Meg o' Meldon.

I grew up in Morpeth, Northumberland, as a family we would go on little jaunts into the countryside, a day out at Cresswell, or Wallington Hall, maybe a picnic under Winter's Gibbet (The Tale Of William Winter). The one thing my father loved was storytelling, his children's stories about Bib and Bob the water rats was a classic that was sadly never published, and now they are gone. One story that remains with me to this day is "Mad" Meg o' Meldon, the "mad" bit may have been an embellishment on my fathers part.

He would tell us that she was a witch who drowned herself in an inch of water, she could shapeshift herself into the guise of animals, and she would jump out and scare unwary travellers on the approach to Meldon bridge and cause accidents.

I remember in the late 1980s driving through Meldon with a car full of friends and my cousin, I was regaling them with the dreaded tale, just before the bridge I got to the shapeshifting bit and a rabbit ran out, I slammed on the brakes and my cousin screamed in shear terror, great times.

So, who was Meg o' Meldon? There seems to have been an old oral tradition regarding her, I trawled the newspapers back to the 17th century searching for clues and found that the mid 19th century was a time in which old folk tales were all the rage. So here we are, how a lady became Meg o' Meldon.

It was the famous historian John Hodgson who brought the identity of Meg to the masses, in his History of Northumberland, volume 2 (1832). He identified her as Margaret Selby, who became Lady Margaret Fenwick of Wallington. It's a good tale so I think the story is better told by a journalist rather than a historian.

History of Northumberland, volume 2 (1832)

Newcastle Daily Chronicle - Thursday 26th December 1861;

In the almost ruined mansion of Seaton Delaval, situated on the sea coast a few miles north of Newcastle upon Tyne, there was to be seen, a few years ago, the portrait of a female, which, from the singular dress displayed in it, and the remarkable countenance of the woman represented, was sure to attract the notice of every observant visitor.

Seaton Delaval Hall in 1822, prior to the fire which left it ruinous.

The person who was thus portrayed was the Lady Margaret Fenwick; but if you had asked the old keeper of the hall for any information respecting her, you would only have learnt that "that was Meg o' Meldon, sure enough," for by no other name is this somewhat extraordinary woman known to the rural inhabitants of Northumberland.

Meg was the daughter of one of the principal inhabitants of Newcastle, and the wife of Sir William Fenwick, of Wallington. Her husband died early, and she was left with an only child - a son. Her attachment for her offspring, however, is the only good which tradition can tell of her. In every other respect she bore a terrible character.

She resided principally at Hartington Hall, not far from Morpeth, and there she lived from year to year, scraping together wealth of every description, and seldom being troubled in business affairs with any scruples of conscience.

Hartington Hall, photographed in 1863

She lived in the most wretched style, denying herself and the one or two lean servants which she kept everything but the merest necessaries of life. She had, too, a propensity which by no means added to her popularity, for appropriating the smallest savings of the most miserable husbandmen who came within her reach, as well as the more tempting gains of her higher class tenants. As she grew older, she became worse and worse.

She turned off all her servants save one, and she took to living solely on such vegetables as her own extensive gardens provided. But though thus almost starving herself, she continued to live to a great age; at last her oppressed dependants came to the conclusion that she had formed a solemn covenant with Satan, who had agreed to allow her to live as long as nature would permit, and to accumulate wealth rapidly during the whole of her lifetime, on the condition which is generally inserted in the bonds of his Satanic Majesty.

And so the old woman lived on, and grew richer and richer, until she absolutely rolled into wealth. But all her ill gotten gains brought her little peace of mind; she was ever haunted by the fear of being robbed; and the terrified inhabitants of the country round Hartington used often to remark her wandering by night as well as by day round certain spots in the neighbourhood of Meldon, which in after years they did not fail to recall to mind.

At last, however, she died, and had a grand funeral as could have been wished for. She had survived her son, so the estate descended to a distant relative, who very quickly made Meg's money go in ways the mere thought of which would have been sufficient in her early days to cut off that excellent woman prematurely.

Meldon Church circa 1820

But she had scarcely been in her grave a month when rumours began to circulate among the country people as to her having been compelled to leave it by the master she had served so well whilst on earth. She had been condemned, it was said, to "walk" and to sleep alternately for seven years at a time, until certain bags of money, which report stated she had secreted about her estate, were found and appropriated.

Numerous were the tales which now began to circulate respecting her supernatural post mortem appearances. The whole countryside became alarmed, and he was a bold man who dared go any distance after nightfall. There were certain spots which she seemed particularly to affect. One of these was the old bridge at Meldon, over the Wansbeck; another was a dilapidated well near Meldon Tower.

