PART TWO: HARRY PRICE AT BORLEY RECTORY-1937
The year of 1929 was tumultuous. No one in America had had work because of the Wall Street Crash. And, in England, Harry Price, (now 48), continued his ghost hunting. The Church, according to reports, was called: "The Most Haunted Place in England". And, for Price, (and his investigators), their investigations would fray their sanity.
But Price didn't get there until 1937, eight years' later.
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The Borley Rectory Haunting-(1862 to 1939)
The background to Borley Rectory begun in 1862. Reverend Henry Dawson Ellis Bull stayed there with his wife and 14 children.
Back in 1841, the Rectory was set on fire. And, over two decades later, it was restored to health. The Essex Church had a 12th Century nave; Borley Hall nearby, was home to the famous Waldegrave Family from Northamptonshire; the Waldegrave's also lived at Smallbridge Manor, (Bures St. Mary, Suffolk).
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The Parish held three hamlets; the farmhouses that surrounded the area of Essex, (and Borley Rectory), were full of farmers and their families. According to reports a Benedictine Monk had an affair with a Nun around 1362. The Monk was murdered, and the Nun was bricked up inside the Convent walls.
And, as a result, her ghost haunts the area which Borley Rectory writers have called 'The Nun's Walk'; the Nun's ghost story is recounted in the this chapter.
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THE BEGINNING-BORLEY RECTORY-ESSEX, ENGLAND, 1863
One local from Borley recounted:
"I heard the sound of strange footsteps, that I can't explain; the footsteps were in the house...at the time".
No other reports happened for the next 37 years. It was maybe a freak, supernatural event; it was nothing but a scary story.
But, by 1900, the events became more sinister.
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THE BULL GIRLS SEE THE PHANTOM NUN; BORLEY RECTORY; 28 JULY, 1900
The four Bull girls were playing a game of Croquet on the lush green lawn. The House was regal for a Church; the lawn was impeccably maintained.
Suddenly they saw a French looking Nun glide towards them. She was on the walking path; she didn't smile; she never smiled; she couldn't smile because of some disease of the mouth. It was a creepy smile.
And she glided to the Manor.
The twilight sun blended in with the early evening darkness; the Church's sun's ray gleamed into the windows.
Apart from the Bull girls, a Church organist, recounted:
"...The (Bull) family...at the rectory...were very convinced that they had seen an apparition on several occasions".
And, after this nightmarish occurance, nothing else happened for a long time.
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THE PHANTOM COACHMAN AND THE HEADLESS HORSEMEN INCIDENT
A disturbing incident occurred before when Reverend Bull saw a Phantom Coachman riding several headless horseman down the Essex, cobbled roads. He gripped the reigns with his invisible hands, and the sounds of the horses' hooves clomped on the cobbled stones...the sounds were so real, that the Reverend thought that they were real!.
YOU ARE READING
Harry Price
Non-FictionRobert Helliger, 13 October, 2013. The biography of controversial late 19th century conjurer Harry Price...who, in the beginning of the early 20th century, became a ghost hunter, and investigated the notorious "Borley Rectory" Church hauntings in Es...
