Hey weirdos, it's Ash here, ready to share a little secret.
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Right now, I am listening to The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix, and I just cannot get enough of it.
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Hey, weirdos. I'm Alayna.
I'm Ash. And this is Morbid.
We're unhinged today.
We're on a different level today.
day. Not even spice level?
No, like intergalactic.
Intergalactic. There you go.
That's what I was looking for.
I know. Yeah, we're eating lots of food.
We're being lots of crazy.
It's Thursday, but we got Fridays.
Hey, look at that. Have you guys had from Fridays?
It's like the crispy rice and they put a little avocado on the top and then a tiny little jalapeno. It's really good.
It is stupid good. It is.
It's real good. I love sticky rice.
Put a little soy sauce on there.
A little soy sauce.
I prefer coconut aminos, but soy sauce will do.
Excuse me. Yeah. Look at this health and wellness journey.
I know. It's Bragg's even, so just look at that Bragg.
Just give me soy sauce on everything.
Here you go. Thank you.
You're welcome. I just gave her the soy sauce.
I did it. It was imaginary.
I also have some ginger sitting next to it.
i have some ginger on either side of me wow we got tattoos yesterday so i don't know why that made us loopy but it did it did shout out to matt and ryan at the black mall matt and ryan the black ball shop of drea and wonder and you know what it's okay that we're being so kooky because we're gonna talk about vampires today so vampires or lack thereof or lack thereof which is even better but two kooky crazy Crazy people.
Oh, I looked them up just to see what they look like.
I didn't want to know.
I know nothing about this story.
I know nothing. But I know what they look like, and it made me even more excited to listen to this story.
Yeah, they out in the streets cosplaying.
Yeah. So on November 1st, 1968.
when several London news outlets were reporting on an incident of pretty substantial vandalism at the Tottenham Park Cemetery.
And it included, among other things, graves being dug up.
Being digged up. Being digged on up.
That's like not good.
That's really, you know, a lot of people would say that's bad.
Like who does that?
Yeah. Like you want to vandalize things?
That's not cool. I'm not sure about that.
But don't vandalize people's graves.
What the fuck? Like, just let him rest. They also had pried open coffins and there was just like destroyed crosses everywhere.
What the fuck? It was wild.
And the cemetery's superintendent, Reverend Lionel Phillips, he told reporters that he had never seen anything like it.
He said, It isn't just ordinary vandalism.
Everything has been carefully done and arranged according to some evil rite.
There's more to this than meets the eye.
And then the credits roll and the beginning of the movie happens.
No, this is for realsies.
So according to Reverend Phillips, when he arrived at the cemetery that morning, he was shocked to find the grounds, quote, strewn with dead flowers, inverted crosses, and broken urns, which had literally been robbed from the graves.
Oh, cool. And he told reporters everything had been arranged in a pattern that pointed to three recently buried grave sites, all of which had been dug out, coffins and all.
Now, Phillips himself had initially been alerted to the vandalism by the caretaker of the cemetery, William Dakin, I believe is how you say it.
And William Dakin told the press, there's definitely something strange going on here.
The graveyard is supposed to be haunted, but this has been done by humans and it looks like black magic or something.
I've never seen anything quite like it.
Although coffins and graves have been disturbed here before.
I always love when people go straight to this must be real black magic and like real satanic shit.
Yeah. Because it's like, you know that lots of people know how to make something look like that so that your thought process immediately goes to that.
and it makes you not look at the actual thing that's happening.
Precisely. And it's, like, it's weird to me that more people, especially, like, around this, you know, you know, decades earlier than now.
Right. Their immediate thought was to go to the very obvious instead of being, like, red herring, perhaps.
Yeah. Well, we'll kind of talk about why they went there and, like, the current social climate in that time and kind of why their heads were going to black magic and Satan worship.
Interesting. Yeah. But the next day, Dakin, he was less tentative about his theories about who was responsible for the vandalism.
Before, he was like, could be black magic.
I don't know. But things have happened before.
Also, every time I say that, I just think, black magic.
Yep. It's true. It's a good song.
But he told the Guardian Journal, this isn't just ordinary vandalism.
Everything has been done carefully for some evil right.
I believe some kind of black magic ceremony has been performed here.
It was Halloween last night.
you didn't expect that did you i didn't but i welcome it with open arms again it's called dramatic effect look it up it was lovely so the official story from the police was that the vandals were most likely just youth celebrating halloween that's kind of what i thought most people would but the incident did raise some concerns about whether there were devil worshippers lying among the ordinary londoners well here's the thing if it was just like a bunch of shit in there like people you know they turned over some crosses and stuff and like yeah through some even that would be I'd be like wow that's
some like fucked up youth shit like the we didn't do that like the grave robbing that's the thing I'd be like and I'd even be a little like oh that's a lot for kids like why are they going in a cemetery but they've done that before kids do stupid shit of course but you're like you're saying when you're opening up coffins that's when things do take and I didn't take that into consideration out right that does take it into a different place entirely like we're not just setting up some flowers in a weird way in a cemetery and turning some crosses over you're you're like really i don't know where you're
going but you're not going anywhere good when you're opening people's coffins up not on a good path no like two roads diverged in a yellow wood and you chose the wrong ass yeah and you just like dug straight into the earth's crust yeah don't go there so i yeah i can understand why they were a little more like what the fuck's happening here i get it that's the thing and here's the other thing given the evidence it kind of seems like an irrational jump to make going from like rambunctious asshole youths to full -blown devil worshipers for sure but at the time modern day british people really weren't that far
removed from like witchy satanic hysteria and just like panic in general yeah because in the late 19th and early 20th century similar concerns were actually raised publicly about this influential cult society called the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.
Damn. That sounds awesome, but I bet it's not at all.
No, it actually is.
Oh, cool. That's pretty awesome.
They literally had no association whatsoever with devil worshiping or any kind of malevolent deity at all.
They just practiced mystical traditions and magic as a spiritual practice, and everyone was really freaking out about it because they were like, the devil.
So Satanic panic is happening.
Yeah, exactly. Now, the other thing was that the press and the public weren't familiar with the Order's beliefs, so they just immediately labeled them dangerous people.
That's awesome. But they were basically just kind of like witches and warlocks, if you ask my ass.
You should do that.
When you don't understand something, immediately label it as dangerous.
I think that's a great way to go about your life.
If you can't tell, that was like the biggest heaping helping of sarcasm, just in case anybody took that for a serious thing.
But some people might have because there is a group of people in particular that really love to do that.
Exactly. you know so you want to make sure exactly now while most of the golden dawn members spent a ton of their time trying to combat the image of an evil secret society that had been placed upon them one early member you might know him one alistair crowley never heard of that guy yes you have yes you have you have he like other people were like okay let's try to like show the the public and these people in society that were actually not what they think we are yeah alistair was like let's lean right the fuck into it hell yeah and he embraced the whole thing and embraced the notoriety by quote
implying that he was genuinely involved with devil worship he's just like sure and then there were other parts of his personal life like his being bisexual his drug use and his social opinions that made him even more threatening to a very buttoned up british society yeah now he had actually broke away from the golden dawn around 1900 and he traveled the world for a few years, which is pretty cool.