Once a farmer, riding home from market, happened to be passing over the bridge about midnight, when he was somewhat surprised to see a large black dog lying directly in his way upon it. He took his whip and gave the brute a smart cut, when to his horror, it suddenly arose in the form of a female of tremendous dimensions, who, seizing him by the throat nearly stifled him before she relaxed her deadly hold. When she did so, she flung the luckless wight into the bottom of his cart, exclaiming, "let sleeping dogs lie," and then sprung over the battlements of the bridge, and disappeared in the clear waters of the Wansbeck.

The approach to Meldon Bridge, the old bridge is long gone.

To this day there are some of the inhabitants of the neighbourhood who would as soon think of walking into a blast furnace as of rousing a sleeping dog, especially if its coat should be black. Then again, there are some who declared they had seen Meg in the form of a beautiful female, who tried by looks and gestures to allure them towards the well aforesaid, and who tore her hair and seemed to be overcome with rage and vexation when she found that they did not succumb to her fascinations.

But though everybody was so chary of having anything to do with her during the hours of darkness, there were not a few who in broad daylight tried to enrich themselves by becoming the fortunate discoverers of some of her hidden treasure. Many an attempt was made with this end in view, but all without avail; till at last people began to lose faith in her reputed riches, and gave up thinking about, or looking for them.

The new bridge, built in 1911. (https://www.bridgesonthetyne.co.uk/)

There was, however, one man who was either less superstitious, or more covetous, than his neighbours, and he was determined to make a desperate effort to enrich himself. He would look for Meg's treasure at the very time when Meg herself was known to be hovering over the places where it was concealed. Three times did the bold countryman walk over Meldon Bridge, and sit by the side of Meldon Well, at the dread hour of midnight.

The first two nights nothing occurred to reward his bravery; but on the third, as he was about to leave the well disappointed and weary, he suddenly saw Meg herself standing before him just as she had looked during her lifetime. In a moment his boldness forsook him, and he fell upon his knees trembling with fear; he was somewhat reassured, however, when the unearthly being who stood before him addressed him in the most commonplace accents, merely telling him to return to the same spot the next night at twelve exactly, when he would have an opportunity of enriching himself forever; but he was further told, from the time he left his house, till he returned to it again with the money, not to utter a single word either to himself or  anybody else.

Approximate site of Meg's Well - Armstrong Map 1769

To Hodge's mind the sole condition which had been laid upon him seemed a very simple and easy one; and it was, therefore, with good hopes of his success that he returned to the appointed place the next night, provided with a long chain and grappling irons, to assist him in his exploit.

When he reached the well he found an ordinary looking man standing beside it, who, without a word being said on either side, took the chain, fastened Hodge to it, and then lowered him gradually down the well. After sinking an immense depth, he found himself on a level with the water, of which there was not, however, nearly as much as he had expected, and on looking into it, he easily discovered, just beneath its surface, an enormous leather bag. This he fastened to the grappling irons, and giving the signal to his assistant, was quickly drawn up to the top.

With some difficulty the bag was raised; several times it slipped, and seemed likely to fall; but at last it was safely placed on the ground; at seeing which, poor Hodge, in his joy, quite forgot the command he had received the previous night, and exclaimed in ecstacy:

"There! all the devils alive can't help me getting it now!"

But alas! he was mistaken; the instant the fatal words escaped his lips, the bag slid into the well, and fell like a leaden weight to the bottom, whilst he received a sudden blow which deprived him of his consciousness; and had he not been discovered the next morning by his anxious wife, and removed home, he would probably have died from the fever which attacked him, in consequence of the excitement and exposure. When he recovered, he went back to his everyday work, like a wise man, and gave up dreaming about Meg o' Meldon and her money bags.

Meldon Hall

Many years passed on without anything fresh turning up respecting the hidden treasure; but at last a circumstance occurred which brought a portion of it, at any rate, to light, though in a manner by no means ghostly or "awsum" as might have been expected. The school house at Meldon was a building of great antiquity, and one which had suffered considerably from the ravages of time.

Some sixty or seventy years ago, as those of the children who took their dinners at school were emptying the contents of their satchels in the absence of the master, who was enjoying his midday repast, they were alarmed by a portentous crack in the ancient ceiling above their heads, and in a moment a portion of it came down, and with it - a veritable bag of Meg's long sought money!

