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  • BORLEY RECTORY: most haunted house in England

    I know of at least two other Casebook members who are interested in Borley, hence starting this post.

    For those unfamiliar with this fascinating mystery, some facts:

    Borley is a tiny (and I mean TINY) hamlet in Suffolk, not far from Sudbury. Both the Rectory (destroyed by fire in 1948) and the medieval church were and are reputed to be haunted.

    The rectory was made famous by the "ghost hunter" and para-psychologist HARRY PRICE in a book before the war. He had been called in by a daily newspaper to cover a reputed haunting.

    It found that the tale of the ghostly apparations, apports, noises, bell-ringing and grey-ladies went back at least to the 1860s when a squire rector of Borley built an ugly double-fronted red-brick home for his enormous family. The Bull's who were squires as well as rectors (the local vicar) had money and the original Bull incumbent was followed by his son (we'll leave first names for the moment), so the property was occupied by the same family from the 1860s to 1927. Even then a cousin took over.

    The most famous apparition is of a grey habited nin who walked a particular path in the garden. She was also said to stare through the dining room window (which was blocked up). But there was also a ghostly coach with a headless coachman; noises of crashing china, the servants bells clanged and objects appeared and disappeared.

    Later, in the 1930s, the wife of one rector, Marianne Foyster, is an interesting character in herself. She appears to have married the elderly Foyster to provide a home for (illegitimate?) child; moved out and opened a florists shop in SW London; took a lover and later (having left the parish) passed him off as her husband while the real Foyster was an invalid in her home. Did she write messages on the walls of the chilly old house, calling for "light, candles and masses"? Why - was this lonely, bored, attractive highly sexed woman seeking attention? Or was the writer a nun - Marie Laire, as sessions with a ouija board or planchette suggested?

    Was the destruction of the old Rectory by fire foretold by a spirit, SUNEX AMURES contacted by a medium?

    Even since the rectory was destroyed the church is said to have been a focus for unexplained noises - footsteps on the gravel paths, doors opening; even sounds on a BBC tape-recorder which were heard by no one inside the church at the time.

    The highly-regarded Society for Paranormal Research debunked Price's work in the 1950s (after his death) and since theyn the whole issue has remeined controversial.

    There are many personalities, mysteries (possible murders), scandal and enigmas tied up in the story. No doubt all will be discussed as the thread develops.

    If I have made any minor errors in writing the above (from memory) I apologise, but I know the thrust is right and I am trying to summarise a complex and many layered subject rather than provide an authoritative source.

    I now hand over to those who know far more about Borley than do I (although I have visted the site, read widely on the topic and have a few thoughts and ideas to share).

    Phil

  • #2
    Hi Phil,

    i think, again from memory that the Borley nun is said to appear on the same day every year. I believe the date is sometime in mid-July.

    There is a Borley blog on another site too:

    I won't always agree but I'll try not to be disagreeable.

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    • #3
      Revenge is sweet

      Hi Phil

      Clouseau-like I'm still pursuing the nin

      All the best

      Dave

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      • #4
        Hi everyone.

        I was under the impression that most of the claimed paranormal activity at Borley has been debunked? I'm by no means an expert though. Just have heard bits here and there.

        I remember having seen a detailed article on Wikipedia about Borley. It's best to take all Wikipedia articles with a large grain of salt, but the article has a large bibliography and numerous online links which may be of interest, including a gallery of old photos of the place.



        It certainly looks like a lovely place for a haunting...

        Best regards,
        Archaic

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        • #5
          Hi Phil, and all,

          Ghostly headless coachman riding through Suffolk villages seem to be a common theme.

          When I was small, I went to stay with an aunt in the village of Badwell Ash, just outside Bury St Edmunds. I was told that if I heard strange sounds in the night, it was probably only the 'headless coachman' riding past the cottage in the dead of night. Needless to say, I did not want to stay even one night in that village!

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          • #6
            Borley is charming - remote unspoiled, with a lovely little church. But there is an atmosphere about the place, and a friend I took with me to see it did not feel comfortable in the churchyard even on a bright spring morning.

            I'll try to scan in and post some pics.

            Phil

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            • #7
              I too am under the impression that all the claimed goings-on at Borley have been soundly de-bunked.

              My wife and I visited once when we were on hols in the area. Not much to see of the Rectory any more, but we spent some time in the church which is also reputed to be haunted. In fact, there was a guy in there that day setting up his gear for an assumed all-night vigil, but he wasn't at all communicative so we left him alone. Later, in the church-yard, we were covered head to toe with harvest bugs coming on off the fields. Very nice part of the world, though.

