Welcome to the twenty-ninth edition of the Borley Ghost Society Newsletter. "Never give in--never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honour and good sense. Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.'' Winston Churchill, 29 October 1941 to the boys at Churchill's old public [private] school, Harrow.
"I'm going to put on my fighting boots." Marianne O'Neil.

Today was one of my mother's favorite days of the year. An eternal optimist, she looked forward to December 21st every year, because that meant all the days after that would start getting longer!

Thank you for looking at Borley Rectory. Thank you very much. At the moment, the band are experiencing difficulties with money, equipment and also their ears. They all have an ear infection. Still, they are hoping to recover and record some new music songs very shortly, the first of which 'Horror Lamb' is about a lamb who brings death to all who touch its wool. There will also be a cover of the Christmas Carol 'Little Donkey'. This will be released in time for Easter.
As manager. I am hoping to release a monthly newsletter soon, but I am currently ill as well after falling onto the ground. Still, thank-you for your interest, and I would be delighted if you would include us on your website. If you require any more information just let me know. Thanks again.
Harry Price
Manager
Borley Rectory

I am indebted to Sunex Amures for his brilliant review of We Faked the Ghosts of Borley. He breathes life into his writings - it is almost as if he were still alive! We are fortunate to have his various contributions.

Jamas Enright has also given us insight into this now infamous volume.

Mayerling sent your editor a copy of his rebuttal to the Andrew Clark review published in the Suffolk Free Press November 2 under the title "Louis Was There Like Forest Gump." As far as I know, the SFP has not printed Mayerling's response.

My name is Patrick Lowman, I am a senior reporter for the East Anglia Daily Times newspaper, based in Sudbury, near Borley. I recently wrote a feature article, previewing a new book written by a man called Louis Mayerling, Since I wrote the article there has been a lot of public interest in the subject(as always). The book is called We Faked the Ghosts of Borley Rectory. The author claims to have lived at the house on a number of occasions, beginning as child with the Bull family and finally as an adult with your mother Marianne and Lionel Foyster. During the book Mr Mayerling dismisses nearly all the hauntings and provides explanations for them. You may feel their is nothing unusual about this, but he says he become very close with your mother and together they faked hauntings for a joke to spook visitors and ghost-hunters. He claims they both dressed up as monks and nuns and secretly scribbled the infamous wall writings. They also played many other pranks it is claimed. Since I wrote the article many people have written letters challenging the authenticity of Mr Mayerlings account and his story. He has defended himself rigorously and said your mother would have certainly talked about him as they were good friends. He was also known as George Carter at the time. Having spoke to Rev Brian Sampson he suggested I contact you to see if you can shed any more light on Mr Mayerling or his connection with Borley or any other information you could provide. I hope to hear from you soon.
Patrick Lowman
[Thank you for getting in touch with me. I would very much like to receive a copy of the section including your review (and any subsequent replies). Borley is all I do, and this will be a most important part of my Bibliography. (Plus, it will bring me news of home!) If you head to that Bibliography, you will only find a brief mention of the latest from Louis, but it includes several links to more repercussions he has created. You may be particularly interested in the charts linked to the review that point out his incredible list of explanations - which excuse everyone but himself from being able to experience phenomena - and the long list of questions they generate. My replies to the Suffolk Free Press and the Fortean Times have been sent - but so far not published. Unfortunately, "old news" seldom gets the furor of the original. That is really too bad, as the Mayerling piece is seriously flawed. It also contains a great deal of plagiarism, if you will note inside my complete review. There is also a link to some photos he sent me of the watch my mother allegedly gave him - again, very suspicious. I imagine Louis will stop sending me his reviews as soon as a couple of my own reach the light of day. This has caused me a tremendous amount of stress and agitation. I've lost a great deal of sleep trying to balance friendship with an old man who is practically blind, but who is also a trickster. When Andrew Clark wrote to the SFP, Louis was adamant in his rebuttal - so far unpublished - which shows the man is not the least repentant. Because Louis is so firm in his conviction, I know we shall receive no "satisfaction" by tearing into his errors. My first reaction was very lighthearted, as the book is so clearly a fantasy. However, as he firms up his resolve to stick by his guns, and as he has failed to even acknowledge the material taken from me, my attitude is also stiffening. There may be more on this later. Again, I appreciate very much your enquiry. I am more than willing to develop/prune/edit whatever will suit your readers. Thank you for the opportunity!]

