Seán Manchester
From RationalWiki
| For those of you in the mood, RationalWiki has a fun article about Seán Manchester. |
Seán Manchester claims to be an Old Catholic Bishop[1] exorcist [2] and vampire hunter[3]...no, you didn't read that wrong: he's a vampire-hunting, exorcising bishop.[3] He's written a number of books (you can guess the subject),[4] and was involved in a vampire panic surrounding the Highgate Cemetery in London.[5] Highgate holds a very special place in the annals of bullshit because, while pseudosciences frequently contradict each other, you rarely find the supporters of a given one calling bullshit on each other. Manchester and another enthusiast named David Farrant both claim to have the "real" story of the Highgate Vampire, and essentially accuse each other of being frauds.[6] This may stem from the fact that Manchester claims the title Bishop, and Farrant claims the title "occultist" or High Priest in Wicca.[7][8]
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[edit] Activities and research
Notwithstanding his interest in vampires, he also seems to take a great interest in exorcism. While the, ummm, "conventional" Catholic Church and many other flavours of Christianity still (yes, we know it's the 21st century) approve of exorcism, it seems unlikely that the vampire-hunting "bishop" is fully in line with current Catholic teaching over the undead. If you want to find out a bit more about him, the bishop gives his side on this YouTube video.
Manchester's knowledge of vampirism may have been inspired by horror novels and old vampire movies. His account of the Highgate Vampire has so many parallels to Dracula that Bram Stoker's estate could probably sue if it wasn't in public domain. A perhaps surprising situation as most people who do believe in vampires generally follow folklore, rather than Universal Monster Movies.
Nevertheless, he is also president and founder of the "Vampire Research Society".[9] And that society seems to take an interest in historical notions of the "vampire". It claims:[10]
| “ | The supernatural vampire of folklore as defined in dictionaries, encyclopedias and non-fiction works is the matter of the Society's research and pursuit. | ” |
Manchester has published several books, including vampire fiction as well as allegedly factual accounts of the Highgate saga and the serious business of vampirology.[11]
[edit] On being a bishop
In his BBC interview[3] His Grace maintained that he is a Catholic Bishop.
| “ | I'm not a vicar, I'm a priest and a bishop. I'm a Catholic. | ” |
| —Sean Manchester in his BBC interview. | ||
The vast majority of people will understand "Catholic Bishop" to mean "Roman Catholic Bishop" and this title could cause some confusion among the Roman Catholic faithful as he does not appear in the official list of British bishops provided by "catholic-hierarchy".[12]
However, further investigation reveals that in other places he claims to a Bishop, not of the Roman Catholic Church, but of of the British Old Catholic Church. And not just a member - the leader in the UK![13][14] "The British Old Catholic Church" seems to also be known as "The Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ in Great Britain" and in this organization His Grace not only has the title of Bishop but of "Primate" as well.[15]
While it may be surprising that a church leader believes in vampires and the undead, one might ask if this is really any stranger than believing in creationism, exorcism and the virgin birth - ideas that that may be obligatory under other circumstances. (So clearly being a Bishop in no way suggests that an individual won't have weird ideas, perhaps the reverse.)
But the more one digs, the stranger it gets. He appears nowhere in the list of priests of the official-looking website "Catholic Apostolic Church in Europe" subtitled "The Old Catholic Church in Europe".[16] Which leaves us a bit confused about this vampire-hunting Bishop. He surely can't have invented his own religion?
After following some dead ends, one comes to another cheap-looking website, that of The Church of the Holy Grail[17] presided over by none other than Bishop Manchester. Not only is Bishop Manchester a bishop of this church but he also a bishop of "Ecclesia Apostolica Jesu Christi (The Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ in Great Britain) [18]. And finally we get back to the Old Catholic Church, or at least one version of it. [19] The strange thing is that none of these churches seems to have an actual physical address. But not only is there no address, there is also no mention of any legion of highly-trained mystic priests challenging the undead under his orders, nor any mention of a faithful congregation breathlessly following his priestly, vampire-slaying antics. So exactly who he is "bishoping" at these various - apparently virtual - churches seems a little unclear.
Nevertheless, it should be noted that Shawn Jean Manchester's title of "Bishop" is not in dispute here, since he can call himself the "Mushroom King" or the "Pope" for all we care. Mr. Manchester is, however, very jealous of his title. So much so that, in a legal threat to RationalWiki, he pointed out that his title has been recognised by Ofcom (see below) and that in his words he was: "enthroned at the Abbey ruins as Bishop of Glastonbury." On an unrelated note, the Church of the SubGenius awards many titles, including the rather spectacular "High Pope of the Unpredictable".[20]
[edit] Bishop Manchester and the media
Bishop Manchester seems to have a somewhat turbulent relationship with British television and radio, having made at least three complaints to the UK communications regulators. All of them revolve around the matter of how he should be described.