Age had rotted the bag, and bursting in its fall, its contents were scattered over the floor of the school room, causing a fine scramble among the fortunate youngsters, who very quickly had the precious pieces stowed away in their pockets, and with true northern doggedness refused to deliver them up to their master, who was sadly disappointed when he heard of the "find" which had fallen on the lot of his varlets during his absence.

Poor Meg has now been dead more than two hundred years; but as yet this is all of her long concealed and oft sought for treasure that has ever been discovered; and it is by no means likely that the monomaniacs who still occasionally waste their time in looking for it, will ever become the richer for their pains.

Meldon Hall Estate.

The Haunting of Borley Rectory.

The uncanny experiences at Borley Rectory, Essex, can be dated through the British press to 1929 and a series of articles published in the Daily Mirror.

Daily Mirror - Monday 10th June 1929;

"Ghost Visits To A Rectory.

Tales of a Headless Coachman and a Lonely Nun.

The Elopers.

Mysterious Happenings on Site of Old Monastery.

Ghostly figures of a headless coachman and a nun, an old time coach drawn by two bay horses, which appears and vanishes mysteriously, and dragging footsteps in empty rooms. All these ingredients of a first class ghost story are awaiting investigation by psychic experts near Long Melford, Suffolk.

The scene of the ghostly visitations is the rectory at Borley, a few miles from Long Melford. It is a building erected on the part of the site of a great monastery which, in the middle ages, was the scene of a gruesome tragedy.

Borley Church

The present rector, the Rev. G. E. Smith, and his wife, made the rectory their residence in the face of warnings by previous occupiers. Since their arrival they have been puzzled and startled by a series of peculiar happenings which cannot be explained and which confirm the rumours they heard before moving in.

The first untoward happening was the sound of slow, dragging footsteps across the floor of an unoccupied room. Then one night Mr Smith, armed with a hockey stick, sat in the room and waited for the noise. Once again it came - the sound of feet in some kind of slippers treading on the bare boards.

Mr Smith lashed out with his stick at the spot where the footsteps seemed to be, but the stick whistled through the empty air, and the steps continued across the room.

Then a servant girl, brought from London, suddenly gave notice after two days' work, declaring emphatically that she had seen a nun walking in the wood at the back of the house.

Finally comes the remarkable story of an old fashioned coach, seen twice on the lawn by a servant, which remained in sight long enough for the girl to distinguish the brown colour of the horses.

Headless Coachman.

The same servant also declares that she has seen the nun leaning over the gate near the house. The villagers dread the neighbourhood of the rectory after dark, and will not pass it.

Peculiarly enough, all these 'visitations' coincide with the details of a tragedy which, according to legend, occurred at the monastery which once stood on this spot.

A groom at the monastery fell in love with a nun at the nearby convent runs the legend, and they used to hold clandestine meetings in the wood on to which the rectory now backs. Then one day they arranged to elope, and another groom had a coach waiting in the road outside the wood, so that they could escape. 

From this point the legend varies. Some say that the nun and her lover quarreled, and that he strangled her in the wood, and was caught and beheaded, with the other groom, for his villainy. The other version is that all three were caught in the act by the monks, and that the two grooms were beheaded, and the nun buried alive in the walls of the monastery.

The previous rector at Borley, now dead, often spoke of the remarkable experience he had one night, when, walking along the road outside the rectory, he heard the clatter of hoofs. Looking around, he saw to his horror an old fashioned coach lumbering along the road, driven by two headless men."

Bizarre stuff indeed, the next day another thrilling installment.

Daily Mirror - Tuesday 11th June 1929;

"Mystery light in Haunted Wood.

Rector Joins in Quest for Rectory 'Ghosts.'

Eerie Vigil.

Rev. G. E. Smith

'Ghost laying,' to amateurs, is a nerve wracking business. With a Daily Mirror photographer, I have just completed a vigil of several hours in the 'haunted' wood at the back of Borley Rectory, a few miles from Long Melford.

This wood, and the whole neighbourhood of the rectory, is supposed to be haunted by the ghost of a groom and a nun who attempted to elope one night several hundred years ago but were apparently caught in the act.

Although we saw only one of the manifestations which have, according to the residents, occurred frequently in recent years, this by itself was peculiar enough.

The Rector Volunteers.

It was the appearance of a mysterious light in a disused wing of the building - an appearance which simply cannot be explained , because on investigation of the deserted wing it was ascertained that there was no light inside - although the watchers outside could still see it shining through the window!