And after that, he actually formed his own esoteric society called Thelema.
Now, his celebrity and the occult beliefs of Thelema were so influential in a ton of social circles throughout the first half of the 20th century, so much so that L.
Ron Hubbard, future founder of Scientology, and then a whole -ass rocket engineer named Jack Parsons, They established a branch of Thelema in L .A.
during the late 40s and early 50s, and people seemed to be really inspired by the practices.
So actually, a lot of new religious movements that emerged in the 60s were actually influenced directly by Thelema.
Damn. And of course, most Christians and Catholics looked at those unfamiliar spiritual practices as dangerous and evil.
That's why to me, and this is just my opinion, gathering like that into one society of something or other yeah i don't feel like it ever ends up as a great as a great thing in the end i don't know i don't think we're supposed to no i think that's why i just like practice my own shit yeah i'm like just you know have your little solo if you want but i think when it gets too big that's when things go awry yeah you know now those are all just like examples of reasons why the british society was a little freaked out by all these things going on now like quick on the draw exactly like this is definitely
satan this is definitely an ancient black magic right ritual that has been happening in this graveyard like i you know they're conditioned at this point exactly and they were like you know they're probably sacrificing things to some malevolent deity i just like to go ahead and say that if there's no band called malevolent deity that is pretty great band name i call it yeah hello cleveland we are malevolent deity you can make awesome shirts i'm not musically inclined so you can have it like you listener you not to say that you're not musically inclined you listening listener you can have it take
it it's yours but listen even though the golden dawn alistair crowley and palima were all active about like five decades earlier like i was just saying all of their influences would feed the fears of satanism and witchcraft in 1970s london so So that's how we got here.
Fun. And then those fears were also fed by the release of Rosemary's Baby.
The movie was released in June of 1968, and it was based on Ira Levin's novel from the year before.
And in case I'm not the only person that's never seen it, I've never seen it, have you?
I have. I feel like I'm going to get attacked in the comments.
You should see it. But I don't look at them.
I'll have you read it.
I know. I was like, you won't know.
I won't know. But in case I'm not the only person who's never seen it, Rosemary's Baby basically tells It tells the story of a young woman named Rosemary Woodhouse, which is a beautiful name, who becomes the target of a group of Satan -worshipping witches that want to snatch her baby.
Uh -oh. So in the context of satanic panic and mass hysteria, the influence of Rosemary's baby can't really be understated.
Like, you gotta mention it.
Of course. And then, of course, the movie reignited Hollywood's interest in horror films and, at the same time, presented the public with an idea of witchcraft that was modern, insidious, and well -connected.
so they were like witches walk among us because i saw it isn't mia farrow in that movie yeah i saw it mio farrow experienced it her hair is great in that movie she's got a really cool like pixie cut see i know that because tyra wanted to give that pixie cut to everybody and she always was like rosemary's baby well and she wanted to give that pixie cut to that one girl who wouldn't cut it a half inch more to be that way and got kicked off and i was like you would look great with that haircut if it was real i know honestly there was probably many other reasons why she wanted to get out of there
you don't say that's for another day that's for another day but in all reality william dakin and reverend phillips had no idea what a black magic ceremony entailed or what kind of mess or destruction it would leave behind they were just like devil worshippers buzzwords yes exactly but still they were both almost entirely convinced that the vandalism at tottenham tottenham park cemetery was the work of satan worshipping witches who were conducting some Some sort of black mass.
And then witches came into the picture and said, so what?
They said, I don't give a fuck.
Now, their opinion on the matter wasn't the result of any kind of experience that they'd ever had.
No. They were just relying on the countless examples of modern day witches.
Yeah. From Golden Dawn to Alistair Crowley.
And then the new religious movements and Rosemary's Baby that they really thought this was a real threat to society.
I think, again, I think that's a great way to go about life is to have no actual evidence.
nothing to go off of no previous experience with something and then just uh listen to something somebody might have said once and look at a hollywood movie hollywood and say yep i got it i know a lot about this now i think that's an awesome way to go about things me too yeah what you know heavy dose of sarcasm enter sarcasm here but while the hysteria and the occult groups and evil rites in London were rooted more in rumor and social anxiety than reality it is worth noting that there were groups like the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn that existed to pursue an interest in the occult.
Now unlike the Golden Dawn these groups didn't have any kind of formality or structure it was more just groups of young people who were kind of pursuing a shared interest. I like that.
In the day of all no just kidding.
I like it. You're like I love that.
I love that. No it's just like you can like those That's where I feel like it's like Really hard to have any kind of gathering of People that have a shared interest in that way Because even the ones that you're like that's nice Like you're just gathering together you have this Interest in like magic as a Spiritual practice and like you know you probably Love nature and all that shit yeah and you Found a bunch of people that also feel that way and you feel Like connected and like you're belonging To that and like if that's something you Need then that's nice to have but even That will get turned
That's the thing. You just can't have a group of people that just want to do some stuff because it always turns dark.
It always turns dark even if they have like good intentions.
And then sometimes I feel like a lot of times it seems like there's like one or two people within that group that just loses themselves a little bit.
People are tough, man.
Yeah. People are tough.
We're a tough species.
Yeah, we're like the worst species.
We really shouldn't gather that much. It's not really not a great idea.
Just stay home and door dash.
just kind of free float yeah just be like those little little pieces of dust in the air when you see a sunbeam go down and you see all the dust floating in the air we should all just be like that I always wonder if it's actually dust or if it's like something else like what magic I like that better than dust for sure it's better for my allergies my old stepdad would say that like where somebody else's ants damn so like what if we're somebody else's dust cool wild that's pretty food for thought nothing matters then nothing matters anyway have you ever seen like the thing of like like pictures of like
the whole last universe and it's like you are here crying in the shower and i'm like yeah i am okay and they're like it doesn't actually matter i'm like it does one day in the morgue when it was a particularly slow day and nothing was happening and we were just sitting in the office for hours on end somebody who was training me and i'm not gonna like blow him up but it was he was great oh okay but we were i just don't know know if he wants to be named fair fair fair but we were looking he had found like some video that showed like in scale all the different planets and like the galaxies and all
that and like where we are and we just sat there and kept replaying it and being like why are we even in this office like what are we even doing like what's happening by the end of it we were having such like an existential crisis like we both left like feeling some type of way because you're like what matters I was like, and we're in the morgue, so there's like death around us, which added an element of like what's going on.
Like we're just surrounded by death, but look at how tiny we are and how nothing matters.
It was like so weird. Yeah, that's wild.
I left there and just needed to be like reprogrammed.
Wow. Yeah. How did you just like wake up the next day?
I don't know. I think we were both fine the next day.
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But so, yeah, going back to the story and like these groups of people that gathered together in the late 60s, one of these groups that emerged from London's suburban Highgate neighborhood, they called themselves the British Occult Society.
Sign me up. I know, right?
