Welcome to the thirtieth edition of the Borley Ghost Society Newsletter. All America OnLine users are invited to enter the AOL chat room "Ghost Talk," hosted by Vincent O'Neil. One hour chats will start approximately April 29 every Monday night at 8 p.m. Eastern Time in the United States

Left South Hampton on the Queen Mary Sunday afternoon end of March, 1946, arriving New York and on to Fort Worth, Texas. Memories of Tidworth Camp would like to share with other British Brides.
Doreen Johnson Bussey Moseley

Greetings;
My mother took me to Tidworth as an infant. She told me I had camp fever? That others had to care for me? She had just married Robert O'Neil, but may have used her previous name - Marianne Emily Rebecca Shaw Foyster Fisher. We sailed for America on the U.S. George Washington Gothals, arriving in New York August 9, 1946. I look forward to hearing from you.
Vincent O'Neil

So glad to hear from you as I probably helped to care for you in the camp. Since I had no children I volunteered to care for the babies of sick mothers. I still think those German POWs did something to our food as they would smirk as they slopped it on to our plates and so many girls were ill. Is your mother still living, and whereabouts in England did she come from? I was widowed quite early and left with 3 young daughters but remarried and still live in the same town I came to as a war bride. I am writing of my wartime experiences complete with ration books photos etc, for my granddaughter as she seems to be the only one interested in WWII. . . . . . I shall be glad to share my autobiography with you when I have it completed. Cheshire is quite close to Derbyshire and maybe your mother and I attended the same dances or parties. What did she do in the war ? I was in the Civil Service, then went into nurses training and worked at the Central Ordnance Depot on Derby.
Doreen Johnson Bussey Moseley
[You may indeed have cared for me. I was quite large. I have a scar on each knee, and have often wondered why - it must have been a major operation, so I would have had bandages if not more. Here is a photo of me as an infant. Your memory of the POWs is so odd, as my mother said it was the POWs who cared for me.....but then, she twisted things around quite a bit for one reason and another. Unfortunately, she died in 1992 - age 93. She kept her age very well, however, and most people thought she was much younger. The enclosed photo is her passport photo from 1945-46. She came from Romiley, Chesire. I was born in Ipswich. I am SO happy to hear that you are writing about your experiences! PLEASE make a copy for me, and I will gladly pay my share of the copy bill.]

Two more leads were garnered from the War Brides Registry. No responses have been received.

I was a Women's Land Army girl stationed at Redenham House, nr. Andover, Hants, when I met my future husband at a Red Cross Dance at Tidworth camp.
joan mccloskey mitchell

My mother (Barbara Braley nee Guley) and I came over on the Transport ship, Edmund B. Alexander in May of 1946. We were both from Reading, Berks, and went first to Tidworth, then from Southhampton to New York.
Patricia Slice

Myself and a few friends are planning a visit to the rectory. I wondered if you could give us the address and also contact numbers of b&bs or hotels in the area.
Many thanks
Daren
[The rectory burned down in 1939. Please read my appeal to visitors. For nearby B&B information try this web link.

If you don't mind - the requests for a mass in the kitchen and for having the burial site checked under the rock (from "Most Haunted House...") seem reasonable and simple. Were they ever performed, and if not, why not?
Linda Cast
[It is not customary to hold a full-fledged mass in the small confines of a home, and to the best of my knowledge this was never done. However, I am not sure the request (allegedly from Marie Lairre) specified it be performed in any specific spot, such as the kitchen. We don't know that several services may have been performed in the church - just across the road. As for answering why or why not something was done or not done decades ago is beyond my ability to answer, as the people involved have long since passed away.]

I just got that Sherlock Holmes book [Ivy Johnson Bull]. It wasn't much. I read it in 20 minutes. Lets see, that works out to $1.25 per minute. But it is my first and only dated, numbered, first edition, I have #450. It also seemed a little pointless - Sherlock having a son was more interesting than two old maid sisters who were jealous of their brother's new wife. It did have a nice picture of the Rectory, and was that an accurate picture of the Parlor? It is interesting as a collectors thing. There is a Holmes book mentioned that I don't think I have something about The Essex Vampire?? I need to search for it. as well. It also referred a lot to "The Locked Book."
A Sherlock Holmes collector,
Kathy Rageur
[The Sitting Room photo dates to about 1890.]

