their love was forbidden most nights
after the last bells they snuck out to
see each other anyway
meeting in a field halfway between his
monastery and her nunnery they decided
to elope and run away together but they
were caught they were separated and
punished for their sins she was forced
to watch while he was hung
she was imprisoned in a tiny room in a
dark corner of the monastery
brick by brick they sealed her in a tomb
as she begged for mercy
afterwards tapping could be heard from
the wall the taps slowly grew fainter
and fainter until they stopped or so
goes the legend of the secret
doomed love affair between a monk and a
nun since then the spirit of the nun has
allegedly roamed the land that her
lover's benedictine monastery once stood
on there are some that believe that the
ghosts of borley rectory have little to
do with the house itself but existed
before the house was constructed
in fact the local antiquarian claims
that they found old accounts of ghostly
activity that date back to 1819
others claimed the ghost sightings
didn't start until after borley rectory
was built
the only thing that's agreed upon is
that unexplainable things
happened at borley rectory in 1862
borley rectory was constructed for the
reverend henry dawson
ellis bull and his family after he was
named director of orly parish in a rural
corner of essex england over time the
gothic brick house continued to be
enlarged as reverend bull had 14
children and needed space for all of
them
ultimately there were 23 rooms connected
by three different staircases on two
main floors
plus a cellar and attic space the house
was the perfect setting for a horror
movie gloomy
depressing and cold nearly from the
start the family began hearing rushing
water however the house didn't have the
modern convenience of piped water
water was drawn from a well outside soon
the sounds escalated to whispers
tapping and crashes even worse a ghost
seemed to target a particular member of
the family the heavy footsteps
stopped in front of the door to her room
ethel lay in her bed the sheet pulled up
to her chin
she hardly dared to breathe it was back
she could sense it the invisible
presence lurking outside her door for
the past several weeks
she hadn't gotten much sleep it always
began the same way footsteps clumping
down the hall to her room but no one was
there
then it whispered and knocked at her
door ethel laid stiff in bed trying to
ignore it waiting until it went away
sometimes it stayed out there until dawn
knock knock knock
it wrapped on her door some nights ethel
had to call for her parents but of
course they found nothing and scolded
her for being silly
bang bang bang the knocks were getting
louder it was angry
suddenly the locked door exploded open
and a puff of air blew into the room her
limbs frozen with dread
ethel shut her eyes tightly she wasn't
going to look crack ethel's cheek
suddenly bloomed in a burst of hot pain
and it slapped her for whatever reason a
poltergeist seemed to focus on ethel
even slapping her as she lay in bed
but she wasn't the only target in 1886 a
new nursemaid elizabeth byford initially
joked about the fact that the room
allotted to her was haunted however a
few weeks later she woke at midnight to
the sound of slippered footsteps outside
her door but no one was there
she gave notice the next day no matter
if locals shared rumors about seeing
ghostly figures wandering the grounds of
borley house
the bull family refused to be scared off
july 28 1900 it was a warm evening as
ethel and her sister freda walked home
after a summer party they giggled as
they traded tidbits of gossip about the
event suddenly frida stopped in her
tracks
look she whispered emerging from the
trees onto the rectory yard was a female
figure her head bowed she was dressed
head to toe in a black habit she seemed
to glide over the grass rather than walk
elise whispered ethel and took off
running toward the rectory frida
followed elise had recently complained
that she never saw the ghostly nun and
wanted to see her they soon found elise
and quickly dragged her outside
surprisingly the nun was still there
floating across the edge of the lawn at
least stepped toward her not sure
whether to be scared or fascinated
she was just about to call to her when
the nun faded away in front of her eyes
apparently the ghostly known was seen so
frequently the area where she roamed
began to be referred to as the nuns walk
after reverend bull's death in 1892 his
son also named henry took over his
duties as rector one spring afternoon
henry was pacing back and forth in the
garden working out a new sermon suddenly
his retriever juvenile who'd been
napping under a bush got to his feet and
growled the dog was staring at something
henry turned to look
someone was standing in the orchard he
could see a pair of legs peeking out
from the leaves of a tree henry raised
his hand
and started to shout hello but the sound
died in his throat as the legs walked
out from behind
the brush he saw that the body they
belonged to was headless he watched in
silent horror as the headless ghost
strode across the garden and walked
clean through a locked gate henry and
other locals
also saw a ghostly carriage drawn by two
horses and driven by a headless coachman
on several different occasions
even more strange was when the coach was
seen it was silent
other times when the clip cloth of the
horse hooves and the sound of the heavy
wheels on the road were heard the coach
itself was invisible apparently henry
was fascinated by the idea of a ghostly
nun
and built a summer cottage with a view
of the nun's walk so he could look out
for the nun taking a stroll
henry was director for borley parish
until his death in 1927.