They were led by David Farron and Sean Manchester, two occult enthusiasts who were in their early 20s at the time.
Now, the group was said to, quote, have grown out of a circle of friends who had been in the habit of visiting Highgate Cemetery late at night in the 1960s.
and according to david david ferentz wife all the members shared an interest in the supernatural but mostly participated quote for a laugh and a joke we would wander about frighten ourselves to death and come out again sounds like fun to me and david ferentz the guy who looks really cool he does look really cool he's just like all the pictures you're like damn he's a character i know nothing about him so i'm just saying totally based off aesthetics i was you look cool he does look cool and i think he was cool for like a minute it and then like he had his moment and then it went a little too far
cool and we'll get to know we'll get there but by the late 60s highgate cemetery the one where everything had gone down it had seen better days it had been filled to capacity actually decades earlier but for some reason they still tried to squeeze in new plots so things were overcrowded unsustainable and sadly the grounds were really poorly maintained and then the situation was even further exacerbated by the bombings that were sustained during World War I and World War II, and that left many of the stones and crypts just in crumbling disrepair.
So this was all made even worse by mid -century neglect and overgrowth.
Like nobody was taking care of this place.
So everything was overgrowing to the point where you couldn't even walk a path.
Oh, and that's so sad.
I know, because it's people's final resting place.
I think cemeteries personally are beautiful.
I love cemeteries. And they should be maintained.
There's a whole foundation.
I think it's called Save Our Cemeteries.
I will look it up just so we can link them because they take donations to help revitalize like forgotten about cemeteries so that people can have. Like they've done a lot for like New Orleans cemeteries and stuff.
So we'll link it because it is an important organization, I think.
Yeah, and definitely like super pertinent to this story.
Good call because they do a lot of good work.
Hell yeah. Well, so listen, by the time the British Occult Society started visiting the cemetery in the late 1960s it was in peak shambles richard altech wrote to reach one grave requires from the path through the brambles and burrs and hip high undergrowth and clinging vines that constantly trip up the explorer fresh from the london pavements damn so basically he was like you're gonna be wading through overgrown shit like clinging to brambles probably getting cut by thorns like it was gnarly so when ferrant and the group started visiting highgate their trips did involve some light vandalism which that's
the thing where i'm like that's the bummer don't do that no what they did i guess wasn't really noticeable underneath the overgrowth and the ruin of the cemetery but during later visits in 1969 david ferrant did notice obvious signs of vandalism that had not been done by the group but by other nighttime visitors he He was like, we didn't do that.
He would later tell reporters vaults had been broken open and coffins literally smashed apart.
Oh, that's awful. One vault near the top gate was wide open and one could see the remains of a skeleton where it had been wrenched from a coffin.
Another vault on the main pathway had been thus entered and one of the coffins inside set alight.
That's fucked up. Like, literally meaning somebody had lit a coffin on fire.
You gotta be a special Brenda fucked up.
That's the thing. Yeah.
Now, around this same time that David Ferrant is, like, telling people that this is going on, the police in Highgate had actually started to receive reports of small groups of teenagers vandalizing local cemeteries.
So the police figured that the recent disturbances at Highgate Cemetery were made by those same assholes.
But some people were not so sure that they were just dealing with teenagers.
And some people thought everything going on at Highgate was because of something supernatural at work.
Oh. Now, by December 1969, Ferentz's group had received two reports from locals claiming that they'd been walking in Highgate Cemetery when they encountered a tall, dark specter, this is a quote, that temporarily hypnotized or paralyzed the bystander.
Whoa. So Ferentz, for obvious reasons, was very intrigued by this report because he's an occult enthusiast. Yeah.
So he decided to see what he could see for himself, and he made plans to stay in the cemetery overnight on december 21st oh shit so when he reached the gate and he was just about to climb over he said he was stunned by what he thought to be a tall person walking through the cemetery grounds now he stared through the bars trying to get a closer look and he said he quote realized the shape was over seven feet tall and saw quote two eyes meeting mine which were not human rather reflecting some alive presence so in that moment he was scared shitless and he figured he was in some kind of danger so he
was able to tear his gaze away from this specter and he said at that point the figure just vanished I love it iconic yeah so the encounter with this specter at the cemetery gates was thrilling for him like he's been searching for this for a long time of course for years he had hoped to have his own experience with the supernatural and now he just fucking had had one.
Hell yeah. So after telling the rest of the British Occult Society about the interaction, he became determined to find other people with similar experiences so he could learn more.
So he drafted a letter titled Ghostly Walks in Highgate that he submitted to the Hampstead and Highgate Express.
On February 6, 1970, he wrote to them.
This is beautiful. Some nights I walk home past the gates of Highgate Cemetery.
On three occasions, I have seen what appeared to be a ghost -like figure inside the gates at the top of Swain's Lane.
The first occasion was on Christmas Eve.
I saw a gray figure for a few seconds before it disappeared into the darkness.
The second sighting a week later was also brief.
Last week, the figure appeared only a few yards inside the gates.
This time, it was there long enough for me to see it much more clearly, and now I can think of no other explanation than this apparition being supernatural.
I have no knowledge in this field, and I would be interested to hear if any other readers have seen anything of this nature.
Good for him. So Farron's letter actually got a ton of responses, and four were actually printed by the paper the next week.
Damn. They mostly confirmed the existence of the Highgate ghost. Now, one letter writer claimed the ghost had been appearing for years on a regular basis, quote, showing itself nightly for about a week at intervals of about a month.
And then another letter writer claimed that there had long been stories, quote, about a tall man in a hat who would walk across Swains Lane and just disappears through a wall into the cemetery.
I love this. It's so much fun.
So the responses to Ferentz's letter elicited even more responses the next week, and this issue included a note from the editors actually asking readers to send their own accounts of supernatural experiences in and around the cemetery.
It's so much fun. Let's go.
Now, in addition to the further sightings of the tall man, letters started explaining more of the folklore surrounding the area one letter writer wrote about a mysterious figure seen moving the headstones in the cemetery late at night and another letter told of a ghostly bicyclist known to chase women down swain's lane hate that yeah i don't love that i don't like that guy i also just like immediately hear the But the trend continued until the end of February, when the Hampstead and Highgate Express finally ended their coverage on the Phantom at Highgate Cemetery with six letters.
Some people described the tall man.
Other people told of a woman in white who could be seen in the cemetery late at night.
And they said she was crying out loud for Hugo.
Where are you, Hugo?
Hugo. Hugo. Right in.
Tell us what's going on.
Come on, man. now among the final letters was one from david ferent himself telling his own story and expressing his quote relief that his ghostly experience had been corroborated by others now in a piece for folklore writer bill ellis noted quote the most impressive detail about the letters to the paper is the sheer amorphousness of the highgate traditions apart from the ghostly cyclist hardly two informants gave the same story yet all young people seem compelled to walk by or even and enter the cemetery with the idea that something is supposed to happen.
So basically he was saying even though all the letters shared different stories, they all kind of created this like shared mythology around Highgate Cemetery.
