Welcome to the forty sixth edition of the Borley Ghost Society Newsletter. One of Marianne's grandsons, Tim O'Neil, graduates magna cum laude from Columbia College in Missouri 12 May 2002. She would be most proud, as is the entire family. Congratulations, son!

Mr. O'Neil;
We feel that in the interests of completeness we must discuss Marianne Foyster's marriages. We would propose to do so in one of the appendices rather than in the main body of the text. We feel also that we should tell you this as we have no wish to cause you any hurt.
The intention is to discuss this aspect of the matter with sensitivity and purely on the documentary evidence. There will be no wild and sensational theorising of the type to be found in Robert Wood's book, The Widow of Borley. He even suggests that she committed murder and there is no evidence whatsoever to support this allegation. It is this kind of thing that we would seek to refute.
Sometimes unfortunate facts have to be faced and in this instance it will be done with compassion. Would you let us have your views on this matter?
Kind regards
Edward Babbs and Keld Fenwick

Gentlemen; Why?
What on earth does that have to do with the alleged hauntings at Borley? None.
The marriage to Greenwood was long BEFORE she arrived in Essex. 1914 vs 1930-35.
The marriage(s) to Fisher and O'Neil were AFTER she left Essex. 1930-35 vs 1935 and 1945, respectfully.
Whether she was married to anyone other than Lionel has NO BEARING at all on the legend of the nun, the monk, Marie Larie, Henry Sr., etc. It was none of her later acquaintances that threw things down the stairs, started fires in the baseboards, moved objects, or turned on lights.
Why are people so d****** obsessed with her private life? Most of it is speculation and does not cover her time or her actions whilst at Borley - it is irrelevant.
Trevor Hall was obsessed, and followed us to North Dakota in the person of private detective Robert Swanson. The interviews with my mother were supposedly about the hauntings, but the very first sentence Swanson blurted into the tape recorder was NOT about the haunting, but about her love life.
I do not feel this needs to be covered at all.
By the way, won't this delay publication? Why did you think of this at this late date?
Vincent O'Neil

Mr. O'Neil;
Following your e-mail of 18th April we have no wish to cause distress and we hope that you will be kind enough to give us credit for contacting you about this matter which was done out of courtesy to yourself.
In the interest of completeness, peripheral matters, including Marianne's life, need to be discussed in a comprehensive assessment of the Borley Rectory case and her five years there cannot be considered in isolation. Details of her life have been in the public domain since 1973 when they were described in the Tabori-Underwood book, The Ghosts of Borley. In 1992 a lot more detail was given in Robert Wood's The Widow of Borley. You may like to know that one of our chapters is a critique of this mischievous and at times inaccurate book which appears to be little more than a reworking of Trevor Hall's notes. Marianne's life is discussed also in The Enigma of Borley Rectory by the late Ivan Banks published in 1996. With great respect, it is difficult to see how we can omit this; otherwise we shall be accused of being ignorant of the facts or trying to hide them.
Far from wishing to be hurtful, we feel that we may be able to help in this matter. The general concensus is that all of Marianne's marriages were illegal; that is, she was under the legal age on the first occasion and the subsequent marriages were bigamous. It may be possible to show that her marriage to the Rev Lionel Algernon Foyster was legal and there are two points in support of the theory. First, the 1914 marriage to Greenwood was clearly illegal. In view of the fact that Marianne was only 15 perhaps it could be argued that it was also invalid (that is, having no legal force). Second, Greenwood vanished in early 1915 and was never seen again. The marriage to Foyster did not take place until August 1922, by which time it could be assumed that the missing Greenwood was (legally) dead. The obvious way forward is for us to get a professional opinion about these possibilities.
Picking up your final point, the above is not really an afterthought. There are four appendices already (one dealing with Mayerling's nonsense) and there may be another about Caroline (Dodie) Bull's diary of 1884 - 85. We have a photocopy of this in her own handwriting.
Kind regards
Edward Babbs

