Morbid - The Haunting of the Borley Rectory

Episode Date: October 9, 2020

Since it’s spooky season and all, we decided why not talk about a couple of haunts for the next few weeks? This week we’re taking you to the Borley Rectory in England! The Borley rectory has been home to three families, one paranormal investigator and many ghosts. It is said to be the most haunted home in England, and we’re willing to put money on that!  Books/ Reports used for this Episode: Borley Rectory Companion: The Complete Guide to 'The Most Haunted House in England' BORLEY RECTORY. "THE MOST HAUNTED HOUSE IN ENGLAND" A Report by New Horizons Foundation of some Investigations made into this alleged Haunting https://cpb-us-w2.wpmucdn.com/web.sas.upenn.edu/dist/b/160/files/2017/04/new_horizons_research_foundation_paper_19-1u2w21i.pdf As always, thank you to our sponsors Varsity Tutors: To reserve your spot in a FREE class, go to VARSITYTUTORS.com/morbid Hello Fresh: Go to HelloFresh.com/80morbid and use code 80morbid to get a total of $80 off across 5 boxes, including free shipping on your first box! Hunt a Killer: Right now, just for our listeners you can go to HuntAKiller.com/MORBID and use promo code MORBID at check out for 20% off your first box Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022)Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023)Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash KelleyListener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra LallyListener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, weirdos, I'm Elena. I'm Ash. And this is morbid. Yeah, it is. Like, spooky edition, morbid. It is spooky edition because, you know, it's the month of October and I figured we're, I mean, most of the time we do true crime. Yeah. But every now and then, we'll do like a little haunted, haunted area of the world. Yeah, and we've only done like a handful of those. But sometimes there's so much fun. Yeah, and I feel like, so because we do two episodes a week, like, let me just brush that dirt off my shoulder real quick. No, I'm totally kidding. But because we do two episodes a week, we figured the month of October, we could kind of switch it around and do something fun and do one, like, murder case a week, like true crime. Yep.

And then one abnormally spookier case a week. Yeah, just for the month of October. For spooky season. So for the next couple of weeks, you're going to get one spooky thing. and one true crime. Yeah, because why not? It's fun. I love it.

Ghosts are Halloween, so let's do it. I mean, most of our listener's tales are, like, paranormal. Yeah. Like, nine out of ten times, so you get a paranormal one is hell. And they're hell of fun. And, you know, maybe we'll do, we could do witches, ghosts, you know, something paranormal. We can do something. So, just look forward to that.

Something morbid. Yeah, you know. And then I think this week we also dropped, like, just a random extra episode that was ad-free. That was the Sowan episode. episode. No, no, Sam Hain. The Sam Hain episode and the origins of Halloween. And we will just do that every now and then whenever we can. Yeah. There's not going to be a schedule for it. We're not going to promise anything. We're just going to tell you every once in a while we'll try to drop an ad for you one in there whenever we can. We'll just be like, woo, here you go. Have it. And you

know why? Because we love you and we cherish you and we appreciate you and we want to stroke your hair. We do. I ran out of things to say. But we do. We want to stroke your hair. We do. So we hope you, it seemed like everybody enjoyed that one. That one was a fun one. It was fun to research and it was really fun to talk about. So I'm pretty excited to like do egg yolks with you. Yeah, there you go. And people were telling us about this. And also, a lot of people requested the Day of the Dead deal, Dia de los Mortos. Oh, good job. And I think that's a great one to do. Yes. So I'm a do it. Are we going to do it next week? I think I should do it next week. I think so too. I think I should. So you do that for like the like creepy like haunted. episode and I'll do a true crime episode. Exactly. There you go. Just planning on the air. And who, I mean, yeah, we'll see, we'll see what happens, but you're going to get it. Yeah. October's fun because we can kind of like switch around what we already had planned and fit in some more spooky stuff. So thank you guys for, you know, recommending that and suggesting that and we're excited and do it.

Yeah. So without further ado, boom. So it's the spooky episode time. It is the spooky episode time. I have to tell you where I came up with the idea to do this. You do. It all started at Target. Sure did. As most great ideas start. As most of my great ideas. Yes. So I was at Target in the checkout line. And Annie was like buying all our stuff. And I was like, oh my God, so nice. And then I saw this magazine. And normally I don't buy myself magazines because they're ridiculously overpriced. Sure. But I said, Annie, will you buy me this life magazine with the 15 most haunted places in the world? Oh, I love that. And she said yes. And so I got it. And she said yes. And then I was reading through it. And I found this place that I'm going to talk about.

And it's England's most haunted home. Oh, I'm ready. So, I'm here. I was like, I have to tell the weirdos about this. Oh, I'm so excited. You might already know. So the Borley rectory, like I said, is often referred to as England's most haunted home. We love the most haunted anything.

So it was built by this reverend named Henry Dawson Ellis Bull because everybody back then had four names. Yes, I trust him immediately. Do you? No, there's really no reason not to trust him. Cool, because I felt trusting of him. Good. Well, he built this home and it was completed in 1863, so we're in the way back machine.

Wow. Henry was the rector of Borley Church nearby, and he was a husband and a father to just 14 kids. Oh, just a little handful of kids. Just a couple of kiddos running around. Just a strong handful of children. So they needed a big old house to fit them all in. So they were like constantly adding more rooms and more construction. But like I said, it was finally done in 1863.

