BORLEY GHOST SOCIETY
| 28 July 1999 | BGS Newsletter | Issue 11 |
Welcome to the eleventh edition of the Borley Ghost Society Newsletter. Today is the 99th anniversary of the nun's visit to the four Bull sisters. If any associate ends up in Borley today, please let me know.
Although those with an open mind outnumber the critics by at least ten to one, I still receive the inevitable rebuke from time to time. This has prompted me to add a paragraph to 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."
Alan Wesencraft offers a small mystery
Mr. Wesencraft was the curator of the Harry Price Library for many years. He sent me photocopies of a few pages from Trust to Talk by Wynford Vaughn-Thomas. One of the pages puts the author at the ruins with Harry Price at the same time a brick levitated. Vaughn-Thomas writes he was "featured in Harry's next book. . . . as an unimpeachable witness." Yet, I can not find his name in any book by Price. Any insight will be appreciated. The testimony surrounding the Life magazine article is posted on my website.
Another mysterious photo from David Bamber
David Bamber visited in 1995, and produced a remarkable photo. He returned in May of this year, and took another picture that deserves attention. It shows a figure in the trees that David says was not there when he snapped the shutter.
While on location, David took some other pictures, including one of the Waldegrave tomb.
An interesting question about recordings
Dear Vincent,
"Do you know whether these recordings exist outside of 'official' archives?
* Price, Harry. Various English radio broadcasts on Borley; 1935, 1937, 1938,1941, 1946, 1947.
* Gregson, Captain W.H. "In Town Tonight." BBC radio program April 15, 1939.
"Whatever Mr. Price and Mr. Gregson had to say would be most interesting! If the BBC still keeps the recordings they'll be on discs no doubt. If they have them how can we find out?"
Neil Purling
[I made an attempt once, which proved futile, as I am here, and the BBC is there, but I have reason to believe they still exist. Can any BORLEY GHOST SOCIETY associate offer advice? Meanwhile, I have posted the transcript of a 1956 BBC broadcast.]
More photos from Peter Underwood
A photo of the church taken about 1880 clearly shows the chancel door and some young yew trees. Mr. Underwood also sent a delightful series of shots taken at Borley School in1900 and 1912. Some time back, Mr. Underwood also sent me a picture of Reverend Harry Bull and choir, taken in 1911. I finally logged it into the web site.
More contributions from Richard Lee-Van den Daele
Richard Lee-Van den Daele has sent me a photo of the church windowdedicated to the memory of Henry Dawson Ellis Bull. He took it July 29, 1984. If this was one of the windows broken by vandals in September of 1997, this might be a very rare picture, indeed. If any associate of the Society has visited recently, can you please confirm one way or the other if this window still exists?
Richard also took a picture of the rectory grounds that same summer. I hesitated posting this on the Internet, as the last thing I want to do is create MORE interest in visiting the property. I thought I would post this picture only to BORLEY GHOSTSOCIETY members, but then realized that once a secret is out............. Instead, I included a request that potential visitors recognize this as private property and give the residents the respectthey deserve. Richard indicates there were no houses on the grounds during his last visit in 1992. There were three cottages there when I visited in September 1997. Does anyone know when these three houses were built?
Jamas Enright sends photocopies
Jamas Enright has done quite a bit of research at his local library in New Zealand, and photocopied several pages. He gave me a look at Ghosts and the Supernatural by Colin Wilson. I knew about this book before, but decided to buy a copy after seeing these pages.
There are a couple of books I had no record of that Jamas found. Madabout Ghosts by Mary Danby, and The Unsolved Mysteries Project Book by Steve Barlow. I sincerely appreciate the addition of these pages to my collection, especially since I cannot find any of the original copies.
Jamas found an extra sentence on Borley I had missed in Appearances of the Dead by R.C. Finucane. Jamas is very good at digging out this type of thing, and I sincerely appreciate his efforts. You never know when an obscure reference will lead to some new information, either directly or indirectly. He also dug up the fact that Sometimes into England by James Turner is the second volume in that author's autobiography, following Seven Gardens for Catherine. I don't know if "Gardens" mentions Borley, but don't think so, as this chronicle is chronological.
Jamas then shared some of his research techniques:
"This is just a short note say how you can skim through the books of your local Libraries for possible un-found references to Borley Rectory.
"There are two main cataloguing systems: Dewey decimal and Library of Congress.