Mr. Babbs;
Please forgive me for sounding abrupt, but I have been fighting this same battle full-time since 1994.
As you so wisely point out, my mother's private life has already been covered many times, including the scandalous work by Robert Wood, The Widow of Borley, which goes into explicit details. It is hard for me to see the need for yet another exposure. Trying to counteract this onslaught has been the main focus of my books and of my web site since 1994. I encourage you to connect to my web site and go over the thousands of pages I have gathered on the subject, including my mother's biography, The Most Haunted Woman in England.
The title to that book was not chosen at random - it fits perfectly the constant attacks thrown at her, especially those attacks that have nothing to do with the centuries-old claim of an alleged haunting at Borley Rectory.
Of all those who raise this particular subject, not one has seen fit to include the positive side of her life - her humanitarian and service awards, including the Pope John XXIII award for her "dedicated service to mankind." But then, that has nothing to do with whether or not Borley as haunted, does it? Neither do her marriages.
Widow of Borley is based on the research of Trevor Hall. This book has caused enough trouble without more fuel being added to the fire. Researching Borley, and rebutting the harm done by this publication is all I do - day in, day out. There is so much more to her life than this single focus, and I am mystified at why it overwhelms everything else!
I appreciate the courtesy you have shown by contacting me about your intentions. I hope I can dissuade you from sensationalizing your material. This has not been the first time this information has created stress. Not only for me, but for her granddaughter in England, several adopted children, my own six children, my grandchildren, and her many friends spread throughout the globe. Why rub salt into a very old - but still painful wound.
As I mentioned earlier, NONE of her previous or latter-day associates ever threw anything down the stairs of Borley, thumped on the walls, dragged their footsteps, or threw tumblers and lamps at Borley.
I have supported your efforts from the very beginning - back to February of 2000. I have even recruited three advanced sales! I have given the project much publicity on two different web sites, including the full outline.
Your February 2000 outline mentioned nothing of this new direction, and I am quite surprised to hear of this recent change. I thought yours was to be a fresh approach, not rehashing old material. As you so clearly point out, my mother's post-Borley life has all been covered many times before. The redundancy is unnecessary.
With all due respect, it wasn't necessary a month ago. I believe it was only very recently that you were advised to add to the EXISTING manuscript so it would exceed 200 pages? In effect, you had 32 new blank pages, and I understand your desire to make those pages worthwhile. This particular information, however, is not worthwhile.
Famous authors such as Peter Underwood have never found it necessary to detail her private life post-Borley. Nor has Rosemary Ellen Guilley, Colin Wilson, or Guy Lyon Playfair. None of them have been accused of hiding anything. It is partially because of their respect for the living - and the dead - that I hold them in such high regard.
In your effort, a paragraph in passing as part of a "Who's Who at Borley" might include a sentence or two, but again, WHAT HAPPENED AFTER 1935 is irrelevant!
I have written extensively on my all aspects of my mother's life, and I encourage you to read what is presented - either on the Internet or on a CD-ROM. As part of that writing, I point out that the Greenwood marriage was annuled. In my mother's own words - ""My father asked me if this was what I wanted, and I knew Harold would always resent me if I persisted in being what his mother called a burden. So I said NO. Whereupon Dad went to an attorney and had a deed drawn up that Harold and I were separated legally, forever. Harold's mother said she would oppose any payment, my Dad said 'We don't want either your money, or you, or your son.' I never saw either of them again, as they both went back to England."
On another matter - if you have to bring the fictional account of Mayerling into all this, please review carefully my complete sheaf of documents rebutting his work of fiction.
In regard to (Dodie) Bull's diary, I have published most of those pages on my web site as part of a letter, but it will be interesting to see them in the original.
Again, I wish your effort every success. It will be a great asset to the many fans of Borley to see your new photos and new material. In the interest of fairness, I will present our discussion to the associates of the BGS and encourage their feedback on the matter. The Society is wide-based, with a global audience - supporters and skeptics alike.
My best wishes to you and yours.
Vincent O'Neil, president
The Borley Ghost Society

Associates are encouraged to respond to these sidelights, as well as write essays of their own!

Andrew has done yeoman's work in writing, researching, and in giving much appreciated guidance. Because of his untiring efforts, he now has his own space on the web site - Clarke's Corner - Sidelights by Andrew Clarke!