It's like the Winchester Mystery House. Yes, exactly. Adding on rooms for kids. Less upside down things. Yeah. The home itself was built on the grounds that used to be home to another rectory that was the Herringham rectory. I probably said that wrong. I like it.

Thanks. And before that, it was said to have been another building and that nobody like remembered. And then before. We didn't give a shit about that other building. You'll fuck that building. Fuck you other building. building. And before that, well, nobody really knows. Oh. But there were rumors that the grounds were also once home to a monastery where this really good looking monk was living. Oh, we love a hot monk.

Oh, so hot right now. We love it. Oh, monks. So hot right now. Well, and down the street from the monastery, monastery happened to be a nunnery because the olden days. Oh, shit's about to get wild. And wouldn't you know it, Elena? Oh, I know it. There was else. so a good looking nun who lived there. We love a hot nun. So the two of them crossed paths one day and they were like, holy shit, we're both so attractive. Also, we're nice people. So we're in love.

Oh, I love that. Isn't that so sweet? I want them to work out. And then they were like, well, they were like, let's run away and get married. I love that. Duh. I mean, they had a few like rendezvouss in the woods before that whole marriage talk, but you get the point.

Hell yeah, they did. Yeah, they rendezvoused in the woods. They both were hot. And then they're like, let's get married. Let's get it. It is not a ghost story or a haunting without a monk, a hot monk, a hot monk, hot none, and some rendezvous in the woods. Hot, hot rendezvous.

Yeah. Recipe for a beautiful haunting. I'm ready. So the whole, they make this whole plan together, and they actually got like this friendly coachman who was going to whisk them away into their new life, and they would have lived happily ever after, but some shit went down. Fuck. Because it's haunted, so duh. So there's a few different accounts of what happened.

One is that they got in a fight and that the monks strangled her. Oh, I hate that. And then he got caught and was hanged for his crimes. But I don't believe that because love. Because they were love. And monks are known to be like very chill people. I feel that way. I feel like he didn't like strangle her.

Yeah. And love. Another version of the story is that they were caught together. And because neither of them was supposed to have a love life. No. The monk was hanged for his crimes. So either way he gets hanged. And then the nun was boarded up in the cellar of the monastery.

Holy shit. Like they just like boarded her up, Edgar Allan Poe style. I mean, that's the story I'm going with. Oh, yep. Because it involves them like getting caught in their love, which I'm like, you still love each other. Yeah, no matter what it ends with love and someone else with the one who did something terrible. Yeah. And I love a good Edgar Allan Poe.

Like H.H. Holmes, bored up in the wall kind of situation. I'm surprised that you didn't just yell at me for saying catacombs. Yeah, I just was going to let it go. The catacombs. Catacombs. So yeah, so she was boarded up in the wall and that's sad. That's a bummer. But there's like a big problem with this entire story because there's no record of a monastery ever being on the grounds. Oh, shit. Ever. And then there's no record of a nun being killed that way. They're like sentenced for anything. So I don't know. Womp, womp, womp. But there is a record of a nun haunting the shit out of the Borley rectory. I bet it's her. So,

back to the home. I told you it was huge. It had more than 20 rooms. There were stables on the ground, a cottage, and everything was on nine acres of land. I bet he had a great office. I need an office. I bet he did have a great office. A lot of rooms. I didn't even think of that. He was... He could make a really great

office with that many rooms. He was cool as shit. So Henry Bull was rumored to have built a cottage facing the woods and to this particular path that the family referred to as nun's walk. This is amazing. So he built this specific thing to look at this place that they called nun's walk.

Yes. Because he wanted to communicate with the ghost of the nun. Yes. He literally just wanted to talk to her so bad. This is great. On multiple occasions, he had seen her walking along the path of the woods, but he was never able to talk to her. Oh, man.

He tried all the time to talk to her. He should have put an ad in that like missed connections thing. I know, right? If I was his wife, I'd be like, closely nun. Why do you want to talk to this nun so bad? What's this nun got that I don't? What? You have 14 kids.

I think I gave you all of those. What? She got an eternal afterlife? I don't. What the fuck? I love it. So he would see her and she would just disappear and he never got the chance to talk to her. Wow.

And his four daughter saw the nun for the first time when three of them were coming home from a party. So Ethel Mabel, excuse me, Ethel, and Frida, I think were walking up to house when they saw her and they thought that she was like a real life alive none they're like oh a lost nun in the woods exactly but they noticed that she didn't seem to be walking and she was like kind of floating and she didn't it is different you don't see that every time and she was um she was floating and she didn't look very happy all right so they they got freaked out a little bit I definitely would and they ran inside to get their older sister Caroline and Caroline was like you guys it's fine it's probably, like, remember, they're in a rectory, so it's not crazy to see a nun on the ground.

No, definitely not. And they're like, it's probably a sister of mercy, like, running an errand for the church or she needs something from dad. Like, levitating. It's all good. She's just levitating. Not hashtag nun shit. You probably just can't see her feet and you guys just got back home from a party. So who knows. So you might have got turnt. Maybe you got turt, like 1900 style. They're at this point, 1800 style. Whoa. That's a different kind of turnt. They were probably drinking hooch back then. So Caroline ran out to see what the nun needed because she was a good Samaritan. And as she was running out to talk to her, she was running up to her. She sees her.

The nun just disappears. Poof. Gone. That's different than a normal nun. That's different. So Caroline was like, cool, cool, cool, cool. And they told their dad. And he was like, oh, yeah, that's the nun that I built that whole fucking cottage out there to look at. He's like, oh, that's my girl.

