Welcome to the fortieth edition of the Borley Ghost Society Newsletter. A couple of days ago, it became necessary to make some critical changes in order to keep the Society and the Internet site alive. This involved an initial expenditure of almost $100, plus a continuing monthly charge of about $24. Because of these expenses, it will no longer be possible to contribute the $20 membership fees to the Borley Church Preservation Fund. Associates and others are still encouraged to keep the Fund active on their own by making contributions directly to Revd. Sampson. If financial circumstances should improve in the future, these contributions from the BGS will be revived. Discounts on the CD-ROMs written by your editor are still available to associates in good standing. For now, the bills have been paid, and the day-to-day business of the Society will continue. Please be aware these financial considerations may force the Society and/or the Internet site to cease functioning without advance notice, although every attempt will be made to keep associates informed. Meanwhile, associates are asked to use the AOL e-mail address - BorleySociety@aol.com.

I heard about the marwell manour mystery and thought u might find it very helpful. marwell manour was in borley and lady Ann of marwell and the Earl of marwell. In 1989 lady ann redecorated the house marwell manor, but her huband the earl thought that was waste of money. One night lady Ann was writing in her diary she had just had a bitter row with her husband the Earl collected orchids he was very fond of orchids and spent thousands of pounds on them and said that if he had her money he would spend it on something worth it and when he went on about orchids again she went mad and thats how the row started. then the next day Lady Ann of Marwell was found dead with an orchid next to her she had a deep stab in her neck. The papers said that she might have disturbed a theif going to take the orchids. but on the night of the 12th of july when they had the row Lady Ann had wrote her will which had said she would give all her beloved money and all her things to her most loved husband. that might have been wrote before or after the row nobody knows lady ann had olso given five hundred thousand to her cat ... then on the 16th of july it was Lady Ann's funeral. In August Lady anns cat was found missing. Now in 1990 september the house had some paronormal activaties going on only the Earl and his servents had saw this and heard. there seamed to be a ghostly skull going around the corridoors of the house and had said a percing scream passers by had herd the scream but had not seen. All the servents left only one had to stay and she was deaf she could not hear the scream and also needed the wages but nobody has found out the mystery yet could u help or could I? plz reply!
www.hny50@hotmail.com
[I am unfamiliar with this story, but I will pass it along to asociates of the BORLEY GHOST SOCIETY to see if anyone can help you.]

IM 22Y OLD, I KNOW THIS IS PROBABLY THE WORST STORIE, BUT THOUGHT ID TELL IT ANYWAY. I WAS ABOUT 14 WHEN ME MY FRIEND AND MY DAD WENT THERE AT 12:00 ON A DAY I BELEIVED WAS IN JUNE OR JULY AND WAS MEANT TO BE A SPECIAL DAY FOR THE NUN THERE, ANYWAY, ONCE WE GOT THERE WE DID KNOW WHERE THE HOUSE WAS LOCATED SO WE JUST WALKED DOWN THE ROAD, THERE WAS A LIGHT AS IF IT WAS A STREET LIGHT IN THE DISTANCE AND THOUGHT IT WAS A BIT STRANG COZ THERE WAS ANY STREET LIGHTS, AFTER A WHILE THE LIGHT DISAPEARED AND IT WAS STANGE BY THIS TIME THERE WASNT ANY MORE HOUSES, WE TURNED AROUND AND SAW THE SAME DISTANT GLOW FROM WHERE WE JUST CAME FROM, SO WE WALKED BACK AND WHEN WE GOT BACK TOWARD THE CAR, THERE WAS NO LIGHT , SO ME MY FRIEND MY DAD, AND THE DOG RAN IN A PHONE BOX, CALLED MY MUM, IT WAS QUITE FUNNY BUT IT WAS A LITTLE FREEKY, ANYWAY WE THEN RAN TO THE CAR AND DROVE HOME.
STEVE WATTS

I HAVE BEEN INTERESTED IN GHOSTS AS LONG AS I CAN REMEMBER. I READ THE STORY OF BORLEY RECTORY WHEN I WAS 10 AND I CAN STILL REMEMBER BEING SCARED TO DEATH. THANKS FOR YOUR INTERESTING WEBSITE. IT HAD ME GLUED TO THE COMPUTER.
anho27@aol.com
[Thank you for the compliments.]

Please set-up a free website for me as I will try to use it. If you need any more details from me let me know. And I do not always have access to a computer so can you please send me the details of the history of Borley Rectory, not a list of books written on the subject. Thank-you!
A new associate
[The BORLEY GHOST SOCIETY is for people with Internet access. While discounts are given to associates for the many CDs I have written on the subject - it would be impractical to make ADDITIONAL hard-copy (paper) reports for the dozens of people who request them. I have neither the time nor the funds to do this. I did not promise you a free web SITE - only a free web PAGE, such as those you see at BGS profiles. A history of Borley is available at the main web site. Even though I have already sent your $20 membership to the church - I will be happy to refund it out of my own pocket if you wish. You may keep the t-shirt. Either way, I hope you have a good day. :)]