The first major unexplained situation that happened to me was when I was 11yrs old. The second of my experiences seemed to have a parallel to the first.. .
Tony Newell

Could you please let me know why people who visit borley find it a frightening place? and keep running away in fear? because i have been to borley many times and find it a verry wonderful place and i would love to live theire.....dont get me wrong i do belive in ghosts and allways will.but.why do people fear the dead? its the living that they should fear the most..!... Do you know any place that is up for rent near to the cemetary?.....because i have not found one yet that is willing to even lel me put up a tent.!.. all the best Mr.Vincent. and keep up the good work that you are doing..........
Roger Flanagan
[We agree completely. I would love to live there as well. As for a tent, that is totally out of the question, as the current residence are very tired of all the attention - visitors, vandals, and the like. See my appeal to visitors. ]

I HAVE A QUESTION. CAN YOU TELL ME WHY THE NUN WAS BURRIED I DIDNT READ THE WHOLE THING BUT I DO HAVE THE BIG BOOK. I AM REALLY INTERESTED WHO DI SHE HAVE AN AFFAIR WITH? PLEASE EMAIL ME BACK. CAN YOU SEND ME SOME REALLY INTERESTING PHOTOS OF PARRONORMAL THINGS HAPPENING I AM REALLY INTERESTING THANKS
CYNTHIA
[There are more than two nuns involved. The first was bricked up alive after trying to elope with a monk. The second - Marie Lairre was murdered The third was a Waldegrave, also murdered. All of the above is speculation, based on stories, legend, seances, and the like.]

Do you recognise your mothers' personality at all, in the heroine of 'Fifteen Months in a Haunted House?'. How do the two differ? . . . wasn't Marianne much livelier, healthier, more exuberant, more enterprising, less passive?
Andrew Clarke
[You have inspired me to start another chapter to my book, Fifteen Months in the Most Haunted House in England!
Much has been made of my mother's lust for life, including my previous writings. She was anxious that I share her enthusiasm for life and everything we could possibly put into it. She DID question my desire to travel because, "there really isn't anything to see when you get there. It's all the same." Upon reflection, she may have been subconsciously hoping I didn't want to travel back to England!
At any rate, she was constantly encouraging everyone she met to "live!" She was a pioneer in establishing resources for the aging (6 to 106), including trips, music lessons, BINGO parties. . . .everything was possible, and there were no limits. "I've ridden in everything but a submarine," she told me after hitching a ride on a garbage truck. "And I hope to do that some day!"
Back at Borley, she was frightened by the seance and left. On the other hand, she talked out loud to the "spirits." Whilst in the US, she constantly pestered me to take her to a "REAL ghost town!" She wanted to experience a place tourists hadn't ruined. It is obvious she was hoping for MORE contact - like that she remembered from Borley.
Perhaps she was ambivalent, and I believe her later testimony is replete with examples showing this waffling. Whilst trying to dismiss much of what happened, she never denied the wall writings, the floating slitteo, lights in the window, and the materializing tumblers as anything less than unexplained and remarkable.
Undoubtedly, one of the things that numbed her down a bit in regard to the phenomena was the UNWANTED attention. During the first decades of life, she imagined herself in better circumstances than actually surrounded her. Some of the more exciting choices may have been embarrassing, and the attention the haunting produced threatened to expose these flights of fancy. ESPECIALLY after she was publically criticised for being the source of some of the phenomena. If people had not attacked her in this way FROM THE BEGINNING, I'm sure she would have delighted more in the phenomena - remember, it was she and Ian who put a sheet on a clothesline to scare Francois d'Arles!
It also very possible that she told Lionel something like, "Be careful what you write. We don't want people poking about in our personal lives." I know she repeated a variation of that theme to me over and over and over again. (See several pages in Things My Mother tried To Teach Me.) Her devoted servant, Lionel may have TONED DOWN her reactions/participation/comments in his writings.
She dismissed the diaries as something to keep Lionel busy, and I doubt she told him not to write them at all - just to not write about their personal lives.
She may have already formed some paranoia about that time frame - fear that her private life would become public IF Lionel should have the good fortune to have his work published. I mean, if the bus loads were already coming to call WITHOUT his help, how frequent would the visitors and reporters visit AFTER he was published!
That may have been in the back of her mind, but as long as it was only a glorified Circulating Letter or jumbled diary, she had nothing to fear from his hobby. As I said, ambivalent. Ambivalence that was to follow her throughout the rest of her life as on one hand she herself wanted to be a famous author, and on the other hand, worried about the spotlight fame would bring. I have chronicled some of these curious contrasts elsewhere. ]