My girl, you see her too? So everyone who had been to the Borley rectory had something to say about it. And it was known in town as a haunted place to avoid. Nobody wanted to go there. Which makes everybody want to go there. I know, because I found stories about parents not letting their kids walk past the rectory after dark. Stories of people seeing the nun leaning over the gate in the front of the property, almost like she was waiting for someone. Her monk.

Or people saw a man standing up in one of the windows of the windows of the house. the home, but there was, like, not supposed to be a man up in that window. And it wasn't, like, one of the kids or Henry himself. It was her monk. Yeah, I don't know who it was. It was him. It was a man's up in the window. And the sightings of the man became so frequent. And the family was, like, getting freaked out with the man watching them, like, from the upstairs window. So they boarded up the window. Holy shit. They just straight up boarded it up and, like, left it. And they were like, K-K. Do what you got to do. Right? So in 1916, a man named Edward Cooper, and his wife moved into the rectory cottage.

And Edward was working for the family as a gardener and a coachman. And a coachman, if you don't know, is just somebody that drives the horses for you. Yeah. Or like, he's a goose that turns into a man and then drives you to the ball. And then he says, can't drive a goose. And if anybody doesn't know that reference, you don't have kids. And you're not a T-D. So you can't drive you all goose.

So they only lived there for four years because things got weird right off the bat. I'm ready. Are you ready? Oh, I'm ready. So they'd get into bed at night and Miss Cooper right away thought that she was hearing voices and footsteps above the bedroom. And for a while, she chalked the footsteps up to like rodents that broke in or like a cat somehow in the attic. Gross. So she was just chalking it up to all that. But one night the noises were super loud and really disturbing her sleep. And they continued into the next afternoon. So she was like, okay, like what the fuck. Yeah. So she and Edward went up to see what was making all the racket. And when they got up there, they found nothing out of place, no sign of any cat or rodent

or anything at all to suggest that anything had been up there. So everything was untouched and completely fine. That's like when we heard recently the noise and went up there. I was so thankful to see something on the ground. That's what it reminded me of. I thought of you. You want to see things amiss. Yeah.

So you're like, okay, the wind, an animal. A cat. Just that. Anything. Yeah. Nothing for them. And then another day, Edward came home and he said to his wife, he was like, oh, like, did you see a nun walking about the rectory today?

And she was like, nah. And he was like, cool, cool, cool. So I'm going crazy. Oh, fun. I'm going nuts now. Awesome. I'm nuts. So, because that day he saw a nun.

And it looked like she was headed toward the road. But she had come from the back of the rectory. So, like, the wife would have seen her. Yeah. Like if she had taken that. And he said when he saw her, her movements, like there was something really strange about them because she was fucking floating probably. It makes me think of like those horror movies where the ghosts are like something will make

those jerky weird, like almost like glitchy movements. That's what I was just thinking of. It freaks me out. Or it just makes me think of the craft when they start to levitate and they're like, the toes are pointed in the scary boots. And it's like scratching against the floor. It's weird because I wasn't freaked out when I was like researching. this in my brand new apartment, but because we're in your old-ass home with like a boarded-up wall

right there. I'm pretty nervous. And it's from 1860. It's from like the same time that this all started. But we're not in England, so that's good. So he was like, wow, that nun looks like strange. I should follow her. Where is she going? And he followed her to the road, but she just disappeared while he was following her. And he was like, I think I lost my mind. Yeah. I would think that. And they weren't the only ones who saw things. The family kept seeing. the nun walking about the property. They would hear banging, crashing sounds. They'd see, quote, eerie black shapes.

Ooh. Yep. In the house, out of the house. A maid who worked there said she woke up on her first night, first night ever in the house because she heard slow, deliberate footsteps coming toward her bedroom. And they stopped. And when they stopped, they would have been right in front of her door. But there was nobody.

She didn't see anybody. So the next morning, she woke up and, like, asked the other maid. she was like, oh, I bet they were playing a trick on me because it was my first night, like, initiation into mating. To maidum. And everybody was like, no, like, this place is haunted as hell. Bitch, no. I would have been like, and I quit. And I'm done.

So they were like, yeah, it's probably one of the boardly ghosts. Then in 1892, Henry Bull passed away. Oh, RIP. RIP. I know. You trusting son of a bitch? I know. Just trying to communicate with these ghosts out here.

Yeah. Well, no. fear, his son Harry took over as the rector. So the family still got to live there. Harry lived another 35 years in the rectory, and the hauntings continued, nothing stopped. One of his friends would like spend time in the rectory if he was vacationing, and he remembered seeing stones falling from nowhere, objects moving by themselves, the nun herself, and the coach driving by with headless horses. Oh, that's amazing. Imagine seeing that. Holy shit. I wouldn't say I'm nuts. I'd be like, holy shit, I'd done seen this.

I would paint a watercolor painting of that immediately, like from memory. I would have to have that for all time. I like our very different reactions. I'd be like, I've seen that. And you'd be like, I'm going to paint a watercolor from direct memory of this exact moment. Just so I can hang it on my wall and be like, I saw that shit. I'd just be running around going, I saw it. People would be like, yeah, that bitch is crazy.

I would just like bust out a portable easel and just like quickly doing it. I call this headless horses. I call this, I'm going insane and I want to record it. I call this from memory. So, yeah, he lived another 35 years there and then he passed away because he was old. Yeah. And the rectory was offered to 12 different clergy. Is it clergy or clergymen?

