An interesting find

Courtesy of Carl T. Ford

Until recently, I thought Sean Manchester's earliest written account of the Highgate Vampire was 'The haunting of Hell House' and his contribution to Peter Underwood's The vampire's bedside companion (both 1975).

That is, until a serendipitous eBay search for 'Highgate vampire' by Redmond McWilliams turned up a startling find: Witchcraft, vol. 2, no. 8 (1973). 'THIS IS ONE OF THE MORE COLLECTIBLE ISSUES AND EXTREMELY HARD TO COME BY,' reads its description, 'AS IT FEATURES AN ARTICLE ON VAMPIRES, INCLUDING THE HIGHGATE VAMPIRE AND THE OCCULT BY SEAN MANCHESTER INCLUDING A BEARDED SEAN MANCHESTER'. The issue's on sale for £75.

Witchcraft (1971–1974) was New Witchcraft's antecedent—the latter published 'The haunting of Hell House'; David Farrant's 'Invoking the vampire' appeared in the same issue. As Tom Brinkmann notes in his not-safe-for-work-or-children article, magazines like Witchcraft were basically 'adult slicks', that 'picked up the satanic/devilish theme' popular at the time.

The content of Manchester and Farrant's articles were later subsumed by their respective self-published material, The Highgate vampire (1985; 1991) and Beyond the Highgate vampire (1991; 1992; 1997), respectively. Both expose the subsequent revisions to their accounts, effectively illustrating the importance of collating contemporaneous material on this case is.

But this find—and I can tell ya, it's a doozy—is now the earliest-known account of the Highgate case by Manchester. I've sourced a copy of the article: it's called 'The world of the vampire' and appears on pages 52–55. The alleged 22-year-old vampire victim, 'Lusia'—as she's addressed and captioned in Manchester's post-1973 accounts—is revealed to be Jacqui Frances, 'a pretty 22-year-old blonde'.¹ Readers will immediately recognise 'Jacqui' as Jacqueline Cooper, who's mentioned several times in Don Ecker's report (pdf).

Ecker's report backs Farrant's allegation 'that Manchester had a romantic interest in her and she was named in Manchester’s divorcing his then wife', Marie Manchester, by including their divorce certificate, which refers to 'Jacqueline Frances (Cited as Jacqueline Francis) Manchester (Formerly Cooper)'. Was Manchester making cryptic references to this relationship when he dubbed her 'Model and girlfriend who had a very sultry look — and green eyes'? After all, you wouldn't know it was Jacqui, unless you're familiar with her other pictures.

This makes Manchester's dispassionate reference to 'A photographic model, and, much later, actresses, portrayed Lusia in representations of her in depictions of the mysterious events which came to be known collectively as the case of the Highgate Vampire', somewhat laughable—and, perhaps, very telling.

After all, Jacqui's appearance in Manchester's 1975 and 1985 accounts wasn't prefaced with her 'role': she's captioned 'Lusia' over and over again. Indeed, one of the 'Lusia' photos—in which her 'sultry' eyes are offset by an Iron Cross adorning her décolletage—has been recycled from the 1973 article. What's distinctive about the article, however, is there's little legroom for the retrofitted 'model' claim in Manchester's online account.

Not only is the aforementioned picture captioned with her actual name, but the text describes Jacqui as someone who'd 'come face to face with the Highgate Vampire.'² However, her subsequent tale shares more in common with the dark-figure-scared-by-oncoming-headlights motif found in several anonymous accounts related by Manchester and Farrant, rather than her 'somnambulating' along Swains Lane, feelings of suffocation at night and pinpricks in her neck, latterly described.³

Thanks to this find, we now have six primary Manchester narratives to wade through:

1. 'The world of the vampire', Witchcraft, vol. 2, no. 8, 1973, pp. 52–5.
2. 'The haunting of Hell House', New Witchcraft, vol. 1, no. 4, 1975, pp. 51–5.
3. 'The Highgate vampire', in P Underwood (ed.), The vampire’s bedside companion: the amazing world of vampires in fact and fiction, Leslie Frewin, London, 1975, pp. 81–121.
4. The vampire exhumed, an unpublished typescript, 1980.⁴
5. The Highgate vampire: the infernal world of the undead unearthed at London’s famous Highgate Cemetery and environs, British Occult Society, London, 1985.
6. The Highgate vampire: the infernal world of the undead unearthed at London’s Highgate Cemetery and environs, rev. edn, Gothic Press, London, 1991.

