The Tape Library - Archive of the Paranormal & the Unexplained - The True Story of The Nun | The Haunting of Borley Rectory

Episode Date: September 8, 2023

This week sees the release of the new Conjuring universe movie The Nun 2. So I thought I'd look into the backstory of how this character was created. I was interested to find out that the inspiration seemingly came from two incidents in the life of Lorraine Warren. Tonight on The Tape Library, we will be exploring the haunting of one of the most haunted locations in the world, The Borley Rectory. Uncovering the haunted history of this location, exploring the demon Valek and learning about the origins of The Conjurings Nun. And for the first time in a long time, we have actually visited the site of the borley church to record this episode. This is the true story of The Nun and the haunting of the borley rectory. You can check out The Tape Library in video form at www.youtube.com/thetapelibrary Stock footage and additional audio courtesy of Envato Tiktok - https://www.tiktok.com/@thetapelibrary Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/thetapelibrary Archive of the Paranormal, the strange and the unexplained. The Tape Library brings you the creepiest stories, to keep you horror junkies up all night. True scary stories of ghosts, cryptids, UFOs and true crime. Chapters 00:00 True Story of The Conjuring Nun 01:41 The Demon Valek 02:11 The Borley Rectory 03:46 Origins of The Nun 05:27 Sighting of the Nun 10:00 The Smiths 11:48 Harry Price 13:28 Lionel & Marianne Foyster 15:31 Borley Rectory Hoax 16:18 Harry Price Investigates Borley 17:28 Body Found At Borley 17:50 Borley Rectory Burns Down 18:44 Borley Church 19:02 Ed & Lorraine Warren Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week sees the release of the new film, The Nun 2. When this character first appeared in the second Conjuring movie, I, along with many others, loved it. The scene in which its shadow moves across the room before joining up with the painted image of itself is one of my favourite sequences in modern horror. Although a lot of the Conjuring series is based on real-life cases, many of which we have covered on the tape library before,

I have been under the impression that the Nun, or to give it its demonic name Valleck was simply a fictional creation of the series. But seemingly, that is not entirely true. It actually takes its inspiration from two incidents in Ed and Lorraine Warren's life and a big part happens to include one of the most haunted buildings in Great Britain.

In fact, the location is fairly local to me. So for the first time in a while, I was able to visit the site of this haunting and record at this creepy location for this entry. This is the story of the bawly nun. I'm quite convinced beyond any shadow of doubt that the house that stood just across the road was fully lived up to its name as the most haunted house in England. The character of VALEC, famously featured in the Conjuring movie universe, has its origins rooted in demonology.

In historical demonology texts like the last, Lesser Kea Solomon, Phalek is listed as a 62nd demon in the hierarchy and is primarily associated with locating hidden treasure and revealing the locations of serpents. But we're not exploring demonology tonight. Instead, we're headed to a small village in the southeast of England to find out where the nun originally came from. The allure of the borely rectory's haunting has captivated generations. beckoning nose drawn to the mysteries of the beyond. In the darkness, there's a sensation, an electrical charge that runs down your spine,

igniting your curiosity and fear in equal measure. It's the same sensation that compelled the curious and the courageous to step into the gloom of Bally Rectory, armed with nothing but their resolve, and hunger for answers. In the annals of history, certain places acquire a reputation that transcends their physical presence. Orly rectory was one such place, a manifestation of both architectural grandeur and supernatural infamy.

Constructed by the Bull family in 1862, the rectory's initial purpose was far from the sinister aura it would later cultivate. It was intended to serve as a dwelling for the reverend and his congregation, a haven where faith could flourish and souls could find solace. But this wasn't a new place as such. The rectory was being constructed to replace the previous one that stood on this site. The fire in 1841 had completely destroyed the former rectory and it had taken over 20 years for a new one to be constructed. Orly has always been a refuge for Christianity.

Monks have been stationed here since 1360. And of course over the years, the area has seen its fair share of dark history. But it is one particular legend that seems to be the basis for everything that would happen in the Borely rectory. At some point, it is said that a monk started having a secret affair with a nun from a nearby convent. Their crimes against God would not go unnoticed, however. And soon they were found out and brought before the elders of the monastery for punishment. and that punishment would be extreme and bitingly cruel. Both were sentenced to death, the monk was hung on the site,

and it was said that the nun was bricked up alive in the walls of the rectory. Although she was apparently locked up alive and left to go insane and ultimately starve to death, the actual location of where she was kept would later be discovered. Soon after its completion, whispers began to circulate about the Bull family's strange encounters. Visitors to the rectory recounted hearing disembodied footsteps, echoing through the halls, as if some unseen presence roamed the corridors. The air grew thick with palpable unease, and parishioners often spoke in hushed tones of glimpses of figures that flickered and vanished in the blink of an eye.

