Borley Rectory deserves place in folklore

Interesting how this material turns up around the globe. This paper is even having a wee debate but then my understanding is the Spiritualist movement in NZ is going quite well still.

Gisbourne Herald (NZ)
TE NUPEPA O TE TAIRAWHITI


Thursday, 18 December 2008

Borley Rectory deserves place in folklore

Wednesday, 17 December 2008


I sense that Mr Hyde is being rather too harsh on spiritualists and psychics.

Harry Price's work "The Most Haunted House in England" has long been discredited by critics and psychic investigators.

Admittedly he was a most superb showman who was fully aware of the skills necessary to attract and hold a large crowd.

But it must be stressed that the unidentified nocturnal disturbances which allegedly plagued the former Borley Rectory, had been reported long before Price offered his services.

There is no reason to suppose that all who are inclined towards spiritualism are recruited from the ranks of the gullible. The eminent scientists Sir William Crookes and Sir Oliver Lodge both had very high interest in spiritualism. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle espoused spiritualism in his later years. Air Marshal Lord Dowding (1882-1970) chief of fighter command during the Battle of Britain (the greatest unsung hero of WW2) produced work on spiritualism. I do not claim that these gentlemen are correct, but they most certainly command respect.

The content of folklore is cherished for its own inherent beauty and is left untarnished by critical analysis.

That vigorous controversy about the reality of the paranormal, inspired by Borley Rectory over a lifetime ago, has earned it a well-deserved place in folklore.

Allan Colbert

he had previously written


Hauntings galore
Friday, 21 November 2008

England is renowned for her haunted mansions but none exceeds the fame of the former Borley Rectory, which once stood in Suffolk.

The rambling brick edifice attracted magician and ghost buster, Harry Price, who with reliable witnesses, proclaimed the reported paranormal to be genuine. Borley enjoyed international fame; giving possible proof that a spirit world did exist. But after Price's death a new investigation concluded Price probably faked the phenomena.

Then came the famous photo in "Life" magazine showing a brick floating through the air during the demolition process. Poltergeists at work! Interest in the paranormal was revived. During the early 1950s a radio programme gleefully exposed Borley's hidden past and secrets. Accompanied by eerie music, an Orson Welles-type voice related chilling accounts of phantom footsteps, poltergeist activity, ghostly writing and – the Nun of Borley Rectory.

Sympathy must be extended to Price's reliable witnesses. It is quite conceivable that a retired English gentleman, reclining in an observational deckchair during a late summer's evening, and being well fortified with gin and tonic, could easily mistake a swarm of midges for a headless nun.

The bricks and mortar of Borley Rectory have been re-assembled in folklore where she proudly stands as the queen of haunted mansions.

Allan Colbert


Story by The Gisborne Herald
Copyright The Gisborne Herald