Many 'alterations' are sure to turn up on closer examination. Famed horror writer, Ramsey Campbell, found many between the 1985 and 1991 editions, alone. I've noticed quite a few, myself.

What concerns me, though, is that if this article was found by fluke, who know what other narratives Manchester has floating about. As if there wasn't enough material to sift through.

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^{1. S Manchester, 'The world of the vampire', Witchcraft, vol. 2, no. 8, 1973, p. 53.↩} 

^{2. ibid. See also, caption accompanying picture on same page: 'Jacqui Frances came face to face with the Highgate Vampire.'↩}

<sup>3. S Manchester, 'The Highgate vampire', in P Underwood (ed.), The vampire’s bedside companion: the amazing world of vampires in fact and fiction, Leslie Frewin, London, 1975, p. 107.↩ 

4. MV Riccardo, Vampires unearthed: the complete multi-media vampire and Dracula bibliography, The unexplained, the mysterious, and the supernatural: series of topical bibliographic guides to anomalies, vol. 2, Garland reference library of social science, vol. 177, Garland Publishing, Inc., New York, 1983, p. 96.↩</sup>

Victorian sources—another lead?

Redmond McWillams recently posted an interesting article by Andrew Gough on our forum, The Highgate Cemetery Vampire Appreciation Society. What fascinated me about it, was its allusions to Victorian era sources concerning supernatural activity at Highgate Cemetery.

Readers may be familiar with the lengths I've gone to try and validate reports of sightings from this era, with only uncited claims and speculations to go on. For instance, I queried David Farrant on the following statements he made in 1975:

Some interesting facts came to light. Firstly, it became apparent that stories of an apparition in Highgate cemetery had by no means begun with the then current sightings. Indeed, similar tales dated from the Victorian Era and interestingly enough more of them had "vampiristic" connections. One of the common tales of that time told of a "tall man dressed in black" who used to disappear mysteriously through the cemetery wall.¹

And,

That Bram Stoker was influenced by the Highgate Vampire when he wrote "Dracula" . . . is almost certain. In his book – written with typical Victorian authority – he makes direct reference to Highgate Cemetery (or at least, an area in the vicinity of Highgate Cemetery) as being the last resting place of one of Count Dracula's disciples.²

These statements are not 'out of date', either, as they're echoed in his recent writings. But rather than provide sources for these claims, I was repeatedly stonewalled. A reading of J.A. Brooks' coverage of the case, also turned up bupkiss. 

At the very least, I can establish that the second statement is inherently flawed. The resting place of the Count's 'disciple'—Lucy Westenra—was not formally identified as Highgate Cemetery in the novel, despite common presumption. Indeed, keeping in tune with Stoker's work as a novel—not historical treatise—it's likely her burial place was also fictional. 

As no writings prior 1970 equated Westenra's resting place with the cemetery—at least, none I'm aware of—it's also likely the association was made because of the Highgate Vampire case's Draculesque elements, not the other way round.

I digress. Let's get back to Gough's article. What fascinates me about it, is that not only does it allude to Victorian era sightings in the vicinity of the cemetery, but also features a Stoker connection:

The mother of Bram Stoker, author of the horror classic, Dracula, lived nearby and often recounted the legend of a tall, dark, supernatural-looking figure that roamed the area before the cemetery was created. 

The Bram Stoker Estate

A missing link! I knew Stoker's mum, Charlotte Stoker (1818–1901), told her son horror stories, but ghost sightings near the cemetery? That was news to me! 

Yesterday, I sent Gough a message, via Facebook, asking him what his source was. But soon after that, alarm bells started going off. I started thinking, did Stoker's mum even live in that area? I thought she remained in Ireland all her life. Indeed, Stoker, himself, didn't move to London till 1878. She didn't go with him. 

The cemetery, itself, opened in 1839—39 years before his move. If Gough was right, Charlotte, herself, must've had a secondhand source.

I decided to contact The Bram Stoker Estate: 'Good morning, I have a question concerning Charlotte Stoker. Did she remain in Ireland all her life?'

To my surprise, I was answered by foremost Dracula scholar, Elizabeth Miller: 'No. She moved to Italy in 1872 with her husband and 2 daughters. She returned to Dublin in 1886 (by this time her husband had died). She died in Dublin in 1901.'