"Dewey decimal: There are two areas to check. 001.94 and 133, the first being general 'strange things', the latter being ghosts. But also look at nearby areas. 001.4 is UFOs, for example. While not Borley Rectory, who knows where it will crop up?
"Library of Congress: BF1475 is Borley Rectory, as far as I can tell. (At least, the two Borley books we have are there.) BF1300's are ghosts, so definitely check around there. BF1011 and nearby is history of psychical societies, so have a look there too.
"Also remember to look in the children's section, or large books, or anywhere else that holds that classification. I found a few missed books in the children's area.
"Once you have a book, hopefully there's an index. And, hopefully, there's a listing for Borley Rectory. Not always though. The Renee Haynes book, for example, didn't have it listed, although it did have about 6 pages on it. So try Price, Harry too. If no index, flip through and look for anything about haunted houses and the like.
"But, unfortunately, not every promising area will work out. I found a book with a chapter on Harry Price and contemporaries, and it managed to completely avoid mentioning any work he did in Borley.
"Once you have a reference, either take the book out, if you can, or at least note the details of title and author if you're perhaps just browsing a library you're not a member of. Then, when possible, check the bibliography pages and find out ifyouhave a new reference.
"And don't forget to tell Vincent about it."
The Pentlow Tower
I've asked Nick Fenwick to see if any of the initials on the Pentlow Folly match up with any of thenames on my Bull genealogy page. I'll let everyone know what he discovers.
Where there are only two initials, I wonder if they might not be children? With the "B" left off? What non-family member would deserve a place on a monument?
Blue Book of Instructions
A photocopy of the famous Blue Book of Instructionsis now posted on my web site.
Book Reviews
A copy of The End of Borley Rectory crossed my path complete with dust jacket. Since I don't see many like this,I typed out the advertising in my review of the book.
Mr. O'Neil;
"I thought you would like to know that I came across a comic book titledStrange Adventures #207,and there was a letter talking about Borley Rectory. It led me to look up your web site. Thought you would like to know. Enjoyed your site."Thanks,
JAY HARLOW
Letters to the editor
Dear Vince;
"Karen Stevens and I had an exciting and informative visit to New Orleans and some Plantation Homes up the River Road. We got anomaly photos at Myrtles and Nottoway, had significant EMF meter readings at other places. The New Orleans ghost tour by Haunted History Tours is definitely the one to take. Costumed guides take you through the French Quarter, giving both the history and hauntings at fascinating structures. Their ghost book, Journey Into Darkness...Ghosts & Vampires of New Orleans by Katherine Smith, is available for sale [from www.ghostbooks.com] and contains still more accounts of local hauntings. The book gives addresses, history of the site and its hauntings, as well as personal experiences of it by the team offering tours. It's worth the $12.95 price.
"We leave July 22 for the American Ghost Hunters Society meeting in Alton IL on the 23--25. We'll then do a day's ghostly touring in Chicago, with an evening guided by Richard Crowe."
Pat Cody
Dear Vince;
"I've just been reading The Enigma of Borley Rectory, and noted something in the chapter on the seances (Chapter 23) that could be cleared up. On p178, questions 302 and 303 are:
302
Q Do you know P?... (identity of P unknown. IB).
A No.
303
Q Do you know SM?... (again identity unknown. IB).
A No.
(Interestingly, the order of these questions are reverse to their order inThe End of Borley Rectory..)
The seance is taken by Sidney Glanville, Roger Glanville and MarkKerr-Pearse. However, eleven pages later, in a seance taken by the three above and Helen Glanville we have:
577
Q Do you know Santiago Monk?
A Yes.
578
Q Is he Pearless?
A No.
From this, that the same people are present, and the surrounding questions involve Marianne and Edwin (Dom Richard Whitehouse), we get that SM in 303 is Santiago Monk and P in 302 is Pearless.
And on p. 188, we are given the date: Friday, 13 March 1889. That date isn't a Friday in 1889, nor 1888 (it is in 1985 and 1891). Note that June 13(from p191) isn't a Friday in 1888 nor 1889. However, the date on p183, 17May 1667 is a Friday.
"[Also], with a society with nigh on 100 members, I would have thought there would be more people writing in with their own opinions and such, and yet there's only about a dozen people who have."
