Harry Price Milks The Phenomenon
On October 2, 1928, Reverend Eric Smith and his wife moved into Borley Rectory. The haunting began soon after their arrival. Smith’s wife found a brown paper bag containing a young woman’s skull when trying to clean out a cupboard. Smith claims to have heard the words “Don’t Carlos, Don’t” along with the doorbell ringing even when disconnected, pebbles thrown, unexplained footsteps, lights appearing in windows, and an array of unusual activity. Smith’s wife also said she saw a horse-drawn carriage one night.
The Reverend contacted the Daily Mirror newspaper and asked to be put in touch with the Society for Psychical Research (SPR). A reporter arrived to write about the rectory, and Harry Price made his first visit to the building on June 12, 1929. Almost as soon as he arrived, new haunting occurred with paranormal activity such as the throwing of vases and other objects. Some alleged spirit messages were tapped out on a mirror frame. However, these new issues ceased as soon as Price left. Smith’s wife believed that Price was faking new ghostly sightings.
The Foyster Fake Hauntings
Unable to take it any longer, the Smiths left on July 14, 1929. Borley Rectory had now acquired a level of infamy which made it tough for the parish to find a new pastor. Over a year later, on October 16, 1930, Reverend Lionel Algernon Foyster moved in with his family. He was a first cousin of the Bull family, but it didn’t take him long to regret the decision to live in the rectory.
The hauntings were worse than ever; Price later described this period as the ‘most extraordinary documented case of haunting in the annals of psychical research.’ The Foysters somehow lasted five years in the rectory, and there were approximately 2,000 cases of poltergeist activity in that time. The Reverend attempted exorcisms twice, but failed to remove the spirits from the home. Phenomena including writing appearing on the walls, windows shattering, the Reverend’s wife thrown from her bed, and their daughter locked in a room without a key.
It later emerged that the vast majority of the supposed ‘poltergeist activity’ was fake. The reverend’s wife Marianne admitted to having an affair with a lodger and faked some ghostly activity to cover up her infidelity. She also suspected her husband of colluding with Price to create other paranormal activity. Marianne did acknowledge that she couldn’t explain all of the events over the five years. Several psychic researchers came to the rectory and concluded that most, if not all, of the activity, was caused by the Foysters.
Destruction of the Rectory
The Foysters left Borley Rectory in October 1935 due to the Reverend’s poor health. The building remained empty until Price rented it out for a year beginning in June 1937. Price took out an advertisement in The Times where he asked would-be investigators to spend a few nights in the house. They recorded relatively little unusual activity during that time barring unexplained footsteps and the movement of objects. No one saw the nun during this period, and the only other oddity was a slight chill outside the Blue Room.
A woman called Helen Glanville conducted a séance and Price claims she made contact with two spirits. The first was a young nun who called herself Marie Lairre. Marie claimed she left her convent to marry a man named Henry Waldgrave who was a member of a wealthy family. They lived in a manor close to where the rectory stood. According to Marie, Henry strangled her and buried her in the cellar.
Another spirit apparently made contact in March 1938 and called himself Sunex Amures. He said he would burn down the rectory that very night and the bones of a murdered person would be uncovered. Exactly 11 months later on February 27, 1939, the new occupant of the rectory, Captain W.H. Gregson, knocked over an oil lamp in the hallway. A fire started and quickly damaged the house although the insurance company claimed the blaze was started on purpose. A woman from the nearby Borley Lodge claims she saw a figure of a nun at the window of the rectory when the fire occurred.
In 1943, Price excavated the rectory and found a couple of bones that belonged to a young woman. Borley Rectory was demolished in 1944, and during its final few months, a memorable image appeared on the cover of Life magazine. It shows a floating brick although skeptics suggest it is nothing more than a brick thrown by a workman captured in midair by the photographer.
Three members of the SPR investigated Price’s work after his death in 1948 and concluded that he faked most of the paranormal phenomena. Marianne Foyster admitted her part in the legend, and several of Harry Bull’s children that lived in the rectory before the Foyster’s saw or heard nothing during their stay. As compelling as the mystery of Borley Rectory is, the majority of the ‘hauntings’ were nothing more than hoaxes.