After alluding to Gough's claim that she lived in the area of Highgate, Miller noted the speculative nature of such things, 'Of course, between 1886 and 1901, she "may" have visited Bram in London, and "maybe" he took her for a walk around Highgate, and "maybe" he explained to her that this was where Lucy was interred.... ad nauseam.' However, Gough's account is pretty clear: she lived there.

I then quoted the passage in question from Gough's article. Her response? 'Balderdash! Double poppycock! Utter garbage! Unmitigated claptrap!'

Miller's word on the subject was pretty substantiate in itself, but the Estate took my query on Charlotte's residency seriously enough to provide an official answer:

Very good question. We know Charlotte Stoker was a great influence on young Abraham Jr; not only did she tend to him while he was bedridden as a child, but it is speculated that her eloquent yet dark storytelling certainly had an influence on the future author of Dracula.

In the years after Bram left home, the Stoker family- composed then of Abraham Sr, Charlotte and their daughters Matilda and Margaret- moved about Europe. They lived in France, Switzerland and Italy, where Abraham Sr died in 1876. Several years later Charlotte returned to Dublin where she lived until her death in 1901.

Strong willed and with a keen intellect, Charlotte Stoker was more than a wife and mother. Through her life she was a staunch advocate for the rights of the disabled. Among her many works, in 1863 she published this paper on the need for state-funded education of the deaf and dumb. Charlotte Stoker's achievements may have been overshadowed by her son's but they certainly should not be overlooked.

So, there we have it. She never lived there, ergo, she didn't hear such stories during her supposed residency. But if that's the case, where'd Gough pull his account from? The ball's in his court on that one, but, at least we can debunk that element of the story.

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^{1. D Farrant, 'Invoking the vampire', New Witchcraft, vol. 1, no. 4, 1975, p. 34.↩}  

^{2. ibid.↩}

Two sides of the same coin

The hatchety goodness continues on Friends of Bishop Seán Manchester. Every so often, its anonymous author likes sprucing up (i.e. revising) his blog entry, 'Anthony Hogg'.

The latest version features a colourised image of me wearing a vampire mask—the background texta-ed out—except, this time, it's captioned: 'Anthony Hogg wearing his mask that reveals his own demonic eyes.'

This echoes the Manchesterian habit of comparing enemies and/or critics to demons. Manchester, himself, dubs his adversary—David Farrant—'The Devil's Fool', also literally painting him as a demon. 

When describing former friend, Kevin Chesham, he adds, 'If you live by the Buddhist philosophy you would obviously want to avoid bad karma as depicted in my portrait of a Buddhist I once knew for many years before he inexplicably turned to treachery and allied himself with the Devil's own.' The 'Devil's own' segment of that sentence links to one of the FoBSM's blog entry on Farrant.

The FoBSM's blog entry on myself goes onto note, 'Anthony Hogg is not just pathologically obsessed with Bishop Manchester and the bishop's adversary, but is also too stupid to resist Mr Farrant's machinations despite being the subject of ridicule in comics distributed by the latter.' The comic in question, is The adventures of Bishop Bonky—with an updated version called The new adventures of Bishop Bonky. 

It features a character—'Cousin Hoggy'—who is 'The bishop's Australian cousin. He leaves his pet kangaroo Skippy at his Billabong home to travel to England. His aim? To 'avenge' the bishop, and verbally defeat the infamous David Farrant.' It was created by a rather 'eccentric' fellow who thinks I am Seán Manchester in disguise.¹

However, despite the character sharing a similar name and Australian background—albeit, a stereotyped version—it's clear 'Cousin Hoggy' isn't a representation of myself, as the comic's disclaimer warns, 'None of the depictions, characters or stories herein are real, nor are they intended to harm living persons. Fictional names are used, except in cases where public figures are satirised. Any use of real names is accidental or coincidental.' Phew, that's a relief.

Therefore, the FoBSM's criticism of the comic is somewhat odd, considering the entry's accompanied by a picture of a pig's head grafted onto the body of an Iraqi woman who wanted to be a suicide bomber for al Qaeda. She was murdered by her father before she had the chance.

Google

The blog entry's author labelled his doctored picture 'StalkerHogg'. The same entry claims I am a stalker. Why would the entry's anonymous author criticise a cartoon pig, yet publish something of such poor taste? Despite these antics, the FoBSM is still endorsed by Bishop Seán Manchester.

On a not-unrelated note, the porcine representations—and, one could argue, the demonic ones—reflect a political attack called zoomorphism, 'a very common theme throughout the world. To abuse one's adversaries, one dehumanizes them by turning them into animals.'