Jamas Enright
[Borley is all I do. The other associates are writers, talk-show hosts, housewives, etc. Borley is a hobby to them. There is no pay for sitting downand typing out something. The work will be up for the world to see, and that intimidates a lot of people -- in fact, several associates who made earlier contributions have backed off after seeing their work on the Internet. It is a humbling experience! On the other hand, there are several associates who are working very hard to supply pictures, newspaper articles, and fascinating files. For example, if Peter Underwood or Richard LeeVan-den Daele, are donating such wonderful things, perhaps someone else may think, "Oh, my contribution can't match that!" (Which of course is inaccurate. I encourage anyone and everyone to contribute. There is no way of telling what will turn up next!) As editor, I sometimes have more contributions than I can catalogue each issue. It all gets in eventually (within limits) and I am very content with the input. Every contribution is important, as it often leads to something else. It is very much like the footnote I found in a book by Robert Gould. In his book "Oddities" is one line referring to the moving coffins of Barbados stating, "I have notes, but no details, of similar occurrences in the crypt of Borley church." Where are these notes? What do they say? What a fascinating gem! Additionally, there is a lot of cross-traffic that I never see between associates who have similar interests. Whenever I publish a contribution,I put that contributors e-mail address next to their effort. I have no way of knowing how many associates write to each other about various subjects.]
Mr. O'Neil;
"I am a researcher for Granada Television, working on a programme called Livetime. Livetime is a magazine style programme which consists of two hours of live television per day Monday -Saturday. Each day is dedicated to a specific topic and Friday is dedicated to anything with in the realms of the 'psychic and spiritual.'
"I have seen your web site and thought that you would be an excellent guest to have on our programme. Each hour is divided up into chats of about 9 minutes and there are phone-ins that you can get involved with if you desire! "We are primarily looking for guests at the moment for the 9th of July, although any Friday in July or even August that you are available would be great for us! It's very good fun and we arrange and pay for travel up to the studios in Manchester etc. "Yours sincerely,
Melanie Christian
Researcher.
[Thank you for the compliments. Today is the 6th. I am in the United States, right now, but if the offer still stands, I'd love to fly to Manchester (I have relatives there). If that doesn't work, I'm sure we can think of something else. Thank you for your interest.]
Associate Activities
Dr. John Beloff has retired as editor of the Journal for the Society for Psychical Research. I asked him what he plans to do next, and he replied, "I have not yet decided but I may write another book on the mind-body problem." His services will be missed, as he is a very knowledgeable and conscientious person. He is also a very good person to have as a friend.
Borley Ghost Society associate profiles
Jamas Enright is a part-time Masters student in mathematics, part-time Librarian at the Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand. He has a long time interest in Science Fiction, in particular Doctor Who, so an interest in the paranormalisn't abnormal for him. He has posted an essay on Borley at his Internet web site. If you would like me to make a profile page for you, just tell me a little about yourself and attach a photo to an e-mail.
The Haunting
Since Shirley Jackson mentioned Borley at least four times in her original 1959 classic, The Haunting of Hill House, I felt it was my duty to check out the new movie inspired by her efforts. Robert Wise pretty muchfollowed her text when he made The Haunting in 1963. This new version establishes the basics, and then takes off on its own. Without destroying the plot, I can tell you that all the names remain the same, except for Dr. Montague who now becomes Dr. Merrill. While Montague admits he "had been looking for an honestly haunted house all of hislife, "Merrill tells his crew they are there for an "insomnia study." He really wants to study the "dynamics of fear," and mass hysteria. There is absolutely no reference to Borley in either movie, but since Eleanor ends up in the Red Room, instead of the Blue Room in the 1999 version, I got the distinct feeling the producers were deliberately trying to distance themselves from Borley. The only hint of Borley in this version was some wall writing and a very cold room, but these are also common with various other hauntings. I had to re-read Jackson's book to prepare for this movie, which was good, since I missed a couple of references to Borley the first time through. For everyone else, however, I recommend going to this movie with a blank sheet of expectations. Do not think of Borley, and do not think of Jackson's book. Just go prepared to watch a scary movie with terrific special effects. I strongly recommend seeing this flick on the big screen. A video tape will not be able to give you the visual or aural power of this creation. One thought that continues to stay with me is that my mother would really enjoy this movie! (She took me to see Psycho when I was relatively young.) By the way, the credits list Colin Wilson as one of the producers, and Owen Wilson as one of the stars. This is not famous author and BORLEY GHOST SOCIETY Associate Colin Wilson!
Special discounts
As a member of the Borley Ghost Society you are entitled to a 10 percent discount on all titles from www.ghostbooks.com
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