The Haunting of Borley rectory. The story of a ghost story by Sean O'Connor.
In my tattered, because old and much read, ‘Folklore Myths and Legends of Britian’ (Reader's Digest 1973) , Borley rectory has its own substantial entry under the title: ‘The most Haunted house in England’. With a half page picture of the building ablaze, and a small reproduction of the ‘Ghostly writings’ that appeared on the walls, the entry relates the ghostly goings on and after a description of the fire at the Rectory, and the burial of some bones found there, ends ‘the nun is still occasionally glimpsed near the site of the rectory and Borley churchyard’.
Sean O’Connor’s book tells the story of this story, which is far more interesting than that entry suggests. Because he doesn’t just relate the odd goings on at the rectory but traces the lives of those involved, he offers a perhaps unintentional insight into just how difficult it is for anyone to establish ‘the truth’, either in retrospect while writing a book, or while living through the events the book describes.
Borley rectory achieved its notoriety in the years between the First and Second World Wars. As O’Connor notes, in England at the time, most old houses had their ghosts. The 19th century is the great age of the literary ghost story and Borley had a dead nun and a ghostly carriage. When the rector, Eric Smith and his wife called in Harry Price in 1929, ‘poltergeist’ activity suddenly became violent. The story became sensational news, and the rectory almost immediately became a target for sightseers.
As this book proves, what made Borley famous was not so much its ghostly occupants but a strange tangle of intriguing characters, who might have had different reasons for publicising or even faking the hauntings; local tensions; underlying racism and conservatism; complicated tangles of professional jealousy, and showmanship bordering on fraud.
O'Conner deftly contextualises the story, implying that whatever happened at the Rectory, this story gained the attention it did, because of when it happened.
While O'Connor leads the reader through the story, something has gone missing. It's the story of a story. But was Harry Price, Ghost Hunter, a fraud? Or was his reputation tarnished by those who resented his success? Were successive rectors and their wives manipulating local stories for their own ends? Were the locals playing tricks on the rectors to get rid of them. Was there ever a nun, let alone her ghost?
By the time the book reached the 'Afterword' I expected O'Connor to offer his opinion. He’s raised all these issues. Instead, he tries to be impartial and even handed. A little this, a little that, possibly some of the other.
This is probably inevitable, but it is ironic.
As O’Connor’s narrative details, the end of the 19th century saw a rise in 'spiritualism' in Britain. During and after the mass slaughter of the ‘Great War’, interest in Spiritual Mediums seemed almost inevitable. At the same time, between the wars, there was a growing attempt to put ‘psychical research’ on to a scientific footing. Humans had believed in an afterlife for centuries. If the reality of ghosts and poltergeists could be scientifically proven, then they were indisputable proof that there was some kind of existence after the body had died.
As O'Connor makes clear, Borley rectory was a test case for ‘the scientific method’. Price had made a name for himself ‘debunking’ fake mediums. If the hauntings at Borley could be documented and analysed; if human fraud could be ruled out; if Facts could be established, then the findings would be beyond dispute.
However, for the scientific method to work, the question ‘Do Ghosts Exist’ must be a binary proposition. As O’Connor’s narrative amply demonstrates, it could never be.
If you wanted practical examples of the idea that the observer affects the observation, or knowing about the observer undermines the observation, this book is full of them. O’Connor’s biographical approach casts doubt on the reliability and objectivity of almost everyone in the book.
The chapter devoted to details of Marianne Foyster's life after she left Borley, doesn't add anything. She was the wife of the second Rector in the story, and their relationship was strange by anyone's standard. Price initially thought she was guilty of faking the phenomena. She insisted she wasn't. Knowing how many men she had sex with or how many children she adopted and passed off as her own to snare lovers and husbands, doesn’t prove either right. Her story is strange, it undermines her credibility as a witness, just as Price’s biography undermines his, but it doesn’t solve the argument either way.
Price, the man who did more than anything to make Borley famous was accused of faking some of the ‘Poltergeist’ activity. His biography, as presented here, details his desire for applause and recognition, and an early attempt at fame based on forgery. By the time his story arrives at the rectory, he has been portrayed as an unreliable attention seeker. He was guilty of fudging details to make his books more interesting. He made claims he knew to be false. His scientific methods simply were not very ‘scientific'. Where there were rational, mundane explanations for almost everything he ignored these in his published work. But does any of that mean there were no unexplained phenomena at Borley?
In a fictional ghost story the unreliable characters or the unreliable narrator might undermine the credibility of the narrative. But the effect, in real life, is less clear cut. Does someone with a history of lying never tell the truth?
So was Borley rectory haunted? If you want an answer to that question, then this book will not provide it. It can’t. It will tell you who thought it was, and who doubted. It does tell a fascinating story about the characters involved and demonstrates how untidy, inconsistent, and irrational people are. With their own ambitions, needs and desires, ranging here from the mundane to the extra ordinary, they can’t be reduced to the simplicities of fiction that would bring the story to a satisfying close.
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