Could you please look at my borley photo and let me know if i have got the monk on film....i think that it is the borley monk........the face is centre of photo then right a bit ...i needed a magnifier to see it in the bushes ..i was looking for orbs at the time....it gave me quite a shock when i saw it ...but i guarantee it there..many thanks......
Jackie Cooke
[A full size version of your photo is available to the associates of the BORLEY GHOST SOCIETY for their feedback.]

In "Who is this child" I think that is the person that is doing the writings on the wall.
steven

This would be a photo of Harry Bull as a child of about six. Notice the slope of his right eye and the peak of the left eye are identical to the photo of Harry Bull as an adult. The shape and size of the ears are a dead (if you'll pardon the pun) giveaway. Compare the photos using age progression and you will see the incredible likeness of both photos. I have researched the Boreley phenomenon for several years and managed to find many photos and prints of the history of the Foysters, as well as the Bull clan. Please let me know if this is the same idea that you have concerning the photo. I lack a scanner at this time due to a need for repairs, but will submit age-progression photos as soon as possible. I have held an interest in the Borley Rectory for some time and I am fascinated by this site. I will continue to submit my own research as time allows. I am a professional clairvoyant, and hold deep interest in the paranormal for obvious reasons.
Audra Lake

As ever, I enjoyed reading the recent newsletters and seeing the latest contributions to the website. Of particular interest were Gary Cooke's pictures showing the mist - or whatever it is - since I have had a similar(ish) encounter at Borley (and written about it for this website).
For a number of reasons, I took a closer look at some of these pictures. Firstly, and as Vincent O'Neil points out, some of these pictures have no reference point to indicate where they were taken. However, if you look to the left of the mist in picture one (at the top of the page), you can clearly make out one of the two windows on the south side of the church's nave.
Secondly, I wondered if the pictures had been cropped or if they were whole. I measured them as having a ratio of 4:3 (the normal digital image ratio), so I guess we're seeing the whole picture, not just a section of it (unless, of course, they've been cropped to that ratio).
Thirdly, I wondered if the "mist" could be cigarette smoke (no, I'm not suggesting that Gary's faking evidence, but I thought it was important to eliminate the "possible" causes in order to be left only with the "impossible"). After two cigarettes and 15 minutes in my cold garden at night, I had to conclude that it wasn't cigarette smoke. I blew smoke upwind, downwind, crosswind, and photographed it close up and from a distance. I too used a digital camera but, even so, the results were no where near what appears in Gary's photographs.
Fourthly, I converted the colour images to black & white and then looked at them as negatives (sometimes negative images reveal or enhance things that aren't viewable as positives - take the Shroud of Turin, for example). The results? Well, if you want to let your imagination run wild... the negative image of the first picture could be interpreted as showing an E.T.-like creature with horns! I attach a copy of this image.
With best wishes,
Stephen D. Smith
[All photos submitted are unedited. Some have extraneous borders, which are cropped. The software used has a tendacy to "fuzz" pictures when reduced to fit computer screens, which necessitates using the "sharpen" option, but no retouching is done.]

Hello. I am an American. Not always proud of the statement because there are so many 'Americans' who have no manners nor respect of others. I hear what you are saying about the disrespect of graves, no matter how old. It doesn't matter. Our brand new graves are being vandalized because of "gangs" and racist activity towards caucasian Americans. To me, older graveyards are a place of respect and a place to retrace one's geneology. I also work in a fishing village that has died and become a disgusting "tourist town" and the fact is very unattractive. This 'tourist' agenda has affected my peacefulness, and worst, my children's education. I just feel it is important for the world to know that not all 'Americans' consider every blade of grass as "Real Estate". I myself get disgusted at so-called American 'capitalism' and money for oneself at the cost of others.
Shelly Ballard

There seems to be an interesting similarity between Dom Richard Whitehouse and the "not quite normal" daughter of Henry Bull who is referenced [in the Baines notes.] A reference to Mr. Whitehouse elsewhere on the Borley site indicates that his reputation for being emotional suggests that this possibly made him a lightening rod (my term) with respect to poltergeist activity at the rectory. Interestingly, although the Bull family thought it wise not to mention suspicious happenings around the "not quite normal" daughter, I am suspicious if her fear of ghosts actually put her in the lightening rod class too. That would be quite an irony if so.
Regarding the bricked up windows of the cottage - Is there some connection between these windows and the rectory's famous bricked up window?
Thanks
Scott Cunningham
[None that we know of, but I'll ask around.]