Glad everyone is realizing the truth about Mayerling. I'm having a cataract removed [March 6] as my eye sight is quite bad. Deeply shocked about the death of Ivan Banks. I feel that his contribution to the Borley saga is irreplaceable. I know that last time we wrote to him, he was recovering from a kidney transplant, but he said that he was well on the way to recovery. Do you know anything about his age range at all? It was quite surprising reading the latest letter, all full of that subject. I did not know that Croom-Hollingsworth and Densham had passed away either. By the way, I've managed to get a copy of the Haunting of Borley Rectory, by Dingwall/Hall/Goldney. It was a good price and the actual reason that I got it was that it is SIGNED by Dingwall - I've never seen one of these before. It was œ10 sterling and is in the form of the SPR. report.
Regards, with Best Wishes
Joe Olding

I have been reading your web site recently about Borley and noticed you say you have copy of tape recordings from the 70's. Well my dad used to go to Borley a few times in the late 70's early 80's. he was let into the church a few times where he left a tape recorder playing and left it to record. He has never claimed to actually see anything himself but has had some strange recordings when he listened to the tape recordings. crashing noises and what he says were muffled voices but could not make out a single word and doors slamming. Once when he was in the church he and his friend hear some footsteps coming up to the porch and the iron gate to the porch opening and so they went straight out to see who was there but after looking around decided there was no one there. He is a level headed man and like I said doesn't claim to make up things for the sake of it but yet to this day cannot explain what it was or what the noises on the tape were. I was wondering if there is any way of obtaining a copy of the tape recordings for myself to hear? [Yes, I have copies available.] So recently I have been to Borley 2 times to see for myself. I went once during the day and the second time a few days ago on a Thursday night at 11pm for a few hours on my own armed with a camcorder.. I came away with nothing, not that I was expecting anything as I'm not really sure I believe but would like to be proved wrong. I just hung around the church for a few hours. Luckily I had the place to myself so all was very quiet. I can understand how people hear things or see things at night and put it together with the name Borley nun and claim to have witnessed something whereas a little investigation would most likely reveal some perfectly normal explanation. I'm not either claiming there is nothing there but just saying that I wish people would investigate a little better before getting scared away. I plan to visit again soon and who knows.....! On your website the conker story was very good where the father and his boy were there and it was raining and windy and the father claimed he could hear horse hoofs and was all set to leave when his boy saw the conkers falling from the tree and all was explained. A classic example of how things are misunderstood at Borley.
Grizzly Adams

Congratulations on a very informative and interesting website. I remember reading two books on Borley as a student 8 years ago, as research for a possible theatre performance, although I can't remember what they were called. I have only just got on the Internet at home and thought I might search for information on Borley as I always felt the urge to see what the site looked like today, but thanks to your extensive research into Borley and your mothers history, feel this is not necessary. On a slightly different note, have you any information or findings on the relation between the paranormal phenomenon and electro magnetic/modern materials, IE: tape, celluloid? I am a Theatre/AV technician at the University of Hull, Scarborough Campus, and believe there might be some possible links although have no idea what they are? I remember reading of an experiment in the Daily Mail a few years ago, where a group were trying to prove or disprove the existance of spirits which involved the use of both cameras and video cameras, they were apparently successful though I have no real trust in a tabloid report!
Best wishes,
Jonathan Martin

I have been re-reading Borley Ghost Society newsletters and just for the record the photo of your mother that Mayerling captions 'aged 18' was originally published in my Ghosts of Borley (1973) and not in The Widow of Borley (1992).
Best always,
Peter Underwood
[Thank you very much for that observation! I have made the correction. Mayerling admitted lifting the photo from a newspaper article - and that is why it is skewered, since the picture is laying down on a table.]

I have just discovered your website which I find fascinating. My older brother and his friend visited the town of Borley a few years ago when he was in college. He said of course there were no remains left of the building but they went over to have a look at the local church. Apparently it was closed due to vandals but as they tried to peer through the window, they noticed that it was like no damage that a normal group of yobs could commit. They especially found it strange that there were not that many youngsters about. Obviously you do get people who think it's amusing to add to speculation by trying to 'recreate' a ghostly church recking but I somehow believe myself that is was not a human being like you or me that would do that. I have read a few books on Borley, particularly when I was younger and I forgotten about the place until I stumbled on your website today. You're very lucky to have had such a brave mother that would put up with such horror and abnormality living in a house like Borley Rectory. I wondered if you had any more information on the writings that appeared on the walls of Borley Rectory. I have seen a couple of pictures on the web but they are not very clear and we have since given away any books we had on Borley (my mother thought I would get nightmares!).
Regards,
Astrid O'Toole, 20
London, England
[My mother said she did not put the wall writings there, and that she wondered if Edwin Whitehouse might be responsible (consciously or subconsciously.) Photos are available to associates of the Borley Ghost Society.]