Two complaints made against radio stations in 2002 were upheld in part. In the first His Grace didn't like the fact that he was not addressed as Bishop during an interview, and in the second he complained about being referred to as a "self-styled bishop of what he calls the Old Catholic Church". The regulator decided he was a bishop in each case.[21]
The third complaint, made in 2006, was in respect of the Highgate vampire hunters (including Manchester) being referred to on a Channel 4 programme as "1970's weirdos" and other things. Ofcom, who were handling the complaint, ultimately decided in this case that calling him a "1970's weirdo" was fair comment.[22]
In part of their weirdo judgment Ofcom stated:
- Bishop Manchester had not denied that he had, in the past, carried out an exorcism and he was published describing the traditional method of dispatching a vampire as being to drive a stake through its heart before beheading it and incinerating the remains.
And
- Bishop Manchester had himself claimed, in his own book, to have violently despatched the Highgate Vampire by tracking it down, kicking “the lid off the coffin”, driving “a stake through the creature’s heart” and burning the remains”;
So if we follow Ofcom's decisions — which His Grace has elsewhere encouraged us to do —- there is no doubt that he is a bishop, a weirdo, and potentially a criminal.[23]
[edit] Internet activities
Bishop Manchester's concerns about his public image do not stop with mainstream media: he also appears overly preoccupied with negative comments made about him on virtually any part of the internet, including the article you're looking at right now.
Manchester posts on several blogs (see external links below). As of January 2010, 5 out of 6 of his posts on the [Bishop Seán Manchester blog are concerned with RationalWiki, and Mustex in particular, who started this article. Having made pedantic criticisms of this article's content, accompanied by vague intimations about possible legal action[24] he proceeded to do the same with the comments on the article's talk page.[25] He has even made a brief appearance on-site, or at least somebody "authorised to act on his behalf" did, (posting under the Latin name "Episcopus") to make more explicit threats and demands.
This seems to be part of a repeating pattern of internet feuds. Similar behaviour from Manchester, or somebody representing his interests, (posting under the Latin name "Exorcistate") can be found in the Fortean Times forums.[26]
A blogger calling himself Alexander Lucard has claimed that Manchester harassed him,[27] allegedly accusing him of actually being the vampire Dracula.[28] When RationalWiki mentioned these claims in this article, and Manchester responded in his blog, the Bishop initially denied all knowledge of Lucard, and insinuated that RationalWiki was perpetuating defamation.[24] Later he acknowledged that he had once got one of Lucard's websites shut down because of negative comments about himself in it, but had apparently forgotten the incident.[25]
Seán Manchester's books seem to be getting good customer reviews at Amazon.[11] However, it's notable that all of the most glowing reviews come from a single reviewer (posting under the Latin name "Veritas"), who has also posted one-star reviews of vampire-related books which are hostile to Manchester or present Farrant's side of events.[29] It would seem that this Veritas also has access to unpublished information about Bishop Manchester, including his private letters. In one of his/her book reviews Veritas claims that Manchester's body language during an interview was misrepresented in the text, conclusing that the interviewer/author "is indescribably petty".[30] Sure, not at all like a Catholic bishop who spends his time complaining and self-promoting on the internet.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
[edit] Footnotes
- ↑ Well, he claims to be a bishop in his blog.
- ↑ Here's his website, lots of exorcism
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 An interview with the vampire hunting-bishop on the BBC
- ↑ http://www.gothicpress.freeserve.co.uk/Gothic.htm
- ↑ The Highgate vampire story
- ↑ Sean Manchester of David Farrent
- ↑ http://www.davidfarrant.org/about/index.html
- ↑ Farrant - High priest in Wicca
- ↑ Vampire Research Society
- ↑ Vampire research society
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 See details at Amazon.co.uk
- ↑ List of British Catholic bishops from Catholic hierarchy
- ↑ Old Catholic Church in the UK
- ↑ The Right Reverend Seán Manchester, O.S.G.
- ↑ Primate Manchester!
- ↑ list of Old Catholic Priests
- ↑ The Church of the Holy Grail Website
- ↑ The Apostolic Church of Jesus Christ in Great Britain - He's a Bishop here too
- ↑ Old Catholic Church - more Manchester
- ↑ The Church of the Subgenius
- ↑ Broadcast Standards Commission bulletin 58, 2002, pages 2 and 3 and5
- ↑ Ofcom broadcast bulletin 58 Apr 2006, pages 44-50. The whole judgement makes interesting reading.
- ↑ If indeed he has indeed disinterred and mutilated a corpse, this would certainly be a criminal offence.
- ↑ 24.0 24.1 "Falsehood about me on Rational Wiki"
- ↑ 25.0 25.1 [http://bishopseanmanchester.blogspot.com/2010/01/yet-more-falsehood-about-me-of-rational.html "Yet more falsehood on Rational Wiki"
- ↑ See the "Bishop Sean Manchester and his Church" thread from 2002. Be warned: this runs to over 60 pages, and comments suggest that there were already ongoing conflicts between Manchester and other forum users from previous interactions. For a quick example, see his post on page 3 of the thread.
- ↑ Alexander's Lucard's Blog
- ↑ In case you didn't notice, A Lucard (or Alucard) is "Dracula" spelled backwards. The alternate name of Alucard is one of the oldest memes in vampire fiction, probably originating in the 1940s film Son of Dracula, starring Lon Chaney Jr.
- ↑ Product reviews by Veritas
- ↑ Review of Blood Lust: Conversations With Real Vampires by Carol Page.