              Graham
              We are suffering from a plethora of surmise, conjecture and hypothesis. - Sherlock Holmes, The Adventure Of Silver Blaze

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              • #8
                There are various reasons why people now doubt the story, yet there lingers some element of doubt.

                And the subplots are fascinating in their own right:

                a) did the origianl builder of the rectory, the first Bull, die of syphilis?

                b) was a maid killed in the house - perhaps a failed abortion and the fact covered up?

                c) was the second Bull incumbent a murderer?

                d) what of the "seance" work and Marie Lairre?

                e) the enigma of Harry Price - was he a fraud?

                I must admit that reading about the case over the years has introduced me to some stories I wouldn't have wanted to miss and given me much food for thought.

                Quite apart from the "nin" of course.

                Phil

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                • #9
                  Been working, haven't been able to join in the fun here, but this thread is interesting. Thanks for posting Phil.

                  Harry Price was sincere up till some point where he said, 'all they want is the bunk, so I'll give them what they want, I'll give them the bunk'. paraphrased of course.

                  He was caught in Borley with a pocketful of stones, and he was tossing them out as if it were paranormal activity. One of the people present thought him a fraud and after the stones went flying went over to him and thrust his hand in Prices pocket and pulled out a handful of stones to show everyone.

                  Marianne also one time found him, while 'investigating' Borley, in one of the bedrooms with one of the other 'investigators', a woman, they were kissing or...something. After that this female investigator had it out for her. I believe both of them were married to other people. Or Price was, or something.

                  Marianne once said Borley really did have some strange things going on, as if to defend the fraud all of them were involved in, even her husband, a Reverend, he admitted liked to toss stones to see the reactions of the people who came to gawk at the ghostly phenomena.

                  I think Borley was haunted, which Marianne and Lionel her husband found to be true, but then everybody wanted to write books and make out of it what they could.

                  I'll write a few more things I've read later, but right now off antiquing, it's a lovely spring day out guys
                  Last edited by Beowulf; 02-16-2013, 07:31 PM. Reason: spelling

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                  • #10
                    One more thing I wanted to put up.

                    I did once read on a website about Borley where people put in their own experiences an interesting story.

                    A trio of young guys decided to drive out there, found it somewhat difficult to find, it is evidently very countryish and what they called a hamlet, full of convoluted roads.

                    They got there after dark, one guy got out with another friend to go walk about over at the house, the other guy stayed behind, he felt it all very spooky. He stayed in the car.

                    After about 30 minutes of sitting there he saw in the side mirror a figure walking up the road behind the car. The figure appeared to be wearing a long black robe with a hood. He felt significantly uncomfortable and then rolled up the window and kind of slunk down in the car.

                    However this figure walked up to the car and knocked on the window. He rolled it down and this person asked for some directions to a place around there that he never had heard of, but also was not familiar with the area. He told the person he did not know where the place was, he could not help him. The figure continued on up the road until he disappeared from view.

                    The guy telling the story in the car said no matter how hard he looked at this 'person' he could not see a face under the hood. It was all black inside where there should have been a face.

                    This story stays on my mind as not only fascinating, of course it could be all a natural thing, but as the guy pointed out, when this happened, I think back in the 60's, it was pretty empty around there. He was surprised to see anyone out and the place the guy was asking about sounded a little out of the age he was living in. I found the story pretty interesting and a little creepy

                    Personally, I would love to see the nin
                    Last edited by Beowulf; 02-16-2013, 07:55 PM. Reason: spelling

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                    • #11
                      The Nin

                      Hi Barbara...folk in Liphook (not too far from me, but over the County boundaries) reckon the most haunted place in the world is Bramshot...as a kid in Sussex I grew up on stories about the devils coach haunting Liphook (East Hampshire) ...but apparently this phenomenon, and a "Nin" and many other apparitions, belong in adjoining Bramshot...

                      Nonetheless Borley certainly seems to have pride of place at present!

                      All the best

                      Dave

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                      • #12
                        Originally posted by Cogidubnus View Post
                        Hi Barbara...folk in Liphook (not too far from me, but over the County boundaries) reckon the most haunted place in the world is Bramshot...
                        Dave
                        Puttin' on my hat and headin' right over there! Just read the ghost of Boris Karloff has been seen walking the lanes in Bramshot

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                        • #13
                          Hi Barbara

                          Really? Well that's a new one on me...must google!

                          Dave

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                          • #14
                            In reading the new Ripperology there is a map of Butcher's Row. I've seen this before but this is a good place as any to ask; was the Bull Inn, 1888, opened by the same Henry Ellis Dawson Bull who owned Borley Rectory at the time?
                            Attached Files

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                            • #15
                              Wouldn't that be a coincidence!!!!

                              The names are surely too close NOT to be the same man?

                              Phil

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