Customer Reviews

The Most Haunted House in England: Ten Years' Investigation of Borley Rectory (Collector's Library of the Unknown)

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The official watershed on Borley Rectory. My mother lived there as Marianne Foyster. Elaborates Foyster phenomena, including excerpts from Lionel's writings. It was during the Foyster incumbancy that Price alleged over 2,000 paranormal evnets took place. They stayed for five years: 1930-35. Concludes there were too many happenings for all of them to be attributed to natural causes. Cites hundreds of witnesses, many prior to the incumbancy of the Foyster's.

This book was responsible for keeping me up many a night. This story puts the "Blair Witch Project" to shame, in its accurate and frightening depiction of the events and history of the Borley Rectory. If you read one ghost story in your life, make this one it.

The haunting of the Borley Rectory is perhaps the most famous ghost story of all.This book is a wonderful book. But how much of what described here is actually true? Harry Price was an unpopular man-even his supporters disliked him.After his death there was a re-appraisal of this case and it was largely discredited. As Price himself notes in his book, much of the evidence provided by the Foysters was dicey-Ms. Foyster could have faked it. The actual rectory itself burned to the ground,an event often described as "possibly supernatural." In fact, it was deliberately set afire by the last owner for the insurance money (his own sons admit it.) Since no trace of the building has been left, "parapsychologists" have decided that the whole area is haunted now. They claim that the village church is haunted. I believe in "ghosts" and haunted houses,but there is a great deal of evidence against this specific case which is being ignored because the story is so compelling and well told.This story isn't as one sided as you would imagine from the reviews of this book.

My son who is 10 years old got me interested in Ghost Hunting and where to start but with the father of modern Ghost Hunting. The book was informative and interesting. I found myself not being able to put it down and gave me a few ideas in the Ghost Hunting aspect.

I love this book, I had to order it for my library! Well Worth the money!
Very Interesting read.

After watching *The World's Scariest Ghosts Caught on Tape* one Friday evening a few weeks ago, my interest in "true ghost stories" was peaked and so I scared up this volume.

Harry Price's *The Most Haunted House in England* is about a classic haunted house, Borley Rectory, which is a staple of many of the ghost and supernatural books I read when I was younger. It is well-written in that competent British school boy fashion, with impeccable grammar, restrained wit, and conservative style.

Price explains how he was invited to explore Borley Rectory, which was built in 1863 by the Rev. Henry Bull and which had allegedly been visited by the ghost of a nun and by a spectral coach drawn by two headless men. Price details the history of the village of Borley and the tales of the haunted rectory; the legend of a nun who was buried alive at the site that would become the rectory for her illicit liaison with a monk; and spooky stories from various sources---those who lived in the house, their guests, and those invited specifically for the task of research into the hauntings.

Sadly, for its status as a classic in the genre of supernatural literature, the book is not really scary. Almost all of the activities described were of the nature of a poltergeist (or *Poltergeister,* as Price would have it) in the form of mysterious sounds, teleportation of small objects, movement of small objects, and, over a period of several years, the writing of messages and small marks on the walls of the house. There was surprisingly little about the spectral coach and ghostly nun, particularly seeing how these alleged phenomena were what drew Price to the house initially.

The book serves as a documentary history of the alleged haunting, and the author leaves it up to the reader to decide as to the veracity of the stories of Borley Rectory in light of all the documentary "evidence" presented. Many contemporary critics feel that Price and one of the couples who lived in the house (those to whom the mysterious messages were addressed) established this entire story as a hoax. It wouldn't surprise me.

In short, this is a high-quality reprint of a classic, if unconvincing and not very scary, early 20th century monograph on ghosts. The Time-Life Collector's Library of the Unknown is a classy series for those who are interested in the literature of the unexplained, even if only in fun, and this volume is no exception.

Still..How much is really true!? First of all, this must be the absolute #1 Ghost/Paranormal Investigation of all time! Written in very "good spirits", humor, and British wry wit, it's the rare book that you'll without question read to the end!! Featuring a ghostly headless horseman,nun, carriages, unexplained flying household objects, eerie noises, wine turning into ink, locking of doors,mysterious written messages, etc. this must be the original "ghostbusters" story, and the author is surely one heck of a writer and paranormal investigator...Oddly, just about all the characters involved seem a bit unruffled by these bizarre unexplained activities, but that could be the famed stiff upper lip amusement of the Brits...Really a super impressive book, but not completely convincing, though I admit I'm a skeptic in any case. Possible "human" explanations could be dreams, wish fulfillment, human error, weather changes,wind (noises) faulty/shaky building construction, certain participants "playing games" on the others, an ill woman often unaccountable during these curious goings on, superstitions, faulty sensory perception (like seeing pictures in clouds), even the financial motivation to write a book, though Mr. Price is surely a terrific, thorough writer!..This book may give you the creeps,but my simple advice is to buy it here (used), and you will be amazed. Let you the reader decide...This book has even made me rethink a few things, though I remain essentially a skeptic...

First, let me point out that the building has been burned down, so don't try going to England to find it. Now, according to the book, some spirits still haunt the grounds, such as a nun, but I'm not sure how many people wish to run into a ghost nun out in the middle of nowhere.
Second, the book is an amazing piece of history in the field of ghost hunting. To my knowledge, Harry Price is one of the first to really focus on one haunted site for a multi-year period, using volunteers, cameras, policies and rules for dealing with ghost. Many of the raw information and reports come with the book and he gives a very well balanced, not-too-emotional account of the happenings.
In the end I feel he is the father of ghost hunting in which people were REALLY trying to explain things. True, there is also a few séances, but much of the volunteers and investigators use good old common sense, cameras, chalk, tape, and the Blue Book. To me this is the border, between when people just took the ghosts on face value and when people started to question WHAT was happening.
I feel a lot of it can be explained away. For example, like it or not, I think the house DOES have mice or rats. It is old, so it can made sounds and there is going to be cold spots, with or without ghosts. Now, does that explain everything? No. Yet some information has appeared after the book was published - just to a net search on the house - which suggests some of the events WERE fakes.
In the end, it is up to the person to each decide what they believe. And either way, this makes a wonderful book, a lovely slice of history.
If you did enjoy this book I would suggest getting Ghost Hunters - The Complete First Season and Blue & Gray Magazine's Guide to Haunted Places of the Civil War. I would also suggest How to be a Ghost Hunter (How To Series) for those of you who like to do it yourself.

Harry Price, through his detailed and lengthy investigation of Borley Rectory, gives us a decent set of guidelines for today's paranormal investigator. Price was thorough and methodical and had an emphasis on objectivity not really seen before or since its time. While his techniques could use refinement (not biasing observers before the investigation, speaking with experts to examine, say, the haunted locks, etc)it is a great read for those considering their own investigations. The book is an interesting read whether you're merely curious or thinking about becoming a researcher yourself.