Arcadia Discussion Zone

I am pleased to present ‘17 Questions’, with David Farrant.

http://www.andrewgough.co.uk/17q_farrant.html

Additionally, I would also like to ask people to refrain from mentioning Sean Manchester on this thread, just as (ultimately) we reserved the right for Sean Manchester to speak exclusively, with out David’s participation, on his 17 Questions interview. Thanks for that.

David, thank you for a great interview and for supporting Arcadia with your participation on this thread.

Many thanks.

Best regards,

Andrew

A very detailed, very open and quite fascinating interview. Thanks, Andrew and David!
No doubt more later, when I've read it again, and worked out how to phrase my questions, ah, circumspectly...!

Cheers David. Very glad you liked it. David Farrant was generous with his insights, and the photos that he let us use.

Best,

Andrew

That was a wonderfully refreshing interview Andrew.
Thankyou David for being so open and honest and sharing so many of your personal photographs.
I must say, that's a rather striking picture on the cover of your new book. Roughly how many years separate the two images, if you don't mind my asking.

Out of curiousity, did you ever find out who the Highgate entity might have been? I mean was there any historical research carried out to possible identify the character?
Do you think it still wanders about?
Do you think it's confined to just one side or has it even been seen over the road where Marx is buried?

...return of the Mothman.

I must say some of those photos are a real hoot. Dig that crazy bow tie, David. The one with the midget, the girl, and the masked "magister" look like something out of David Lynch's Twin Peaks!

More like Mr Magooster.

A couple of questions about signs and symbols, David.

First, Q4 shows a photo of Markings left by Satanists on the floor of a tomb in Highgate Cemetery, and in the text you say: and there, inscribed on the floor, were black-magic Satanic symbols. The centrepiece was a triangle with an inverted pentagram inside, and I hardly need to tell you that an inverted pentagram is a sign of negative pursuits.
Now, they may or may not have been markings by Satanists; Satanists do exist, though in extremely small numbers in Britain (maybe there were more in the late-Sixties). But I'm sure I've read that the well-known "Upright pentagram - Good; Inverted pentagram - Evil" idea has no validity in occultism. Could you clarify, please?

Second, Q7 shows a photo of ritual markings in a room in that wonderful gothic house (I want a house like that!). Were these the symbolic markings of your ritual invoking Pan? How did the journalist who wrote the story know that this was a bizarre attempt to raise Pan -- or did you tell him this? And would I be right in thinking that some of the markings in the room are Thelemic rather than Wiccan?

It goes without saying that I'm not asking you to give any information we're not entitled to know.

Concerning some of the photos depicting practices, those are quite staid and not at all beyond the norm of that faith.

For absurdity and posturing, look towards Anton LaVey and his types in the States.

A superb and educational interview, many thanks to all involved.

Not a bad snapshot! My understanding is that the late Anton LaVey, Michael Aquino etc were showmen rather than genuine Satanists; like some people in other religions they like the dressing up rather than being true believers.

DVB your understanding is absolute.
Problematic was in all the offshoots (baphomet indeed!) in those days that continued on in greater strength than the laughable original, becoming responsible for events like a local to me 'slave' cemetery desecrated for skulls and ended with my daughter overhearing school mates whispering of.
Hearing that of her had me off to the police for a quick end to that ongoing mystery!

Mr. Farrant, thanks for hanging in here...I'd thought it all ended.

"Thankyou David for being so open and honest and sharing so many of your personal photographs.
I must say, that's a rather striking picture on the cover of your new book. Roughly how many years separate the two images, if you don't mind my asking.

Out of curiousity, did you ever find out who the Highgate entity might have been? I mean was there any historical research carried out to possible identify the character?
Do you think it still wanders about?
Do you think it's confined to just one side or has it even been seen over the road where Marx is buried?"


Thanks Jerry

Thanks for your question (well, 4 questions in one actually!).

Re. the cover picture of my book: There is approximately over 30 years difference between the two images (believe it or not!). The part of my face in shadow was taken in the early 1970’s and appeared in a magazine at that time; the ‘lighter part’ of my face was taken just a year ago, as you can see if you notice ‘grey tinge’ on my sideburns. The idea was to create a ‘then and now’ effect and I think my guy did a pretty good job of ‘fusing’ these two images together.

You ask . . . “who the vampire might have been” etc. Well, in psychic terms, ‘vampires’ do not really exist, so the genuine phenomenon witnessed by so many people could not have been any living person. Of course, there were a lot of people in the area dressing up as vampires or donning Victorian dress, as evidenced by Hammer Horror Films who used Highgate Cemetery as a location, and its possible one of these might have been assumed to be a ‘real’ vampire!

The phenomenon at Highgate Cemetery was also sighted in Swains Lane and other places around the cemetery. As I said in the Interview, psychic energy can sometimes lie dormant for a while but then become active again for no apparent reason.. If you are asking if the entity witnessed in the late sixties/early 70’s has somehow become ‘re-activated in the present time, I would say ‘yes’ because of the present day reports.

Thanks Jerry,

David

Thankyou for taking the time but actually, I used the word 'entity' David. You mentioned that other people had seen a talll figure of a man and so I was curious who 'the man' might have been and if it had been looked into.

That is what crossed my mind when I read the description of the tall, dark dude !

"Thankyou for taking the time but actually, I used the word 'entity' David. You mentioned that other people had seen a talll figure of a man and so I was curious who 'the man' might have been and if it had been looked into".

Sorry, I'm clearer now on what you meant.

Members of the BPOS have looked into this, or tried to look into the origins of the said entity and who it might have been in life. But no positive results about its 'lifely' origins. Indeed, that was the main reason for the 1970 seance which never went ahead because it was interupted by the Police.

