The Old Man, The Angels & The Vision

Once upon a time, 1999 to be exact, I went back to Highgate Cemetery in London to shoot again the wonderful angel statues I had previously photographed 5 years earlier in 1994, just in case I’d missed anything...

Highgate Cemetery is unlike any cemetery I have ever seen, it is a very large (37 acres) overgrown yet tended area, with angelic statues hidden behind trees and bushes, pathways that look like they may lead to an ‘Alice in Wonderland’ place and benches scattered at positions of serenity. The Victorians set out to build a peaceful and magical place, they succeeded and 160 years later I was a witness to their creativity and the passing of time.

I had been at the cemetery, for about an hour when I came across a small clearing and an old gentleman sitting on one of the benches, I nodded to him and said good day, he replied in the same manner and asked if I had found everything I wanted to photograph. I remember him saying that it was very hard to capture Highgate as the place does not give up it’s secrets easily... I asked him what he meant by that, he shrugged and said "it’s so big"...

He then asked me what I was going to do with the photographs I was taking, I explained that this was a return visit, I needed to see my family and whilst I was in London I thought I’d take the opportunity to see if I could better the shots that I took in ‘94. I told him that I recreated them onto artifacts that I made that looked very old, extremely realistic "like museum pieces". I also explained that I had created a ’parchment’ that looked uncannily like the real thing without doing any research and I was quite excited about what I could do with it. He asked me where I learned my craft, to which I replied " I had no idea where these talents came from, it’s almost like I’d been reincarnated from the 15th century, I never did anything like it whilst I lived here, I’m totally self taught". I remember seeing this strange look come into his eyes and he muttered "it’s a powerful gift you have, to be able to transport these angels into peoples homes."

I was about to bid him (a slightly unnerved) farewell and move on as it was getting late and the sun (a precious commodity in the UK) would not give me the light I needed for much longer. He beckoned me to sit down for a moment and upon doing so told me that we had met for a reason, one which he couldn’t tell me then, but if I could give him some way of contact, in due time I would understand. I was very intrigued by this strange encounter in a cemetery and at the same time quite wary... I mentioned that I lived "in the city of Angels" in California, "very appropriate, very appropriate" he said, we both laughed and I replied that it was kind of odd...

I got up to go, handing him a card and said that the way to contact me was my e mail if he was able to use a computer, he said that it would not be a problem as his son was a guru in such matters. I bade him farewell and wished him a good remainder of the day and that it was nice to meet, "you will hear from me, nothing happens by chance" was his parting remark...

I remember walking away wondering if I had just made this all up it was so bizarre, I turned my head back to the direction of my new ‘friend’ to reassure myself I hadn’t - the bench was empty...

To say I was spooked was putting it mildly, this was after all a very old cemetery! I never forgot that encounter, which was not the only odd thing to happen that strange day in Highgate (the moon totally eclipsed the sun) and I never saw the need to relate the story of the old man - until now...

In the 8 years that has passed since that odd meeting in Highgate I often wondered about the old man’s ‘reason’ that we had met. I’d certainly been very successful with the angel images and at this point was probably responsible for putting more of them into peoples homes than any one else in America, but I was already on that path before our encounter.

It all became very clear about two weeks ago when I received the following astonishing e mail, which I initially thought was one of these stupid ‘inheritance’ missives from Africa and I nearly deleted it!

Not long before my father passed away he asked me to send this image to you, you may remember you and he met in Highgate some years back. He said that you would know what to do with it. He also wanted me to relate how he came to have this symbol in his possession. He was an avid book collector, especially old books, several from the 16th and 17th centuries, I have inherited hundreds of them. Many years ago when rearranging his library, a small piece of parchment dropped onto the floor from one of the older books. When my father inspected it the symbol on the parchment made no sense, he stared at it for quite a while and when he looked up and away - it happened...

He only shared the above story with me prior to telling me to send it to an e mail address on a business card he had saved for years, he made me promise. He also said that you needed to know that the book it fell from - was an old bible!

That was it, I open the attached image hardly knowing what to expect and there it was, a peculiar set of markings in an odd shaped black circle - ‘what on earth’ I thought... My only reference to what this was to do as my Highgate ‘friend’ had done and stare and look away, this I did and - oh my goodness what a shock I got!! It was unbelievable, how was this possible, who had created this, how was I the recipient of this extraordinary artwork???

I immediately sent the e mail into reply mode with several questions, astonished at the address it came from - within a few minutes I had a response - The following message could not be delivered because the address themessenger@thebible.com was rejected by host...
I began to wonder after several futile attempts over several days to respond to this address,which by the way is legitemate, If this wasn’t some Internet version of Punk’d but that wasn’t possible as I had met with my benefactor all those years ago in Highgate.
I now own this e mail address...

I have stopped questioning the series of events that have led me to this point, my life has been fuelled by others as strange - I have no answers other than to recreate the image he sent me as requested and I have no idea if anybody else has this symbol...

I wrote the poem that tells how to make the symbolic markings work - I hope it inspires you.


Jeff Cane 5/14/2007