28 November 2002 BGS Newsletter Issue 53
Welcome to the fifty-third edition of the Borley Ghost Society Newsletter. The recent changes in e-mail address surely confirmed one thing - the BGS is alive and thriving throughout the world. Your very kind responses were most welcome. It will take awhile to make all the changes, so if you find something amiss, please let your editor know.

Borley Rectory screensaver

Borley Ghost Society associates are welcome to download a Beta version of a Borley Rectory screensaver created by your editor for Windows. When downloading, you will see a box that gives two choices; chose "save to disk." Then, be sure to specify the folder "Windows," and then the subfolder "System." After it is downloaded, close all programs, right click your mouse on your Desktop, and click on "Properties." Go to the tab named "Screensaver," then look inside the bar until you find "borleyrectory." Hit "okay," and you are set. Feedback is welcome.

Paul Pritchard elevations

I have attached a drawing I have just completed that shows all four sides of the Rectory. I was particularly pleased to see the outcome of my effort for the North-West view. I had some fun drawing it as I have noticed a few errors on the famous plans. Glanville's upper floor plan above the dining room has a window omitted on the front of the house. I spotted it when trying to get the details of the view from the photo's in Price's book and using the plan as a scale. Also interestingly the ground floor and upper floor plans are at different scales which is rather confusing and strange as well. It was something that has always bothered me, that no photos exist of all four complete views (even the famous view is incomplete as it is always obscured by the trees or by the angle the picture is taken). My source data is mostly the photos in Price's haunted house (the view from the church was the one that I got most of the front, rear and right hand side details from). The rest is mainly the design basis from similar parts of the house that there are views of. I do believe the views are fairly accurate though. . . . Peter Underwood's model helped a little as well but it is actually not that accurate when you inspect the photo's closely although it does give the general idea (I would still have loved to see it though!!). . . . I'm thinking next about an ariel view of the roof outline and also maybe a isometric look at the court yard from the gap (the three rear facing peaks would be nice to see I think).
Cheers,
Paul Pritchard

Gate posts and bricks?

Have you ever seen or wanted to see the gateposts? Do you know where they are currently located? It was said that the debris from the rectory was used for an airfield. Is that confirmed? Do you know the location? Would it be possible to purchase the property where the rectory once stood? What would it cost? Would you have any interest? Are you planning a return visit in the near future?
sanddman33@hotmail.com
Do you have any plans for doing a piece on your site detailing what happened to the site after the fire etc. I read somewhere the rubble was used as land fill but I don't know when etc. Also when were the new houses build etc and the modifications to the cottage etc.
Paul Pritchard
["There are few 'relics' of the Rectory that have survived. . . .the (monk) mantlepieces were carefully removed (from the ruins) and put on one side. Next day they were smashed to pieces and one of the monks' head was missing. . . .much of the material from the Rectory had been bought by farmers for the foundations of their hayricks and other purposes, and the rubble had been used for making the runways of some of the many American airfields in the district (during WWII). . . . (one man) was building a garage from Rectory materials, which included some eleven-inch beams. . . .a man near Sudbury recently ordered a brick garage (made of) 'second-hand reds.'" Price, Harry. The End of Borley Rectory, pp. 281-2. Notes made 1 June 1945. "Mr. Gooch (and his wife) have just paid £300 for part of the land on which the haunted Rectory stood. . . .the Nun's Walk will be built over, and the famous summer-house will disappear." 14 March 1946. (p. 293). The great yard bell hung in Price's garden, until his widow gave it to Peter Underwood. In 1984, the late Ivan Banks obtained the gate posts. Three homes now occupy the property, each valued at over £200,000. Souvenir hunters are strongly discouraged, out of respect for the individual villagers and their private homes. Poor health prohibits me from visiting as often as I would like.]

I don't know [what happened to the posts]. . . . It did cross my mind after learning of Ivan's passing. . . .I'm afraid we may never know.
Richard Lee-Van den Daele

Sidelights

Stephen D. Smith discusses more photos in a new Sidelight, - "EEEEK...My Garden's Haunted!" The essay is also linked to the section, "What Others Claim to have Experienced at Borley."

Scott Cunningham is entirely correct in his response to my item "Cyced up". What he calls "the many alleged paranormal experiences" at Borley _are_ to be valued. Why? Because there have been so many of them, experienced by so many people and over so many decades. Even if 99% of those experiences could be definitely attributed to natural causes (rather than supernatural causes), that still leaves a very sizable number that cannot be explained. Thus, even the most hardened sceptic would have difficulty is dismissing such a volume of "evidence". Nowhere I can think of surpasses Borley for the potential to experience such a wealth of supernatural happenings.
With best wishes to all,
Stephen D. Smith
[Ghost historian Peter Underwood said in his autobiography, No Common Task, "Ninety Eight percent of reported hauntings have a natural and mundane explanation, but it is the other two percent that have interested me."]

