Post by Supernatural Empress on Dec 18, 2005 21:33:48 GMT -5
Built in 1863, Borley Rectory in the village of Borley, Essex, United Kingdom, has the reputation of being "the most haunted house in England". The house was destroyed by fire in 1939, but it remains a source of controversy.
Borley Rectory was constructed near Borley Church by its rector, the Reverend Henry Dawson Ellis Bull in 1863, a year after being named rector of the church. The building was a large brick home that replaced the rather earlier Georgian Rectory built for Rev Herringham. The home would eventually house his wife as well as fourteen children.
The church itself dates to the 12th century and the area received mention in the Doomsday Book as having a manor. Ghost-hunters like to quote the legend of a Benedictine monastery supposedly built in this area around 1362. According to myth, a monk from the monastery carried on a relationship with a nun from a nearby convent. After their affair was discovered, the monk was executed while the nun was bricked up alive in the walls of the convent. This legend has no basis whatsoever in historical fact and seems to have been invented by the children of the rector to romanticise their rather ugly, recently-built, red-brick rectory
The first known reports of paranormal events date to around 1885. At this time, a few locals reported hearing footsteps within the house, and four of the daughters of the rector reported seeing what they thought was the ghost of a nun near the house. Various people would witness a variety of puzzling incidents such as a phantom coach through the next four decades.
In 1927, the rector, Harry Bull, died and the rectory became vacant. In the following year, the Reverend Guy Eric Smith and his wife moved into the home. The family would report a variety of poltergeist-like incidents including the sounds of bells ringing, items disappearing, and lights turning off and on. In addition, there was also a sighting of a horse-drawn carriage. The Smiths contacted the Daily Mirror seeking help from the Society for Psychical Research. The paper sent a reporter who promptly wrote the first article detailing the mysteries of Borley. On June 12 of that year, Harry Price, a paranormal researcher, made his first visit to the place that would ultimately make his name famous.
Finally driven from their home by the poor state of the house, the Smiths left Borley in 1930 and the Reverend Lionel Foyster and his wife Marianne moved into the rectory with their adopted daughter Adelaide. Lionel Foyster wrote an account of the various strange incidents that happened, which he sent to Harry Price. Price estimated that between the Foyster's moving in October of 1930 and October of 1935 that some two thousand incidents took place there, including bell-ringing, bottle-throwing and wall-writing. Because of the publicity in the Daily Mirror, these incidents attracted much attention at the time from psychic researchers who investigated, and were unanimous in suspecting that they were caused, consciously or unconsciously, by the Rector's wife, Marianne Foyster.
The Foysters left Borley as a result of Lionel's ill health and Price continued over the next few years to study the empty house, renting the building for a year between May 1937 to May 1938. Through an advertisement in The Times newspaper and subsequent personal interviews he recruited a corp of forty-eight 'Official Observers' who spent periods, mainly at weekends, at the Rectory with instructions to report any phenomena which occurred. Following the end of Price's tenancy the Church authorities combined the parish of Borley with that of neighbouring Liston and Borley Rectory was put up for sale. It was bought by Capt. W.H. Gregson who intended to capitalise on its haunted reputation. On the night of February 27, 1939, the house was badly damaged by fire in an insurance scam. Some years before, the ghosts "proclaimed" that they would destroy the house. What is known, however, is that an oil lamp fell over and spilled its contents. The scam was the popular sceptic explanation for the burning, but believers state that the ghosts within the rectory were responsible. Some witnesses who watched the Rectory burn claimed to see figures walking in the flames. The ruins were razed in 1944.
Since the destruction of the rectory, the events there have been investigated and argued from various angles. After Harry Price's death in 1948, three members of the English Society for Psychical Research investigated his claims about Borley and published their findings in a book 'The Haunting of Borley Rectory' 1956 which came to the conclusion that any evidence for a haunting was hopelessly confused by Harry Price's duplicity. The 'Borley report' as the SPR study has become known stated that much of the phenomena were either faked or were due to natural causes such as rats and the strange acoustics due to the odd shape of the house. The SPR re-examined the case in the mid 1960s, the result of which was member Robert Hastings 'An Examination of the 'Borley Report' which addressed several of the charges of duplicity and falsification of evidence made against Harry Price, albeit with limited success. Hastings's report was never published in book form and is often overlooked.
Further books on the Rectory hauntings have appeared over the years including a collaboration in 1973 by ghost-hunter & author Peter Underwood and Price's literary executor Paul Tabori entitled 'The Ghosts of Borley' which is generally sympathetic to the idea of paranormal activity at Borley and defends Harry Price against accusations of fraud. A similar approach was made by Ivan Banks in his 'The Enigma of Borley Rectory' which was published in 1996. In 1992 Robert Wood published a study of Marianne Foyster and Borley entitled 'The Widow of Borley' which was in a similar vein to the 'Borley Report'. Occasional reports of paranormal activity still come out of the area, including Borley Church
Here is a link to the official website
Borley Rectory
Borley Rectory was constructed near Borley Church by its rector, the Reverend Henry Dawson Ellis Bull in 1863, a year after being named rector of the church. The building was a large brick home that replaced the rather earlier Georgian Rectory built for Rev Herringham. The home would eventually house his wife as well as fourteen children.