When we saw the mysterious light shining through the trees we suggested that somebody should go into the empty wing and place a light in another window, for the sake of comparison. 'You go,' we said to each other, and finally the Rev. G. E Smith, the rector, who does not believe in ghosts, volunteered to do it.

Sure enough, the second light appeared and was visible next to the other, although, on approaching close to the building, this disappeared, while the rectors lamp still burned. Then we left alone to probe the mysteries of the haunted wood.

The 'Apparition.'

Queer rustling noises, the sighing of the wind in the trees, the swish of disturbed dead leaves, all worked on our frayed nerves.

Then we had a terrible shock. Staring at a clump of trees, I distinctly saw a white figure flitting about in the gloom. Seizing my companion's arm, and wondering whether I should run forward or back, I stared at the apparition while the photographer frantically attempted to focus his camera, let off a flashlight, throw off any detaining hand, and erect his tripod all at once.

He failed miserably, but by the time he had disentangled from the legs of his tripod, and picked up scattered pieces of camera, I had seen the joke. For the 'apparition' was the rectory maid, coming to ask us if we would take coffee.

Then, when the maid had gone, stillness again, until, after having examined numerous tree stumps, which looked, at a distance, rather like nuns, we decided to abandon the vigil."

In the next installment, the news correspondent brings in the expert. 

Daily Mirror - Wednesday 12th June 1929;

Haunted Room in a Rectory.

Laying The 'Ghost.'

Psychic Expert to Investigate a Suffolk Mystery.

"One of the leading British psychological experts is to investigate the mystery of the 'ghost' of Borley Rectory, Suffolk.

Harry Price and Friend

In an effort to lay the ghost by the heels, and either prove or disprove its existence, Mr Harry Price, honorary director of the National Laboratory of Psychic Research, is to conduct the investigation. Mr Price is famous in this country and in America for his research work and his exposures of exhibitions of psychic 'phenomena.'

Striking confirmation of the weird experiences of the present and past occupants of the rectory is forthcoming from Mrs E. Myford, of Newport, Essex. In a letter to the Daily Mirror Mrs Myford reveals that forty three years ago, when she was a maid at the rectory, similar phenomena were quite openly discussed in the rectory and neighbourhood.

'Much of my youth was spent in Borely and district, with my grandparents,' writes Mrs Myford, 'and it was common talk that the rectory was haunted.' 

'Many people declared that they had seen figures walking at the bottom of the garden. I once worked at the rectory, forty three years ago, as an under nursemaid, but I only stayed there a month, because the place was so weird.'

Something In Slippers.

'The other servants told me my bedroom was haunted, but I took little notice of them because I knew two of the ladies of the house had been sleeping there before me. But when I had been there a fortnight something awakened me in the dead of night. Someone was walking down the passage towards the door of my room, and the sound they made suggested that the were wearing slippers.

As the head nurse always called me at six o'clock, I thought it must be she, but nobody entered the room, and I suddenly thought of the 'ghost.' The next morning I asked the other four maids if they had come to my room, and they all said they had not and tried to laugh me out of it.

Borley Rectory Drawing Room

But I was convinced that somebody or something in slippers had been along that corridor, and finally I became so nervous that I left. My grandparents would never let me pass the building after dark, and I would never venture into the garden or the wood at dusk.'"

The vigil of the Psychic Researcher.

Daily Mirror - Friday 14th June 1929;

Weird Night in 'Haunted House.'

Strange Rappings.

"There can no longer be any doubt that Borley Rectory is the scene of some remarkable incidents.

Last night Mr Harry Price, director of the National Laboratory for Psychical Research, his secretary, Miss Lucy Kaye, the Rev. G. E. Smith, rector of Borley, Mrs Smith and myself were witnesses to a series of remarkable happenings.

All these things occurred without assistance of any medium or any kind of apparatus, and Mr Price, who is a research expert not a spiritualist, expressed himself puzzled and astonished at the results. To give the phenomena a thorough test, however, he is arranging for a seance to be held in the rectory with the aid of a prominent London medium. 

The first remarkable happening was the dark figure I saw in the garden. We were standing in the summer house at dusk watching the lawn, when I saw the 'apparition' which so many claim to have seen, but owing to the deep shadows it was impossible for one to discern any definite shape or attire.

Sunday Sun (Newcastle) - Sunday 22nd December 1929 

Falling Glass.

But something certainly moved along the path on the other side of the lawn, and although I immediately ran across to investigate, it had vanished when I reached the spot. Then, as we strolled towards the rectory discussing the figure, there came a terrific crash, and a pane of glass from the roof of a porch hurtled to the ground.