Your e-mail of the 25th January 2001 has been passed to me for attention. I am part of Amazon.co.uk legal team, being employed by the company as a legal counsel It seems to me that the main thrust of your e-mail is that Mr Mayerling has appropriated material from a book that you previously published and accordingly his publication is in breach of copyright. Amazon.co.uk's policy is to make available all titles that are legally and commercially available in the United Kingdom. Amazon.co.uk do, however, treat copyright infringement very seriously. We are, however, not able to judge the merits of any allegations of breach of copyright and instead would need to see extrinsic proof of any such breach, which would generally take the form of a court order confirming that a breach has occurred. Accordingly, if you are able to supply me with a copy of such a court order, I will then be in a position to further assess your assertions. In the event that no such order is available, Amazon.co.uk will continue to make the book available in accordance with our general policy, as is set out above. I look forward to hearing from you
Yours sincerely
Vincent Collins
Counsel
[That is impossible, as I live in Utah, and the offense has been committed in England. I am on a small retirement pension which does not allow the hiring of attorneys. Instead, I would beseech you to observe the evidence I have presented, including the fact Mayerling admits to theft in his December 6 letter. Either way, I understand your dilemma, and I appreciate your time and consideration.]

You seem to get lots of folks writing to you. The most intriguing was the Readers Digest thing from Jon McDonald. I don't think I ever heard that the Nun was being forced to wed a Waldegrave??? That was new to me. That might explain a lot. Or maybe I just missed it. Lots of interested people. I also like the statement that all of the road signs have been removed. That is like here in New Orleans, there is the famous grave of the most famous voodoo queen Marie Leveaux, but the cemetery is always changing the markers and directing people to other graves to cut down on the vandalism. Of all the talk you hear about people recording the Church etc, there is never any mention that anyone ever went to a church service there. Is it not opened for services anymore? Seems like that would be the first thing I would do, and Have you ever mention what denomination it is? Looks like everyone is on your side about Mayerling. I wonder if he even has a following. Maybe just real died in the wool sceptics. The Mystery Child looked early 1900's, looks like some of the pictures in my mother's old collections.
Kathy Rageur
[Sir Edward Waldegrave is the suspect for wanting a nun. The church is open for services on Sunday.]

When I was around 18 years old and living in South Wales I started using the Internet and read about Borley Rectory and was so fascinated I continued to research as many ghost sites as I could. I am now 23 and have been living in Long Melford for 6 months and I was astounded yesterday when my partner informed me that the "most haunted house in England" was only 5 minutes from my door. However I was very disappointed to hear that the residents get very annoyed with people which is understandable because of the vandals but not for the people who have such an interest in this subject. I would very much like to go and visit the church or talk to anyone who is willing to have a friendly chat, but I do not want to do this if the village people are going to get upset.
Saly Bickel

Many thanks for the new issue. The Web of Time will be carrying a ghost story of mine in the February issue - The Demon Drummer of Tedworth.
Ivor Noel Hume

Please would you amend the link to my site listed on your members profiles page to: www.grimalkin.net as this is the introduction page to my site. I just keep finding more and more pages on your site! Having had time to listen to the tape you sent me last year, I have included the following on my website and would welcome comments:
UPDATE - Densham and Hollingsworth, 6th January 2001
In August 2000 I took delivery of a tape from Vincent O'Neil's www.ghostbooks.com The cassette is a documentary of some investigations made in 1974 by Geoffrey Croom-Hollingsworth and Denny Densham in and around Borley Church and the site of the Rectory. I believe that this investigation was publicised on the television/radio and it might have been this that prompted my father to visit later that same year. Until July 2000 I had not learned of the existence of this tape - let alone listened to the recordings it contained. On playing it I was startled to find an uncanny resemblance between Densham and Hollingsworth's recordings from inside the Church and the recordings made by my father. In fact, the similarity has even prompted a flurry of e-mails suggesting that my father's recordings were no more than a copy of those of Densham and Hollingsworth. They are, of course, not. However listening to D&H's recording I can well understand the scepticism of those who suggested as much - the similarity is incredible. On the first play of the D&H tape I was able to counter one of their claims. They recorded a noisy creaking door - which they claimed to be a 'phantom door' - explaining that they could not find a one in the Church that sounded the same. This claim I find hard to believe; the main (and only) entrance door to the Church is recorded in the file 'turnoff.wav' which is linked-to above. This recording of the main door opening is identical to D&H's 'phantom door'.
Best regards,
Adrian Butcher