I recently came across your borley website and i must say i find it fascinating. Ive had a long interest in the haunting and visited the site many times particularly in the 70's when this photo was taken. It was on a grey overcast day in September 1972. I took many shots of the rectory site and churchyard. When printed they were perfectly normal except the shot of the church and yard photographed from the lane. I wonder if you can see the strange form in the bottom left corner of the photo? It is either a person looking down on a grave or else a figure looking left out of the picture. The churchyard was deserted at the time. Infact the whole period i was there i did not meet a living soul. I do believe that the church was and is as much a focus for paranormal activity as was the rectory after 1939. I would be interested in your view of the photo. If it is a illusion created by different shapes of hedge and bushes, it illustrates how our eyes can be easily decieved. I myself think it is something paranormal.
i can assure you it is real. it is not a copy. i still have the negative. Also i would point out that i have had an active intrest in paranormal reserch for over thirty years investigating many sites including borley.my desire to understand what happened and still is happering at borley is as strong as your own.i would never try to dupe, hoodwink or falseify any aspect of psychic reserch just for the glory of my name the photo has been viewed by peter underwood and simon marsden who both thought it curious.simon even agreed with my wiew that the figure looked like a person kneeling at a grave,peter thought it strange enough to include in his own borley dossier i accept that the quality of the photo leaves a lot to be desired. i could scan it at a much higher res but that would make the file rediculously large. once again i would point out that the haunting of borley rectory is what first sparked my intrest in paranormal reserch. i first visited borley when i was fourteen camping in a field by the church. it is a place i feel very drawn to; a kind of mecca for ghotshunters in england.i would never sully my reputation or that of borley by stealing other peoples photos and passing them off as my own i took the photograph in sept 72. i even recall the weather that day, i got drenched during a thunderstorm on the way to sudbury. i can assure you vincent that when i send you reports, stories and incidents concerning borley they will be have been investigated by myself and not copied from a newspaper or mag.
yours sincerely eddie brazil PS are you aware of the hauntng of langenhoe church? langenhoe village is some twenty miles southeast of borley.there are similarities between the two hauntings. if not i will gladly send you some info.
Eddie Brazil
[I have all of Peter Underwood's books - which one includes your photo? My comments were neutral, I assure you, only reflecting what visitors to the web site might think - "The resolution - too many spots - and the gray tones - don't look real." You are right, it does appear to be a figure. Sir Simon is an associate of my Borley Ghost Society, it would be nice to see what he has to say about your photograph. Yes, I am in touch with Rev. Dening, who has sent me a copy of his Langenhoe book. Your picture is posted, along with the additional story you submitted to go with it.]

I am interested in becoming a member of your society. I do a lot of walking and my walks would often take me through church properties and one particular day i found myself in the grounds of Borley church, and was quite taken by the beauty of the place. On my return home i visited the library and found Harry Price's book on Borley Rectory. I read it from cover to cover and found the whole subject very interesting. I recently took a friend there and something i noticed this time was that there were no sign posts directing us to Borley village, unlike three years earlier. Obviously it is somewhat of a tourist trap (maybe?.)
Jenny Burden

A techer asked me to write about ghosts and poltergeists but i donīt know any about it. Could you please tel me what are the poltergeists and some things they can do? please itīs urgent!
thank you,
Edith Bahlke
[The best explanation I have written is found in chapter eight of my book, "The Ghosts That Will Not Die." It is available on-line. The following quote is found in an appendix to that same book "We eventually came to the conclusion that these events can occur when the person concerned is under a great deal of stress, which they are unable to express in any tangible way, and it becomes supressed, until at last some form of energy is released to relieve the tension. When the tension is released, or as a result of the events, the problem is solved, then the phenomena cease." (p. 301) MY MANY LIVES by Iris Owen. Toronto: Colombo and Company, 2000. Please include the proper attribution when using quotations, and please refer to my web site if you use any material found there. For a complete guide to report writing, please look over my report guidelines.]

