Arcadia Discussion Zone

We get the Bentley series... Midsommer Murders here and tonight of all nights, Christmas Day, the episode deals with a cleric in a phony church that specializes in chasing spooks.

The closeness of some details Cal posted regarding Dave Farrants illustrious career, those relating to Sean were fascinatin' to say the least. I asume folk in UK have seen all of these episodes and know a helluva lot more than this link puts out.

http://www.midsomermurders.net/

Since all things spooky, vampiry, are very trendy and now this latest rendition of a famous hood...
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/3913405/r ... r_trailer/

Now back to Bentley productions, where do they get their scripts from?, are they in-house? contracted out?

I dont watch much telly but midsomer murders seemed strange to me--surely above the national average but have i missed the point from not being a regular viewer.

on another red hot topid has anyone watched the entirely bonkers "The Tudors" which messes up pur English history totally big time in every way you can think of, starting with the pipsueak actor who plays henry!!

well it seemes anything goes here!

damiana

Damaina, this quote of yers...well it seemes anything goes here! Is this the skit ya had in mind when ya wrote that?...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4vn-XLr6ic

Now we have this rather spooky scenario hitting the media all over the EU. What does it portend? This link has its own take...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvtfZ5yTuVI

jabbs,

Of course, the twist in the tale could be...that they've been in cahoots all along!

Like I said, warfare makes good business...

Barbara,

I wouldn't get too riled up about the Tudors series. I've never watched it, but I did read interviews and such, which talked about the dramatic licence they took with historical accuracies.

The series wasn't documentary, after all. Hell, even actual docos take creative licences all on their own!

Tony. how many of these folks end up in well known haunted cemeteries?. I can imagine the 'spirits' of these poor unfortunates bein' on the look out when those who caused their demise show up in the same cemetery, is this the scenario behind all of this cemetery fueled spookiness?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healt ... ition.html

Well, spirits certainly seem to be involved, but maybe not the variety you'd think...

Tony,

the best info I gleaned was quite helpful. Its the standardization of a 2 quid fare. Whatever happened to ye olde time honored thruppence to go just 1 stop? Maybe I am really showin' my age on that one, hehehe

To compare Swedish to UK pricin' that 2 quid = 24 SKR, which would take ya 'boot max 20km, or 12 mies here. So if yer gonna go across London, and I mean 20 straight miles of it, for 2 quid that don't sound totally unrealistic.

The French 'spirits' are what ya hintin' at ,yes?

There's a lot of w(h)ining going on with the French, sure, going by that blog entry I linked to!

It's also funny how much of the Case involves a tipple or two. Here's a page revolving around The Woodman pub. It might be of interest.

Not bad for bein' on the dole, yes? That's a hard nut to crack here in Sweden, ya gotta be so destitute ya better not even own a tooth brush here, plus yer put into slave labor 'workfare' programs, just to 'earn' the survival pittance, the 'dole' here grants folks.

Most folks who end up on the bottom of the food chain and are forced to survive on the dole here end up as alkies, or druggies.

Anthony,

Why have you provided a link to that hate site?
The material on that page is a load of crap.

Just taking the first few lines:

"Dvid Robert Donovan Farrant (born 23 January 1946) resides at the same attic bedsitting room in Muswell Hill Road, London, "
LIE: David lives in a large, recently refurbished flat in a fashionable area of North London. His flat has separate kitchen, lounge, bedroom Etc it is NOT a bedsit.

"Bar a couple of weeks doing unskilled work when young, he has been in receipt of means-tested state benefits for most of his life. "
No evidence has EVER been produced to support this claim bar the observations of someone Manny knew who worked in the local job center. That is not proof.

"One person stands head and shoulders above the rest when it comes to abuse and harassment at the hands of Farrant who has spent the last four decades disseminating gross defamation about this particular human being; seeking to cause him maximum insult and injury."