My uncle [Stan Willetts] has something of interest to you. About 15 years ago we were in the local papers over a haunting that we investigated in Winchester. In the article it was mentioned that we were going up to Borley as well and an old lady from Botley Hampshire contacted us telling us of an experience she had there. We went over to the old lady's house and she told us that when she was a young woman she stayed at Borley manor, it was there she saw the ghost of a nun in one of the bedrooms! We found this interesting because we knew there were sightings on the rectory site, the roadway and even the churchyard, but never the manor. As with all interviews we have done, we always ( with their permission ) recorded them so if your interested in a copy of either the old lady or the Jeffery Groom-Hollingsworth interview, we would be pleased to send them to you.
I don't have the [publishing data] as the newspaper article was cut out from the page. I do know the paper was the Southampton advertiser and that it must of been around 1985. Sorry that's all we know! I have had one reply [regarding my last letter] from a man in Switzerland who's interested in Borley! He wants copies of the recordings! It's amazing really how much interest world wide the place has. It makes me feel fortunate that I live relatively close! I'll be sending the recorded interviews within a week. I'll also send you a copy of a recording done by a ghost hunter by the name of Ron Russell. He dropped a mic though the broken window of the church and just stood there, he didn't hear nothing himself but he recorded a very odd sound. It was1984 when he got this. It was Deny Densham who told us about one and we where able to meet him and obtain a copy.
Darren Jarvis

Richard Lee-Van den Daele noticed the Colin Wilson article in the Daily Mail of January 3 included an interesting photo. The editor(s) have taken the famous Simon Marsden photograph from behind the church, and mislabeled it as being the rectory. To further stir the pot, they have overlaid a stylized nun that was not in the original picture!

I came across an interesting item in The Restless Spirits of Lagenhoe by Rev. John C. Dening (published by the author. . . . and highly recommended). It seems that the Bishop of Colchester had paid a visit to Borley, and as reported to Rev Dening by another clergyman, "It appears that he was sitting talking to the incumbent (the late Rev. Eric Smith) when, with all the doors and windows closed, all of a sudden there sailed through the air apparently from nowhere, a large-sized pebble which, after more or less parting His Lordship's hair, dashed itself against the fireplace."
The haunting of Langenhoe Church, some 20 miles from Borley and also, as it happens, formerly owned by the Waldegrave family, was well witnessed and thoroughly investigated. Of special interest was the rescue circle in which the trance medium May Lampard supposedly incorporated a number of earthbound entities who were persuaded to move on.
All the best wishes,
Guy Lyon Playfair
[During a delightful chat on the phone, Rev. Dening told the editor that although he is approaching 80, his mind is still very active. He investigated Borley around 1948, and at one time spoke with Ethel Bull. She told him how disappointed she was that Price exaggerated things, as there was plenty to write about without adding any more. He told me, "I believe your mother supplied the energy," for some of the activity, "either consciously or subconsciously." He called the Louis Mayerling effort, "a strange book." He went on to say, "Everybody is puzzled by his motive in writing the thing. [For him] to suggest everything was a hoax is absurd." The Borley related excerpts are posted and contain the fascinating reference that there, "no longer any fully earthbound spirits at the rectory site (as opposed to the church) at Borley, the spirit of the famous nun having been released some while since."]

The acknowledgments inside The Field Guide to Ghosts and other Apparitions by Hilary Evans reads like a "Who's Who" of the Borley Ghost Society. Given thanks are associates Loyd Auerbach, John Robert Colombo, Dave Oester, and Joanne McMahon.

Just thought you might be interested to know that I've got two articles and thought you may like copies. The first of January 18th 2001 is purely YOUR views! The headline is "Chapter and Verse: why his Borley Book just doesn't add up to me - and still the Borley Ghost won't go away - researcher Vincent O'Neil, whose Mother lived at the Rectory takes author Louis Mayerling to task over his new book." Inside that is a small piece by Mayerling "Mayerling: He's wrong and I stand by every word I wrote."
The second is from East Anglian Daily Times of January 2nd 2001 "Author's book on haunted Rectory refuses to lay ghosts - Researcher: Fact don't add up," and mentions yourself as well.
Joseph Olding

Edward Babbs supported your editor and asked "Forget about the ghosts, what about the facts?" in the January 25 Suffolk Free Press. (Thanks to Andrew Clarke.)

Jamas Enright continues to dig, and to find Borley mentions in obscure places, for which your editor is most grateful. Peter Mulacz, mentions Borley in passing whilst discussing the involvement of Harry Price in the Eleonore Zugun case. Judith Sykes mentions a photo of the wall writings during her review of the Colin Wilson book, Ghosts and the Supernatural. This Wilson book is also the subject of a similar short review by Ann Brouse.

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