In your picture marked "bush picture of church" I see many people. in the bottom right hand corner...In the center there is a blurred BIG profile of a person... A siluette on the right of the church, in the sky, and in the surrounding trees...hundreds of them.
I am a native of England, I moved to America when I was ten (I am now 15.) , And on the trip to Heathrow I bought a book on ghosts for the 11 hour trip... Featured in it was stories about borley, The nuns and monks and hidden love affairs, and 20's trend setter, It all intrigued me. I have been a huge ghost hunter ever since. The only time you can get me and my mum together without us fighting ( I AM a teenager....:)) Is if sightings, the unexplained or strange but true comes on, we both love it, and we've both seen our fair share and experienced a lot of creepy stuff.
Danielle Knights
[Thank you for your observation. Over the years I have received many reports such as yours. Due to space limitations, not all can be published.]

I stumbled into your Borley site. It is quite well done. The diagram [showing the appearances of the nun], with the caption "Contributed by Paul Kemp, source unknown" is from one of Peter Underwood's books, most likely *Hauntings: New Light on the Greatest True Ghost Stories of the World*. The other possible books are his *A Host of Hauntings* and *The Ghosts of Borley*, but I am almost certain it is *Hauntings*. I have read these books, some of them several times, and found them utterly fascinating. I am a Canadian, and have never ventured over the drink to visit the grounds. Some day, perhaps.
Your FAQ alludes to a film described as "produced about this home a couple of years ago? Big actors in the movie... I remember the scene when the wine cellar was on fire." This is undoubtedly the 1995 film Haunted, starring Aidan Quinn, Kate Beckinsale, and John Gielgud. See for more info. It is not based on Borley in any way. It is about a haunted hall somewhere in Great Britain. Not terribly scary.
Also in the FAQ is your statement "[t]he place has a lot of flint around. Lorraine Warren suggests flint is much like quartz - a well known receiving medium in radios, etc. If the receiver is available in such abundance, perhaps those best 'tuned in' can get a message?" There is a researcher (I don't know his name) who theorizes that many stately homes in Great Britain are constructed of a type of stone (don't recall) that is crystalline, and that this causes radio waves that produce effects on the brain, such as hallucinations. I saw this on a TV show about 8-10 years ago, but I have been unable to obtain more information.
If you're interested, let me say that I am a skeptic when it comes to the paranormal. Since I was young, I've always been interested in "true" and fictional ghost stories, and for years didn't have a strong opinion either way as to the existence of ghosts. But as I became an adult, I came to believe that no, there are no ghosts. Still, the stories and the folklore are endlessly interesting to me. Despite not believing in ghosts, I'd no doubt be nervous to find myself alone on the Borley grounds. Imagination is a powerful force.
An obtuse question, perhaps, but have you or the Borley Ghost Society ever considered purchasing the property?
Steve Lalanne
[Thank you for the compliment. Thank you for the attribution - it is, indeed, from Hauntings, and the change has been made. An update has also been made to the FAQ file. We welcome views from both sides of the spectrum. Your question is not obtuse at all - it has been a heartbreaker for me whenever a property in the Borley neighborhood is sold and I find my pocket lacking. It would take more than a little to purchase the parcels formerly occupied by the rectory, which are now devoted to three separate homes.]

Have you seen [The Ameherst Mystery on-line]? There are some uncanny resemblences here. I was just checking out the HBR allegations but I was surprised to see the whole text on the internet.
Andrew Clarke
[Thank you for the tip! It is difficult to follow the Internet version, as it is different portions taken from various places in the original. Much is missing. The comparisons to this famous case are made by Dingwall, Goldney and Hall on pages 79-81 of The Haunting of Borley Rectory which is posted in full on the Borley site. I do not agree with all the "similarities" they conjured up.]

hi, my name is jodi bilton and i am in grade eight and doing my yearly speech on famous hauntings. i would really appreciate some information that is really solid for my speech. if you can help me with this than email me back. . . thank you for you time.
sincerely,
Jodi Bilton

i'm writing to you about the Borley house. I have many questions. I'm sure they are located in your site, but i couldn't find it. When was Borley Rectory built? And i have another question. Why is it haunted? thanks for you time.
sincerely,
Elizabeth anne
[Please visit the Master Index. A shorthand version of the web site can be found at Report Guide.]