Just simply a fantastic Web Site - it's so broad. I'm passionate about the whole Borley saga. I only live 30 miles away from the site, so therefore I am very keen indeed to join your society. I also work around the area every week and spend my lunch break looking across the fields towards the church. I always imagine Harry Price driving up the quiet lane where I park my car, on his way to another investigation. My wife and I truly had a very strange experience there, while walking our dog late one summer's evening. We will gladly tell you about it if you are interested, but I'm sure you would be. Was Borley Rectory and the church haunted?.... Of course it was!! and though the rectory no longer stands, the church has something eerie about it.. Believe me!! If you are ever in the UK, my wife and I would love to take you there.
Regards
Nicholas Chaplin.

I really wondered whether there have been any more modern excavations to try to find the nature and purpose of the tunnel (system?). I realise that the residents of Borley would always block any further work of that nature, but I believe it is possible to trace underground phenomena by scanning/ultrasound techniques. Anyway, do you or any others in the Borley Ghost Club know anything about it?
jvlane

My wife first read [The Most Haunted House in England] when she was at school in the 1970's....and whenever ghost stories are discussed she is straight into the subject of Borley. I just told her that I had a reply to my earlier mail from the 'son of Borley'...should have seen her eyes light up...lol. I have been trying to locate a copy of the book for years now at all the auction places, so you can imagine my delight at finding that it was reprinted in 1990. There used to be a copy at the library but they all seem to have disappeared. I am sure she would love to join the [Borley Ghost Society] too. She has loved the story for so long now....she always talks about it and has started to pass on details to our daughter Cara who is now 13.
Dave Barsby

Keep up the splendid Borley archive - a most worthy effort. My motto: "No case is ever closed!"
Guy Lyon Playfair

I am a Professor of History at a private college in Kansas. I am writing you to make two inquiries. First, I understand that you are compiling a book on Borley Rectory. I am VERY interested in such a publication; do you have a publication date in mind? Second, would you be interested in a chapter for the book? I have been designing a paper on the concept of the haunted house in modern Western culture, and consider that Price's work on Borley establishes clearly the definition of what a haunted house is for us today. Borley Rectory, for various reasons, has become the archetype of the haunted house in the latter half of the 20th (and 21st) century. I have not written the paper yet; but I expect it will be done before the New Year. Would you be interested?
Sincerely,
Dr. Everett Dague
Benedictine College
Atchison, KS

Hi there - I much admire your site and I thought you would be interested to know about Peter Underwood's latest book. My wife Pamela (Peter's daughter) has started a small publishing company with me and our first book is Peter Underwood's Favourite Tales of the Fantastical-rarities from the vaults. It is a limited edition of his favourite spine chillers - hard to find elsewhere and featuring a special introduction by Peter explaining why each story has been chosen. It is of course paperback and runs to around 130pages. The stories are by Charles Dickens, Ambrose Bierce, Sheridan Le Fanu, Edith Nesbit, 'Mrs' Oliphant, Bram Stoker and Robert Louis Stevenson. Peter is very pleased about this project and was delighted to see your website.
Regards,
Crispin Derby
[Watch for details on ordering the book.]

Sunday Times 10/29/00 UK: Properties of the Week - Haunted Houses - Property. No 1 School Road is a semi-detached house in Borley, near Sudbury, Suffolk, which is considered to be one of the most haunted villages in England, writes Mary Wilson. The site of Borley Rectory is regularly visited by ghost hunters and there have been sightings of an eloping nun and a groom, a French maid who was murdered and another nun. On the ground floor there are a dining room, sitting room, conservatory with underfloor heating, kitchen and bathroom. On the first floor there are three bedrooms. There is a garden, summer house and views across the countryside. Mullucks Wells (01787 319 319) is selling it for £167,500.
Ad found by Jamas Enright
[Oh, how I wish! I know the daughter of the people living there!]