Had the reconstruction kicked up some sort of energy, that lay dormant in the grounds of Bawley, or had it always been there, just waiting for new visitors? But it would be one year after the completion of the new rectory that the legend would properly take root. The rectory was often used as a place for local children to come and play after school. One afternoon the rector was in his study writing, he could hear the sounds of one group of children running around the house, laughing and talking with each other. He had wanted to shoe them back out into the courtyard, but thought he should finish his work first. Suddenly, the voices dropped to hush tones, piquing the interest of the rector. The children had entered the drawing room in the east wing of the house.

The room was shrouded in darkness, and as soon as the children entered, they were hit with an uneasy feeling. Curiosity or misplaced bravado got the better of them, however. and the children edged deeper into the dark room. It didn't take them long to notice it. At the far end of the room by the wardrobe, there was a figure, moving back and forth, barely visible in the shadows.

The children all became frozen to the spot, just watching this figure pace back and forth in front of the wardrobe, until it stopped. The figure turned to face the children, and in one smooth motion, began to move towards where they were standing. As it drew close, its face was illuminated, far from being a shadow. It appeared to be an older woman. Her eye is shrunken and dark. Her features pointed.

Skinny to the point of almost being skeletal. She wore the robes of a nun that hung loose over. her frail body, it was only when they realized that she had no feet and was gliding across the floor to them, that the screaming started. The rector came running to the drawing room and discovered the children huddled together, terrified. They told the rector what they had seen and were convinced that she must have been a ghost. The rector did his best to comfort the children that there was no such thing as ghosts

and sent them on their way. But something about the experience left the rector, with a niggling feeling. He headed back into the drawing room to look for himself. But of course, the room was empty. Leaving the door ajar, he turned and started walking back to his office, only to hear the door slam shut, as he did. And that was it. For 37 years, the rector lived a peaceful life within the walls of the Boreley rectory.

But then, just days before he was due to retire, the shadows of his past came creeping back. Once again he was working in his office when he heard the terrifying screams of a dozen children, this time from outside in the courtyard. He looked out his window to see them all sprinting away from the building in different directions. He rushed down the stairs and out the front door, managing to just grab the last couple of children as they tried to escape, once again, just as had happened, 37 years prior, the children claimed to see the spectral presence of a nun in the gardens of the rectory,

and this time, she disappeared before their very eyes. The tales that swirled around the bawly nun were like tendrils of mist, at once elusive and intoxicating. She was said to appear in fleeting moments, her atherial form framed by the cold glass of the window, a silent sentinel tracked between realms. Some whispered that she was the relentless spirit of a tragic nun who had found her final refuge within the rectory's walls, while others believed her to be a messenger from the great beyond, a harbinger of fortunes and misfortunes yet to unfold. A sense of unease settled upon those who dared to call the rectory home, gnawing at the edges of their sanity like an insatiable hunger.

Shadows danced on the periphery of vision and a boundary between reality and supernatural blurred, casting doubt upon what could be trusted. The veil between the worlds grew thin, allowing the past to bleed into the present, emerging of timelines that played out in whispers. and shadows. It wasn't long before the rectory found its next occupants. Once the rector departed, Reverend Gaius Smith and his wife Mabel moved in. Shortly after they moved in, Mabel was cleaning in the drawing room.

She opened the old wardrobe that was located at the back of the dimly lit room and was horrified by what she discovered. There, hidden in the back of the wardrobe, was a human skull. The couple contacted the authorities at once. They were never able to identify who the skull had belonged to, but they were able to figure out that it was around 100 years old, and seemingly, it was a skull of a young woman.

It was only once this skull was taken off the property that the Smiths began to encounter the strange happenings. It seems times of up-evil. Owners, construction, sparks, whatever power is located on the site. A couple began to hear strange footsteps around the property in the middle of the night. Odd lights would be seen in windows, and most disturbingly, they claimed to see the apparition of a horse-drawn carriage moving through the courtyard. Much like the case of the Enfield haunting be covered recently.

