Episode 32. Borley Rectory.
The east face of the rectory in 1892
A rectory, alternatively known as a priory, is housing provided by a church organization for a minister, priest or rector to live in. Rectories are often located close to or alongside churches, such as in this case.
When Borley Rectory was built in 1862 by Reverend Henry Dawson Ellis, there was no inkling that it would one day become known as the most haunted house in England. The rectory was located in the village of Borley, in Essex, England, and was investigated and dubbed most haunted by Harry Price, a British psychic author and researcher. Price was renowned for exposing fraudsters but it appeared he whole-heartedly believed in the strange occurrences at Borley Rectory. In fact, he would write two books on the case, which he would become most famously known for.
The Rectory itself would come to fame upon Price’s 1929 visit and the account subsequently published by the Daily Mirror. Price’s rival organisation, The Society for Psychical Research, claims to have discredited Price’s findings, however the case remains popular to this day in spite of doubts of the haunting being genuine.
The Borley Rectory was built to replace a previous structure that had been destroyed by fire in 1841. Reverend Bull would move into the Rectory himself in the year following its completion. He would have an addition made the rectory that would act as a home for him and his fourteen children.
The town of Borley came with a particularly disturbing legend, which some believed may have explained the haunting in the area, and especially at the Rectory. Though, there has been no historical basis for the legend, like a lot of lore, it continues to be told.
The legend goes that there was once a nun and a monk living in the area. They fell in love, a love that was forbidden and began an affair. When the two were discovered, they were punished in a brutal manner. The monk was executed and the nun? She was taken to the Rectory, and bricked into it’s walls, alive, where she was left to die.
The first reported signs of a haunting occurred at the Rectory in 1863 when locals claimed to have heard unexplained footsteps. From there, the haunting intensified and the witnesses would experience much of the same events.
In 1890, July 28, four of the Bull daughters living at the Rectory believed they had seen an apparition of a nun only metres away. They tried to approach the figure and attempted to engage it by talking to it but they reported that the nun disappeared as they got closer. The children became so acquainted with the nun’s presence that they would welcome her presence and would go searching for her when she did no appear otherwise.
The organist at the rectory reported that the family were “very convinced they had seen an apparition on several occasions”, though they didn’t claim to have seen anything themselves. This owed to the idea that the haunting either only affected the family, or it was some kind of group hysteria, or, not real at all.
The nun was reported to have been seen by gusts of all ages, all walks of life, believers and non-believers in the paranormal.
In W. H. Gregson’s article, Borley Rectory: The Most Haunted House in England, he describes the experience as follows:
[The nun] used to gaze through a window in the gloomy dining room. Cheery, hospitable parties around the dining-table may have jarred upon her poor, agony-strained feelings. Suddenly, a strange chill would creep through the room. . . . a sudden silence fall, and one or other of those jovial diners would glance toward the window, would see there the pale, sad face, coiffed in grey.
Those manifestations became so frequent that it was decided to end them by bricking up the window, and this was done.
Since 1890, there were various accounts of witnesses seeing a phantom coach driven by headless horsemen. This account immediately reminded me of the tale of Sleepy Hollow, which features a headless horseman who rides through town, disturbing the people. Sleepy Hollow was published in English in 1820, and so had been available for 70 years prior to these sightings. It is possible that these experiences, if untrue, were inspired by the tale.
Reverend Bull, the original and at this time the only owner of the Rectory passed away in 1892. His son, Reverend Henry “Harry” Bull took over the running of the rectory until his passing in 1928, leaving the Rectory vacant for some time. Young Reverend Bull died in 1928 leaving the Rectory vacant.
In 1929 Reverend Guy Eric Smith and his wife moved into Borley Rectory. While cleaning the home, Smith’s wife came across an unusual package. Upon opening it, she discovered the skull of what was thought to be a young woman. There was no mention of the body’s location, or who it may have belonged to. Mrs Smith would also report hearing the ringing of servant’s bells which had been disconnected, unexplained footsteps and lights shining in windows. She also reported that she saw the phantom horse-drawn carriage that the Bell daughters had seen.
After unrelenting haunting events, the Smiths asked to be put in touch with Society for Psychical Research (SPR) in 1929. At this point, Harry Price was working with the SPR and was sent to investigate Borley Rectory, arriving on June 12.
Harry Price was a paranormal investigator of sorts. He was known for exposing fraudulent cases of séances and haunting and may have expected to do the same at the Borley Rectory, however, this case would become much more than he could have expected.
Upon Price’s arrival, there were reports of new events. The throwing of stones, spirit messages tapped out on mirror frames in code, as well as apparitions, lights flashing and unexplained footsteps. It appeared the spirit’s presence was becoming more intense over time. However, when Price left the home, having completed his initial investigation, Reverend Smith’s wife claimed she suspected Price had faked some of the events, for example, throwing the stones and pebbles about himself.
The Smith’s inhabitance of the home lasted less than a year, with the family vacating the property on July 14, 1929, though the property would not stay vacant for long.
In 1930, Lionel Foster, his wife Marianne, and their adopted daughter Adelaide would move in. The family was immediately affected by the haunting. Lionel Foster began to keep a log of strange events which spanned the years 1930 to 1935. He noted the strange ringing of the disconnected bells, stones being thrown, writing on the walls that read “get help, Marianne”. There was even an account of his daughter, Adelaide, being locked in a room with no key and being attacked by “something horrible”. Marianne reported that in addition to the writings on the wall, she had also once been thrown from her own bed. Foyster decided to contact Harry Price to assist in the case.