We ran inside and upstairs to inspect the rooms immediately over the porch, but found nobody.

A few seconds later we were descending the stairs, Miss Kaye leading and Mr Price behind me, when something flew past my head, hit an iron stove in the hall, and shattered.

With our flashlamps we inspected the broken pieces and found them to be sections of a red vase which, with its companion, had been standing on the mantlepiece of what is known as the blue room and which we had just searched.

Mr Price was the only person behind me and he could not have thrown the vase at such an angle to pass my head and hit the stove below.

Raps On Mirror.

We sat on the stairs in darkness for a few minutes and just as I turned to Mr Price to ask him whether we had waited long enough something hit my head. This turned out to be a common mothball, and had dropped from apparently the same place as the vase.

I laughed at the idea of a spirit throwing mothballs about, but Mr Price said that such methods of attracting attention were not unfamiliar to investigators.

Finally came the most astonishing event of the night. From one o'clock until nearly four this morning all of us, including the rector and his wife, actually questioned the spirit or whatever it was and received at times the most emphatic answers.

A cake of soap on the washstand was lifted and thrown heavily onto a china jug standing on the floor with such force that the soap was deeply marked. All of us were at he other end of the room when this happened. Our questions which we asked out loud, were answered by raps apparently made on the back of a mirror in the room, and it must be remembered that no medium or spiritualist was present."

Daily Mirror - Saturday 15th June 1929;

Seance Held in Haunted House.

How Questions Were Asked and Answered.

"An informal seance at the 'haunted' Borley Rectory as a preliminary to an orthodox one with a medium produced astonishing results. This took place in the presence of the rector and his wife, Mr Price, Miss Lucy Kaye, and myself.

Mysterious replies to our questions were given by means of one, two or three raps on the back of a mirror in the room. Light in the room made no difference.

The replies came clearly and distinctly. At times we lit the lamp and sat around the mirror, with everybody in the room in full sight, but there was no hesitation about the answers.

Emphatic Yes.

The only unsatisfactory feature was our inability to get a complete message by spelling out the alphabet; the 'spirit' was either a bad scholar or was speaking in Hindustani.  Our first attempts were naturally to ascertain the identity of the rapper. We asked if it were the nun in the legend or one of the grooms, and a single rap denoting 'no' was the reply.

Rev. H. Bull

Then I suggested to Mr Price that he should ask whether it were the Rev. H. Bull, the late rector. I had hardly finished the name when three hurried taps came on the mirror, which meant an emphatic 'yes.'

The following dialogue then took place, sometimes with the lamp lit, sometimes in darkness; 

'Is it your footsteps one heard in this house?' - 'Yes.'

'Do you wish to worry or annoy anybody here?' - 'No.'

'Do you object to anybody now living in the house?' - 'No.'

Smoking During Seance.

'Do you merely wish to attract attention?' -'Yes.'

'Are you worried about something that you should have done when you were alive?' -'No.'

'If we had a medium here, do you think you could tell us what is the matter?' - 'Yes.'

Here followed a series of questions dealing with the late Mr Bull's private affairs, to which no answer at all was received. The whole proceeding was entirely informal, and we even smoked and chatted as if we were in the rectory drawing room instead of the  room that is supposed to be haunted.

The worst part about these 'manifestations', from the rectors point of view, is that Borley is fast becoming a showplace for the whole of Suffolk and Essex. Crowds of visitors arrive on foot and by motor car to see the alleged haunted house."

The Daily Mirror's last article on the subject of Borley Rectory came on the 17th June.

Harry Price

Daily Mirror - Monday 17th June 1929;

Shy Ghost of Borley Rectory.

Rowdy Visitors.

"Borley's ghost failed to rise to the occasion at the specially arranged seance in the now famous rectory. While apparently willing to demonstrate at an informal sitting, it flatley declined to exhibit itself before two mediums brought down specially from London.

Mr C. Glover Botham and Mr Harry Collard, the mediums, waited anxiously for some phenomena to occur, and sat sometimes in darkness and sometimes with the lamp lighted. The rectory continues to receive the unwelcome attentions of hundreds of curious people, and at night the headlights of their cars may be seen for miles around.

Rectors Appeal.

One 'enterprising' firm even ran a motorcoach to the rectory, inviting the public to 'come and see the Borley ghost', while cases of rowdyism were frequent, the noise at times being plainly heard inside the rectory.