Really? Farrant has never been convicted of harassing this person, has never caused them any physical harm to them Etc. Etc. The person making the complaint claims to have "dusted his sandals" yet constantly attacks David - What do you think the purpose of that web page is? Total hypocrisy.

When you actually stop and look at the eveidence you will see that poor David is often on the receiving end of the most wretched distortions. Please cut him some slack Anthony and concentrate more on what he has to say. The other guy has an agenda.


Love
Jen
x.

Jenny, this other guy with an agenda, who could that possibly be? There are folks who wanna know why Dave + his krowd strut their peacock feathers like they do. It would also be fair to all those who regularly habituate Andrews' forum who are not Highgate hijinx junkies.

Why haven't Dave's buddies participated in the rest of the forum?, the actual reason why it exists at all. Now if that's an 'agenda' to ya, I know some savvy shrinks who help with what else that bothers ya in life.

Jenny,

Do you mind if I ask you a question?

If you refute the link I provided (and do note, that it cites Dave contradicting himself several times), what exactly is your relationship to him? Cos you're starting to starting to sound a lil bit like you-know-who's "Demonologist" friend! Just an, uh, Dave version. Daveologist, maybe!

Also, out of curiousity, do you not think Dave has an agenda of his own?

jabbs,



Damn straight! You hit the nail on the head there. What was the deal with all that "texting" between Dave and Babbs? The hawking of merchandise? Isn't that a little bit shady?

Hi Jabberwock,


Clue: Wears a purple biretta
Clue: Revolutionised the hand held stake.
Clue: Used to play in a jazz band.

Hi Anthony,

LOL! I'm not Daveologist

Can I please be one of the following instead:
Arminius Davebery or
Farrantdfwlch!

Hehehehe.

I do admire you for trying to be neutral, I really do, but all that seems to entail is attacking the other guy and then Dave in turn.
You don't believe in blood-sucking vampires and yet the other fellow says he does. Surely that makes him either a liar or a loon?
For me that trumps any slight failing in David's argument and makes him the winner. Dave is also a swell kind of guy, much less self-important and grumpy than his so called adversary. There's an expression in England that you need to understand: "Pomposity must be pricked".

AS to your question, Sorry but I am unable to discuss my connection to David, or even if such a connection exists at all, due to sensitive ongoing case work.

Love
Jen
x.

Jenny,



I had an honest to goodness laugh at that one!

Yes, unlike the Demonologist namesake, you actually have a sense of humour



I prefer "criticism"! And I'd tell ya, it'd be a lot more easier if they were more receptive to my hard-hitting queries than dismissing them as not being "genuine" or outright censoring me (something done by both sides).

So, let's say such actions make me a liiiiil bit suss!



Maybe both! But put it this way, Jen, if I dismissed the other bloke purely on the vampire stuff, what would I have to say about Dave's 8 foot tall "vampirelike" psychic entities?

Thus, I look for more earthier plot "holes".

Besides, there's much more to this case than mere alleged supernatural phenomena!



Until, of course, you actually start closely questioning him about his claims. Then we see a whole "new" side...

If you think Dave "wins" simply because he doesn't believe in vampires, but the other guy does (or claims to), then that's overlooking the rich tapestry that is the Highgate Vampire Case!

It also means a lot of dirt can cake up and be overlooked...all because a guy happens to believe in the walking undead! And that, my dear, is a cop-out!



Yeah, we got a similar attitude in the land of Oz. Hell, there's a name for it: Tall Poppy Syndrome. Essentially, figures in power must be "cut down" to size, so they don't grow too big for their britches.

But let's say that pomposity isn't the only prick in this thing!



Hahaha you'll have to forgive me, Jen, but I think that gave me a case of the dikkipoggies!

I believe disclosure is important in this business. After all, a lotta people got agendas here! Hell, Babbs has even been using this thing as an advertorial...Dave's spruiking her book (even though he says he hasn't read it)...and now you can't even tell me your connection to the guy you seem to know intimately (or at least, that's the impression I get from your posts).

Throw me a bone here, Jen!