Letters to the Editor

Regarding the enquiry concerning the late lamented Robert Aickman, "that marvelous and most extraordinary man," as Sir Peter Scott called him; he and I were friends for many, many years. He was indeed a truly remarkable, knowledgeable and amiable companion - as long as he wanted to be; he did not suffer fools galdly and was not difficult to ruffle. After his death I was collaborating with his cousin Dorothy Aickman on a biography but when she died I rather lost interest although she left me a trunk of fascinating material. A young American academic was supposed to be working on a biography but when I wrote to him last year I received no reply. To the best of my knowledge the only comments Aickman published on Borley were those contained in the August/September 1950 issue of the old London Mystery Magazine, although at a meeting I organized at the Savage Club to celebrate the [50th] anniversary of the death of Harry Price, Aickman talked of his participation in the Borley investigations as he did when he visited my wife and I at our home, when we visited his flats at Gower Street and elsewhere, and at a Ceremony of the Keys we attended at the Tower of London. A rare portrait of the Rev. Joseph Glanvil who investigated the Drummer of Tedworth case in 1662, making him perhaps the very first ghost hunter, hangs in my lounge: it was left to me in his will by Robert together with an original drawing. After attending my lecture on Borley Rectory he told me it was the finest and fairest resume of the case he had ever heard - and of course he had heard Price himself speak of the haunting. In their obituary of Robert "The Times" said, "he had an immense knowledge of the occult."
Best always,
Peter Underwood FRSA, patron, Ghost Research Foundation

i,m deeply intrested in borley rectory and have been for a long time as to what stands there now plus things that where found on the site after the fire even the picture of the boy and as to where that was found any more information would be of great help if someone could get back to me as i would like to know more ive even found another place of simular intrest and you may no it as well thanks very much
mark
[Please see the Frequently Asked Questions file - specifically, item number one. As for the photo of the boy - do you mean this one? It is from my mother's collection.]

hello i am only 15 so the rectory is befor my time but i am very intrested in paranormal activity i live in essex and in a wooded area with only few houses arond me and was intrested in the paranormal activity of my area but have been unable to uncover anything and wanted to know if you could help me
Jacqueline Stokes
[My studies focus strictly on Borley, for which I have gathered quite an extensive file. All the pertinent information I have on the subject is posted on my web site. You might try my links page for other references. Good luck!]

i must say how much i have enjoyed reading your articles on the borley rectory phenomena.borley has always been my favourite "haunting",and i have read quite a bit about it over the years.in the late seventies,peter underwood was kind enough to provide me with information regarding books that had been written on the subject.i plan to visit borley next spring with my wife,and i understand the need to observe the villager,s privacy, and property.
yours faithfully,
alexander macdonald
[Thank you for your kind comments. You may be interested in my extensive, annotated bibliography.]

Having toured most of your site, it would appear you should re-name it www.skepticsofborleyectory.com It would seem that the majoriet of the visitors are in no way fooled about what went on there-then or even now days. Would like you to take a look at the attached document, as regard to your essay on the medium van Praagh, and The other essay on J, Edward. Can I now join your Borley Skeptic's society that de-bunks every thing associated with the paranormal... Oh Pleeeeeease let me I'll de bunk eveything ppl send in.
(Just Me)
[Thanks for the article - it was one I linked to from my essay, and written by Michael Shermer. I can fully understand your frustration with those who refuse to accept any possibilities under the disguise of being a skeptic. This turned quite personal in the several attacks upon my mother. As I state on the first page of my web site, "In presenting the following information, I make no judgement as to what is true, what is legend, or what is imagination. I have dedicated my life to researching and gathering as much information as possible - Borley is all I do. Every piece of evidence available is presented - pro and con. It is up to the reader to decide what to believe and what to discard." In aid of that goal, I present a wide variety of evidence and opinions. The site is devoted to Borley Rectory, and the essays are just personal observations.]

I am staying with grandparents in a borley bungalow , and am very interested in borley. i am told borley mysteries have stopped,but one night i was sleeping in the back room , which would have over looked borleyrectories garden , when i woke in the middle of the night to tapping on my window , i looked out but nothing was there,BUT I BELIEVE THE GHOSTS ARE !!!!
dr.grave.56.@hotmail.com

Is this from someone in the Borley Ghost Society? Just curious as to how we got this? "J.K. Rowling was not at all like I had expected she'd be: She was warm, she was funny and she readily admitted she is an avowed Satanist! 'It's true,' she told me. 'I worship the Devil, Beelzebub, Satan, Lucifer -- in all his unholy forms. And I owe all my success, all my glory, all my power, to my sweet, beautiful Lucifer.' Rowling . . . .wearily discussed the progress of the fifth Potter novel, which is taking so long 'because my sweet, beautiful Lucifer suddenly fancies himself an editor, and every night he sends up some deformed minion with a bunch of notes. . .'" - Massimo Commanducci, NATIONAL POST - 11/02/2002.
[See 8 November 2002 update to Harry Potter essay.]