Excellent newsletter as always. I learn something new every time that I read. It is interesting that a gentleman has managed to locate a 'third' copy of the 'Marianne Foyster of Borley Rectory' book - do think that it is, or possibly either of the copies owned by Hall or Garrett? With there being a letter FROM Hall, it may be possible that it is the one owned by Garrett as they have now both passed away.
In his latest letter, Father Brian (Sampson) relates how Hallow'een had been bad up at Borley, due to the publicity from the Mayerling book. There were only four genuine investigators - the others were vandalistic yobs running across graves etc. He also had to stop one lad from kicking in the priest's door. As he says, they have to open the church on these dates otherwise folks would break in. Quite shameful. He actually sent me a copy of the book and that night I phoned through to Foxearth to thank him. He says that not even the locals who may be glad of such a book do not think much of the book - surely there may be someone there who would remember him - there is a lady in the next village, I believe, who is about 103!!! Must be great English country air out there!!!!
He included TWO articles in with the Mayerling book. One is from East Anglian Daily Times from Tuesday, 31st October, pages 22-23 with the headline "RECTORY GHOSTLY TALES 'WERE JUST HIGH SPIRITS,'" and has three great original colour photographs of Mayerling. The other is from the Suffolk Free Press, Thursday 26th October, 2000, page 20. It starts with the excellent sentence at the top as a small headline; "Midnight. February 27th 1939. Flame leap into the sky, setting the night ablaze. A falling oil lamp has written the final chapter of a spine chilling story. But our story begins 20 years earlier, and its not the one you've heard before..." "THE BORLEY GHOST: A CONFESSION." This has six pictures from the book.
I have to admit that I don't think much of the Mayerling book either. Could it be a die-hard sceptic who airs his views in another way? It's not because I want to believe in the Borley Ghosts. To be honest, I don't believe anything that a medium would tell me or anything from a planchette or Seance. One experience that I tend to have faith in however is that of Croom-Hollingsworth when he and a friend said that they saw the Nun in the seventies.
The leather bound Hall book interests me. He actually lived, compared to yourself, just up the road from me, a matter of some forty minutes, at Selby, close to the ancient city of York. I actually have routes in York as it is where my Granddad was born in 1924. Hall books often come up there, even ones from his own library. Oh, yes, and one more thing before I go, I've managed to purchase a copy of the Henning book "Haunted Borley" - it'll be arriving any time this week. Any way, I'll cut for now. Let me know if you want the cuttings if you haven't already got them.
With best Regard
Joseph Olding
[Please, as always, send the clippings, I have none of the ones you mentioned.. I'm not sure just now about 'Marianne Foyster of Borley Rectory'. Apparently, Hall made several copies of the Locked Book, but that doesn't necessarily mean he made extras of my mother's information -- especially since it is FAR more sensitive! Far more. The Halloween crimes sadden me to no end -- to no end. PLEASE extend my most sincere concern and best feelings. I never have been able to understand how people would DARE to attack the sanctity of God's house. I should like to contact the 103 year old lady and ask her about Mayerling! Or perhaps you could? Do you have her name, perchance? I just think the book is an old man telling a fantasy story.]