Clergy. Clergy. It was offered to 12 different clergymen and they all took a hard pass. Oh, yeah. 12 different people were offered this home, like for free. Like, take, you can live here because it's a rectory. And they were all like, nah, I'm good. No, thank you.

Thank you, though. So the rectory was just empty for six months. Oh, an empty rectory. And I don't know why, but I feel like that creeps me out more than all the shit that happened when people were there. Because it's just an empty-ass rectory. But it's not empty because ghosties. It's full to the brim.

Full to the brim. So finally, this other reverend, his name was. guy Eric Smith. He had recently moved to England with his wife, and they were both, like, of an older couple, like, not in the best health. But they were offered the rectory, and they didn't know anything about it, and they didn't believe in ghosts. Uh-oh. And, like, nobody told them anything about it. Yeah, nobody told them. So he was like, let's move in. So, like I said, they were an older couple. Did I tell you they'd been living in India before this? No. So big change. They were living in, like, a warm climate. And then they moved to this, like, creepy ass house in England that's

Haunted as hell. Oh, that sounds so cool. That sounds like the beginning of every single movie ever. It sounds like my ideal. And like I said, neither of them were believers, but I'm pretty sure as soon as they moved in, they became believers. Yeah. Because almost right away, they started hearing voices in the home. She walked by a bedroom one day, and she heard the phrase, like somebody say, Carlos, don't.

Oh, like, don't do that. Oh, fuck. Right? And it was in the blue bedroom. And I guess the blue bedroom is said to be like the most haunted bedroom. I would have been like, please don't Carlos. Carlos, listen to whoever that was. Listen to that person.

And it was just the two of them in the house. It was just them. So nobody else should have been there. Yeah, Carlos wasn't there. No, Carlos was nobody. He was there, but he shouldn't have been there. And they'd hear footsteps like the maid did. Again, when it was just them, the sightings of the nun started.

And all of that, like, wrapped around the fact that as soon as they moved in there, everyone in town started telling them how haunted this place was. That drove them to, they wrote to the Daily Mirror newspaper asking for help dealing with all this paranormal activity. I know. So, oh, and while Mrs. Smith was cleaning one day, I read a couple of different like setups for this. She was either cleaning in the kitchen or the basement, but either way she was cleaning like this

cupboard that hadn't been used in a while. Okay. And she found just a casual woman's skull. wrapped up in a paper bag. That is rad. It's so funny because telling you this story is just like, you'd be like, yeah, like, I want to do that. Yeah, it'd be so cool if I heard that crazy footsteps.

And anybody else would be like, she found a woman's skull in a paper bag. That's so gnarly. So gnarly. Holy shit. So this guy named Harry Price saw their ad in the paper and he wanted to help. Oh, Harry Price. Price, if you don't know, was a parapsychologist and a magician.

Uh-oh. Fun stuff who wanted to help the Smiths, and he also just wanted to investigate the property in general. So he brought this guy who was a reporter, also at the Daily Mirror, um, Vernon Hall with him. And Vernon was a writer, but also was just going to act as somebody to cooperate all the findings. Yeah.

It's like better if two people find it than just one. Oh, yeah. Definitely. Duh. So Vernon and Henry decided the first place they wanted to do. to check out was nun's walk. That would be my first stop. Double duh.

So they head out to the cottage and they try to spot the nun or maybe even the light upstairs like from the where the man is. It's boarded up, but you could still see the light come through. Like it was still coming through. That's so creepy. So creepy. So they're like, I want to see something. And while they were out there, Vernon thought he saw the nun.

But Harry was like, I don't know if I saw her like, you're being a little crazy. Yeah, I think you just want to see her. But what did happen right away, like right after they had that conversation where Harry was like, oh, I don't think I saw her, a fucking half of a brick smashed through the roof and fell to the ground next to them. Oh. And like it was like the nun like, oh, you didn't see me, motherfucker? See that? Here I am. See that brick right there?

I'm right here. Wow. Isn't that nuts? What a badass. So it smashes to the ground and they headed upstairs to investigate to like see like where that came from. and they hear this loud crash, and then a glass candle stick came flying down the stairs at them. What? Yes.

So Harry Price was just kind of used to this activity because he's a paranormal investigator. And he was like, okay, what we have to do is head downstairs. We got to turn all the lights off. Obviously. Because he wanted to pick up even more activity and ghosts love the dark. Of course. Duh. So they're waiting for more activity after they turn the lights off.

And Vernon complains that someone hit him in the head. As soon as they turned the lights off, he's like, I just got hit in the head. Somebody's hitting me. And then they started hearing something roll down the stairs. And it was a mothball. But nobody else was there. It was just them. So a mothball rolls down the stairs.

And then the servant bells just start fucking ringing. What? But they're not attached to any of the, like they weren't in use. So normally they'd be attached to something. And that would be how they rung, but they weren't. What? So they're just ring a ding, ding, ding. on their own. What? And, and Miss Smith had told the investigators that the bells had been doing

this the whole time. So they were like just waiting for this. And then keys that had been in the locks of doors, you know how like in old houses normally the keys stay in the doors? They all fell out of the keyholes at the same time. Ed and Lorraine Warren wish. They could never. That could never. Holy shit. Isn't that crazy? I am into this. So this is probably like needless to say but the older couple had enough and they moved out of the house in 1929. Good for them. They had barely lived there a full year. Yeah, no thank you. They were like, peace out. So when the Smiths left, the church again had a hard time getting anyone to move into the home and the rectory was empty for another six months. Oh my God. And then a cousin of the Bull family,

the original Bull family, moved in with, it was this guy named Lionel Foister, his wife and their daughter Adelaide. So Lionel Forrester's wife was Marian, and they had it the absolute worst in the house. Oh no. Like shit went nuts. As soon as they moved in, shit was going crazy. There was crashing sounds, footsteps, more bell ringing, even though they were still disconnected. Apparitions, now there were strange odors in the house. And that's like some ghostbusters shit. That's some like demon shit. physical assaults, including Adelaide being locked in a room on her own. And she was two and a half years old. I know.