The church itself dates to the 12th century and the area received mention in the Doomsday Book as having a manor. Ghost-hunters like to quote the legend of a Benedictine monastery supposedly built in this area around 1362. According to myth, a monk from the monastery carried on a relationship with a nun from a nearby convent. After their affair was discovered, the monk was executed while the nun was bricked up alive in the walls of the convent. This legend has no basis whatsoever in historical fact and seems to have been invented by the children of the rector to romanticise their rather ugly, recently-built, red-brick rectory
The first known reports of paranormal events date to around 1885. At this time, a few locals reported hearing footsteps within the house, and four of the daughters of the rector reported seeing what they thought was the ghost of a nun near the house. Various people would witness a variety of puzzling incidents such as a phantom coach through the next four decades.
In 1927, the rector, Harry Bull, died and the rectory became vacant. In the following year, the Reverend Guy Eric Smith and his wife moved into the home. The family would report a variety of poltergeist-like incidents including the sounds of bells ringing, items disappearing, and lights turning off and on. In addition, there was also a sighting of a horse-drawn carriage. The Smiths contacted the Daily Mirror seeking help from the Society for Psychical Research. The paper sent a reporter who promptly wrote the first article detailing the mysteries of Borley. On June 12 of that year, Harry Price, a paranormal researcher, made his first visit to the place that would ultimately make his name famous.
Finally driven from their home by the poor state of the house, the Smiths left Borley in 1930 and the Reverend Lionel Foyster and his wife Marianne moved into the rectory with their adopted daughter Adelaide. Lionel Foyster wrote an account of the various strange incidents that happened, which he sent to Harry Price. Price estimated that between the Foyster's moving in October of 1930 and October of 1935 that some two thousand incidents took place there, including bell-ringing, bottle-throwing and wall-writing. Because of the publicity in the Daily Mirror, these incidents attracted much attention at the time from psychic researchers who investigated, and were unanimous in suspecting that they were caused, consciously or unconsciously, by the Rector's wife, Marianne Foyster.
The Foysters left Borley as a result of Lionel's ill health and Price continued over the next few years to study the empty house, renting the building for a year between May 1937 to May 1938. Through an advertisement in The Times newspaper and subsequent personal interviews he recruited a corp of forty-eight 'Official Observers' who spent periods, mainly at weekends, at the Rectory with instructions to report any phenomena which occurred. Following the end of Price's tenancy the Church authorities combined the parish of Borley with that of neighbouring Liston and Borley Rectory was put up for sale. It was bought by Capt. W.H. Gregson who intended to capitalise on its haunted reputation. On the night of February 27, 1939, the house was badly damaged by fire in an insurance scam. Some years before, the ghosts "proclaimed" that they would destroy the house. What is known, however, is that an oil lamp fell over and spilled its contents. The scam was the popular sceptic explanation for the burning, but believers state that the ghosts within the rectory were responsible. Some witnesses who watched the Rectory burn claimed to see figures walking in the flames. The ruins were razed in 1944.
Since the destruction of the rectory, the events there have been investigated and argued from various angles. After Harry Price's death in 1948, three members of the English Society for Psychical Research investigated his claims about Borley and published their findings in a book 'The Haunting of Borley Rectory' 1956 which came to the conclusion that any evidence for a haunting was hopelessly confused by Harry Price's duplicity. The 'Borley report' as the SPR study has become known stated that much of the phenomena were either faked or were due to natural causes such as rats and the strange acoustics due to the odd shape of the house. The SPR re-examined the case in the mid 1960s, the result of which was member Robert Hastings 'An Examination of the 'Borley Report' which addressed several of the charges of duplicity and falsification of evidence made against Harry Price, albeit with limited success. Hastings's report was never published in book form and is often overlooked.
Further books on the Rectory hauntings have appeared over the years including a collaboration in 1973 by ghost-hunter & author Peter Underwood and Price's literary executor Paul Tabori entitled 'The Ghosts of Borley' which is generally sympathetic to the idea of paranormal activity at Borley and defends Harry Price against accusations of fraud. A similar approach was made by Ivan Banks in his 'The Enigma of Borley Rectory' which was published in 1996. In 1992 Robert Wood published a study of Marianne Foyster and Borley entitled 'The Widow of Borley' which was in a similar vein to the 'Borley Report'. Occasional reports of paranormal activity still come out of the area, including Borley Church
Here is a link to the official website
Borley Rectory