Thanks for the latest issue of the newsletter. By the way, I have never stated that "ghosts do not appear as globs or globes of light," [Issue #28, "Some Recent Investigations into the Borley Rectory Case"] but...
The sheer majority of visual apparitional experiences where there seems to be intelligence exhibited by the apparition (and hopefully indications of interaction with the witnesses) involve full or close to full images of a human being. And remember that other "senses" may be involved in any experience of a true apparition. The general public (and the media) relies too heavily on visuals as an indication of a ghost. People have "heard," "smelled" and "felt" in their experiences. I myself have never "seen" a ghost, but have "felt" various contacts and "smelled" an odor associated with a person who had died.
Most experiences of "perceiving" a ghost need to be looked at for whether the ghost is intelligent/interactive (which indicates a true apparition or spirit) or seemingly "stuck" in a pattern or repetition, with no indication that there's any intelligence or consciousness there (which would indicate a haunting or place memory --- information from the past imprinted in the environment; our brain/minds create a "replay" from that info).
In my own experience, and speaking with many of my colleagues, the haunting experiences are much more common.
Globes of light have been seen in many haunting cases, which is no surprise since there's often much magnetic and geomagnetic energy measurable in those locations.
It's tough to attribute intelligent actions to a globe of light, so maybe they are apparitions, and maybe not. However, they just as easily could be indicators of excessive energy (even static electricity) in the environment --- often called ball lightning or earth lights.
I have made statements regarding the enormous number of "orb photos" appearing on the Internet, and taken issue with the statements of certain groups and individuals who put these photos forth as "proof" of the existence of ghosts. Evidence, perhaps, but hardly proof.
Unfortunately, this is akin to UFO proponents stating that photos of unusual craft or objects are "proof" of the existence of Extraterrestrial craft. There's a reason photos are not acceptible as proof of this assertion: no ET craft to back it up.
There's unfortunately no real connection between the orb photos and ghosts, except perhaps in cases where human beings are perceiving something out of the ordinary when the photos are taken. We define ghosts by our own experiences, not by photos. In fact, the orb photos could just as easily be indicators of some non-intelligent energies in the environment, of the psychokinetic results of the expectations of the photographer, or (to stretch a point) even indicators of an as yet unclassified life form.
Hope that clears thing up a bit. Keep up the good work with the newsletter.
Loyd Auerbach

I wasn't at all impressed by the article by 'Sunex Amures'. He is very critical of Ivan Banks for 'blackening a man's name (Rev Henry Bull)' yet spends most of the article attacking both Harry Price and Ivan Banks himself! 'Pot-and- kettle' perhaps? Ivan Bank's book, in my view - having read it many times - is entertaining, interesting, and well-written. He has (as 'Sunex' did admit) carried out a great deal of research. So what is wrong if Banks puts forward some of his own rather speculative ideas? In science, we sometimes call these speculations 'hypotheses' - imaginative, educational guesses, capable of further testing and evaluation. There is great scope for the use of imagination and speculation in science! Why the tedious, never-ending attack on Harry Price ?
Mr. Amures should perhaps remember that Price's activities took place a very long time ago. It seemed to me he did his best to carry our scientific investigations as he understood them. Anyway, there were many scientists involved in being observers so what's the problem? Maybe he did exaggerate a bit in his books. Name an author who does not! It is a shame to continue to vilify Price when he can't answer back.
Anyway who is 'Sunex Amures'? why doesn't he use his own name?
One final point. Why do you print some of the frankly bizarre, sometimes incomprehensible, letters I have read lately. No names, its obvious who they are.
Best wishes,
John Lane
[I definitely don't mind any comments, including personal ones. Borley is all I do, because I still don't have the answers. It all started with genealogy - finding my heritage - and so many questions remain unanswered. Then there is the case of copyright infringement, where others are stealing my material. It is the same as a songwriter losing his or her rights. The SIDELIGHTS are intended to spur discussion - which they have done. All letters are published (1) to open discussions, and (2) unless messages are obscene or libelous, each author has the same right to see their work published. Feel free to comment on as many items as you see fit!]

I'm not sure that I completely understand [your discussion about taking your books off the Internet and creating CD-ROMs]. The site has actual, and potential value because it is content-rich. The battle at the moment in the Internet is to attract 'hits'. Content is what does it in the long-term. Your books are, at the moment, a key feature in attracting people to the site. I do not see their value being diminished by their exposure on the site. Quite the reverse, in fact and they certainly add value to the site. The tie-in with ghostbooks.com seems excellent to me, (whenever you visit a gallery or museum, there are more people in the shop than elsewhere), and the Bibliography is one of the best on the web for any subject. The gathering of source material is a great attraction. Many sites would be envious about the volume and quality of the content.
An associate
[Actually, attracting Internet visitors is not my problem - I get far more than one man can handle! The conflict arises between the PUBLIC pages, and those RESERVED strictly for BGS associates. Each associate has paid $20 for the privilege, and if just anyone can waltz in and stumble over the books, those associates are being cheated. I guess the point is moot, as long as the java scripts keep the surfers out of the RESERVED pages. I have meta tags ATTRACTING search engines to the public pages, and that works very well indeed. My sole purpose with the web site and the books is to find out as much as I can about my mother and therefore my heritage. By presenting the material to as wide an audience as possible, I hope to find more answers as the word spreads. At the same time, I have no keen desire to see my work stolen by those who then profit from it. THAT is where I draw the line! That is where I hope to discourage a few of the thefts when they discover they have to at least pay for the access! So much of my stuff was ripped off earlier, I finally decided something had to be done.]