And something new. Messages on the walls that were addressed to Marianne. Get the fuck out of here. And they said things like, Marianne, help please get. And then another one said, Marian, light mask candles. I don't like, okay. I bet I'll do anything you said. So a lot of skepticism started to serve.

around this particular family. Uh-oh, do we have a Lutz family? Oh, my, shut the fuck up! Do we have the Lutz's? Yes, and I wrote that. So it was getting... Immediately, I was like, uh-oh. Yeah, exactly, that's what I wrote.

And I'm just going to, I'm still going to read it anyways. You could still read it. So the haunting was getting worse. The messages had never happened before. Yeah. That's weird. And I think people thought it was an Amityville horror type deal when the family moved in and started exaggerating an already creepy story.

I immediately started thinking that. Because that's the thing. It's like, this is already creepy as hell. You don't need to make it worse. Don't add to it because it's just going to ruin it. And when you're making it seem like your family has it the worst of everybody, it's like, no. They're probably equal opportunity to haunters. I don't think they're really like, ooh, let's get these ones worse. What did you guys do?

Yeah. So there were people, though, who still did believe the family. This guy named Edwin Whitehouse was a neighbor. And he confirmed that while he spent time there, he had, quote, seen more than enough to convince him that the phenomena at the Borley rectory was predi-natural. I mean, I definitely think it's for sure. I think it's like haunted and I believe that like old couple and everything. Oh, hell yeah. But I think I think these ones might be examined or anything.

Well, and I'll tell you. The messages I don't buy. I don't buy the messages either. And let me just get into it. He's like, holy shit, I'm going to get. I got to tell you so much stuff. He went on to say that he had never seen any member of the family set up any tricks and he didn't have any reason to believe that they would.

Okay. So Harry Price, remember he helped out the same. Smiths and then he went about his day, life, whatever. He was like, cool. And then he finds out that this new family moved in and everything's getting worse. So he returned. He came in October 1931 and he brought a couple members of his national laboratory with him. Hell yeah.

Because he's cool as hell. And after some time investigating, he came to the conclusion that a lot of the new haunts in the home were Marianne's doings. I knew it. And there was later rumors that Marianne was having. an affair with a guy named Frank Perlis and she was creating some of like the craziness in the house as a distraction. Holy shit, right? What an asshole. I know. So I mean, she's a true asshole. If she did it, she's an asshole. Yeah. We don't know. I don't know. I think she did it.

We don't know. I'm blaming you, Marian. Marianne. She wrote a, she wrote a book about it later. Anyways, Harry Price told Lionel about his findings and that Marianne was probably doing all this shit, or most of this shit. And Lionel was furious. Yeah, I would be. Because, well, he was furious with Harry Price. Oh, he was furious with him. Because he's like, what do you, like you're accusing my wife of doing this. Oh, see, I, yeah. My wife isn't doing anything. So he asked Harry to leave. Hold on. And he wouldn't let him back. And Harry Price was actually really bummed. He wrote to Guy Smith about it. It was like, I really just want to go back there. I just want to go back there, man. He said, some curious things have been happening at Borley during the last 12 months. Two to three of us went down

few weeks ago. Bottles were thrown at us, ink mixed with wine, etc., etc. I formed a conclusion as to who I think was doing these things, but of course we had no proof. I should like to go back there again, but the foisters will not permit it. See, I believe him. I do too. Because he was saying that it was haunted before. He's not denying that it's haunted. Well, when he said to Harry, he was like, I'm sure some of the hauntings going on right now are like the boredly ghosts, but the writings on the wall and stuff like that. Like the really intense thing. Yeah, he was like, some of this is Marianne, I know it is. Yeah, I would think that too. But he just didn't have a way to prove it. So while Harry was bumming that he couldn't get back to the rectory,

a ton of stuff was going on. They were doing exorcism ceremonies there. Harry Bull was popping up everywhere. Damn. Harry Bull, like, because he had died in the house, the original owner. Oh, shit. So he just came back and was like, I'm here too. I'm here to? He would hang out in the remember I told you at the blue bedroom? It was like really super haunted. He would hang out there. and he would wear his favorite plum-colored dressing gown. Hell yes. And then eventually two of the sisters that you still live in the house, like the Bull sisters, they went into the seance there and there was like tapping on the mirrors and they said it was their brother and they could tell it was him.

Oh my God. So the dad haunted the house and the brother did too. That's amazing. Who both died there. I thought that was so cool. Yeah. Keep it in the family. Of course.

Keep the haunt in the family. People were seeing dark. figures in the driveway and inside the home like before. The passerby were still freaked out by all the creepy vibes given off by the rectory. And Lionel actually had been keeping a diary of his findings and experiences since day one. And he kept them until the family moved out of the home. Oh, geez.