Subj: Spirit photography
To: Gary Cooke
I know that there are workshops in the USA on ghost photography -- a large one in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania each year, and smaller ones as well, with experienced, intelligent and cool-headed folks teaching the techniques, and how to tell if you really may have captured something paranormal on film (or disc). These folks do not appear to be gullible at all, and maintain a healthy degree of scepticism in judging what they have photographed.
In looking at some of the photos that these 'experts' in the field consider genuine, I see similarities with the photos you posted to the Borley site. I just wanted to pass that along, to encourage your development of your skills and techniques.
Is spirit photography a genuine representation of a supernatural reality? I really don't know. I am reserving judgment on the issue for now. But I do respect the evidence presented by such photos as yours. I nearly became intrigued enough to experiment with spirit photography and EVP (Electronic Voice Phenomena) on my own, but I am wary of initiating any communication with spirits -- I may well be asking for trouble, if something bent on harming me or others came through. Do be careful -- there may be danger in trying too hard to contact spiritual beings.
The International Ghost Hunters Society may offer advice on spirit photography -- if you're interested, here's their address:
International Ghost Hunters Society
Dave Oester and Sharon Gill
PMB 8377
P.O. Box 2428
Pensacola, FL 32513
USA
Ghostweb@ghostweb.com
Another dedicated spirit photographer is Rick Fisher:
Pennsylvania Ghost Hunters Society
users.desupernet.com/rfisher/pghs/html
And a really excellent book that I read recently is: "Ghost: Investigating the Other Side," by Katherine Ramsland. The author takes us through her initiation into the world of ghost hunting, photography, and EVP, and I really can't recommend it highly enough. She talks a good bit about weeding out the explainable photos from the potentially supernatural ones, and what the experts say.
Best of luck to you in your photography, and other ghost hunting -- but be careful! I've been told that it is not healthy to take too great an interest in the dead and the supernatural, and the warning may be a legitimate one. May God bless you, regardless of which path you choose.
Take care,
Linda Cody

Many thanks for forwarding the access to [the Louis Mayerling] material which made interesting reading. I think you have done a thorough job of exposing this bluff. What is interesting from the psychological point of view is that the author had put in an immense amount of work into a faking what might seem a plausible story. Psychologists have worked out schemes for exposing fraudulent accounts and at first face, the amount of irrelevant detail and the somewhat wandering nature of the account actually might have spoken for authenticity but the book is clearly a hoax. The method psychologists used is called Statement Validity Analysis. It has good validity but it is doubtful it can be or has ever been applied to books - it was developed by a German psychologists called Undeutsch and a Swede called Trenkell but I had better not say more otherwise I will be teaching fakers will how to make better fake stories! Actually some of the things you found wanting -consistency - are of course important. What remains of interest is who Mayerling really is and what motivated him. Maybe he met Marianne briefly at some stage and the rest he made up and very possibly came to believe himself at some level. I doubt it could be for material reward but it is hardly the kind of book that would sell, unless he hoped the controversy itself would aid it. There are unfortunately many instances of this kind of thing - You may know of a book Fragments by Binjamin Wilkomirski a discredited work about the Holocaust. And yes, I do know personally some members of your club. I may wish to join at some later stage.
Adrian Parker
[Attempts at discovering more about Louis Mayerling have been made by Alan Roper and Stewart Evans. I've posted what they found. His is survived only by his widow, and maybe - in time - she might be willing to "come public." It is too sensitive right now, I am thinking.]

I'm doing a high school thesis paper proving Borley is haunted...I was going to use information from The Ghosts That Will Not Die, and didn't know how to site it in my bibliography. If you could help me out I would greatly appreciate it...Thank you.
Jennifer Schultes
[Thank you very much for your interest - and your request. If I can be of any more help, please let me know. When your report is done, I would like a copy to add to the Bibliography!]