It is now more than fifty years since I first went to Borley. In the 1940s I read Harry Price's remarkable book ‘The Most Haunted House in England' before all the stock was destroyed in a Second World War air raid (he put the title in inverted commas as it was a quotation - that was how the house had been described to him on his first visit to Borley) and in 1946, on the day it was published, I read his second volume on the case: The End of Borley Rectory. Within months I was in touch with the local rector and subsequently the new owners of the rectory site, James and Cathy Turner. In May 1947 I visited Borley for the first time accompanied by our valued Ghost Club Society member Tom Brown and we met the Turners with whom I remained friends for the rest of their lives, in the case of James, poet, author and broadcaster, some twenty years and in the case of dear Cathy over forty years.
Since that first visit I have been to Borley literally scores of times, sometimes to renew acquaintance with friends in the village and surrounding area, sometimes to stay at the Bull, Long Melford, one of my favourite country hotels, sometimes to visit the existing incumbent or beneficiary, sometimes for radio, television or film appearances and sometimes to spend nights in the haunted place. Also, over the half-century I have contacted and in most cases met in person practically everyone who has had anything to do with Borley rectory as a haunted house.
I treasure the hours I spent with the Bulls, especially Ethel, Constance and Alfred, the Hennings, the Paynes, Edwin Whitehouse, the Glanvilles and other observers such as Mark Kerr-Pearse, Dr. Bellamy, Colonel Westland, C. Gordon Clover, Air Comm. R. Carter-Jonas, Geoffrey Motion and Flight Lieut Caunter to mention only a few, the Coopers, the Foysters, S. J. Lotbiniere and John Snagg among others from the B.B.C., Dr C. E. M. Joad, V. C. Wall, Rosemary Williams, James Ballantyne, Herbert Mayes, the Rev. John Denning, Philip Paul, James Wentworth Day, Tom Gooch, Brig C. A. L. Brownlow, Mollie Goldney, Ellic Howe, Mrs Henry Richards, Dr E. J. Dingwall, R. J. Hastings, and many, many more. I learned something from each of them and overall a tremendous insight into the mystery that was and is Borley.
Marianne Foyster's brother-in-law, A.H. Fosyter, presented me with his brother's "Fifteen Months in a Haunted House" manuscript (among other things); Edwin Whitehouse gave me one of the bottles that had ‘materialised' before his eyes; James Turner presented me with a border stone engraved ‘H B'; Ethel Bull gave me several personal items from the Borley Rectory; Air Comm. R. Carter-Jonas gave me his 1937 Observer's Notebook; the Rev. Henning gave me Harry Price's personal and hand-corrected copy of ‘THE MOST HAUNTED HOUSE IN ENGLAND' and the Harry Price Estate presented me with the Great Borley Bell that once hung in the courtyard there. Perhaps I should start a Borley Museum!
The point is, as I stated at a Council Meeting of The Society for Psychical Research in the presence of Dr Dingwall, Mollie Goldney and other researchers of note, it is a matter of complete indifference to me whether Harry Price was a charlatan of the first water or a man of integrity and honour (he was probably a bit of both) but what is indisputable is that paranormal activity was reported from Borley rectory long before Harry Price went near the place and a wealth of reported paranormal activity took place there long after Harry price was dead. All I say to any skeptic of the Borley case is to look at the evidence from all sorts of people over many years and I defy anyone who has personally and fairly examined all the evidence and all the witnesses to say there is nothing to explain. There is in fact far too much good evidence from good witnesses to dismiss the ghosts of Borley and I am happy to be associated with this first public presentation of some of the material concerning what was, I feel sure, the most haunted house in England.
Peter Underwood
The Savage Club
1, Whitehall Place
London SW1A 2HD