The Haunting of Borley Rectory - The Most Haunted Places in The World #1
Essex is home to many frightful things: Southend Airport, the cast of TOWIE, and most contestants of Love Island to name a few. Yet amongst the thick accents and the eyelash extensions is something nearly as terrifying as a death stare from Gemma Collins herself: Borley Rectory.
Unfortunately, this rectory will never be quite as famous as the GC herself.
But among paranormal fanatics, no #diva can ever take the place of the most haunted building in Britain, or rather, what has even been deemed one of the most haunted places in the world. And sure, this touristic trope is slapped on the websites of most historic places, but today’s post is dripping in real ghost stories, and the most famous paranormal investigation in UK history.
This label was applied by the investigator, Harry Price, himself, yet due to the sheer volume of stories relating specifically to this period of the rectory, his investigation will receive its fair share of attention in a later post.
So, if you clicked for Price and his official investigation, be sure to follow this blog and be updated when that is up for discussion.
Today however, we are going to just be talking about the haunting of Borley Rectory.
In 1939, Borley Rectory was burnt down.
Well, I say burnt down: the damage was so significant it was eventually abolished 5 years later, concluding its short life. Built only 76 years prior to this, its history has been ingrained – or rather, trapped – within its walls for what is rumoured to be centuries.
It might not match the ancient ages of the typical haunted houses clogging up the IMBD horror pages, but it is thick with historical tales which certainly contain the real ghost stories we are so interested in.
And it is one of these tales that gave birth to the first recorded haunting of Borley Rectory.
This tale takes us back to 1326, 500 years before its construction: it was rumoured that a nun and Benedictine monk had a secret relationship together, a relationship that was obviously forbidden. Upon discovery, the monk was executed for his sins, yet I’m afraid the nun suffered a far worse fate.
She was bricked up – alive - in the walls of her convent.
However, as the stories go, the nun’s afterlife was a little more mobile than her final moments.
It was a warm July evening in the year 1900 when she was first seen. The daughters of the rector were enjoying those summer nights (think more dead clergy-people, less John Travolta), and saw a figure make its way across the lawn. They tried to talk to it, to get closer to whatever this thing was, yet it disappeared the closer they got.
But this would not be the only time they witnessed the ghost of the nun.
One June afternoon they claimed they clearly saw a figure resembling a nun make the same journey across the lawn, even though she had only ever been witnessed during the night. One of the three sisters there ran into the rectory to find her fourth sibling to confirm this apparition, and all 4 of them were sure that she slowly walked across the lawn, disappearing as she finally reached the trees.
More than 20 people have expressed similar claims, with one man who had no prior knowledge of the rectory’s reputation inquiring about the nun wandering outside of the house.
It has even been said that she was once again witnessed mere weeks before the rectory found itself reduced to ashes.
This is possibly the most famous apparition of the haunting of Borley Rectory, but allow me to make one thing very clear: this was not the only ghost to lodge there.
It is here that we turn to the family in residence for the Rectory’s first 30 years: the family of Reverend Henry Bull.
The first paranormal activity was reported a mere year after they first moved in, but it wasn’t actually from those that lived here. Locals recall hearing footsteps behind them whilst near the house, and even stated that phantom coaches being pulled by headless horses was a frequent sighting.
But despite the various haunted horses galivanting in the moonlight which certainly fit the bill of one of the ‘most haunted places in the world’, footsteps were a key component of the haunting of Borley Rectory.
The son of the reverend – who spent most of his years at sea and thus would have limited knowledge of the claims – on many occasions matched such stories of footsteps outside of the house, often hiding in attempt to catch the perpetrator.
However, the perpetrator was never to be found.
Eventually, the local villagers refused to walk past the house after dark, particularly if they were alone.
Nevertheless, the hidden figures would also make their way inside the house. Footsteps were heard all over the rectory, but mainly in the bedroom passages. It is claimed they would reach a door, pause for just a moment, produce 3 sharp taps, and move on.
And even though invisible figures clearly made the rectory their home, there is also a smattering of visible figures.
The reverend often told his family, perhaps while at dinner, or in letters to his son overseas, that he had once again seen the Little Man.
