When I began to research ghosts, there certainly was no shortage of haunted tales from Borley Rectory. This surely, is one of the most well documented cases of paranormal activity. Borley Rectory has well earned the title of the most haunted House in England. The poltergeist activity here at Borley, has become world renown.
The church itself, across the street from the rectory, was built during the fourteenth century and it was also located on the same spot where another church stood before 1066. The church is listed in a census in England during the eleventh century called the Doomsday Book. The rectory, which served as the residence of the priests and pastors of the church was built here in 1863, in Essex and frequented by ghoulish apparitions ever since. Actually, the strange happenings here precede the construction of this rectory. Reverend Henry Dawson Ellis Bull, built Borely rectory on the site where the Benedictine Monastery once stood. He was not disturbed in the least about the hauntings. Henry served as the reverend here from 1862 to 1892. The monastery however, was already full of its own ghostly tales. In fact, it has been suggested that the very ground may be what has caused the activity within each of the structures on this site.
It seems that back in the 1300s, a nun had fallen deeply in love with a monk from the monastery. The couple ran away in an attempt to marry. The monk and the nun were captured, and executed for their deeds. The nun was said to have been dragged down a tunnel underneath the monastery and buried alive inside a wall in the cellar , the monk was hanged and the coachman beheaded. Brick tunnels that have been discovered beneath the rectory, prove this story is more than just a legend. Sightings of their ghosts have been well documented since before the construction of the rectory. A ghost of a nun has been seen drifting through the house and the gardens, with her head bent in anguish. Phantom coaches and monks have also been reported.
Borley Manor, owned by Sir Edward Waldegrave, was at the center of this area. The Waldegrave family’s money funded Borley for over three hundred years. Edward was executed in the Tower Of London in 1561 for not agreeing to take an oath of supremacy. His body is interred in an elaborate monument inside Borley church. There are eerie tales surrounding the tomb itself, including incidents similar to the Chase Vault in Barbados, where the coffins inside the Waldegrave tomb have shifted around inside the sealed vault without explanation. Paranormal investigators have noted a coldness near the tomb. Ghostly figures have been captured on film, kneeling at the tomb and the alter.
The first cases of paranormal activity here were reported in around 1885 and began with the sounds of footsteps. Soon after, came the sightings of the nun, dressed in black. In July of 1900, the Rector’s four daughters reported a twilight sighting of the spectral nun.
Harry Bull inherited the rectory in 1892 when his father passed away. Unlike his father, Harry did not appreciate the ghostly company. Reverend Bull ordered that the dining room area be bricked off because the apparition of the nun had appeared before the priests hundreds of times as they dined. Legend also tells a strange tale which does seem to contradict Reverend Bull’s squeamish nature. He is said to have carried on an affair with his mistress, whom he strangled inside the rectory in 1888. Many visitors have reported hearing a woman begging for her life, followed by screaming.
Legend says that Borely rectory was built upon a mass grave, containing the remains of those who succumbed to a plague. There are those of course, who deny this, but human bones have been found on the property, which are not from the churchyard.
Reverend Bull died in 1927, oddly enough in the same room of the rectory where his father died and he was replaced by Guy Eric Smith in 1928. Harry Bull and his family were buried in the courtyard of Borley church which is across the street from the infamous rectory. Apparitions have been well documented and even photographed floating over the Bull family graves. The Blue Room, as it was called, where the Reverends Bull both died, has come to be known as the most haunted room within the rectory.
Reverend Smith’s wife found a human skull inside a cabinet. They were tormented by the sound of phantom bells, windows shattering for no apparent reason, ghostly lights and many sightings of a coach pulled by demonic looking black horses. Needless to say, the Smith’s did not fare well at Borely. Reverend Smith served as Reverend here for only one year. However, the Smith’s invited famed paranormal investigator Harry Price to come to Borley in 1929. Price however, was relatively unknown at the time. His investigations of the Borley case was what made him famous. He was accompanied by a reporter from the Dailey Mirror which lead to the first published account of the goings on at Borley. Thus began a media circus and hordes of ghost hunters soon began to flock to this area. After Mister Price’s first visit, poltergeist activity began to manifest. One of the most common occurrences were rocks and bricks flying throughout the property! A month later, Reverend Smith resigned and he and his wife left the rectory.