Your editor was fortunate to find a copy of THE DEMONOLOGIST by Gerald Brittle. It includes a photo of Liston churchyard while telling the true story of Ed and Lorraine Warren, who investigated Amityville. They briefly mention Borley in a couple of places - very rare.

Andrew Clarke took me to the web site of the Ghost Club where I found an interesting article by Andrew Green. There was at least one sentence in that article that caught my attention as deserving a reply.

Jamas Enright continues to find more links to Borley web sites, and I appreciate his efforts. I encourage Jamas to continue his search. However, this has become quite a sore spot for me, as more and more sites "borrow liberally" from the original. I will continue to log these sites, but I will no longer comment on their content.

Jamas was also responsible for helping me find:
Cheyney, Edward Potts. "The Medieval Manor." Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science. Philadelphia. September 1893. pp. 75-91. (Fascinating look at Borley in 1308 which was copied from the original in about 1346. The author does not indicate why this particular tract was chosen for study, but for whatever reason, it is very complete, including the key observation there was a manor house on the site. The plot of ground containing the house was four acres, the same area as during the Bull tenancy and beyond. Perfect resource for genealogy as well as history, since it gives the names of the residents.)

Rosemary Ellen Guiley is scheduled to give a lecture May 12 to the Ghost Club.

If you would like a profile page made especially for you, just tell me a little about yourself and attach a JPG photo to an e-mail.

With this issue, you will note massive changes throughout the web site. It has been modified from top to bottom. Only BORLEY GHOST SOCIETY associates in good standing may now access the photos, the documents, and the chapters to my books. Even the t-shirt ordering page has been simplified with the addition of credit card ordering capabality. The invitation to join also has credit card access now. Because the site now accepts credit cards, it is impossible to continue the 10 percent discount at ghostbooks.com - so I have lowered prices wherever possible to compensate. This is not a money making venture, and I do not want anyone to consider this a commercial web site. All funds are poured right back into "the cause," including additional funds from my own pockets.

Inevitably, there will be rough spots, such as links that don't work and runonsentences. As you trip over these glitches, please let me know.

For the last little while I have been pondering what would happen to the BORLEY GHOST SOCIETY once my health becomes an issue. I have even thought of shutting everything down, assuming "everything that can be learned has been found." My work has resulted in finding a brother, a sister-in-law, a cousin, two adopted sisters, an adopted brother, and countless friends. What else is there?
Plenty, apparently! In addition to the current flap over the Louis Mayerling book, Jamas Enright has led me to a delightful description of midieval Borley Manor, and Andrew Clarke continues to flesh out different sections of my on-line books. Many others also continue to make valuable contributions from time to time, and there seems to be a resurgence in interest amongst the media.
So the decision has been made to continue.
In November, I announced the on-line books would only be available on CD-ROM in the future. In part, this was done as a result of the continuing theft of my material. However, because these books continued to be modified with new information, the updates would not be available to anyone purchasing a CD. With that in mind, I will return to the previous policy of offering these pages exclusively to associates of the BORLEY GHOST SOCIETY. Only associates have access to this material, so if it shows up elsewhere, it won't be hard to track down anyone who "borrows" my material without asking!
Still unresolved is the inevitable future of the Society when I am no longer available to carry on. I am open to suggestions along this line - while expressing my gratitude to all those who have continually sent prayers and best wishes for my continued good health! This endeavor represents a sizeable investment over the years, and my collection of Borleyania is respectable. Ideas are welcome.