What happened to Peter Underwoods model? I note on your site you say it no longer exists.
Paul Pritchard
[I'll ask.]

Bibliography

re: August/September 1950 issue of the London Mystery Magazine.
The issue in question is vol.1, no. 6, and does indeed contain an article by Robert Fordyce Aickman, entitled "Postscript to Harry Price," who was a ghost hunter and psychic debunker. It runs from page 85-91. The first reference to Borley Rectory appears on p. 86 and describes Price's investigation and subsequent writings on several apparitions within the house.
Sincerely,
Kris Baclawski
Special Collections
Michigan State University Libraries

As promised here's a German book I bought a few weeks ago. It's very interesting because it deals with ghosts in haunted England and Ireland and it includes four pages about Borley. The german title "Verwunschenes England und Irland" means in English "enchanted England and Ireland". It's something for the bibliophile.
Greetings from Germany,
Birgit Brenner
Jones, Richard. Enchanted England and Ireland. Verlagsgruppe; Augsburg. 2002. ISBN 3-8089-4904-5. pp. 73-6. Photos of rectory from gate, and Harry Price. Marsden church photo.

Hines, Terence. Pseudoscience and the Paranormal - a critical examination of the evidence. Buffalo: Prometheus Books, 1988. 62-4. ("Two of the most dramatic and allegedly well-documented modern cases of hauntings have likewise turned out to be fradulent. The cases in question are those of Borley Rectory in England, and the 'Amityville Horror' in Amityville, New York." After a one page summary of the original evidence, Hines relies on Dingwall, Goldney and Hall to "demolish the claim that Borley Rectory was ever haunted." Specifically, Hines uses their 1956 report for the SPR, The Haunting of Borley Rectory, to state, "Mrs. Marianne Foyster. . . was actively engaged in fradulently creating these phenomena." This scandalous statement belies the fact Marianne was not present for the entire period of the Price documentation, nor does it quote the letters she wrote to her son, Ian Shaw in 1956 , "Not that I ever did haunt Borley. There were plenty of others who did that. It was haunted since 1860 and that's a little before my time. . . . I didn't do it." In that same year, she told Trevor Hall, "If you mean did I haunt the place, the answer is No." Neither response was published in the SPR report. Hines says the authors of that report, "find a nonparanormal explanation for nearly every incident reported from Borley. The very few that go unexplained do not constitute support for the reality of the haunting, any more that the 'irreducible minimum' number of unexplained UFO sightings constitute evidence for extraterrestial visitation." Does not refer to the Robert Hastings rebuttal of the SPR report, An Examination of the Borley Report. "Hines is a professor of psychology at Pace University." - David A. Green) Relevant notation added to Mistakes in various Borley reports.

Alice Pilch's plastic model of a shire colt called 'All Hallows Borley Ghost' won third prize in the October 2002 TOPSA competition (Draft Breed Class). TOPSA is an organisation that allows model horse enthusiasts to exhibit their work on-line. I've been in touch with Alice Pilch and she confirms the horse is named after Borley Rectory. (Apparently, shire horses turn spectral white as they grow old.) I have another Borley Rectory reference for you. The author Paul Finch discusses the case in his e-article 'Tales of True Life Horror'. He concludes: "For all this, Borley Rectory - long vanished though it is - still stands as the heavyweight champion of haunted houses; photographs of the gloomy old structure still strike you with awe; the name alone is sufficient to induce shudders."
As you know, I used to edit a horror fiction magazine called 'Nasty Piece of Work' and I published several original short stories by Paul.
Have you seen Pas Cutri's review of "We Faked the Ghosts of Borley" (from the Investigator 81, November 2001)?
Regards,
David Green

Associate profile

I spent some nights at Borley Church , wiring it up etc. The more spiritual among us heard monastic chanting. In those days the church was open more often. Inside the church there was a register entitled "The haunted church" for visitors to sign. Opposite the church there were some old stables. There was evidence of "black magic"; inscriptions on the wall and blood markings. We were advised not to remove any stones from the site. These stables were demolished in 1985. I remember going down to Borley one sunny afternoon and talking to the locals who were totally dismissive of any ghost. On my first night there we were disturbed by "Hells Angels". We went to Sudbury and called the police and said we were a neighbour. We later returned. We heard noises from the church. The graveyard had been damaged by vandalism and by the mid 1980's. The neighbours were fed up with people investigating the church. A spotlight was put up and the neighbour opposite had a loud speaker installed. Due to vandalism the church is now locked. The police patrol the area constantly.
Ray Cohen's profile.

Associate activites

Our most sincere condolances to the family of Bill and Belinda Vicars upon the death of her mother.

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Borley Rectory "home page"
Founded October 31, 1998 by Vincent O'Neil to examine without prejudice any and all existing records and research related to the alleged haunting of the rectory and church of Borley, Essex, England. It is not the purpose of the Society to cause undue hardship, embarrassment, or discomfort to the present residents of Borley.