GET HUNTING FOR A PRIZE

11/20/1998 UK: Fanciful garden buildings, elegant towers and purposeless arches were once popular ways of commemorating important events or improving a view. Long neglected, these follies are now appreciated as a reminder of a less utilitarian age. Tucked away in quiet countryside on the Suffolk border, the slender silhouette of Bull's Tower rises above the trees at Pentlow. folly Built in 1859, the 70ft tower (which, is not open to the public) has been called "the most frightening folly in Britain". The tower's reputedly evil atmosphere is given greater significance by its link with Borley Rectory four miles away. Known as the most haunted house in England, the Rectory was built by Rev Bull in 1863, just four years after he had erected the tower as a memorial to his parents. Before it burned down in rather mysterious circumstances in 1939, the Rectory had been the subject of one of the most thorough psychic investigations. Famous ghost hunter Harry Price spent years studying its manifestations, writing two books. His findings have long been disputed and the truth clouded by the extraordinary character of Marianne Foyster, wife of the rector during the peak years of supernatural activity. Stories circulated of a ghostly nun and psychic phenomena - cold spots, mysterious footsteps, whisperings, showers of stones falling from the ceilings, a phantom coach, unearthly lights and messages scrawled on walls. Sightings of the nun are still reported. Supernatural activity has reputedly moved to the village church. Stone coffins have mysteriously moved and organ music has been heard coming from the empty building. One group of visitors was even showered with stones.