Borley Rectory

Might as well add a personal memory. My wife used to work as a live-in carer, and once she had a client in Long Melford. Her usual rule was never work over Xmas, but the client's nephew (who had organised getting care for her) asked if she could work over Xmas for a change. My wife said she wanted to be at home with her husband over Xmas, and the nephew said, why not have him come here for Xmas? So I arrived a couple of days before the holiday, met the old lady (pleasant though not quite with it), and did some exploring. The gardener, Clive, turned up and it seemed he knew about hauntings and stuff (the local pub is well known) and I hadn't realised that Borley was just over the border from Suffolk, about a half hour walk. He told me that the local area is still active, and that recently some workmen repairing the wrought iron gate at Borley church found their welding equipment without power, because the plug they had just inserted in a socket inside the (empty) church had been pulled out and thrown across the floor.

So I just had to walk there one evening (Xmas Eve, I think) and as I got there the sun was just setting. It didn't seem terribly scary, but as the only road there had no street lamps I decided to turn back! (Many years later my wife experienced a similar incident with a plug being pulled from a socket, twice in a row. The third time she was getting angry and this time it stayed in!)
 
Swifty said:
Surviving relics from Borley Rectory. I'd be happy with just one of the house bricks ..

http://www.harrypricewebsite.co.uk/Borley/ModernBorley/relics-borley.htm
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Must have been back somewhere in the 1990's I read that the Lizzie Borden House in Fall River, Massachusetts, had been purchased and was going to be opened as a Bed and Breakfast.
I called because a friend and I were interested in booking rooms there overnight.
The person I spoke with was a man who was one of those who had purchased the house and was doing renovations at the time, among them replacing the brick chimney with a new one.
Being that I couldn't make reservations until the house was finished, he offered to send me one of the bricks from the chimney. I said yes, but never called him back with my address because I started to think that it would be creepy to have something from that murder house near me!
 
gilbo77 said:
I'm currently researching into Borley Rectory and would really like to hear from anyone who has experienced anything paranormal in Borley in more modern times.
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I've not heard anything about there for a long time.
There are a few alleged reports of activity from the church over the road though.
Borley.png
 
Floyd1 said:
I've not heard anything about there for a long time.
There are a few alleged reports of activity from the church over the road though.
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The last incident I've found was 95 but it'd be interesting to see if anything else has occurred at the old site or the church. I imagine to locals aren't big fans but apparently they weren't back then either
 
I’ve suggested that me and my partner might spend a few weeks of gentle touring over that side of the country, and I would like to see Borley Church but yes, the fact that locals aren’t welcoming puts me off. I can’t blame them if they’ve had incidents with vandalism and rowdiness. It’s only a tiny village and small church.

The most recent picture I’ve seen is Sir Simon Marsden’s black and white photo of the churchyard that was printed in one of his books.
I‘ve loaned the book out so I don’t recall exactly what he said but I believe he didn’t see the shape when he took it. It does look rather like a nun’s wimple.

IMG_6265.jpeg


The Marsden Archives
 
Mrs DT is a driving examiner, and pre covid took a young girl out for a test who happened to live at the rear of Borley Church. After the test (she passed) Mrs DT asked the young girl if the stories about Borley were true.

The girl confirmed that it was, and said that Borley was more active in the summer months rather than the winter ones. Dark shadows are seen walking through the churchyard on a regular basis in the Summer, especially around twilight.
 
A tenuous link has just occurred to me. Borley Rectory, the fairly recent animation/rotoscope film adaption starring Reece Shearsmith ..

http://carrionfilms.co.uk/borley-rectory/

... was narrated by Julian Sands:

'British actor Julian Sands' final cause of death has been deemed undetermined. The Room With a View star's body was recovered in June, months after he had gone missing while hiking in the San Gabriel Mountains of California.25 Jul 2023'
 
Swifty said:
A tenuous link has just occurred to me. Borley Rectory, the fairly recent animation/rotoscope film adaption starring Reece Shearsmith ..

http://carrionfilms.co.uk/borley-rectory/

... was narrated by Julian Sands:

'British actor Julian Sands' final cause of death has been deemed undetermined. The Room With a View star's body was recovered in June, months after he had gone missing while hiking in the San Gabriel Mountains of California.25 Jul 2023'
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maximus otter
 
Swifty said:
What? .. learning the alphabet by using a Quija ?.. lol .. :)
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Joking aside, I've got a bit of a pedantic 'thing' about the term 'ghost hunter'. If we were hunting them, I'd be choosing the correct cooking pots to later eat them for when we shoot them with a gun or working out which taxidermist I want to mount my severed ghost's head on my wall. I suppose if we believe in folklore, we can put rose petals in a jar then trap a ghost in that as the legend goes. I'd prefer to let it run free and attempt to communicate with it somehow instead. I don't 'hunt' them. Makes us sound like a pervert at a bar.
 
Swifty said:
Joking aside, I've got a bit of a pedantic 'thing' about the term 'ghost hunter'. If we were hunting them, I'd be choosing the correct cooking pots to later eat them for when we shoot them with a gun or working out which taxidermist I want to mount my severed ghost's head on my wall. I suppose if we believe in folklore, we can put rose petals in a jar then trap a ghost in that as the legend goes. I'd prefer to let it run free and attempt to communicate with it somehow instead. I don't 'hunt' them. Makes us sound like a pervert at a bar.
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What is your alternative name for those who go out looking for ghosts?
 
catseye said:
What is your alternative name for those who go out looking for ghosts?
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Paranormal investigators. We try to find out if anything strange is going on firstly then record anything we think's unusual and take things from there. The alternative 'ghost hunter' would be as inaccurate as calling a bird spotter a bird hunter.
 