I love that. And kind of established it as a place known for supernatural encounters or hauntings.
Yeah, makes sense. So like, get me there ASAP.
Let's go. Now under normal circumstances, the letters published to the Hampstead and Highgate Express might have been dismissed as you know like folklore and naivete.
Just like the way that UFO abduction stories and ghost encounters aren't taken very seriously.
But like I said earlier during the late 60s and early 70s London was undergoing major cultural shifts and older generations were paranoid about younger generations being interested in these dark things like like witchcraft and satanic shit and dark arts.
So these supposed hauntings and the Highgate Cemetery actually gave these older, like, fearful generations something to concentrate on, and it kind of seemed like they started projecting their anxieties that way.
Yeah, because they're like, look, you were right.
We were right all along.
Like, Reverend Phil there and the cemetery keeper.
William Dakin. I know, what a cool name, right?
You should be a cemetery care worker.
Yes. A caretaker if your name is William Dakin.
You just have to be.
I don't make the rules.
It just makes sense.
Or do I? I don't know why.
I like it. Or do I?
Now, Sean Manchester, if you remember, he was one of the leaders of the British Occult Society.
But he split from the original British Occult Society in early 1970 and ended up founding his own faction.
And he immediately seized on these stories being published in the press.
Now, unlike David Ferrant, who was essentially looking for validation, Sean Manchester came forward and told reporters that he didn't think this was a simple matter of a ghostly entity.
Instead, he said that he believed something far more dangerous was at work.
He claimed he was, quote, concerned by the numbers of carcasses of foxes and other large animals that were showing up with lacerations around the throat, completely drained of blood.
he thinks there's a vampire at work so given the success of the previous round of these paranormal letters the hampstead and highgate express leapt at the chance for more letters in this of this nature yeah they probably saw this was like a big draw so they were like let's go they were like vampires you say all right vampires so in late february they published a front page article featuring sean manchester under the headline does a vampire walk in highgate i am obsessed with that love it so much so in the article manchester warned local residents that this was not any old ordinary vampire or vampir
happen more he quote speculated that it was a king vampire from i think it's wallachia that had been brought to england in a coffin by his supporters at the start of the 18th century that sounds fucking awesome why doesn't this happen more i don't know if someone told me a king vampire had arrived after being brought over in a coffin i mean come on like we're calling out to work today fellas make my day yeah well he went into detail he said quote now that there is so much desecration of graves by satanism i'm convinced that this has been happening in Highgate Cemetery in an attempt by a body of Satanists
who, excuse me, to resurrect the King Vampyr.
We would like to exorcise the Vampyr by the traditional and approved manner, drive a stake through his heart with one blow just after dawn between Friday and Saturday, chop off his head with a gravedigger shovel, and burn what remains.
This is what happened centuries ago, but we'd be breaking the law today.
So quick question. Sure.
Between Friday Friday and Saturday.
I don't know why. So they're like, I know everybody's got to go to work during the week.
And I'm sure this vampire has a sweet ass nine to five.
So we should wait until the weekend when his guard is down.
Just after dawn. When he's had a nice brewski after work.
And then we can dust his ass only in these certain time periods.
Like, I really like that.
I'm obsessed with it.
I think that might be what I'm like.
Okay. I was going to be a question, but then I worked it out in my own head.
There ain't no rest for the wicked So that's why they continue their work on the weekends Yeah everybody's working for the weekend Everybody's working for the vampire And they have to chop off his head Yeah with a gravedigger shovel So it's not like Buffy Where they just dust No it's a little different It's close That's so neat Yeah It's neat Because it's just like poof And you're gone And it's like you don't have to do anything else You don't have to get rid of any body You're just like I know that is true And you just sweep him into a dustpan I like it but also buffy's version is neat too because that's
what i mean buffy's version isn't oh that's what you're saying like chopping his head off with a gravedigger digger shovel is not neat at all and then you have to light a fire like buffy doesn't even have to light a fire yeah no buffy's way is far and above the better way by the way go listen to the rewatcher it's our favorite podcast it's true please do it well you know one of our favorite podcasts yeah of course but by the next day manchester story had obviously gained some attention from people like us At first, the attention was mostly from people who appreciated his creativity, but absolutely
dismissed the reality of vampires.
Couldn't be us! But after the public sat with the story for about a week or so, and Manchester continued to push this narrative of vampires and Satanists in the press, some people started to wonder whether there might be some truth to what he was saying.
After all, there had been an alarming rise in youth rebellion in recent years that coincided with increased drug use and an interest in the paranormal and the occult.
The paranormal. The paranormal.
That was a soul. And then there was the vandalism and the evidence of, quote unquote, evidence of witchcraft in local cemeteries and also churchyards, which were followed by all the letters sent to the Hampstead and Highgate Express about these paranormal happenings in Highgate Cemetery.
so while it may have sounded outlandish at first after giving it some thought these people in highgate started to think maybe sean manchester was on to something and maybe they ought to do something about the evil that invaded their motherfucking neighborhood i love this because it's a movie it is this is literally a movie like everybody's just like we got to do something about this evil i guarantee you this king vampire vampire i guarantee you that they probably did make a movie about this you should look that up because i didn't look it up so on march 13th ferent and manchester david ferent
and sean manchester both appeared together in a news segment produced by itv about the cemetery and standing in front of the cemetery gates ferent told a reporter that he had received quote threatening letters with black magic symbols on them warning him to stay away from things he could not understand now sean manchester interrupted and kind of seemed to see an opportunity to undermine david farenth so he challenged farence power and knowledge of the occult telling the reporter we feel he does not possess sufficient knowledge to exercise successfully something as powerful or evil as this vampire
and may well fall victim as a result he's like me on the other hand i know what the fuck i'm doing me i'm good you not He said, I'm hot and you're not.
Top that. So the program followed the interview with a segment on the ghostly apparitions seen in the park and included interviews with several neighborhood children who have also claimed to see this dark figure in Highgate Cemetery.
So the new segment on ITV aired at 6 p .m. And within two hours, there were nearly a hundred people who assembled at the gates of Highgate Cemetery for what the press later described as a vampire hunt.
This is for realsies.
It happened. I love it.
I fucking love it. Logan Ray.
So while many residents were residents of this local London neighborhood, Highgate, several others had actually driven pretty far to participate in this event.
One of those people was Alan Blood.
I don't know if that's his real name or not.
I was just going to say, please tell me that's his real name.
I mean, he's a self -described vampire expert, so I'd be willing to put money on the fact that he changed it, but I don't know his life.
But he traveled, what I do know, is that he traveled more than 40 miles to participate in the hunt for what he described as an undead Satan -like being.
You know what? Get it.
I'm like, you know, if it makes you happy, it can't be that bad.
cheryl said my girl i love cheryl and blood told reporters i met mr ferrant that's his name he told the reporters i met mr ferrant in a pub and we talked about his plans to stake the vampire but this whole thing is timed wrongly there were too many people around which would disturb any undead spirit of course he's like if this were up to me to organize i would have done it a little A little more, a little more, you know.
I would have understood the nuances here.