Hi Anthony,

The British Psychic and Occult Society has members from many different backgrounds and walks of life. The burgeoning membership details fill several bulky folders in the London head office. When last counted there were between 350 and 400 members on file. David Farrant presides personally in many investigations of paranormal activity as well as giving talks, writing books and making films and documentaries. Membership if open to all who wish to apply regardless of race, religious beliefs or sexual preference. Famous members include the paranormal author and exorcist Gareth J Medway and the Spirit medium and accountant Patsy Langley, both of whom have participated in the rich and varied caseload the society enjoys.

Over the years some people have tried to put the society down, often to hide their own inadequacies. This meant that case details had to be more closely guarded, so with a heavy heart the society now maintains a dignified silence where ongoing cases may be compromised by those whose motives lie in the darkness of the absurd. Like the same number of snuffed out candles they leave nothing but a trail of dull smoke in an otherwise dark world. As we walk, together, hand in hand through the torture and anguish of the dark, we clutch onto the hope that knowledge will be out light and that David will guide us to it, despite the treacherous path we sometimes have to take. To be constantly forced by the relentless, yet oddly transient nature of the modern world, to abandon the esoteric and embrace only materialism does nothing to halt our pilgrimage towards a greater truth. To enter into this world and to stand on the cusp of something different is an opportunity few people alive today can understand. Those that do should be treasured. They should be our shaman.

http://www.davidfarrant.org/about/bpos.html

Love
Jen
x.

So, essentially Jen, you are the anti-Demonologist (Dennis Crawford) and a Farrant follower?



Very cultish, indeed!

You do realise that a lot of what you said echoes the VRS and BOS?

Also, I don't get why you didn't disclose your membership with the organisation in the first place! Instead, you swooped out of nowhere to "defend" Dave and his cronies, promote BPOS material...and as it turns out, you were a BPOS member all along!

I'm so disappointed, Jen

No, you have assumed that I am. I am actually a free agent who is sympathetic towards the BPOS.
Sorry Anthony, but we can't all be neutral.

Love
Jen
x

A quick sum up for my own benefit here. Tony sez he is Oz yet has intimate familiarity with all things spooky on the UK'Y scene. Then whimsical Jenny comes along like a waft of fresh air in all of this gloom. Am I to take it yer a florist by profession, jenny?

Then ya mention a dude who resembles a line out of a silly 60s song the purple people eaters, only this one is a stalking staker, BTW who is he stalkin'? who is he gonna steak?(pun intended.

Then I read thru the who's who 'thang' in the UK psycho world and why does it have to remain occult? If yer a legit society doin' sumfin supposedly for the benefit of society at large, shouldn't it get recognition it truly deserves?

I worked in medicine for a long time. The only confidentiality was 'tween practitioner + patient. That patient didn't have to sneak into our clinic in the dark, It was basically a com as ya are 'thang', and hopefully each patient went out of the clinic in better shape than when they came in. We did no heeby-jeebie shamanistic bone-rattle mojo on them. We did it all according to the latest approved medical techniques. The only lit flame in our clinic was in the lab where the lab tech used it to sterilize items or heat specialized equipt for testing purposes.

No mid-nite candle mumbo-jumbo, nosireee, no voodoo dolls with needles stuck in them, etc. Jenny, the description ya gave above sent shiver up me spine just thinkin' 'boot what y'awl conjur up. To put it mildly, ya spooked me.

Jen,



When you regurgitate BPOS material, allude to BPOS published works and then provide an intimate refutation of the other person's claims, I think it's a fair assumption to make!



That's cool with me. I don't mind if people do believe either side. But are you essentially saying that you believe David's account in total? You said that his account "wasn't perfect" before. What did you mean by that?

jabbs,



Hahaha, I can give you a heads-up on that. I've been familiar with the Case for well over 10 years now. As I've mentioned, my primary interest is in vampires, so, naturally, the Highgate Vampire's crept into those writings more than a few times. My early sources included stuff like Elwood D. Baumann's Vampires (1977) and J. Gordon Melton's The Vampire Book: Encyclopedia of the Undead (1994).

