Borley Rectory was a house well-known for once being the most haunted house in the world. While the house is no longer standing, its legacy of ghosts and deceit remains today…
THE HISTORY OF BORLEY RECTORY – ONCE THE MOST HAUNTED HOUSE IN THE WORLD
Borley Rectory was built on Hall Road in the village of Borley, Essex, England, in 1862. The property was built by Reverend Henry Dawson Ellis Bull, and it replaced the previous rectory, which had been destroyed by fire some years earlier.
THE MOST HAUNTED HOUSE IN THE WORLD – THE BULL YEARS
Once Borley Rectory was completed, the Reverend and his family, which included fourteen children, moved into the property. However, within the first few years, several paranormal events allegedly occurred.
At first, it was simply people claiming to hear footsteps when nobody else was around. At the same time, various people in the village claimed to have witnessed a variety of strange incidents in and around the property. However, it was nothing that couldn’t be brushed off as normal and forgotten about.
Then on July 28th, 1890, four of the Reverend’s grown-up daughters were convinced they witnessed the ghost of a nun. A local organist later said the family at Borley Rectory were “very convinced that they had seen an apparition on several occasions.”
The reverend’s wife and his grown-up daughters, some of whom allegedly witnessed the ghost of a nun.
In 1892 the Reverend Henry Dawson Ellis Bull passed away at the age of fifty-nine (his grave can be found in the church). His son, the Reverend Henry (Harry) Foyster Bull, then took on the property.
The Reverend Henry (Harry) Foyster Bull
Henry (Harry) Foyster Bull can be seen standing on the tennis lawn in front of Borley Rectory while his wife and stepdaughter relax.
Harry and his family continued to live in Borley Rectory for a further thirty-five years. During this time, there appears to be little information on any paranormal activities. On June 9th, 1927, the Reverend Harry Foyster Bull died in his sleep at the age of 64 (his grave can also be found in the church).
After his death, Borley Rectory became uninhabited and stayed that way for the next year.
BORLEY RECTORY – THE SMITH YEARS
In 1928, a year after the property became vacant, Reverend Guy Eric Smith and his wife Mable moved into the property.
Reverend Guy Eric Smith with his wife Mable and friends at the property.
Soon after moving in, the Reverend’s wife came across a brown paper bag in a cupboard containing a young woman’s skull. The family also reported a number of other strange incidents, such as bells ringing and unexplained footsteps. Eventually, the Smiths contacted the Daily Mirror newspaper, asking to be put in touch with the Society for Physical Research (SPR).
In June 1929, the newspaper sent a reporter who would promptly write articles about Borley Rectory. The newspaper then arranged for a paranormal researcher named Harry Price to visit the house.
When Price was at Borley Rectory, a new kind of phenomenon started, stones being thrown, a vase moving, and alleged spirit messages. Once Price left the property, all of these new phenomena ceased; Mable maintained that she suspected Price of creating the incidents that occurred himself.
Despite this, the Smiths decided to leave Borley Rectory just a month later.
BORLEY RECTORY – THE FOYSTER YEARS
Despite the parish having difficulty finding a replacement for the Smiths at first, a new tenant eventually arrived. The Reverend Lionel Algernon Foyster and his wife Marianne moved into Borley Rectory on October 16th, 1930.
Reverend Lionel Algernon Foyster
Lionel wrote an account of a number of strange incidents that occurred between 1930 and 1935. This included bell-ringing, footsteps, windows being broken, and his adopted daughter Adelaide being stuck in a room with the door apparently locked despite having no key.
Foyster decided that enough was enough and twice carried out an exorcism in Borley Rectory. However, it was to no avail; the incidents continued, and the stories of the property being the most haunted house in the world spread across the country.
However, because of the huge publicity the property had gotten in the Daily Mirror, several psychic researchers came forward to investigate what was going on at ‘the most haunted house in the world.’ The psychic researchers came to the conclusion that the current spate of paranormal incidents was actually caused by Marianne.
Marianne Foyster (at the back) with her neighbour Mrs. Fenton.
Marianne would later admit that she was having an affair with a lodger named Frank Pearless and that she used paranormal explanations to cover up her liaisons with him.
The Foysters would leave Borley Rectory in 1935 due to Lionel’s ill health, and the property would once again be left vacant.
BORLEY RECTORY – THE PRICE INVESTIGATION
In 1937, the paranormal investigator Harry Price took out a year-long tenancy on the vacant home. He then recruited 48 observers, mostly students, to stay at what was being dubbed as the most haunted house in the world on weekends and report any phenomena that occurred.
An interior photograph of Borley Rectory, not many appear to exist.
In 1938, Helen Glanville, the daughter of S. J. Glanville, one of Price’s helpers, conducted a séance in Streatham, South London. During the séance Price claimed Glanville made contact with two spirits; the first identified themselves as Marie Lairre, a French nun who ran away from her religious order to England and married a member of the Waldegrave family, owners of Borely’s 17th-century manor house. She was murdered and buried on Borley Rectory grounds.
The second spirit identified himself as Sunex Amures; the spirit claimed that he would burn down Borley Rectory on March 27th, 1938. He also claimed after the fire, the bones of a murdered person would be revealed.
BORLEY RECTORY FIRE
March 27th, 1938, came and went without incident at Borley Rectory; however, less than a year later, the house was indeed engulfed in flames.
On February 27th 1939, almost a year after the alleged spirit claimed a fire would take place at Borley Rectory, the new owner of the rectory, Captain W. H. Gregson, was unpacking boxes in his new home when he knocked over an oil lamp.
Captain W H Gregson
The fire from the lamp quickly spread throughout the house, leaving the property severely damaged. An investigation into the cause of the blaze took place, with the insurance company concluding that the fire was started deliberately.
Captain W. H. Gregson had purchased Borley Rectory, the most haunted house in the world, with the plan of turning it into a tourist attraction. The question has to be asked, would he intentionally burn down a money-maker when people from all over the country would have paid good money to visit the most haunted house in the world?
In the years after the fire of 1939, the property that was once believed to be the most haunted house in the world remained empty. With no signs that the property would be saved, it was eventually decided that the house would be entirely demolished.
However, before the property was demolished in 1944, the paranormal researcher Harry Price returned to Borley Rectory’s ruins to see what he could find. A brief dig in the cellar found two bones that he claimed to be that of a young woman. However, locals believed that the bones weren’t even human and were actually those of a pig.
Despite what the locals thought, the bones were interred at Liston churchyard, just a mile or so away from Borley Rectory.
Harry Price watched as the bones he found were interred at Liston churchyard.
Borley Rectory Today
In the decades since Borley Rectory was torn down, much speculation has occurred over what may or may not have been true regarding the fifty years of supernatural activity that took place there.
Much like the Amityville House, numerous books and movies have been made over the years discussing what may or may not have happened there.
As for the location of what was once the most haunted house in the world, it’s now nothing more than a driveway and lawn for The Old Coach House, a property that was located behind Borley Rectory, which has since been extended.