And he had filled three diaries with experiences and, like, later published them. But he published them as fiction. So he, I think he, like, added to some of them. Oh, okay. And, like, made it, like, fiction. Yeah, he embellished slightly. But Marianne said that Harry Price had asked to read one of the diaries while he was there and, like, investigating the home and that he never returned it to the family.

Oh. So that's what Mary Ann says. So we're pointing fingers left on right. There's a lot of shady business going on here. There is. And we're going to get to more shady business at the end. Ooh. So the foresters were the last family to live in the rectory.

And they left in 1935. Okay. When they left, Harry Price wanted to come back and do more. investigated at this house. I would. So he rented the home and lived in it for a year. Holy shit. Isn't that so cool? That's badass. So he put an ad out in the local paper and was asking for recruiters to come, like, stay to and like write down their experiences. Pick me. I'm the one. Yeah, you would have gone. And once people responded to the ad, he would give them a manual of instructions. And Harry said the reason that he got all the recruiters and gave them the manual of instructions is because he

wanted reliable and impartial witnesses. This sounds like House on Haunted Hill. Oh, yeah, it does. It sounds like the basis for that film. Maybe it was. That like this guy like recruits people to come stay in this house. Shit, I wonder if it was. Yeah, it really does.

Well, we'll have to find her after. So he said he just wanted impartial witnesses and like reliable people. Yeah. But a lot of skeptics accused him of putting suggestions into the mind of these people and that the manual they got was just like a blueprint of what they were supposed to find. I could see people saying that. So I get that. But this guy, Ely Cow, went with Harry to set up, like, an operations room.

And he goes to hunt, you got to set up an operations room. You need a war room. Obviously. Of course. So they go and they're setting everything up. They were, like, chalking up, like, literally, like, marking up with chalk, any, like, object that could move in the house. Oh, yeah.

And they're taking note of anything. And while they're setting up, they heard, like, two loud thumps above them. And that was followed by a couple of shrubs. short tapping noises, but they couldn't determine where the tapping noises were coming from. And then an upstairs door slammed shut, like slam shut, but there was no one in the house and no breeze or open window or anything like that. Oh my. And Eleg said that there was absolutely no way Harry could have engineered any of these incidents, and he believed that it was just the haunting at the house. Damn. And that's so creepy. Again, because this is like in the 1930s. It's not

like they had like tons of technological advances. That's the thing. Like I believe that now people do that, I'm sure. Oh, for sure. The like shits and giggles. And there was ways to like set certain things up. And he was a magician. Yeah. Well, that was the thing. When you said magician, I was like, uh-oh. And not because there's anything wrong with magician. It's just they know how to, they know how to make an illusion. Exactly. That's kind of their job. I just feel like I believe Harry. I feel very strongly that Harry is telling the truth. I do too. Actually, my soul. I don't know. And that's why we drinked an episode about this. I was telling you before we started. I'm telling the listeners. We love you and that's why we drink. We do. Hi. And I texted M. And M said that they are a big fan of Harry Price. Oh, really? They did a whole episode just about Harry Price. I love that because I feel, okay, I'm glad. Because I was feeling very like, I was like, I really, I believe him. Literally. I feel. I just started so bad. Literally. I feel like connected. Yeah. I just feel like he's telling me the truth. like Harry Price is my dude. I trust him. So when you're finished with this episode, go listen to

and that's why we drink this episode about Harry Price. Do it. I think it's a couple parts, actually. Do it. Back to this little rendition. So from May of 1937 to May of 1938, all the investigators stayed at the Borley Rectory doing table tipping, planchette sessions, seances. It sounds like a fucking damn good time. I was going to say, count me in. And there was this guy named, well, it was one of the recruiters, Sydney H. Glanville, and he took notes of everybody's experiences the whole year that they were there. And when they were finished, he gifted it to Harry Price. So it was like this book of everybody's experiences. That's incredible. And that's so cool. Wow. And during the seances, a nun who had lived on the grounds in the 17th century came through in one of these seances.

she said her name was Marie Lairie. It looks like Mary Larry. That's not the name. Mary Lary. Marie-Laurie, we're going to say. Marie-Laurie, I love that. Yeah. She said that she had traveled to England from France and that she was murdered.

And she asked for prayers to be said for her at Borely Church nearby. Oh. So the murdered nun. That's her. Hello. She's here. Halloween is going to be a little different this year, Lena. I know, it's really sound, and it makes me real sad.

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Head to hunticiller.com slash morbid for 20% off and to show support for our podcast. huntikiller.com slash morbid. Sydney also said that he had a planchette that never worked until he brought it to Borley, and that's when it started to work. And it was the same planchette. Now, this is fucking crazy. His children, Helen and Roger, were using this particular planchette set on March 27th, 1938. And they were contacted by the spirit through the planchette. named Sunnix Amures.

Oh, like, hello. Hello. Like what? Jackpot, jackpot, honestly. And Sunnix told them that Boreley was going to burn down that night at 9 p.m. Oh, so he's, Sunnix is like, get out of there. Exactly. Wow.

And Sunnix also said that when everything burnt down, bones would be found in the fire to prove that like something horrible had happened here and that's why it was so haunted. Can you imagine getting me? that kind of fucking message? No, I got chills just telling. I'm literally chilly. I got Chills reiterating the message. I am chilly willy right now.

It's also very cold in here. It sure is. But I'm chills. Chills. So no fire happened that night. So maybe like Sonics, come on. Oh shit. But exactly 11 months later, exactly 11 months.