unfortunately there are no more members
of the bull family who wanted the parish
position
and it was hard to find new rector as
the borley house now had a reputation
for being haunted
in 1928 reverend guy smith accepted the
position
he and his wife mabel were recently
returned from india and didn't know
of the local legends mabel was appalled
when she first saw the house
it was huge for two people over 60 years
old and
ram shackle while clearing out some
cupboards as they moved in mabel was
horrified to find a small human skull
wrapped in brown paper packaging
guy buried the skull in the churchyard
soon after that guy was walking past the
blue room in the borley house a room
known for allegedly haunted activity a
voice whispered at him pleading don't
carlos
don't guy was left wondering if the
ghostly whisper was about the skull
much like the previous occupants the
smith's frequently hurt eerie footsteps
echo around the house
knocking and whispering voices in fact
footsteps were heard in the rectory so
often that one day reference smith left
out from behind a wall with a hockey
stick to strike the intruder only to
find himself slicing
thin air the rectory was fitted with
old-fashioned pole bells attached to
ropes if a rope was pulled in various
rooms the kitchen would be alerted the
bells went off frequently
even when they were disconnected eagerly
to put a stop to the local tails and
perhaps convince themselves that there
were no ghosts in 1929 the smiths wrote
to the daily mirror asking the newspaper
for help in contacting the society for
psychical research
spr the paper sent out journalists vc
wall and a photographer to lurk in the
woods behind borle rectory to see if
they could see anything
unfortunately they did not see any
ghosts but they did spy a light on in
the rectory when someone went inside the
house
there was no light on yet outside they
could see it hordes of curious onlookers
descended upon the area having read the
newspaper
on june 11 spr sent cyclical researcher
harry prince to investigate borle
rectory over the course of several days
harry witnessed many unexplainable
things
including eerie footsteps pebbles
bouncing down the stairs and a red glass
candlestick that whizzed past his head
and shattered against an iron stove
not long afterwards the smith's unable
to deal with their living circumstances
anymore quickly moved out having been at
borley parish for less than a year
the house stood empty for about six
months before the reverend lionel
feuster his much younger wife marianne
and their toddler daughter
adelaide arrived in 1930. from the
beginning the family was besieged with
whispers mysterious footsteps and
ringing bells but the poltergeist
activity seemed to get stronger there
were sudden smells of perfume
furniture was shifted household items
vanished random items appeared the
ghosts liked to move things
including making bottles fall and
throwing pebbles windows were broken and
adelaide was mysteriously locked in a
room to which there was no key the
regular ghosts were also seen including
the nun and the headless man
again the poltergeist focused on one
person marianne allegedly she was thrown
out of bed several
times once a flying item struck her so
hard she was left with a black eye and a
cut face
beginning in 1931 mysterious messages
began to appear
on scraps of paper and the walls of the
house some targeting her one particular
message addressed to marianne pleaded
for rest and mass prayers many of the
messages were scrawled in a manic
fashion and were intelligible harry
price visited borley rectory a few times
while the forcers were there to follow
up on his paranormal investigations
reverend feuster kept a diary of
unexplained happenings at borley he
didn't seem faced by the paranormal
activity he only left his position after
five years in 1935 because of his
advanced arthritis by this time the
church had enough of borle rectory and
they gave up trying to find someone to
take over
they merged the parish with a nearby one
and put bore the rectory up for sale
in 1937 harry price rented the house for
one year he wanted to study the ghosts
on may 2nd 1937 he placed an
advertisement in the times haunted house
responsible persons of leisure and
intelligence intrepid critical and
unbiased
are invited to join rhoda of observers
in a year's day and night investigation
of alleged house he ended up hiring 50
employees predominantly students working
weekends
as official observers harry and his team
conducted a variety of experiments
within the house recording instances
of perceived paranormal phenomena such
as knocking bell ringing
and movement of objects he also brought
in several mediums and conducted seances
the most notable seance occurred on
march 27 1938
medium helen glanville allegedly made
successful contact with a nun and an
unidentified male spirit
the male spirit predicted that the
rectory would be destroyed by fire in
exactly one year and that a nun's body
would be found amongst the ruins in the
autumn of 1938 borley was purchased by
captain william
hart gregson had a steal for 500 pounds
or around 33