There were two exorcisms conducted on the home by Foyster, both without success. During the first exorcism, Foyster was struck on the shoulder with a large stone, about the size of a fist. Researchers who later reviewed the case believed that the events may have been triggered unknowingly or knowingly by Marianne. Marianne, however, believed it was her husband who had been working with psychic researchers to fraudulently create some of the events.
Marianne may have had some motive to cause these events, perhaps to distract from what she had been doing behind closed doors. Marianne admitted that she had been having a sexual affair with a lodger, Frank Pearless, while living in Borley Rectory, and it is possible that the haunting was simply a cover.
The Foysters left the Borley Rectory in October 1935.
Price wished to continue his investigation and so he took out a rental agreement on the property for a year and on May 25, 1397 he ran an ad in the Times looking for researchers to live at the Rectory and record any supernatural events.
The advertisement was as follows:
“HAUNTED HOUSE: Responsible persons of leisure and intelligence, intrepid, critical, and unbiased, are invited to join rota of observers in a years night and day investigation of alleged haunted house in Home counties. Printed Instructions supplied. Scientific training or ability to operate simple instruments an advantage. House situated in lonely hamlet, so own car is essential. Write Box H.989, The Times, E.C.4”
As a result of this ad, he was able to engage 48 observers, mostly students, who would spend time at the now empty rectory. He printed the first ever handbook on how to undertake a paranormal investigation and handed one to each of the participants. Some investigators brought their own equipment to the scene, others worked strictly by the handbook, and over the next few years, there would be some notable events.
In 1938, Helen Glanville, conducted a séance in Streetham, South London in order to contact spirits and shed light on the case. Price claimed that Helen made contact with two spirits. One of the spirits was a nun name Marie Lairre. Marie communicated that she was a French nun who had left her convent and traveled to England. Her life would come to an abrupt and tragic end, however, when she was murdered and her body was either buried in the walls of a well, or thrown into a disused well. This tale was very similar to the lore about the nun bricked into the Rectory walls that was common in the town.
Second spirit Helen was able to contact, called himself Sunex Amures and he warned that he would set fire to the Borley Rectory on March 27, 1938 in order to reveal the bones of a murder victim resting beneath the structure. The fire did not take place that particular night, but it did occur the following year, and later on, in 1943, there would be a gruesome discovery, but not before some other suspicious events would take place.
27 Feb 1939, new owner Captain W. H. Gregson who had taken ownership of the home was unpacking when he knocked over an oil lamp causing a fire to spread through and damage the Rectory.
In his own words, from the article Borley Rectory “The Most Haunted House in England”, he describes his experience:
I bought the Rectory (which I then re-named Priory, in commemoration of its traditional origin) in full knowledge of its Ghostly reputation, and in complete skepticism.
I have since found ample cause to admit that there are influences existing, and active, in and around the place, which are outside the limits of what we are accustomed to consider the normal.
The disastrous fire at the Rectory may have had some disturbing influence because, during the night of the fire, several people report having seen me, accompanied by two “Strangers,” one, a “Lady, dressed in a grey cloak,” the other, “A gentleman with a sort of bald head, dressed in a long black gown.”
Already, the fate of my two spaniels has been published and broadcast far and wide. How, first, wise old “Peter” (a five-year-old black Cocker) and afterwards “Joe” (six-month-old Cocker) showed their dread of the gloomy Courtyard; how, even during daylight, they could scarcely be persuaded to enter it, and how each in turn went mad with terror at something which they sensed beyond the threshold of the Courtyard, and died mad.
The insurance company that investigated the fire ultimately ruled it arson which implies heavily that a lot of his testimony of the hauntings should be taken with a grain, or perhaps a handful, of salt.
Years later, in 1943, Harry Price conducted a dig in the cellars of the Rectory and discovered the bones of a young woman. The bones were given a Christian burial, though the parish of Borley refused to hold the ceremony, being of the opinion that the bones were not that of a young woman, but those of a pig.
A report by the Society for Psychical Research, by this time Price’s rival organisation, found that many of the phenomena that occurred at the Rectory had indeed been faked by Price. Charles Sutton claimed that in 1929 he had found Price to have pockets filled with pebbles of all sizes during his investigation, which explained the reports of rocks being thrown. Many other events were put down to natural occurrences, such as rats causing strange sounds in the house that may have accounted for the footsteps. The writing on the wall directed to Marianne, may have been done by Marianne, herself. In fact, later in life, Marianne Foyster claimed she had not really seen any apparitions and believed the strange noises were just the wind, friends in the home, or admitted that she herself had taken to playing pranks on her husband.
Many of Bull’s 14 children, the original owners of the Rectory, claimed to have been surprised that the house was considered haunted, having not experienced anything for themselves, including not having heard of the nun from their own siblings.
Robert Hasting’s attempted to defend Price against fraud accusations but were unable to do so effectively given the thorough investigation by the Society of Psychical Research.
Unfortunately, the house was ultimately demolished in 1944 so we may never be able to investigate for ourselves. Though, surely, if there were spirits attached to the area, they may still linger on.
If you’ve visited the site, or something similar, I would love to hear from you.
Good Nightmare 