Finding a replacement was not easy, given all the media attention. However, the position was filled by Reverend Lionel Foyster in October of 1930. Reverend Foyster was a first cousin of the Bull family. The Foyster’s called Borley home for five years and during that time, over two-thousand ghostly incidents were documented. Reverend Foyster was the first to conduct an exorcism here. The first exorcism was successful at temporarily halting the activity of the poltergeist. However, Borley saw an increase in all other paranormal activity. With the exorcism also came new activity such as phantom organ music emanating from inside a locked church and the communion wine would turn to a black sludge. There were sightings of nuns, monks, a headless man, a girl in a white gown, flying objects, bizarre lights, phantom voices, laughing, weeping, sounds of heavy creaky door were recorded near the alter, pounding, footsteps, bells, writing that would mysteriously appear on the walls and cold spots just to name a few.
Reverend Foyster’s wife, Marianne claimed to have experienced terrifying encounters with a poltergeist, including being thrown from her bed. Marianne’s daughter also reported being physically attacked by an evil entity. It us unclear why the spirits seemed to gravitate toward Marianne. Most likely because she did possess the gift of being able to communicate with them. The spirits would communicate to Marianne, most often in the form of eerie writings on the walls, which were addressed specifically to her. Reverend Foyster attempted to conduct a second exorcism but was forced to stop when a malevolent spirit struck him in the shoulder with a heavy rock. The Reverend and his family had enough and were literally chased away by the phantoms. Although there had been other Reverends to follow, no one would agree to reside here again.
Harry Price had a renewed interest in this place with all the recent and new activity. He decided to rent the rectory in 1937 in order to further investigate the property. Mister Price utilized a Ouija Board in hopes of getting some answers. A spirit had contacted him, claiming to have been a nun who was murdered here but not at least in the manner that had been previously believed. This nun said that she had in fact left her convent to elope but not to a priest from Borley Monastery. The spirit of the nun said she left to marry none other than Henry Waldegrave, who had murdered her shortly thereafter by burying her alive in the cellar. This elicited Price to assembled a crew of about fifty mediums and paranormal researchers and conducted a séance in 1938. The result of the séance was a ghostly warning that went unheeded. The spirit who made contact with them that evening told of a great fire that would destroy the rectory and that the remains of the nun who had been buried alive in the cellar would be found in the rubble.
William Gregson, who had purchased the rectory when Mister Price’s lease ran out, was working in the library one night in 1939. An oil lamp had tipped over on its own and set the books ablaze. The fire spread quickly and could not be extinguished. Witnesses say that the ghostly faces they saw in the rectory windows had manifested themselves from the flames. Many of these witnesses reported seeing the spectral nun and hearing unearthly sounds as the building was engulfed in flames.
In 1943, Mister Price unearthed a skull that was missing one of the jawbones. The skull was given a respectable burial in the churchyard. The ghostly prophesy had been fulfilled! It is believed that this skull was that of the nun who died such a horrendous death on this very spot six centuries ago.
There was nothing left of the rectory after the fire and it was leveled in 1944. Life Magazine was on hand for the demolition and captured on film, a brick rising from the rubble and hovering in mid-air. Mister Price believed that all the evil would die with it. Although there has been no further documented haunting activity on the spot where the rectory once stood, the entities had moved across the street to the church.
One of the most common occurrences is phantom organ music and the occasional sightings of apparitions. The last known exorcism took place at the church in 1999 and activity has slowed considerably since then.
There was a recent story that appeared in Sudbury Today in 2004, that told of a forensic investigation into a human skeleton which was found underneath a barn which sits next to Borley church. A crew had found it while converting the old barn into a house. The skeleton is believed to be many centuries old and since no skull was found, it may be linked to the skull that was discovered here in 1943. It was hoped that the activity here would cease with the burial of the skull, but strange occurrences are still reported at the church and the churchyard. Modern technology may be able to finally unlock the secrets of Borley and the many restless souls that dwelled within may at last rest in peace.
Where The Borley Rectory Once Stood.