David

I take the so called Mothman rather seriously.

David, would you ever go back and try to hold a seance again?
Surely you wouldn't actually need to be at the location to hold a seance, unless it becomes more potent that way?

"David, would you ever go back and try to hold a seance again?
Surely you wouldn't actually need to be at the location to hold a seance, unless it becomes more potent that way?"

Well, there are different kinds of seances. There is the kind where you can perform them in private rooms or in churches. This is usually the case in spiritualism. In other words, people may not necessarily have to go to visit a certain site but can sit around some table or on a pugh asking . . . "Is anybody there"! Personally, I do not agree with that, and never have done.

But in the days when I was involved in using psychic mediums, it often involved visiting certain sites because we felt some sort of psychic energy might be contained at them.

To answer your first point last: 'no', I would not attempt this in Highgate Cemetery again. It caused too much unwanted trouble the first time!

David

What if you were gauranteed privacy?
How about then?
How many people would you take?

Thanks for taking the time to answer my questions David, it really is very good of you.

The Mothman Prophecies is one of my favorite books - John Keel was one of my favorite Forteans.

I actually wrote him a letter way back when, in the days before I sent everything by email, he sent me back a pamphlet where he made fun of most of the UFO community, calling them "the flying saucer subculture".

I also thought the Mothman Prophecies movie was rather interesting, and in many ways an intriguing cinematic evolution of the theme of the original book. In particular I like the way they split John Keel into two people.

Yes but just for your own natural curiousity David, would you want to?

Apparently I should have posted this query here...Hi dave, here's a rather easy straight forward query re: existence of a spooky world. Does it all boil down to a matter of.. if ya believe in ghosts, ghouls,hobgoblins, witches, etc, the likelihood of encountering such a phenomenon is greater than a person like myself who knows from his religious convictions that evil demons exist on the purely spiritual plane but effects of them can manifest in folks who allow themselves to be possessed.

An exorcism is only effective in situations of actual demonic possession as contrasted to folk who only manifest them psychically? A psychiatrist is better suited for the psychic sick as a religious cleric trained in exorcism is better suited for spiritual plane possession which manifests itself via outward uncontrollable bodily manifestations, where psychiatric intervention is useless to attempt.

The seance bit was intriguing in that a protestant bishop James Pike lost a son and went into the seance bit to reach over to the other side of the vale which is strictly forbidden in Catholicism, which is what Sauniere apparently was hucksterin' accordin' to what I gleaned from my incomplete read of The Rise.

This contact with the dead is a serious no-no for Catholics. If anybody sez yeah sure I'm a Catholic I see nuthin' wrong with a seance to make contact with a deceased loved one, that is a Catholic who wil be doomed for sayin' somethin' considered an abomination in the eyes of the Church liturgical practice.

Have ya read the Apocalypse to understand that such demonic practices will occur durin' the reign of AntiC?

"A couple of questions about signs and symbols, David.

First, Q4 shows a photo of Markings left by Satanists on the floor of a tomb in Highgate Cemetery, and in the text you say: and there, inscribed on the floor, were black-magic Satanic symbols. The centrepiece was a triangle with an inverted pentagram inside, and I hardly need to tell you that an inverted pentagram is a sign of negative pursuits.
Now, they may or may not have been markings by Satanists; Satanists do exist, though in extremely small numbers in Britain (maybe there were more in the late-Sixties). But I'm sure I've read that the well-known "Upright pentagram - Good; Inverted pentagram - Evil" idea has no validity in occultism. Could you clarify, please?

Second, Q7 shows a photo of ritual markings in a room in that wonderful gothic house (I want a house like that!). Were these the symbolic markings of your ritual invoking Pan? How did the journalist who wrote the story know that this was a bizarre attempt to raise Pan -- or did you tell him this? And would I be right in thinking that some of the markings in the room are Thelemic rather than Wiccan?

It goes without saying that I'm not asking you to give any information we're not entitled to know.

Thanks DVD,"

I have copied your questions out in their entirety, as they are easier to reference when replying.

Can I clarify your first point: “Evil has no validity in occultism” It doesn’t – or at least, it shouldn’t But don’t lets confuse the word ‘occult’ with genuine Wicca and mysticism. It is too general a term and has been used to describe both white and black magic.

So ‘evil’, as such, does have a place under the heading ‘occultism’. But it just depends on the people who may thus be describing it.

I can only really answer you personally here, by saying that I have never accepted the existence of the ‘devil’ as such. I have said repeatedly that the only source evil can have is in the human mind itself – there exists no ‘outside devil’. Wiccans accept much the same thing.

Your other question (and I copy it again to make it easier) does . . .
Second, Q7 shows a photo of ritual markings in a room in that wonderful gothic house (I want a house like that!). Were these the symbolic markings of your ritual invoking Pan? How did the journalist who wrote the story know that this was a bizarre attempt to raise Pan -- or did you tell him this? And would I be right in thinking that some of the markings in the room are Thelemic rather than Wiccan?

We were using that particular house in late 1973 to experiment with a series of rituals dedicated to the Nature Deity, Pan. I really don’t know how journalists found out about it; but it was situated next to an Old Peoples’ Home who may have seen us entering and leaving it at night. We also used to light a fire there for warmth and light, and its possible the light of this was seen through the shuttered windows I don’t know.

Whatever, two journalists from a local newspaper visited the place by day and took their own photographs of the house and an upstairs room we had been using. My name was not mentioned in this initial report, and I knew nothing about it until my attention was drawn to the report in that newspaper.

The signs on the walls were Thelemic because these rituals were based on invocations to the Nature Deity Pan, and in this respect, did not from a part of Wiccan ceremonies – in the mode of traditional Wiccan ceremonies, and the like.

David (Farrant)