Thank you. That's what I was looking for, the nuances.
I would have fine -tuned some of these details.
I just, I really like that these people believe this so wholeheartedly.
I love it. I fucking love it.
I find this endearing.
It's fantastic. At one point, like, an entire school of children, like, descended upon this cemetery with, like, steaks and dogs and fucking everything.
I love it. I'm in. hey weirdos you know ash and i have covered some seriously dark tales about romance gone really wrong oh yeah there are so many cases where too good to be true turns out to be exactly that well get ready for a love story that's gonna blow your minds because this one is happening right now and get this it's hosted by our friends hannah and sarudi from red handed meet travis he falls head over heels for Lily Rose.
She's gorgeous, she's understanding, and she's literally perfect.
And she's not human.
That's right! Lily Rose is an AI companion, a computer program designed to be Travis's dream woman.
And at first, it seems like a perfect relationship.
But when Lily Rose's behavior starts getting strange, this love story takes a dark and twisted turn that no one saw coming.
Follow Flesh and Code on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts.
You can binge all episodes early and ad free by joining Wondery Plus.
Now some people who were there, like this, this happened a lot.
This happened a few times.
So some people there seem to take Ferent and Manchester's claim seriously, but a lot of people also just seem to be there to witness the spectacle.
Me. I'm that person.
Now, when they couldn't get through the gates, several would -be vampire hunters climbed a 10 -foot wall surrounding Highgate Cemetery and just went in search of open graves looking for this king vampire.
Wow. It's for real, dog.
Other people, though, refused to go very far into the cemetery, and they claimed that they had seen something moving beyond the gate.
Ooh. And now a man named Anthony Robinson, boring.
Sorry, Anthony. Sorry, Anthony.
You're following up Mr. Blood.
Yeah, exactly. He told reporters, I walked past this place twice and heard a high -pitched noise.
Then I saw something gray moving slowly across the road.
I'm sure there's something evil lurking here at Highgate.
I love that the vampire just goes gray.
He's just like, I'm just gray.
I'm just gray. Let me go about my day.
Look at it! I love it!
That'd be adorable.
That would be so cute.
He's like, just leave me alone.
But by 10 o 'clock, the scene resembled what one onlooker described as a football crowd with tons of people carrying blunt objects that they were planning to use against any evil presence.
And Sean Manchester later told a reporter, it was like the end of a Frankenstein film where the monster was chased.
People had weapons and looked as if they could turn nasty if they had seen a tall lean person in dark clothing.
See, that's where it turns for me because when you're just like, oh, this person went in there by himself and was like, I'm going to stake a vampire.
I was like, that's delightful.
You do what you want to do.
when it becomes an angry mob of people like at the like at beauty and the beast like yes like if gaston is leading this whole thing um i'm not into it because it goes right back to my whole thing of like you're gathering with a common interest just stay at home and get door nosh don't gather with a common interest because some of you are going to start getting crazy and like this guy just said you're going to start beating on some poor tall drink of water that walks by Like John walks by and everybody starts beating the shit out of him.
Like that's, it's not good.
It's not good. It's not turning good for me.
It's not getting better.
I'm getting a little upset.
Luckily, the police were also aware of that fact.
Very cool. And because the situation did have the potential, like we were just pointing out, to get pretty dangerous, they eventually were able to drive the crowds out of the cemetery before anybody got hurt.
Do small patrols, you know?
Yeah, exactly. Like groups of five.
Like the scoop gang.
Right. Yeah. But in the days and weeks that followed, Highgate police had to contend with several smaller incidents of groups of teenagers or young adults breaking into the cemetery, stakes in hand, in search of the paranormal.
It's important. But nearly all of those individuals actually hadn't even taken the claims of vampires seriously.
They just, like, wanted to be part of this, I guess.
Yeah, everybody wants to be part of something.
But then other people were like, no, there's a motherfucking vampire in here, and I'm gonna be the one to get him.
Vampire. But the press, on the other hand, they kept presenting this story as though it were 100 % fact.
They actually usually cited Sean Manchester, I don't know what happened there, David Ferrant, and even Alan Blood.
Oh, no! As experts on vampirism.
Alan Blood. Now, Sean Manchester told a reporter from Hampstead and Highgate Express, It is too much to be the work of vandals.
There are some black magic signs and symbols, limbs, and even entire bodies missing from graves.
graves it all points to something very evil yeah i mean again that's not great bodies missing from graves and shit like that's not cool yeah that's the thing just go look for a vampire yeah exactly don't don't worry about the people but what he's saying he's like keep looking for the vampire because the vampire is the one taken yeah like his followers are the ones taking these bodies and trying to resurrect king it's not great either no way that's not how you do it no but a few months Months after the vampire hunt in Highgate, the story was revived, of course, in early August when three young
girls were walking through the cemetery and discovered the headless charred remains of a woman's corpse lying on the ground outside of one of the crypts.
Holy shit. A police spokesperson told the press, we're working on the theory that this may be connected with black magic.
The body could well have been used for that reason.
Damn. So people were taking this to like another level.
Way too far. And the discovery of the remains reignited the excitement surrounding the supposedly supernatural aspects of Highgate Cemetery.
And once again, the press turned to the supposed experts for a quote.
Instead of being like, what group of asshole teenagers did this?
Because we know that's what it is.
Now they're leaning in a little bit.
And Sean Manchester, I keep saying Manchester.
Manchester. Manchester.
Sean Manchester told the Highgate and Hempstead Express these same Satanists that desecrate Highgate Cemetery are disciples of the evil one.
Like referring to the king vampire.
According to him, stealing a human skull brought the cultists one step closer to reviving the king vampire and increasing his number of followers.
And in all the excitement over the discovery few noticed the comments from Highgate's groundskeeper newspaper who told police he saw no signs of black magic and he just also chalked it up to ordinary vandalism.
And it's like did he cite a source for that?
He's like the the human skull if you bring it to the king vampire like it brings you closer and it's like did anyone go do you have a source for that or did you come up with that yourself?
And that therein lies the problem.
That's the problem.
Because they're just taking this man for face value and they're like well he says he's an expert.
Yeah this is just fanfic everybody they're just making it up as they go along.
This is fanfic. You're entirely correct.
It was a headless corpse.
Well, then, you know, that's very coincidental because you need a human skull to get closer to that.
It's like they're just making it up as they go along.
That's the thing. But, of course, not wanting to be outdone by Manchester's supposed expertise, David Farrant took to Swain's Lane and vowed to patrol the local cemeteries until he found those responsible.
On August 17th, his Buffy patrolling, though, came to an end when he was arrested in St. Michael's Churchyard and charged with trespassing.
Now, at the time of his arrest, he was carrying a large crucifix and a wooden stake.
And in their statements to the press, Highgate Police claimed that Ferent had told them he had, quote, gone to Highgate to watch for a vampire raising from its grave. And he told them, according to the police, I would have entered the catacombs in my search, and upon finding the supernatural being, I would have driven my stake through its heart and then run run away.
I love that for you.
