that Dennis Crawford fills this role.

TFO also happens to be the founder of the copy-n-paste VRS blog.

Coincidentally enough, Dennis' BF profile status lists him as an "Harasser".

Something You Should Know About Arminius Vámbéry (VRS)

This quote from Arminius Vámbéry's MySpace blog entry, "Something You Should Know About Steve Genier (SOPS)" brought a smile to my face:

Much nonsense is claimed about the Highgate Vampire case on the internet by those who copy and paste manufactured twaddle from elsewhere.

It's hard to tell if he's taking the piss or not. There doesn't seem to be a hint of irony in what he's saying, even though he's pretty much referencing himself.

For those not in the know, I've previously exposed Arminius as a blatant plagiarist.

He also happens to be one of the admins for the VRS's Facebook page.

I enjoyed reading his unabashed statement so much, that I've now incorporated into this blog's very first tagline:

If the VRS can keep producing comedians like Arminius, then maybe they're still in with a chance!

Straight from the Cubicles

It seems that the Lone Stranger and his Cubicle Posse have settled into their new surroundings quite nicely.

They've even garnered a mention on Eric Nuzum's blog. He's the author of The Dead Travel Fast: Stalking Vampires from Nosferatu to Count Chocula (2007).

Of particular interest, is Lone's coverage of the VRS Facebook page:

I guess the old boy is watching from somewhere, but is still too much of a coward to post. However, finding himself thoroughly rumbled on Facebook, he’s changed his share link photo to something more generic and pestered Blogger until the altered cover image was taken down.

The picture originally featured on the VRS Facebook page was an inexplicably edited version of the cover of Sean Manchester's The Highgate Vampire (1985).

As Lone notes, it's since been changed.

In my comment to Lone's blog entry, I mentioned that the image they've changed it to, is a colourised version (?) of William Mortensen's "The Vampire" (1936). I've previously dealt with that picture elsewhere.

And, last but not least, Lone has also chronicled the strange "disappearance" of Demonologist from his blog. See: "Monday Morning Clean Up & the Demonologist Vanishes" and "The Demonologist/Sean Disappears – Rumors Fly".

Will Deme surface again? Will he be wearing a new disguise? Only time will tell...

Be Wary of Buying VRS-Related Material from eBay

Lone Stranger rides high again with "Is Bishop Manchester Trafficking with Satanists?".

It tells the tale of an anonymous purchaser who bought a copy of Sean Manchester's The Vampire Hunter's Handbook (1997) on eBay. The buyer noted that the seller was also flogging occult and witchcraft-related materials.

Now here's the twist in the tale:

When my book arrived, though, I was taken aback when I saw the return address was Gothic Press - shipped from Bishop Manchester's home in Bournemouth! Is the Bishop aware of this? If so, how can he deride David Farrant so for having connections with the occult? This seller is auctioning off complete Satanic altars!

You might remember that the Bishop was given a letter of laicisation by Rev. Illtyd Thomas, for not disclosing his previous involvement in the occult.

The VRS have also launched their counter-claims against him, too, but that's another story.

Anyway, back to this eBay thing.

I must confess that I received an e-mail (Sunday, 1 March 2009 9:56:01 AM) from a buyer with a tale extremely similar to the one recounted by Mr. Stranger's informant.

They (I'm going to keep their identity private) had purchased a first edition copy of The Highgate Vampire (1985). Much to their surprise, the book was shipped from, yep, Manchester's address.

And funnily enough, the seller was the same bloody person recounted in Mr. Stranger's story!

Not only that, but I also ended up receiving photos of the package (which I won't repost here, because of the address shown on them), as proof.

The buyer also offered me a word of caution (Tuesday, 3 March 2009 11:57:26 AM):

Beware of Amazon UK, too. Sean sells under several names there, sometimes underselling the prices on his own website!

But, let's get back to the purpose of this blog entry. Why would I advise people to be wary?

This is why.

The VRS and its affiliates have a history of harassment and distribution of personal information if one is critical of them or their illustrious leader, Sean Manchester. Can you imagine what would happen if they got their hands on your home address?

Just be cautious.

Now We're Getting Somewhere!

This is a follow-up to "Slouching Toward Disclosure".

Here is "Demonologist"'s response concerning his affiliation to the VRS (despite previously only referring to himself as a "personal acquaintance" of Manchester:

I have never denied that I am a member of the Vampire Research Society.

How we decide to print material is our decision, not the decision of some disgruntled youth in Australia who is having a hissy fit.

Never denied it? Never disclosed it, either.

Until now.

So, this is indeed a first.

The reference to "printing" material, concerns his practice of copy-n-pasting huge tracts of VRS text - without attribution - and posting them on public media. A similar practice is carried out by another shady VRS member.

Now, all we need is a name for this mysterious individual, and we could really get somewhere!

Slouching Toward Disclosure

Demonologist has been getting awfully close to disclosing his identity.

In a recent comment to Lone Stranger's "Feud Watch!" blog entry, he writes:

If, as the Aussie "Overseer" says, my "blogs consist of copy-n-pasted VRS material" that could possibly be because I am a VRS member and have consent to use such material.

Yet, as I pointed out in my response:

If you do indeed have consent to regurgitate such material...why is this not disclosed anywhere in your blogs?

And, more importantly, what is the point of you regurgitating such things...if it's already on the bloody web? Why not just link to it? Provide commentary...something that would justify your blog's existence apart from being part of a VRS propaganda drive.

The response to that should be interesting.

And quite possibly evasive.

In Defence of Blinking

"Demonologist" recently posted a response in Net Curtains Lurkers' "Crazed Sean on YouTube" post concerning my "What's in a Blink?" blog entry.

Indeed, his response made it almost seem as if...he was there!: defence

He was facing strong sunlight when interviewed which might make anyone blink rapidly when dazzled by the sun for a duration, but, due to his eye condition, Keith Maclean frequently blinks rapidly whether he is listening, speaking or viewing.

Uncanny.

When he was asked this by "American Psycho":

Ok, Mr. "Demonologist", one might equally ask if you are also an aquaintance of Keith McLean's, if you are so familiar with his eye-blinking habit..?

He said:

I happen to be acquainted with Keith Maclean, not that it is any business of yours, sufficient to be aware of his impairment.

It's amazing how many "acquaintances" this man has! Including, of course, Sean Manchester:

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

However, one must regard it as a bit strange that a mere "acquaintance" would also be given the task of "writing" the VRS's copy-n-paste blog. (See his profile).

And it's no mere unofficial fan site. After all, the VRS includes it as a link on their "Highgate Vampire Domain" page.

Oh, and Sean Manchester, himself, happens to be one of its followers...

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".

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?

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!

A History of Societies

Vampire Research Society
You can have a read of a timeline posted on www.Vampirewebsite.net, regarding the formation of the Vampire Research Society.

In contradiction of David's recent claims, the timeline establishes a link to the British Occult Society, allegedly founded in 1860.

The VRS also has a page covering its history, incorporating an article called "Lone Vampire Hunter Caught on the Moonlight Trail of Highgate Vampire" (The Sun, 19 August 1970), in which David Farrant's name has been censored. For some reason.

The Highgate Vampire Society
You can read about The Highgate Vampire Society on David's webpage. It is also given coverage by Marc Mullen in "Vampire Active Again, Claims Occult Expert" (Ham & High, 02 September 2005).