He claimed a dwarf-like figure of an old man would appear on the lawn. He would then raise an arm over his head, and run towards the drive, disappearing as he rushed away into the distance. His wife even went on to confirm this particular sighting.
These real ghost stories clearly took a toll on the family; a dining room window was even boarded up due to reports of an apparition peering in during meals.
Indeed, it appears each individual member of the family would have their own dealing with the dead at Borley Rectory, for example, one of the daughters awoke to a slap on her face several times in the many nights she spent there.
But the haunting of Borley Rectory went far beyond the things you could see.
The groom-gardener and his wide often heard rattling in the house, with knocks and breaking crockery sounds echoing down the halls of the rectory nightly. And despite the shattering sounds, nothing was found to be broken or even cracked in the morning.
After 3 years of these incessant disturbances, they left.
Yet they would not be the only residents to have unfavourable memories of their home – Reverend Henry Bull stated the years residing at the rectory were ‘the darkest years of their life’, a claim not impossible to comprehend given the sheer volume of hauntings noted.
As is clear from the majority of reports made of the paranormal activity, noises were a prevalent occurrence, and were found to be either in all rooms at the same time, or following the residents about. Nevertheless, it is claimed that the sounds were incessant in the room just over the kitchen, or the blue room which just happens to overlook ‘the Nun’s Walk’.
Reverend Henry Bull died in 1927, and he died in the Blue Room. As did his wife, and his son.
The following residents – the Smith family – did not have to wait long until the paranormal visitors welcomed them to their new home.
Shortly after moving in (before they’d even finished unpacking their boxes), Reverend Guy Eric Smith’s wife opened a cupboard to find a brown paper bag.
And inside this bag? The skull of a young woman.
After the skull was found, the paranormal proliferated, with lights appearing in windows, or servant bells ringing into the silent nights despite not being connected to anything. The footsteps also began once again.
The reverend’s wife even recalled witnessing a horse drawn carriage as she peered out the window one night, a sighting we have already discussed.
Following these events, the Smiths decided to take matters into their own hands, and contacted the Daily Mirror, asking for assistance from the Society for Psychical Research. It was in 1929, on a warm June day, that a reporter arrived at the rectory and made his case for the haunting of Borley Rectory. This was to be one of first of many articles to be published on the goings-on.
This is also when Harry Price – a paranormal researcher – turned up, and made his first visit to Borley Rectory. This would not be his last.
The reverend made many claims to Price, most notably that the noises proliferated in the winter months, and occurred more frequently at night, and obviously claims that are easily dismissible and seem to turn up in cases all too frequently.
Yet despite this, the wide berth of activity still needs to be considered.
Keys, for example, were frequently picked up and placed in the locks by unseen forces, or moved about the room from which they were kept. The key to the library was a victim of this, and was often found at the foot of the stairs or several feet from the door. It was even recorded that an hour would elapse before it was once again found on the floor.
And on this, unlocked doors were often found to be locked to the chagrin of the residents. On one occasion, one of the observers who was residing in the library even heard a click, only to see the door was locked from the inside.
It was also common for keys to go missing, and such keys were not to be found again.
The library seems to be the seat of some of these real ghost stories, and I’m afraid it doesn’t end with the key in the lock.
The Smiths told the investigators that the heavy wooden shutters to the French windows were often pulled together by invisible forces. These shutters – as they were 6 feet high and 3 feet wide – were clearly quite a feat to close, even by those with who were, you know, alive. They had even been sitting in the library when it once occurred.
Yet it appears one of the most curious and prevalent paranormal occurrences, even after the Smiths left the rectory, was the tapping of Mrs. Smith’s dressing table mirror.
They deduced it came from the back of the mirror, and it was only after they moved out of the house and lived on the east coast of England that the tapping finally stopped. Yet after Price visited the family in their new home, the tapping began once again.
Following this event, Mr Smith died after falling seriously ill, an occurrence often found of those that were once the reverend of the rectory that contained so many real ghost stories.
The following owners – the Foysters – would be the family at the centre of the paranormal investigation lead by Harry Price, and it was after their departure in 1937 that Price rented out the rectory for his own personal study of the haunting of Borley Rectory.
This would feature as one of the most famous – and hotly contested – paranormal investigations of one of the most haunted places in the world.
