We're going to walk up to the Rectory in a short while but beforewe do so I have a few things for you to consider. Ghosts were sightedoutside the Rectory as well as inside and some of you might have somereservations about getting too close to places a ghosts was spotted.And while I'm getting better at remembering where ghosts were seenat, if I forget to warn you about a particular spot that you'realreading standing at, well...sorry.

As a matter of fact, I don't believe there is any "neutral" way toapproach the Rectory. Indeed, since we're going to walk between thetwo posts ahead of us which was the Rectory's east gate I must tellyou that the ghost nun was occasionally seen on one of the posts,seemingly leaning on it as if withdrawn and sad. I don't rememberwhich specific post, if any, was mentioned. Although logic woulddictate that we simply walk down the middle of the posts, you shouldalso know that Reverend Smith and his wife reported a phantom coachthat came up the road and stopped right between the posts. But we'lldeal with this. For right now let's talk about today's project.

One of the Rectory's oldest mysteries, the famous bricked upwindow, is visble on the ground floor. You can easily see much ofthis bricked up window behind the large tree near the center of thepicture. Just look towards the bottom of the tree on the right side.We'll now going proceed through the gate and on up the drive for acloser look at this window. Also, regardless that this little walk isgoing to take us uphill a bit let's proceed quickly through the gateand follow the drive up to the corner of the Rectory. We'll stop justbefore we get to the end of the hedge that follows the drive.

There, the outline of what used to be the dining room window muchmore noticeable in this perspective of the Rectory in the bottom leftarea of the picture. It is behind and to the right of the end of thehedge in the foreground. Note that the tower-like structure to theright of the window contains the Rectory's front door. (Notice thearched opening for the front door.) Let's step up to the window andI'll explain a few things about it.

(That's Capt. Gregson in front of the bricked up window. He boughtthe Rectory after Borley Parish decided that it wasn't suitable for aRector. After the Captain bought the Rectory he temporarily lived ina cottage just a short distance away. In fact, you can see part ofthe cottage in the previous picture of the Rectory. What looks likethe far end of the Rectory is actually the corner of the cottage nextto the Rectory. Given Capt. Gregson was going to move into theRectory he stored most of his personal belongings packed in boxes inone of the Rectory's ground floor halls. He went into the Rectory onewinter evening in February to try to find something in one of theboxes when his lamp tipped over onto the floor. This started the firethat destroyed the main stairwell area of the Rectory in 1939.)

Regarding the story of this bricked up window, the story goes thatmany times when Reverend Henry Bull, the man who had the Rectorybuilt, was eating a meal at the dining room table, the ghost nunwould appear at the window and stare at him.

But note that unlike today's generation, in Reverend Henry Bull'stime people not only accepted ghosts but also learned to put up withthem. (Reverend Bull had actually grown up in haunted Pentlow Rectoryjust a few miles away.) Also, the Rectory never had electricity sothe people who lived there never had things like radio, TV, cable,telephone or electric lights. People who lived in the country withoutmodern electrical conveniences were undoubtedly more aware of anylittle noise or disturbance than us modern city types are. Indeed, ifyou happened to have a ghost or two living with you, ghost phenomenawas probably a way to pass the time, much like bird watching is.

But consider that the ghost nun's unannounced appearance at thiswindow supposedly happened so regularly that the Bull's were said toavoid inviting people to the Rectory for dinner. All anybody couldremember is that Reverend Henry Bull eventually got so tired ofseeing the nun staring at him that he had the window bricked up.

But I tell you what. In my opinion the above story concerning thiswindow is one of the most vague accounts of anything that happened atthe Rectory. I believe that it's vague because the Bull children weresimply too young to remember what I believe was happening at thiswindow. Since the Bull children didn't remember this window I regardthis window as one of the Rectory's oldest if not the oldest mystery.Of course Reverend Bull Sr. knew what was going on with this windowbut I think he that he deliberately gave his presumably youngchildren an oversimplified explanation of the window so as not totrouble them.

But why does anybody permanently close a window, especially onethat had such a beautiful view? Indeed, the view included the parishfields which dropped to the Stour River in the valley below with LongMedford behind that. I have concluded that this window became anuicance because it would occasionally break. If so, was this becausea confused bird would occasionally fly into it? Or did the ghost nunpossibly have something to do with breaking the window? The theory asto why this window perhaps repeatedly broke does get a little bitcomplicated but if you hang around for long enough you'll learn moreabout my theory concerning this window. Indeed, Harry Price indicatedthat all you really had to do to experience something weird at BorleyRectory was to hang around for long enough. You can find my theoryabout the bricked up window along with many other strange happeningsat the Rectory in theCunninghamReport.