On February 27th, 1939, a lamp had fallen over. And some books had just been put away. and they moved themselves and knocked this lamp over. Like some people say somebody bumped into it, but I'm telling you the fun version. Yeah, of course. These books moved by themselves and they locked the fucking lamp over. And back then, lamps had like gas and shit and then. I didn't fully look into it.

And so a fire happened. So the fire, unfortunately, wiped out the entire place. And when people came, because obviously people love to watch a burning building, I guess. I'm so sad. I know. But people came to watch the building fall. and they saw dark figures walking through the flames. Fuck you.

That is awesome. Isn't that rad as hell? Holy shit. Just imagine you're, I mean, don't go watch a burning building. That's a little bit rude. No, it is, but like. Live your life. So you're watching the burning building fall,

even though I told you not to, even though you should just live your life. And you see fucking dark figures walking through the flames. That is so much. metal. I can't even, I can't even properly understand it. But it's bumming me out that this place burned down because I was going to be like, you know who needs to go to this place? We do. Well, us. But I was also going to say, BuzzFeed Unsolved, Shane and Ryan need to go to this place. I wonder if they have, because you can still go to the grounds. The grounds are still super haunted.

I wonder if they have. And something else is haunted slum. Because I think they would be great for this. I'm getting back into it because wait until you hear what happened. Sorry, we just keep shouting out other people. Other creators today. I love shouting. I'm happy. Today we're like, Other Creators Day. It is Other Creators Day. Fucking love Other Creators. Every day is Other Creators Day. That was so cute.

Thank you for helping you. You're welcome. Thank you. Okay, sorry, we're annoying. So people are seeing, like, people, like, dead people walking in the flames. And even, I mean, this should just prove it even further. Because a police constable saw them and asked who else had been in the house there. He's like, people are still in the fucking house.

He's like, who are these maniacs just walking through the flames? Right. And the new owner was like, no, like it's just me. This place is haunted as fuck. Like, that's ghosts. Like, those are ghosts. That's ghost. That's ghost. That is ghost. That's ghost for you, police constable. So after the home burned down, they did indeed find bones underneath the cellar door. Sunnics. Some people, or not, I'm so sorry, not the door, the floor, the cellar floor. Okay, either way. Either way. Some people think that they were the remains of a pig, but they're just like skeptics. No, that's bullshit. We don't have time for skeptics today. Get out of here with that. Fuck out of here with your skepticism. Logic. And a surgeon, so I'm going to believe the fucking surgeon. Oh, there you go.

Leslie J. Godin believed that she looked at these fragments, or he, I didn't look into it, and believed that they were fragments of a young woman's skull and her jawbone. Oh, that should tell you. And Leslie said the woman was younger than 30. And when the woman died, it may have been from. a tooth infection that spread to the bone. Because the bone, you could like tell that it had been infected. Oh, shit. And remember, the nun didn't look very happy when she was walking around. No. So maybe it's because you had a hella infected tooth bone. Dude, a toothache is no job, like no joke. Right.

And then when that gets to your jaw and infects your bone, can you imagine? Oh, yeah. Absesses and stuff, that's no joke. Lots of pain. She can kill you. So, I don't know. But even with the discovery, the hauntings continued. The building has. burnt down and the hauntings are continuing. Amazing. I love it. The property itself wasn't demolished until 1944. Wow. Yeah. Before that, people would walk by the property or just straight through it. Hell yeah. One man who walked through the property said that a stick elevated from the ground in front of him and shook quickly in front of him, almost like somebody was like, no, no, no, no, no. Like, this is one in pictures. You stay back. And then it stopped and then did one more slow wag back and forth,

like, oh-uh. Like, that's how I'm trying to get you to picture it. And then it just fell to the ground. I really picture that as a ghost being like, no, no, no. And then the guy didn't leave. So he was like, leave now. Exactly. And I had anybody left after that.

And he said that he had been super hot before that. Like, it was warm. Yeah. And when that happened, he got like freezing cold. So hello. I'm saying. I mean, if the sticks don't just float in front of you and like say, uh-uh. No.

Or, mm-hmm. And then this other guy, he was a sergeant stationed nearby, and he was walking home one night, and he had to walk past Borley to get home, which like, fuck that. And he heard horses and a coach in the distance. Like he heard like the wheels and everything and the horses neighing and getting ready. My God, it's like the headless horseman. It is. And he heard it in the distance.

And then he said it got louder and louder. So he stopped waiting for something to pass by. And it did pass by. And he heard it. But he didn't see anything. He just knew that it had passed by because like... Because it felt like it was right there. Right.

And then he didn't see anything except a little light. All he saw was a light. That's it. I want this so bad. I want it so bad. I want this experience. So fucking cool. I love it so much.

And then there was this other guy. This one's kind of boring. But he said that like his lantern wasn't working at all. And then when he brought it to Borely, it started working. Oh, shit. Like it worked there. And then he took it home and it didn't work anymore. Oh.

Whatever. They gave him like shitty batteries. a minute. Yeah, I guess so. Shitty metaphysical batteries and then we're like, we're taking those back now. So then when the remains were to be demolished, they were, they were demolished. That bonds me out. I know.

So a Life magazine photographer went out while they were like about, like right before they were going to be demolished. His name was David Sherman. Googleing. Well, I should have brought the magazine to show you. My magazine. My magazine. And he took a now famous picture where, and it's, he's far back and it's like the whole property.