524 pounds or 47 500
in today's money gregson had insured it
for 10 000 pounds or about
eight hundred 665 one pounds or nine
hundred forty three thousand six hundred
ten us dollars in today's money he
renamed the house the priory and planned
to cash in on the rectory spooky history
and turn the house into a tourist stop
however on february 27
1939 exactly nine months after the eerie
prediction
captain gregson was moving into the
property allegedly while sorting through
some books at the house he saw a stack
of them fall despite being firmly placed
on the table the books knocked over a
paraffin lamp spilling oil across the
floor
which then ignited by the time the fire
brigade arrived the house was well
ablaze the firemen extinguished the
flames but not before they destroyed the
upper story and damaged most of the
rooms on the ground floor a policeman
who had attended the fire later
questioned captain gregson about the
identity of the lady and gentleman
in cloaks he had seen leaving the house
as it was burning however he assured the
policeman that he was the only person at
the rectory upon investigation the
insurance company decided grayson
deliberately set the house on fire and
refused to pay out
the house was left as a ruin never to be
rebuilt after the fire harry price
searched the ruins for the body of the
nun while digging in the cellar he found
part of a jawbone and a skull which he
claimed belonged to the nun however
others claimed the bones belonged to a
pig although the local vicar of borley
refused to allow the christian burial
of the bones the church at nearby liston
did the ruins of the gutted rectory were
finally demolished in 1944
however that didn't end the supernatural
phenomena during world war ii
army officers using the grounds of
borley rectory had stones thrown at them
but when they investigated there was no
one there
they also felt incredibly uneasy like
they were being watched by some eerie
unseen presence their feelings of
discomfort were so great they abandoned
the site early
from 1947 to 1950 james and alice turner
lived in the summer cottage which hadn't
been affected by the fire though there
were no children around they would hear
the shrieks and laughter of children
playing in the orchard on one occasion
they heard the sound of heavy footsteps
on the wooden floor of their cottage
during a 1961 paranormal investigation
all the flashlights as well as the car
headlights belonging to the
investigators all
failed without obvious cause harry price
died in 1948 having written two books
about borley house one borrowing
extensively from reverend feuster's
diary of paranormal activity in the
house over the years accusations of
fraud have arisen from skeptics
investigators and associates of prices
it's thought he fabricated much of the
paranormal phenomena that occurred
later in life marianne foyster would
publicly admit that she had never
experienced anything supernatural within
the house
she faked the hauntings to cover up an
affair she was having with the lodger
the house was old and creaky so it was
easy to play on people's fears
an alleged friend of the bull family
louis mayerling published a book in 2000
discussing how as a child he helped them
fake hauntings apparently reverend bull
found it funny to stoke rumors of ghosts
it worked according to lewis at one
point
the london papers reported daily on the
borley house tourists came from as far
away as america to drive past the house
lewis also helped the foisters fake
hauntings he claimed that they struggled
to make ends meet and decided that
boosting the ghostly reputation of
borley was a good side hustle to earn
cash
sometimes lewis would walk the gardens
at dusk wearing a black cape to give
rise to the myth of the headless monk
so was borley house really haunted we
began with the story of how the ghostly
nun came to be wandering the borlee
estate there are several variations of
her story many believe that there never
was a ghostly nun reverend bull's
children borrowed her from a book we
only have louis mayerling saying that he
helped to fake the sightings too much
time has passed to verify his claims one
boardly enthusiast compiled a report of
several hundred paranormal experiences
taking place over the last 150 years
in more recent times people have
continued to have inexplicable
experiences in the area where borley
rectory once stood in 2000 a television
crew recorded hollow footsteps
the creaking of a door that no longer
exists and a deep sigh that impressed
everyone who heard it as profoundly
unhappy
while the boarly rectory property is now
private ghost hunters film in and around
the nearby borley church which the
rectors served
often things happen such as stones
thrown out of nowhere ghostly whispers
or cameras recording correctly but when
later watching the footage always end up
being corrupt
some describe seeing a little boy in
victorian clothing and a cloaked figure
glide across the field we are at least
willing to say that there are forces at
work in borley parish for which there is
no explanation
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