Now, later, Ferentz said that this statement was entirely fabricated and that he had not said that.
He said he'd really gone to the cemetery with the British Occult Society to conduct a seance intended to establish a psychic link with the dark specter.
Wow. He said, I wasn't going to stab anyone.
I was just holding a seance to talk.
Yeah, don't make me out to be something else.
He said, I just want to chat.
I just wanted to talk.
But because he had been charged with trespassing, he had to appear before a judge on September 30th, and he pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Now, his lawyer, Jeffrey Bays, argued that the cemetery was, quote, not an enclosed area in the strict legal sense, so technically his client hadn't broken any laws.
And then Ferent told the judge, I decided to go out and destroy it.
I was aware of the power of the cross and went to the cemetery with a crucifix on which I had engraved a black magic emblem so he's really going for it i was he's he's taken this and run with it but his lawyer explained that while it may not make sense to the courtroom technically it's not an illegal activity to go out hunting for vampires and he told them it is akin to people spending fortunes looking for the loch ness monster or some other supposed creature and for some reason the judge agreed and the charges against ferent were dropped okay he was like you know what fair point technically physically
it is not illegal ballot no while ferrant has is going and appearing in court for all these trespassing charges the other members of the british occult society were standing watch over the cemeteries and highgate like their leader had told them to but just moments after the charges against him had been dropped ferrant gave a comment to reporters telling them that he vowed to quote continue his investigations and carry on trying to warn people that followers Followers of this black magic cult were performing evil ceremonies at the cemetery.
Dun, dun, dun. It's like a Scooby -Doo episode.
It really is. I swear.
It truly is. Somebody tagged me in something on TikTok that just made me think of this.
We need like the theme song.
That somebody said that Ghost is just like Scooby -Doo music.
Like if you put it to certain songs to Scooby -Doo episodes of them like running away.
You should try that.
there's a couple that there's one in particular and I can't remember I think it's zombie queen I don't know if I know that one it's very much like sing it it's like the music that really it actually worked it's really not the words and I was like I'm not offended and I support this I love Scooby Doo and it just made me think of that song playing over this whole thing and it actually works really well oh now I need to listen to that song play it for like the part for you because you're gonna be like wow yeah please do that actually very true one time I just paid for a boomerang subscription only
to watch scooby -doo i remember that that was pretty great it was money well spent yeah i like that like you just gave a huge thumbs up yeah wow i don't know if i've heard zombie queen to be fair this song is like very out of their normal yeah it's a little groovy wow and that's ghost you know so many things you're i love your hyper fixation on this band like genuinely I love your hyper fixation on this because you have fun new like little fun facts every time I can always come up with something new you're wild but doesn't that work out really well that does be queen it really does yeah Scooby -Doo
chase and I really want to listen to that more now yeah I like that but David Ferrant and Sean Manchester there was no other way to go back to it so Ferrant's arrest at St. Michael's Churchyard kicked off a new chapter in this basically at this point him and sean manchester had a rivalry and this whole thing kicked off a new chapter in that the fact that this is like it's like a rivalry about a vampire king yeah like this is a king vampire rivalry and a king vampire enthusiast rivalry among brothers let that settle for a second that's the thing like they belong to the same group once and then
they were like never mind yeah i mean i'm for this so in early november just a month after Farrant appeared in court British Occult Society member John I believe it's British was reported to the police for assaulting Sean Manchester.
Oh shit. Things took a turn.
According to John there, Sean Manchester threatened him and his family with black magic unless he rescinded the bail money that he had put up to bail David Farrant out of jail following his arrest for trespassing.
Damn. So appearing before a London court, British told the magistrates that Manchester had called his wife and, quote, warned her that unless the bail was revoked, odd things will happen to you and your children.
Odd things. That's what he said.
Not even bad things, just odd things.
It's going to get weird in here.
But are you going to fuck around with that?
No, it's just like— No, exactly.
It's such a gentle threat.
Sort of. It's not like fucked up things or bad things.
It's like odd things.
Some odd things. It's not even gentle.
It's like menacing.
Yeah, gentle isn't the way to describe it.
It's like a— yeah it's just like kind of menacing it is yeah now in court manchester was quoted as saying i believe in black magic do you i am an occult excuse me and dave said that he's gonna yell this at people whenever he's annoyed at them i am an occult i love it somebody just disrespects you and you're like i'm an occult i am an occult i'm an actual occult so okay so fuck off that's Dave's way to deal with people he doesn't like and I might steal it.
But anyway, when Braidish learned of these threats, he went to Manchester's home and an argument ensued.
And apparently during the argument, Sean Manchester and a friend tried to forcibly remove John from their home, at which point Manchester was knocked to the ground and supposedly hurt his leg.
Damn. So after hearing both sides of the argument, Magistrate William Hughes noted that Braidish technically was guilty of assault, but under the circumstances, he He dismissed the charges.
He was like, this is all a little much. George is out here just being like, this is a lot, guys.
Like, knock it off.
I'm just going to keep dismissing these charges until you all stop.
So, Bradish didn't get in trouble, but Manchester was placed on probation and fined 200, I think it's pounds, with explicit instructions not to have any more contact with John Bradish.
He would be probably smart.
Now, in the weeks and months that followed, Both Ferent and Manchester did everything they could to stay in the spotlight and keep all these stories about black magic and occultists and vampires alive in the press, while being careful to make sure that their antics didn't violate any more laws.
Yeah, you know, just fun silliness.
But they both maintained that devil worshippers were still at work in the cemeteries.
Ferrant said that the British Occult Society had been attempting to exorcise the evil spirits, and Manchester said that he was performing various rituals outside of the cemeteries to take care of this.
Of course. Now, in late October, BBC, the BBC program 24 Hours, heard about the situation and actually traveled to Highgate to cover the story.
Wow. Wow. Now, the story relied heavily on interviews with Sean Manchester and included what they referred to as a documentary reconstruction of Manchester's attempts to exorcise the evil spirits from Highgate Cemetery.
I love that a lot. I want to see it personally.
Yeah, I want to watch that.
I couldn't find it.
But in the opening segment, the host told audiences, We have a film report of a secret and satanic ritual being practiced in Britain in October 1970.
24 Hours is building up a case history of the occult.
We've heard of ghost hunters, psychic researchers, covens of witches dancing naked around bonfires in the middle of winter, and even the odd black mass.
Sometimes the fascination with the black arts leads its adherence to far more sinister rituals.
Ooh, spooky. Now just as he had done with countless other media appearances, Manchester used this appearance on 24 Hours to continue building out his vampire narrative.
in one instance he said that he had actually come into contact with a young woman he referred to as louisa and he said that she was a london girl supposedly possessed by demonic spirits spirits excuse me and according to manchester he followed louisa to the crypts at highgate one evening and that was when he discovered quote an extra coffin with no name plate and opening it to find a body which appeared neither dead or alive.
So he said, jumping into action, he grabbed his stake and quote, placed the point between the seventh and eighth rib on the left. Grabbing my arm, one of my assistants pleaded with me to desist, saying that it would be sacrilege.
