British Occult Society

"Sean Manchester, who claimed to be president of the British Occult Society." - Nicole Lampert (Mail online, 15 October 2021)

Why, then, when †Seán Manchester was captioned as "President, British Occult Society" on Thames Television in March 1970, and Farrant was captioned simply "David Farant," did this televised status go unquestioned? Farrant was constantly contacting the media, but no challenge was made by him. 

In fact, †Seán Manchester being head of the BOS was beyond dispute, and was only eventually questioned by David Farrant after he had decided to hijack the society's name and use it fraudulently. 

Farrant nevertheless later relinquished his false claim to create the "British Psychic and Occult Society" (BPOS) in the early 1980s whose first and only known member at that time was John Pope.

†Seán Manchester was President of the British Occult Society (often described as an "occult investigation bureau," eg in Dr J Gordon Melton's encylopedic The Vampire Book) from 1967 to 1988 when †Seán Manchester had it formally dissolved. Its purpose was to investigate, not practice, all things considered occult, eg hidden, unexplained, supernatural.

Regarding "magical duels," the Sunday Mirror, 8 April 1973, reported alongside a photograph of self-proclaimed witch David Farrant and a nude girl: “The bizarre ceremony will involve naked witches, demon-raisings and the slaughter of a cat.” †Seán Manchester was quoted, saying: “My opponent intends to raise a demon to destroy me by killing a cat - I will be relying solely on divine power.” †Seán Manchester's opponent insisted: “Blood must be spilled, but the cat will be anaesthetised.” The Sun newspaper, 23 November 1972, had earlier quoted †Seán Manchester stating that the other person’s boasts ought to be put to the test: “The quickest way to destroy the credibility of a witch trying to earn a reputation for himself is to challenge his magical ability before objective observers.”

http://britishoccultsociety.blogspot.com/2011/09/president-of-british-occult-society_26.html