While I did the picture of Borley I was a little afraid I would recieve some sort of paranormal attention, as my focus was daily on Borley and the nun. After a few weeks of nothing happening in this regard I realized this wasn't the case and I felt a little more at ease telling myself it was ridiculous to even imagine this would happen. When I finished, prior to mailing you the results with the nun, I taped it up on the wall and asked a friend what he thought of it. He was about 4 feet from me at the time and I was agonizing over the rendering of the nun, saying "I don't know, maybe I should've just done the Rectory and left out the nun, do you think she detracts from it?" I heard him say, so close to my ear it caused a buzzing sensation in my ear, "I can see what you mean" or something like this. I turned immediately because I had just looked at him and he was 4 feet away and I wondered how he got so close so quickly and why he would speak in my ear like that. He was still 4 feet away! I immediately asked him if he had said this and he said no, he didn't say anything. He wasn't up next to me either. I know this is true because really he couldn't have moved that fast and I would've seen him, but I had to ask. I don't know if this had anything to do with the spirits over there at Borley but this really did happen. I hadn't mentioned it before because I thought you would think I was not telling the truth, but when I read the story about the nun being sent to you the same time I was doing this picture of her I felt it had a strange connection. Borley still lives as far as I'm concerned. That activity is quite alive.
The more I think about it the more I wonder why anyone hasn't attempted [to paint Marianne at the rectory] before, as Marianne was an integral part of that house and if you forget about the strangeness of the story and think about it, it was her home for a while and she even said she liked it there. After reading the journal she and Lionel wrote I am puzzled at that, but then again I loved the house I grew up in, and it was haunted as well. So maybe it's not so hard to understand, you tend to take the good with the bad, and the grounds around Borley were lovely and the house was large and in its own way, pretty. I thought I'd read more about her [from The Most Haunted Woman in England] as I was working on it to get a sense of her.
The only other thing I wanted to say is do you know what ever became of the fireplace with the monks? I can't imagine the fire would've damaged it much and someone surely must've removed it as it was really a valuable antique.
Barbara Clements
[Very good question about the fireplace! Let's see if we can't get some ideas from the other associates! Perhaps other artistic works have been made - they just haven't been made public. The Internet is only a few years old - her story has been around a long time. The key thing to remember is she was fun-loving, and very service oriented. Each page will give you a different light, but those are the two characteristics that rise the highest. I think your original idea of my mother holding flowers is still the best. Her favorites were violets, and this is what she wrote about flowers at Borley. "The rectory garden was both warm and cold, barren and bountiful, according to the section in which one was in. . . The courtyard was as different as chalk from cheese to the inner courtyard, and the terrace garden was a joy. . . There was a walk in the garden which was pleasant and warm, there was a place to rest in the sun and VIOLETS grew in great profusion there. . .Giant Campanulas made a blue showing and other warm summer flowers made the air sweetly spiced on a summer's day. We called this section the jungle, and here we would sit and read in the summer time listening to the drone of the bees......"]

I have now thought of five "Borley Rectory" experiments to perform regardless that the rectory no longer exists. Note that indicating five of them is arbitrary as some experiments can be mixed together. Most of the experiments are very straightforward, and they might have already been performed by others anyway. The Borley web site, in fact, indicates that people who visit Borley inadvertently perform one of the experiments except at a narrower scope then I would like to have it done. All five experiments would require experimentors to spend some time, perhaps considerable time, in the area. Given that time would have to be spent in the area the experiments would also incur living expenses for the experimentors. Some of the experiments have modest equipment requirements too.
I won't detail these experiments because I've gotten the message, loud and clear, that the last thing the Borley locals want is a stampede of ghost hunters at their front doors. And as you've previously indicated, the Borley Ghost Society currently has no mechanisms in place for discussing sensitive information. Consequently, my lips will remain sealed for the foreseeable future concerning any Borley experiments out of respect for the privacy of the locals.
By the way, I now regard the privacy concerns of Borley residents as a very positive thing with respect to preserving Borley Village as much as it has been.
Thank you for listening.
Scott Cunningham
[Excellent. A Borley Church Preservation Fund has been established to try and help things along.]

Hello Mr. (Andrew)Clarke,
I do have a few comments regarding your reply [regarding sunset at Borley]. First, I appreciate that you mentioned official sunrise/sunset times for that area. However, these official times are not intended to indicate actual light conditions as sunlight can continue to reflect off atmosphere and clouds even after the sun is below the horizon. I also understand that Borley Rectory was on a hill which would also prolong the available light in that area with respect to sunset. I consequently cannot ignore Mr. Cooper's simple description of the available light when he saw some figure which was something similar to "just barely dark before 10 PM". Therefore, neither can I disregard the possibility that the Bull sisters did indeed have enough light to see something unusual in the garden up to an hour earlier regardless if it was after sunset.
Thank you for listening.
Scott Cunningham

I don't know realy how to relate this to you but i'll do the best i can. in 1982 i visted Borley late at night with 3 friends 2 of us being a bit braver than the other 2 decide to walk around the church as a bit of a dare we walked round the church and then back to the porch to sit and have a chat it must have been about 2.30 in the morning quit warm and without much of a breeze. While sitting there we thought we heard a noise from within the church so we both put our ears to the door.Then with a sudden bang the doors seem to move outwards and gave us both quite a scare.What i would like to know is if there is anyway air entering the church in anyway could have caused this to happen and if this has happened to anyone else.
Dave Osborne
[I've not heard of your specific story before, thanks for sharing. Skeptics will say it is an old drafty church and the wind currents have been playing tricks on visitors for centuries.]

I know that this request may sound odd but I am going toask anyway. My name is Beverley Snell and William Foyster is the name of my great grandfather 4 times removed.. I think that is correct.Anyways I was wondering if it is one in the same well at least family wise. The first record that I have is William Foyster born 1764 in Rumburgh England... Well Here's hoping!
Sincerley yours
Beverley E. Snell
[It is entirely possible, but the name does not show up on my genealogical chart for Lionel Foyster. However, I shall pass along your name to others who are doing genealogy to see what they can find.]

The Art of Barbara Clements has been posted for all to enjoy!

Their is now a newsletter from Peter Underwood on line. The first edition is posted at Castle of Spirits. The second newsletter can be downloaded from the same site.

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.

To have your e-mail address dropped from lists of "spammers," submit it to removeyou.com. To check your modem connection speed visit MSN speed test.
Bill Vicars