If what lies before us is an undead, I replied, it would be an act of healing.
Consternation grew among the group in the vault and the consensus of opinion was that the stake remained unsoiled until at last proper permission had been obtained from the correct quarter i just love this so basically he was like i wanted to dust this motherfucker yeah but all of my people were telling me that it's sacrilege and the general consensus was that we should leave the stake unsoiled aka not stab stab things you know i think that's just like having a good team around you yeah that you can trust to tell you when you've gone a little too far i think they're like don't stab this person but i
want to know where you get the permission like what's the correct quarter to ask the permission from i mean these are questions that probably have answers that i'm sure they'll come up with in the moment yeah i'd have to ask you would have to ask sean manchester manchester that manchester don't you think that if you were this reporter you'd be like so did you ask ask anybody 100 % I'd be like my next question would be who do you ask uh do you want me to come with you should we go do that right now that's the thing like Diane Sawyer got on the case nobody's doing a good job with the uh follow -up
questions here Ash is a really good interviewer I feel like Ash would be really good at this oh my god you would have the like perfect follow -up questions thank you so much that's because I'm inquisitive you are and I like it thank you whenever we have interviews I'm like girl take it over oh my god thank you so much if i think to ask a follow -up question in an interview i always go i ashed i love that i didn't ask the question i asked the question wow that's hot yeah so when one of the members of the group stopped uh manchester here from going through with the staking he said he did the next
best thing and he filled the coffin with holy water garlic and salt and left the door to the crypt open to let sunlight take care of the rest and then he added some chicken tenderloin and he sauteed it get the holy water out of there and i'll eat that but the segment on the highgate vampire that appeared on 24 hours turned out to be one of the last big stories to feature sean manchester and david ferent that took their claim seriously ah this was partially because the public's attention had moved on to new stories it had been a while and they were like yeah we still haven't seen it so like i don't
know we're like gnats we can't focus on something for that long No. But more importantly, the more progress the police made towards stopping the vandalization, the less inclined Londoners were to believe in the existence of king vampires and black masses.
Sad. And in July 1973, Highgate police did arrest a group of teenagers who invaded the cemetery.
And at that point, they learned, since the original claims in 1970, these local kids had actually made a habit of going, quote unquote, adventuring in local cemeteries looking for supernatural phenomenon.
Makes sense. So this, the locals realized, was a far more plausible explanation for the disturbances than vampires and demons.
I love that it took the police being like, hey, you see this group of youths?
They say that youths have been doing this for a while and going in there because cemeteries are spooky and kids are gullible.
And everybody was like, wow, I wish someone told us that before we went on a vampire hunt.
And it's like, that's what it took, everybody?
It's like at the end of Scooby Doo when they take the mask off and you're like, oh, it was just that creepy old guy.
We should have known that.
Darn kids. So he's a creepy old white guy.
Who just admonishes them for being youths.
Exactly. Yeah. Now it was the youths admonishing people for not being youths.
I don't know. I don't know.
Or like admonishing them for believing in something supernatural because they were like, yeah, we haven't found it.
I just love that that was clearly the case the whole time.
Like I could have told you – I told you that in the beginning actually.
And then it's like we get here and all of a sudden they're like – Everybody wants a little more theater.
I mean I do too for sure.
Yeah. Like I'm into it.
I'm into it, yeah. But I think it just got too far.
but listen we got two characters still to do to hear about what's up with them so despite the decline in public interest david ferrin and sean manchester kept up their act in the decades that they were wanting to keep this alive good for them manchester stayed real flashy and he maintained his theatrical appearance that really belonged in some kind of gothic horror story like you've seen it hell yeah he's got oh yeah he's got what the kids i believe call drip oh is that what that means yeah i think drip is when your outfit's good so i have a question this is gonna sound i might not know because i
just found that out i'm gonna become a relic when i ask this what is riz i've heard that that word do you know what's not once have i looked it up do you know it's so so upsetting to me you don't know i don't know that makes me happy and i used to be the one to tell you what these things meant but i did hear a child say the other day that somebody had riz is that like you have stat oh oh mikey's got what is it if you want to riz someone you want to flirt with or charm them so how do you have riz you have charm right oh it derives from the word charisma or a special magnetic charm or appeal oh okay
so it's like you've riz like Like, you got a little something.
You know what? Sometimes I don't like these stupid things that, like, youth say, but I like riz.
I hate it a lot. I think it's such a bad word. I think it's, I would much rather someone tell me that I have charisma, I have spunk.
You need this nerve and talent.
You have charisma. You have spunk.
There's something magnetic about you.
You know what I mean?
If somebody said you have riz, I'd be like, fuck you.
No, I don't. No, I don't.
It kind of feels like 20s to me.
Like, oh, you got riz, kid.
Yeah. Like I feel like— It feels clunky.
It's not a— No, I feel like it doesn't— It feels like a clunky word to me.
See, drip to me is clunky.
I mean, that's— Like if you tell me— Because I think they say you're dripping.
And I'm like, that's gross.
That's upsetting. I'm not dripping.
Yeah, no, that's offensive.
I don't like that. I like— Like people in my day said swag.
Swag. I like swag. I think we just said like, you look cool.
No, you guys said other.
You definitely had something.
You must have. No. No, we didn't have things for like, like we didn't have like swag or rizz or anything like that.
We were just like cool.
I'm trying to think.
I guess you're right.
Yeah, we really didn't.
That was, you know what it was?
That became a thing when the internet became a thing.
So when the internet was just a baby, it was not a thing.
But then I think about like people like that are my mom's age and she used to tell me like the things that they would say.
say like um like zingers or something like that we're like stoners oh no that was only i won't say what it is it was only a group of people no it was only here okay gotcha so i don't even think i said the right word you didn't so i'm not gonna say the actual word because it's very specific to our high school so i didn't know that yeah well moving on How did we even get here?
Oh, he had riz, I guess, technically, because he's theatrical.
He had riz. And I'm looking at them right now.
They do indeed have riz.
They have riz and drip.
Both of them do. Well, so yeah.
Ferrant, he stuck to his nightly patrols, his rituals, and exorcisms. And in time, authorities actually kind of grew weary of the antics of both men.
And that led to a very strained relationship between the police and the occult groups.
Now, even though the public interest in the supernatural, specifically regarding the Highgate vampire, had waned considerably by mid to late 1970s, Farrant and Manchester and their respective occult groups remained very active.
And actually, in late 1972, Ferent and his girlfriend, Victoria Jarvis, were arrested in Highgate Cemetery on a charge of indecent behavior when the two were discovered in a private cemetery conducting a ritual to contact the spirit of a long -dead pirate, Thomas Walmsley.
I'm sorry. They were in a cemetery.
In the cemetery. Conducting a ritual.
In Highgate Cemetery.
To bring forth a long -dead pirate.
Yeah, Thomas Walmsley.
Let them go. Let them live.
Let them live. That's awesome.
Now, Ferent ended up telling the court, I really believed it possible that it could have appeared.
If it had, it would have been the means I used.
