Six Anomalies

   

On February 6th, fifty years and one month ago, the man who departed his ailing corporeal shell eleven months and two days ago, told the Hampstead & Highgate Express that some nights he walked past  the gates of Highgate Cemetery, and had witnessed what he described as "a ghost-like figure" hovering just inside the north gate at the top of Swains Lane. He would later describe it as having "red eyes," and one month later, fifty years ago today exactly, he conceded in the same newspaper that a vampire was the most likely explanation, adding that he would do all he could to pursue it. The late winter of 1970 turned colder still as March witnessed the cemetery coated in a thick layer of snow. From this point and for the next five months, the same man reiterated his belief that a vampire haunted Highgate West Cemetery. Then he was arrested after carrying out his threat to pursue the vampire and destroy it by any means necessary. The means turned out to be a wooden stake which police found in his possession, along with a large cross, when they arrested him as the clock struck midnight. He told Clerkenwell Magistrates' Court that he intended to plunge the stake into the vampire's heart, and then run away. It was decided, following medical reports, to hold him on remand at Brixton Prison from where I received correspondence which did not contradict anything so far alleged over the previous five months. Whilst in prison, he received a visit from someone who described himself as a "company director"; a Barnet man by the name of James Bradish who persuaded him to change his plea from guilty to not guilty. Bradish then paid his bail, and whisked him off to Manor Road where the Bradish household was situated. Bradish was disliked because it was claimed that he had made advances to Mary at the marital home in Archway Road. The ex-prisoner had been evicted from that flat one year earlier, and Mary had fled to Southampton with her two children. He was the biological father of the older child, Jamie, who had entered the world on 9 November 1967. He would not see him for another four decades when Jamie decided to search out his father. This would have been around the same time that "Della" emerged to also seek him out. They each succeeded ten years ago, and became very pro-active in their support for David Farrant.

   

James Bradish                                    Father and son

1. Up until September 1970, David Farrant supported the theory, first published in the Highgate & Hampstead Express, 27 February 1970, that the supernatural presence of a spectral figure in and around Highgate Cemetery was a vampire in the traditionally defined meaning of that word, ie a demonic corporeal manifestation that drained folk of their blood in the dark hours of the night. After his release from Brixton Prison in September of that year, and throughout the rest of his life, he stressed that he did not believe in vampires, and had never pursued one at Highgate Cemetery, despite being arrested on the night of August 17th by police who found him in possession of a cross and stake at the cemetery. From September until the end of the year he was living with James and Gillian Bradish. It is known that Bradish strongly disapproved of Farrant's statements to the media about vampires. His release from jail was conditional on him staying at the home of James Bradish until the court case was over and its verdict delivered. Yet Farrant remained adamant for the rest of his life that he had never believed in vampires, and had never tried to impale one with a wooden stake. However, before the end of that year, he wrote a note to me. It is published on page 110 of The Highgate Vampire. Why would he write such a note, and why would he, if he did, succumb "to their debase demands" ?

2. Five years later, he would allege that in 1971 he conducted a satanic ceremony in the company of Martine de Sacy at Highgate Cemetery. This appeared in an unedited and unabridged article he wrote from his prison cell for New Witchfcraft magazine, having been found guilty of various diabolical acts at the graveyard, plus the sending of voodoo dolls to two police witnesses along with menacing poems. Local newspaper articles in 1970, however, reveal images of him in an attitude of prayer before large Christian crosses, while wearing a rosary around his neck. He was also pictured in certain magazines holding a Bible and a traditional Catholic crucifix clasped in his hands. From 1972 he revealed himself to be a high priest of witchcraft, and gave "wicca" as his religion when sentenced at the Old Bailey. He would eschew witchcraft in 1982, and thereafter self-identify as a Luciferian. By which time he had made the acquaintance of the French Luciferian Jean-Paul Borre. They would remain life long friends. Yet upon Farrant's death, Bourre would make no mention of his old friend. 

  

3. Most striking is the apparent disloyalty shown to him by his close collaborator and friend, Redmond McWilliams, and even his own son, Jamie, in the last few years of his life. Farrant had never shown any fondness for an Australian stalker by the name of Hogg, and over time grew to despise him (even though Hogg had used material originating with Farrant to attack me). When McWilliams joined one or more of Hogg's groups on Facebook, Farrant decided he could not remain a member of any of McWilliams' groups, and promptly removed himself from them. McWilliams' collaborating with Hogg made it impossible for Farrant to continue as before, and the bad blood between them lasted until his last breath. Why did Redmond McWilliams behave in this disloyal manner? There would be others.

4. Someone else who claimed to be a friend and supporter of David Farrant is João Ferreira, but when Farrant decided he could no longer stomach being a member of McWilliams' group due to the Hogg connection, Ferreira not only remained, but continued to co-administrate with McWilliams.

   

5. Most surprising of all is David Farrant's biological son, Jamie, who not only remained a member of McWilliams' group after the schism, but, moreover, Hogg's! Indeed, he remains a member of both. Jamie showed no loyalty whatsoever to his father, and is still a Facebook friend of the loathed Hogg, commenting from time to time on a hate group where only trolls and stalkers appear to post anything.

    

6. It will soon be a year since David Farrant passed away. No Will was lodged; Probate and Letters of Administration have not been issued (because only his personal possessions remained behind, ie no property or assets). The self-styled "Della Farrant" was close to David Farrant during the last decade. Yet she recorded nothing he uttered, regretted or wanted known, as he approached his last breath in his final days. For someone who enjoyed publicity so much this would indeed be the ultimate irony.