Mr. Farrant’s name will be instantly recognizable to vampire aficionados if they are familiar with the “Highgate Vampire” event from back in the 70s (and the decades of drama that have followed in its wake). There are two men whose names will forever be linked with that occurrence: Sean Manchester and David Farrant. Both claimed to have had experiences with a vampire haunting the historic Highgate Cemetery—Farrant didn’t so much use the term “vampire”, referring instead to a “ghost” or “specter”—but their claimed experiences, like the two men themselves, didn’t jibe. They began a decades-long feud and were even supposed to meet in a “magician’s duel” on Friday the 13th of 1973, at Parliament Hill. This duel never took place, but the two men spent plenty of time dueling—with words—in the years since.
This post is about David Farrant, though, and not his earthly adversary. I never met the man. All I know about him is what I have read. But they say you can tell a lot about a man based on what other people say about him, and I witnessed an outpouring of grief and affection for Mr. Farrant when news broke of his passing. A lot of people liked, loved, and respected him. I can’t tell you much about David Farrant the vampire hunter, but those comments tell us a good deal about David Farrant the man.