Swifty said:
Paranormal investigators. We try to find out if anything strange is going on firstly then record anything we think's unusual and take things from there. The alternative 'ghost hunter' would be as inaccurate as calling a bird spotter a bird hunter.
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I'd guess you are thinking of hunting in the destructive sense. I'd guess that the word in this form is used to mean 'one who looks for, seeks or pursues'. Hunting doesn't have to mean killing (just don't tell @maximus otter).
 
catseye said:
I'd guess you are thinking of hunting in the destructive sense. I'd guess that the word in this form is used to mean 'one who looks for, seeks or pursues'. Hunting doesn't have to mean killing (just don't tell @maximus otter).
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We're seeking and investigating 'them'. Muntjacs instead are proveably real and are fair game to be fair so we hunt those and kill them instead. They're an invasive species.
 
Swifty said:
Joking aside, I've got a bit of a pedantic 'thing' about the term 'ghost hunter'. If we were hunting them, I'd be choosing the correct cooking pots to later eat them for when we shoot them with a gun or working out which taxidermist I want to mount my severed ghost's head on my wall. I suppose if we believe in folklore, we can put rose petals in a jar then trap a ghost in that as the legend goes. I'd prefer to let it run free and attempt to communicate with it somehow instead. I don't 'hunt' them. Makes us sound like a pervert at a bar.
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"Ghost Hunter" may be an unfortunate term, but it's pretty well established by now and has a long history.

I've been reading Elliott O'Donnell lately - a great writer on ghosts and all things abnormal. I genuinely enjoy his books. By coincidence one of them was this one:

cover.jpg


The book came out in 1916, so there's a bit of entrenched usage there.
 
Salmonellus said:
"Ghost Hunter" may be an unfortunate term, but it's pretty well established by now and has a long history.

I've been reading Elliott O'Donnell lately - a great writer on ghosts and all things abnormal. I genuinely enjoy his books. By coincidence one of them was this one:

View attachment 70277

The book came out in 1916, so there's a bit of entrenched usage there.
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Thanks for sharing this with me Salmonellus, I didn't realise the term had been around so long but I still disagree with it as far as the way my team does investigations and for my above reasons. The fictional Ghostbusters actually hunted ghost with their proton packs and ghost trap mechanisms. Those fictional characters were trying to capture/catch ghosts like big game hunters about the time this book would have been written and the same era as people with nets catching butterflies then pinning them to a board.

Most long time investigators into ghost 'searches' I've met can't stand Zak Baghans and his show 'Ghost Hunters' with his televised aggressive and monetised approach. One put down joke about Zak was " .. and it this week's episode, Zak goes in the search of a pair of pants that fit!" ..

My favourite pieces of equipment to use on ghost 'searches' are my clipboard with white A4 paper, two pens, a Casio watch and a torch. We also use EMF meters, motion sensors, night vision and an infra red camera, digital sound recorders and other gadgets but we don't depend on them. They're pointless unless someone's live writing notes so we can reconsider whether we've captured something explainable or not when we get back home.
 
Swifty said:
Thanks for sharing this with me Salmonellus, I didn't realise the term had been around so long but I still disagree with it as far as the way my team does investigations and for my above reasons. The fictional Ghostbusters actually hunted ghost with their proton packs and ghost trap mechanisms. Those fictional characters were trying to capture/catch ghosts like big game hunters about the time this book would have been written and the same era as people with nets catching butterflies then pinning them to a board.

Most long time investigators into ghost 'searches' I've met can't stand Zak Baghans and his show 'Ghost Hunters' with his televised aggressive and monetised approach. One put down joke about Zak was " .. and it this week's episode, Zak goes in the search of a pair of pants that fit!" ..

My favourite pieces of equipment to use on ghost 'searches' are my clipboard with white A4 paper, two pens, a Casio watch and a torch. We also use EMF meters, motion sensors, night vision and an infra red camera, digital sound recorders and other gadgets but we don't depend on them. They're pointless unless someone's live writing notes so we can reconsider whether we've captured something explainable or not when we get back home.
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I think you're allowed to call yourself whatever you like, Swifty. I agree that 'ghost hunter' does give off an aggressive and slightly desperate vibe, but I think that's coloured by a lot of the current TV shows - which all seem to be American and based on cornering entities in order to banish them. But they're all demons anyway, so that's all right.
 
Salmonellus said:
"Ghost Hunter" may be an unfortunate term, but it's pretty well established by now and has a long history.

I've been reading Elliott O'Donnell lately - a great writer on ghosts and all things abnormal. I genuinely enjoy his books. By coincidence one of them was this one:

View attachment 70277

The book came out in 1916, so there's a bit of entrenched usage there.
Click to expand...
There are three books called Confessions of a Ghost Hunter (including one by O'Donnell)
I compare them all here: https://idoubtit.wordpress.com/2017/07/22/confessions-about-confessions-of-ghost-hunters/
 
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