'I have no intention of forsaking the rectory because of what has happened,' the Rev. G. E. Smith told me today, 'but may I appeal to people to be a little more considerate when they come here?'

In view of the fact that according to the answers received at the first informal 'seance', the 'spirit' was that of the Rev. H. Bull, the late rector of Borley, the following letter is interesting;-

'In 1922 I resided for some weeks at the rectory with the Rev. H. Bull,' writes Mr J. Harley of Nottingham Place W1 'and I distinctly recall him assuring me that on many occasions he had personal communications with spirits.

In his opinion the only way for a spirit if ignored, to get into touch with the living persons, was by means of manifestation causing some violent physical reaction, such as the breaking of glass or shattering of other and similar material elements.

The rector also declared that on his death, if he were discontented, he would adopt this method of communicating with the inhabitants of the rectory.'"

The Smiths and the Foysters relax in the garden.

The Smiths left Borley Rectory in the July of 1929 and the building was left empty for a while. Between 1930 to 1935 the Rev. Foyster and family moved in, they experienced a variety of poltergeist activity during their time there, all of their experiences were recorded and sent on to Harry Price.

Throughout the 1930's Borley Rectory was a magnet for all those interested in the supernatural. Between 1935 and 1937 the rectory was empty, Harry Price eventually took over a year long rental of the property in May 1937 to carry on his investigation.

Price took out an advertisement in The Times for "responsible persons of leisure and intelligence" to work shifts observing and recording and paranormal activity. More of the same occurred, a nun called Marianne was contacted through a seance session. Another spirit called Sunex Amures was contacted who gave a threatening response, the bones of a murder victim would be found, and apparently the rectory would be burnt down at 9 o'clock on the night of the 27th March 1938, it wasn't.

Fire!

On the 27th February 1939 Captain W. H. Gregson moved into the rectory, while unpacking boxes he had an accident.........

Nottingham Evening Post - Tuesday 28th February 1939.

Capt. W. H. Gregson

No Ghost This Time.

Most Haunted House On Fire.

"Borley Rectory, Sudbury, Suffolk, reputed to be 'the most haunted house in England,' was badly damaged by fire today.

An oil lamp was upset in the main hall, and before the fire brigade arrived the ground floor and upper storeys were involved. For the last 50 years there have been reports of strange happenings at the rectory. The figure of a nun passing through the rooms, strange lights in windows, and articles of furniture moving, have been frequently reported.

Because of these happenings it has been untenanted since 1930, and has only just been reopened. (Not so, as we have seen.) In 1927 the University of London Council for Psychical Investigation took over the house for several months, but never solved the mystery. (1937, and it was Laboratory of Psychic Research!)

Mr Harry Price, secretary of the council, afterwards stated 'as a scientist I can guarantee you a ghost.'"

The house was ruined, the roof had fallen in and the damage was beyond repair, in May 1939 a well attended psychic fete arranged by the London Ghost Club was held in the grounds, the event was covered by the BBC.

In September 1939 the second world war broke out and the public's attention was drawn away from ghostly manifestations. In 1943 two bones that were thought to be the remains of a young woman were found in the cellar and given a Christian burial, many thought they were the bones of a pig, in 1944 the rectory was demolished.

In 1946 Price would publish his findings in his book "The End Of Borley Rectory." On the 29th March 1948 Harry Price died, almost immediately doubters of his investigations surfaced, accusing him of faking his findings and embellishing his descriptions of paranormal activity. Books refuting the findings of Price have been published ever since.

But the legend of Borley Rectory was not finished. 

Chelmsford Chronicle - Friday 26th August 1949.

The Vanishing Lady.

New Ghost Seen At Borley Rectory.

"Another ghost has been seen at Borley Rectory, by a clergyman waiting to conduct a funeral service. He said he had been waiting in the vestry and then went to the west door to look for the Rector.

As he walked towards the porch he saw the figure of a girl of about 20, with a black veil over her face. As he looked at her she vanished.

The Rev. A. C. Henning, Rector of Borley, said on Tuesday that hitherto this other clergyman had disbelieved stories that Borley was haunted. On the same day it was found that the key, kept hidden in the pupit, had been moved."

The site of Borley Rectory remains a peculiar place, whether it is the history embedded in our conscious or something a bit more unreal is one I'll leave to the individual reading this, for me, I visited the area many years ago and wasn't unhappy to leave, I wanted to explore the place as I'd read about it as a child in The World Of The Unknown; Ghosts, but there was an unwelcoming ambience, maybe it was just me, who knows.