It would have appeared within the circle.
Now, ultimately, they were given a small fine and they were told to get the fuck out of the cemetery and stay out of it.
Now, Ferent in Manchester again made headlines in early 1973 1973 when the two announced their plan for an occult duel to the death what at Parliament Hill in London in preparation they literally plastered London's urban area with posters announcing the duel claiming the ceremony would involve naked witches daemon reason demon raising diamonds and the slaughter of a cat oh I hate that which I really don't like yeah no but it does sound like like an interesting version of musk versus zuckerberg oh yeah like like previously yep minus the cat slaughter minus the cat slaughter why do we have to bring
cat slaughter into it well that's the thing because actually the announcement caused a shit ton of outrage among the public mostly because they had said that they would slaughter a cat like if you just like if you want to just duel like in your own occult way yeah just like we would all be like that sounds fun yeah like naked witches demon raising go ahead yeah like go ahead and hire a cat don't Don't kill an animal.
Stop. Exactly. Now, so people were mad that they said that they were going to slaughter a cat, but also because of a myriad of other claims made by both sides.
Manchester told the Sunday Mirror, my opponent intends to raise a demon to destroy me by killing a cat.
I will be relying solely on divine power.
So he's like, this guy's an animal cruelty guy.
I got the power. So who was it that said he wasn't going to?
Manchester. So Manchester said, I'm not going to kill a cat.
Yeah, so I'm voting for him.
All right. I'm going to have to be on his side for that one.
Exactly. Yeah, I'm going to get the jerseys.
Right, exactly. And even though he had actually put up nearly a thousand posters announcing the duel, Manchester told the Mirror, I advise people not to attend.
They may easily be horrified.
I mean, don't tell me don't attend because you will easily be horrified because I am going to be putting my shoes on.
Precisely. I think he knew that.
Yeah, of course he did.
That's an amazing way to get people there.
Now, in response, Ferrant told reporters blood must be spilled, but the cat will be anesthetized.
But to which I i say seek help yeah i don't care if the cat is anesthetized i don't care about any of that exactly no thank you it's unclear whether the duel ever actually happened but if it did it didn't result in the death of either one if it happened they were both winners i guess so but the arrest and disruptions only continued in the years that followed in early 1974 david ferrant and several members of the british occult society were arrested for lighting a fire in a a derelict building in london oh and in their report the police said that they received a call about the fire from a neighbor and when they
searched the home they found they discovered ferent and the others engaged in quote a witchcraft ceremony involving two men prancing naked around a fire you know that's not illegal get it that's not illegal at all i mean going into a building is legal yeah but ferent and the others were charged with arson and appeared in a court a short time later and ferent told the judge he had lit the fire because it was cold cause and effect he's not trying to burn down the building so technically is it arson he was just trying to warm up but ferent was arrested again a few months later this time for breaking
into the crypts in kensal rise cemetery where several coffins were disturbed and bodies exposed and that's where i mean he lost yeah he's lost and he's like the whole cat thing like i'm like you're going down a dark lost the plot now at his trial his estranged wife Yeah, same.
So that's what I mean where, like, it started off, like...
It's, like, fun, like silliness.
Okay, like, into the occult, but he, like, really took it to another place.
Yeah, way too far. Now unlike the previous arrests for petty crimes, Farron's arrest for the desecration of human remains was far more serious than he seemed to understand.
He went on trial in early June and was charged with body snatching and witness intimidation.
Damn. After he sent several voodoo dolls to witnesses in an attempt to prevent them from testifying against him.
Holy shit. Now, under oath, he claimed that he and his followers had nothing to do with demons or vampires, but were simply misunderstood adherents of an often maligned spiritual belief system.
All right. But it's like, yeah, you can definitely be among that group of people that is misunderstood.
But if you're breaking into crypts and disturbing human remains, nobody's ever going to get that.
No, no one's ever going to be on your side on that one.
And you shouldn't get that either.
there now he was actually ultimately acquitted of a very serious charge of body snatching when the actual grave robber came forward and admitted that he and several of his friends had broken into the crypt and vandalized the graves quote -unquote for a laugh oh my god punch that guy in the chin please now while ferrant may have dodged the most serious charges he was still found guilty of vandalizing memorials in the cemetery and witness tampering and he was sentenced to four years and eight months in prison.
Damn. A sentence that, according to Bill Ellis, quote, even the normally hostile honorary journal characterized as unnecessarily harsh.
Wow. Or, excuse me, hornsy journal.
Now, Farron ended up appealing that sentence, and he was evaluated by a psychiatrist who did deem him sane, quote, but in need of guidance because there was a possibility of his beliefs taking him into a condition of a mental disorder.
I wondered that. He was really teetering a line there.
He's teetering on that line.
Now, despite the psychological evaluation, Ferentz's appeal was actually denied, and he ended up serving two years of his sentence before he got out on parole.
Now, once out of jail, he pretty much kind of disappeared from the public view, which is probably a good thing, just like he chilled out a little bit.
And he really only ever came up in discussions that were remembering the Highgate vampire and the occult panic of the 70s.
And he died in April 2019 at the age of 73.
Oh, wow. He's young.
Yeah, I know. Now, his arrest served as kind of a wake -up call for Sean Manchester, who further toned down his antics and rhetoric following David Ferron's trial.
And in the years that followed, Manchester's public persona became increasingly oriented around vampires, and so did his branch of the British Occult Society that he had started.
He continued to appear in the news articles and TV whenever a so -called vampire expert was needed.
but by the early 1990s he had mostly abandoned his kind of occult persona and he claimed to have been ordained as a bishop of the old catholic church i saw pictures of him and i was like what's happening but i bet you didn't see that coming i didn't see that coming like from a cultist to the catholic church yeah i didn't see it what a what a path yeah um but they continued to trade barbs with each other and insults in the press until david ferrant passed away in 2019 wow that That was like a blood feud.
A blood feud. That was until the end.
Truly. They got real pissed at each other.
But what an interesting story.
That is a fascinating tale.
Like multiple, multiple times, huge groups of people ran to Highgate Cemetery in search of a vampire, a king vampire.
I love that that happened.
I do as well, and I'm glad that like mostly nobody was hurt.
That's what I'm glad that, you know, no one was murdered.
There wasn't any like, you know, I'm glad that there was.
But I'm really bummed for all those graves that got disturbed.
Yeah. Because, like, that sucks.
I know. I feel like they need to do something or, like, obviously they wouldn't have done it back then.
But they needed to do something, like, more, like, technical to get into the cemetery.
You know what I mean?
I know. Like, a passcode or something.
Yeah. But. Damn. What a fucking story, right?
What a tale. Very interesting.
What an aesthetic. An aesthetic.
An aesthetic. Aesthetic.
So, yeah. Wow. Thanks for listening.
Yeah. We hope you keep listening.
And we hope you. Keep.
it weird but not so weird that you disturb people's graves because what the fuck is wrong with you if you're out there doing that no no no no no no no eat a moon pie © transcript Emily Beynon If you like Morbid, you can listen early and ad -free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.
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