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^{1. The author of the article gives his name as 'Joe', but was actually a member of the James Randi Educational Foundation Forum named 'CLD' aka 'Cecil Lamont-Dwiggins'.↩}

Victorian sources—a lead?

Amazon.co.uk

On Thursday night, I was reading J. A. Brooks' 'Highgate' chapter and came across allusions to the cemetery's haunted past: 'Highgate Cemetery has long had the reputation of being one of the most haunted, evil places in London.'¹ But for how long? 

According to David Farrant, 'Some interesting facts came to light' during his investigation. 'Firstly, it became apparent that stories of an apparition in Highgate cemetery had by no means begun with the then current sightings. Indeed, similar tales dated from the Victorian Era and interestingly enough more of them had "vampiristic" connections.'²

Did Brooks—an independent source—cite elusive 'evidence' confirming Highgate's Victorian era reputation for hauntings?

'One of the earliest of the strange incidents that have taken place her [sic]', Elizabeth Siddal's exhumation on 5 October 1869.³ She was the wife of Pre-Raphaelite poet, Dante Gabrielle Rossetti. He'd buried a book of poetry with her when she died in 1862, but later wanted it back. Upon exhumation, her body was 'described as perfect upon coming to light.' But Rossetti was not present.

As noted elsewhere, the witness—Charles Augustus Howell—had a decidedly nasty reputation and his testimony is somewhat suspect, as a result; especially as he was personally invested with publishing the book and perhaps easing 'Rossetti's guilty conscience'. Brooks listed no other 'strange incidents' from this period.

After discussing the Highgate vampire case, Brooks states 'There are more orthodox supernatural activities that occur in the cemetery apart from those involving voodoo and vampires. An old madwoman distractedly searches among the tombs for the children she once murdered; a tall man with a black hat mysteriously fades into the walls of the Cemetery at Swain's Lane; and a ghost with bony fingers lurks near the main entrance.'⁴

Despite claims of spectral consistency, such diversity upholds Bill Ellis' observation that 'the most impressive detail is the sheer amorphousness of the Highgate traditions'.⁵ In other words, different people saw different things there.

Not only did Brooks give no indication these are Victorian sightings, but one of the spectres was seemingly fused from two, different—and comparatively modern—sources. In 1975, Farrant mentioned 'One of the common tales of that time [the Victorian Era] told of a "tall man dressed in black" who used to disappear mysteriously through the cemetery wall.' ⁶ Rather than being one of the 'common tales of that time', it likely stems from a letter written by R. Docherty—in 1970: 'Many tales are told, however, about a tall man in a hat who walks across Swain's Lane and just disappears through a wall into the cemetery.'⁷

Interestingly, Docherty was exposed as a friend of Farrant's—later confirmed by Farrant, himself. Add Victoria Jervis' testimony on Farrant's behind-the-scenes machinations, the hoax tape allegations and we're certainly left with a disturbing picture.

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^{1. JA Brooks, Ghosts of London: the East End, City and North, Jarrold Colour Publications, Norwich, U.K., 1982, p. 32.↩}

<sup>2. D Farrant, 'Invoking the vampire', New Witchcraft, vol. 1, no. 4, 1975, p. 34.↩  

3. Brooks, pp. 32–3↩</sup>  

^{4. Brooks, p. 36.↩} 

^{5. B Ellis, 'The Highgate Cemetery vampire hunt: the Anglo-American connection in satanic cult lore', Folklore, vol. 104, no. 1-2, 1993, p. 22.↩} 

^{6. Farrant, p. 34.↩} 

^{7. R Docherty, 'The ghost of N6', letters to the editor, Hampstead & Highgate Express, 13 February 1970, p. 25.↩}

Challenger has entered the ring!

There's a new Highgate vampire forum in town: The Highgate Vampire Appreciation Society. It's a closed Facebook group, though, so you'll need to request membership. I might grant it, too—I'm one of its admins. Ha!

I really didn't want it to be a closed group, but because certain folk seem superkeen on hunting down personal info of their critics, it was really the best option.

It's also good to see a new Highgate blog on the scene. It's called The (Highgate) vampire exhumed!. Its creator—The Dark Spectre—discusses his personal 'journey' with the case and is 'resolved to try to get to the bottom of it all and discover just what was true and what was plain fiction.' Now that's a cause I can get behind! All the best, DS!