A couple contacted the newspaper at a Daily Mirror, in the hope of gaining interest in the case. As we've said before on the tape library, it often feels like in these circumstances, people don't know where to turn, so they tried to get their story out there in the hope that someone will come to help. And it worked. The Mirror sent a reporter to the property, and that reporter brought with him a man by the name of Harry. Press, one of the most famous paranormal researchers in the country, and a member for the Society for Psychical Research. Harry's research into the case was so thorough that we could likely dedicate a whole episode to his involvement at a later date, but on his first visit, he was simply there to aid the reporter, and on that short visit, the report that was witness to a whole

host of paranormal events. He reported seeing a dark, shadowy figure. moving through the courtyard. But when he attempted to follow it, he could find no trace of the person. He then decided to head back to the rectory. But just as he was about to step inside, a pane of glass fell from one of the upstairs windows, just missing him.

When Price and the reporter rushed upstairs to try and find where the pain had fallen from, a vase whizzed past the reporter's head. Again, just narrowly missing him, the paranormal activity grew and grew over the Smith's time in the rectory. They would only last three years before deciding they couldn't handle it any longer and move out. As the tale of the borely rectory spectral inhabitants grew, so did the fascination with the enigma that gripped the old house.

The haunting wasn't confined to mere apparitions. It extended its atherial fingers into the realm of the living, leaving an indelible mark. from the experiences of those who resided within its ominous embrace. The rectory's reputation as a den of paranormal activity reached a new zenith when Lionel and Marianne Foister moved into its dimly lit chambers. The Voisters would become the unwitting protagonists in the haunting. Their presence awakened the dormant forces that lurked within the walls.

Mary Ann, with her quiet demean and introspective nature, seemed particularly susceptible to the rectory's influence. She reported encounters that defied logic, an unseen hand that tugged to her clothing, disembodied whispers that echoed in the corridors, and objects that moved of their own volition. Yet it was a spirit's insatiable need for communication that sent shivers down her spine.

Messages sometimes written, in archaic script, began to materialize on the walls. Lionel, once a skeptic, was gradually drawn into the web of the supernatural. He documented the experiences with a mix of fascination and unease, capturing the events as they unfolded. Objects levitated. Photographs revealed strange spectral forms, and the rectory itself seemed to be a portal to the unknown,

a gateway through which the living and dead could intertwine. More so than any other residents, The foisters, and particularly Mary-Anne, seemed to experience increasingly violent activity. During the five years they lived there, objects were thrown by an unseen force. Windows were broken, and their daughter found herself locked in a room. They did not even have a lock on it. The writing that would appear on the walls appeared in multiple different handwriting styles and seemed to constantly be making references to Mary Ann.

It has been suggested that the reason Mary-Anne was singled out was because once again in Bawley, history was repeating itself. The Reverend's wife admitted to having an affair with their lodger at the rectory, muddying the facts here further. She claimed she used a paranormal activity to help cover up her own nighttime extramarital activities. After five years, the family left Bawley in shame. But Marianne's confession, did nothing to dissuade the paranormal community.

As the tendrils of the rectory's supernatural reputation continue to spread during in the curious, the brave and the incredulous, it became apparent that the bawly rectory was more than just a haunted house. It was a realm unto itself, a realm where the past and present collided in a symphony of inexplicable occurrences. This increase in activity saw the return, turn of Harry Price, a name that would become forever entwined with the Borely Rectory Saga. A controversial figure in the field of paranormal research, Price's involvement added an element

of intrigue and skepticism to the unfolding drama. He arrived armed with scientific instruments and a determination to unlock the mysteries of the rectory. His investigations, while comprehensive, were met with both a claim and criticism, as he often found. faced accusations of sensationalism and manipulation. In 1937, Harry Price lived in the rectory for a full year, hiring dozens of people to aid him in his extensive research into the phenomena. Price's seances within the rectory walls served as a catalyst for intensified activity. The veil between the living and the dead appeared to fin further,

and the house responded with a cacophony of Knox, unexplained phenomena and messages communicated through writings on the walls. At one point, the message, well, appeared on the walls of the rectory, which led Price's team to dig up an old well that lay on the grounds. Incredibly, this led to them finding human remains. Supposedly, the remains of a long-forgotten nun who had been left. at the bottom of this whirl. The nun was a constant that appeared throughout the investigation,

with mediums who visited the site claiming to see the nun, and one even making contact with her. The nun seemingly told the medium that the rectory would once again be destroyed by a fire. Sure enough, one year after Price and his team left a rectory, the newest resident of the house, accidentally kicked over an oil lamp, burning the rectory, to the ground.