And you can see in the doorway a fucking brick levitating. Get the fuck out. And it's not attached to anything. And he said it levitated in the air for a few minutes and then fell down. Stop it. Is that not the coolest thing ever? I'm looking it up. So now, Borely Church is like still around, I guess.

And the church is said to have had even more hauntings since the property, the rectory was demolished. Because the coastal just moved over there. I was going to say, you got to go somewhere. this photo. This photo, I know. We'll post it. Don't worry. We're going to post it. Who, I got chills. Oh, my goodness. I know. And so now people go to the Borely Church all the time and they'll like camp out there, especially on Halloween and stuff. And they try to get EVPs. And I guess this one guy camped out there on Halloween night. And he heard scratching on his tent. And he just like got super freaked out and like, pulled to me and just ran the fuck out of his tent. He was like, I'm out.

He did what you did at the Lizzie Borden house. He was like, nope. Yeah, except you made me stay. I didn't run out of there. I wanted to. You wanted to. I wanted to get the fuck out of there. But, um, so he said as he was running out of the tent, he saw these two shadowy, but white figures. And he was like, freaked the fuck out. And he said they were emotionless. Like they, um, emotionless and just like stared at him as he was. They were just unscathed by his panicked state. Don't care. And then when he, so he just like left his tent there. And then the next day he went back to get it. And it was covered. And it was covered. And it was. And it was. in red stains. What? Isn't that so weird? That's amazing. It's incredible. I love this.

And then Harry Price himself, I told you, he went under a lot of scrutiny surrounding this specific haunting at the Borley Rectori. This journalist, who sounds like a douchebag, Charles Sutton, said that Henry created Poltergeist effects by throwing stones in the dark. I'm like, I don't believe it. What about everything else that happened? I believe Harry. And then William H. Salter.

who sounded salty, was the president of the society for physical research, he launched an investigation into Harry Price's working methods and found that Harry was willfully deceptive. Now, whatever, because I think personally that everybody was just jealous that they didn't get Harry's findings. All right. I want to believe Harry. I do too. And but like the science part of my brain is like, ding, ding, ding. My brain has no science part. So my brain is like, I'm trying to muffle it right now. My brain is just screaming spooky scary skeletons are The Findings of Harry Price. There you go.

There you go. So he ended up writing a book, Harry, called The Most Haunted House in England. Ooh, I want to read it. I read some of it. It was really good. And there was a couple other books that I read that I don't have right in front of me, but I'm going to put them in the show notes for the episode. Perfect.

So that is the haunting of the Boreley rectory. That is so cool. I know. I want to go to like see. I want to go. I want to see Shane and Ryan go from BuzzFeed on South. I want to see that very gladly. I just want all of this.

Let's all go together. Let's all head out to the Borley rectory. I think us and we don't know Shane and Ryan, but like, hey, Shane and Ryan, you want to go? And M and Christine need to go. Yes, 100%. I think I've just made this happen, guys. I'm really excited about it. So once Rona is out of here, we have a lot to do.

We can go other places than we are doing it. Haunted road trip, baby. We got to do it. That was so fun. Right? It was fun to research that, too, because it was a little bit lighter than true crime. It is, yeah. Once in a while, it's fun to have just, like, really spooky.

I mean, that's, like, spooky to your soul. Like, that gives you chills. I was, like, freaked out falling asleep. Actually, I have to end this on, like, really funny story. Oh, good. It's about my cat, because I'm a cat lady. Of course. She's a cat lady now.

Elena, this morning was like, it's really shocking. Just, like, how much of a cat lady you've become. But I feel like we have a lot of fellow cat people. We definitely do. So I had researched this, like, for a few nights in a row in the first. in the first night, I was, like, really freaked out because I, like, you know when you just find something? You're like, holy shit, I'm so scared.

Yeah. So I woke up at three o'clock in the morning, and Franklin was on my chest just, like, sleeping because he sleeps on me. And I, like, I went back to sleep, but I didn't kind of thing. And I saw this shadow in my bedroom. And so I woke up and I went, and Franklin fucking flew off of me. Like, I scared the shit out of him. And he flew all the way from my bedroom to the living room.

I just like ran the fuck out of there. He's such a distinguished man. And Annie just didn't even move. He was like, I'm not into this. He was like, fuck you, mother. So yeah, I scared my cat because of this. Oh, that's funny. But yeah.

So anyways, we're going to post some of these fun pictures, especially the famous life magazine picture. Yeah, it's what drew me into the story in general. That's a really cool one. So yeah, you can see those pictures if you follow us on Instagram at Morbid Podcast. Hit us up on Twitter. At a morbid podcast. Send us a Gmail.

Morbidpodcast at gmail.com. And like I said last time, if you don't have a Halloween costume, you could go as a morbid podcast listener. If you go to shop.morbidpodcast.com and check out and buy some of our cool, dope-ass merch. Do it. We hope you keep listening. And we hope you keep it weird. But not so weird that you move into a poorly rectory because it's haunted as fuck,

but do keep it so weird that you build a whole fucking building just to see a nun walking down the street singing do up diddy-did-d-ddy-dum-did-did-ddy-do. And then don't keep it so weird that you move. you die in the house and you wear your favorite purple robe forever. Don't keep it so weird that you're Marianne just writing things on the wall because I don't believe that anybody actually wrote things on the wall. And keep it as weird as Harry Price because no matter what you say, I don't believe you that you faked it.

Bye. Bye.