From there, I found out about The Cross and the Stake. I found out about its online version, and I joined that around 2001, 2002, I think. I was eventually booted off for starting my "rival" forum.

Rest assured, I am Australian! Born and bred. We're not a big desert wasteland, ya know. We do have books and the Internet here!



I presume you mean Demonologist? He's actually Dennis Crawford, International Secretary of the VRS. It's one of several usernames I've busted him with.

There's speculation (unproven, though), that Demonologist is actually you-know-who in disguise. And now, I've received a message from a dormant member on here, who claims that Jenny is using an alias as well!

Welcome to the wonderful world of Highgate Vampire Madness!



Well, it was certainly a stark contrast to her other, light-hearted posts. And I'm telling ya, it's a mirror image version of Demonologist and co. Rushing to the Master's defence, but having an agenda all on their own. Same old, same old pattern and it goes to show just how entwined the opposing sides of this feud really are (even their Society names are similar!)

As Nietzsche said, "If you stare into the Abyss long enough the Abyss stares back at you."

BTW Tony, is that the base philosophy behind Dave, Inc? He occasionally sez somethings that reveal the purpose of his 'society', ya know the deal, crawlin' around a deserted cemetery at mid-nite armed with candle + stake kinda 'thang'. If he were in Oz what kind of 'wildlife' would all this attract, would they be 2-legged or 4-legged? It all has a very sexy connotation with all them there bodies latin' around, if ya can imagine that take, that's where the 2-legged critters come in to the picture.

If he did that in North Sweden cemeteries he'd attract wild boar families on the prowl for grub, roaming moose which are very dangerous critters. We even have bears that roam those woodsy cemeteries, 'cuz folks throw edibles in the trash bins and the bears rip them apart just to get a snack. Even the wolf population is growin' up there.

Can that happen in Oz?

Well, there's certainly a contrast going on. On a few occasions, he's tried to represent himself as a serious paranormal investigator. Although, his techniques and methodologies leave a lot to be desired, in this department.

As Wombat showed on this thread (and something similar was echoed on the JREF thread), he seems to have a fairly limited grasp on the actual science behind such investigations.

His primary crusade seems to be convincing people that he doesn't believe in "Hammer style vampires", and ridicules those that do. This is an attempt to win the skeptic "vote".

However, what he doesn't publicise, is that he merely has another supernaturally-based interpretation for their existence:



He also bemoans the Press for associating him with vampires, yet, it's pretty clear that he frequently plays up this angle, himself, and the term is frequently utilised in his writings. Check out the BPOS' booklist. In my interview with him last year, I also asked him



His response?



He also pretends to be a proponent of free speech when it comes to the Highgate Vampire Case. And he is...until you actually start questioning him about his claims. And when that happens, you come up against a stonewall of insults, attacks on your intelligence and claims that your questions "aren't genuine".

You would've noticed that he employed some of these against you already.



I live in a suburban area, so I don't think the wildlife we attract to cemeteries is that exotic! That said, we do occasionally have critters of the two-legged variety, namely vandals. And if rumours start circulating about of unearthly goings on in a cemetery, then they're more likely to attract critters of this type.

Yo Tony, besides my daily prayers what else can be done to salvage Dave, in yer humble opinion, OR ...is he so far gone he is beyond bein' salvaged?

Well, there's always hope in my view, jabbs.

You'd probably know that I actually tried to help arrange a meet between Dave and his archnemesis, as the arguments were just going round and round in circles, so I figured that if they weren't gonna agree on anything, then they might as well try to have some civil peace.

As you can imagine, Dave managed to duck and weave his way out of it. Obviously, the feuding's so engrained in their psyches (and pockets), that they feel it's more productive to malign each other than come to some sort of peaceful resolution.

One day this might change, and hopefully it does, for their sakes.

Hey Tony, if they become drinkin' buddies, what will they to argue 'boot? ... football?