The building was then demolished as World War II came to a close in 1944. But seemingly, the activity wasn't done. The construction crew who tore it down claimed to experience a host of activity. To this day, there are reports of sightings and strange events at the former site of the rectory. The activity is seemingly also spread to the church itself, with many paranormal investigators. over the years, making the pilgrimage to Borley and making the church the centre of their research, with many becoming witnesses themselves to the continued presence of the nun. And this is where the Warren's come in.

In the annals of Paranormal Investigation, few names hold the weight of Ed and Lorraine Warren. Renowned for their work in exploring the unexplained, they ventured into the heart of the Borley Rectory mystery. with a blend of curiosity and caution. Their visit to the Bawley Church, where remnants of the Rectory's haunting still lingered, would add yet another layer of intrigue to the already mystifying history. Adjacent to the rectory's former site stood Bawley Church. It was within the shadow of its ancient walls that the Warren stepped,

guided by the whispers of the supernatural. The first experience for me was phenomenal. It was really phenomenal. It's about the only place, Tony, other than going into a home where poltergeist activity is prominent, that everything happens as soon as you get involved. As soon as you walk in, as soon as you get involved in going into this church and beginning your research, something is bound to happen. would make multiple visits to the church in surrounding areas over the years,

dubbing it the most haunted place in Great Britain. The church, steeped in history and law, held secrets that intertwined with those of the rectory, creating a tapestry of the unknown that Ed and Lorraine were determined to unravel. As they explore the churchyard, the warrens were greeted by an atmosphere, thick with the weight of time. tombstones worn by centuries of weathering, stood like silent sentinels, witnesses to the passages of generations, and the echoes of stories long forgotten, the church's bell tower reached for the heavens, a connection between the earthly and the divine, while its time-worn pews bore the marks of countless congregations that had sought solace within its walls.

Within the hollowed confines of the church, the Warren's experience an encounter that defied their expectations, as seasoned investigators of the supernatural. They were no strangers to the eerie and the uncanny. Yet what transpired within the church's sacred space, left even the seasoned veterans, awestruck, and humbled. Lorraine Warren, known for her psychic sensitivities, reported filling a profound energy, an energy that she felt the moment she stepped into the church, late one night in the early 70s. The Warren's son-in-law spoke in a later interview about Bawley. He claimed that as soon as Lorraine entered the church, she was hit by the presence of the nun, leaving a powerful imprint on her that we've all the Warren's witnessed over the years,

still shook her to her core. Ed Warren, typically a steady and pragmatic presence, described in other worldly chill that seemed to seep into his very bones. He recounted hearing faint whispers that seemed to emanate from the air itself, whispers that carried with the mechos of bygone conversations, the laughter of children. As he stood within the church, he felt a connection, a thread that linked the present to the past, the living to the past. the living to the departed and the tangible to the aferial. But it wasn't just this encounter with the nun that inspired the character from the conjuring, however.

A few years later, Lorraine was at home reading a book when she felt a familiar presence. She looked up to see what she described as a black mass entering her room. She said it was like a vortex, blacker than a night. She commanded it to leave and go back to where it came from, and seemingly, it did. Whether this was in fact the borely nun, some other entity, or something else entirely,

is something that is up for debate. Both these incidents seem to have been a key part behind the inspiration of the non-character. Edel and Lorraine's encounter with the Baerly Church added another layer of complexity to this already intricate tapestry of the rectory's haunting, their experience, like those of the witnesses and investigators before them, raised questions that seemed to have no definitive answers. Did they truly commune with the spirits of the past? Were their impressions a product of their own psychic sensitivities?

Or were they tapping into something greater, the collective consciousness that lingers within places steeped in history. Whatever the case may be, the warrants left their mark on the legacy of Bawley Rectory. A legacy that spans centuries and continues to captivate the curious and the courageous. Their encounter serves as a testament to the enduring allure of the supernatural, reminding us that even within the seemingly mundane, there exists a realm of the unexplained. A realm that tugs at our curiosity and beckons us to peer beyond the veil. That's all for this entry into the tape library. I hope you've enjoyed this dive into the tale of the bawling nun. If you have, please be sure to like the video and subscribe.

We'll be back very soon with more terrifying tales from the darkness, so I'd love to have you join our growing community of archivists. Until next time. Pleasant dreams.