If you're already familiar with the Rectory and the dining room in general then click here to skip the walk up to the Rectory

We're going to go up to the Rectory in a short while. But before we do so I have a few things for you to consider. Note that ghosts were sighted outside the Rectory as well as inside and some of you might have some reservations about getting too close to places where a ghost was spotted. And while I'm getting better at remembering where ghosts were seen at, if I forget to warn you about a particular spot that you're alreading standing at, well...sorry.

As a matter of fact, I don't believe there is any "neutral" way to approach the Rectory. Indeed, in a moment we're going to go through the gate which appears to the left of the bottom of the big tree in the middle of the picture. This was the Rectory's east gate. Note that the ghost nun was occasionally seen near one of the gate posts, seemingly leaning on it as if withdrawn and sad. I don't remember which post, if any, was mentioned. Although logic would dictate that we simply pass directly between the posts to avoid brushing into something, you should also know that Reverend Smith and his wife reported a phantom coach that came up the road and stopped right between the posts. But we'll deal with this. For right now let's talk about today's project.

One of the Rectory's oldest mysteries, the famous bricked up window, is visble on the ground floor. You can easily see much of this bricked up window behind the trunk of the large tree near the center of the picture above. Just look to the right of its trunk. You can see the outline of what used to be the window, now filled with bricks.

Let's now proceed through the gate and follow the drive to the Rectory for a closer look at this window. Also, regardless that this little walk is going to take us uphill a bit let's proceed quickly through the gate and up the drive. We'll stop just before we reach the corner of the Rectory so that we can catch our breath.

There, now that we're on the other side of the big tree the outline of what used to be the dining room window is much more noticeable. The window is in the bottom left area of the picture. It is behind and to the right of the bush in the foreground. Let's step up to the window and I'll explain why it's gotten some attention.

(Note that the tower-like structure to the right of the window contains the Rectory's front door. Also note the arched opening for the front door.)

As an aside, that's Capt. Gregson in front of the bricked up window. Capt. Gregson bought the Rectory after Borley Parish decided that it wasn't suitable for a Rector. He hadn't yet moved into the Rectory but had stored most of his personal belongings in the Rectory's ground floor hallways. He went into the Rectory one winter evening in February to try to find a personal item when his lamp tipped over. This started the fire that damaged the main stairwell area of the Rectory in 1939. Capt. Gregson never moved into the Rectory.

Note that there are a few survining pictures of the dining room. However, to my knowledge there are no pictures of this window taken from inside of the dining room.

Also, windows used to be taxed in England and the window tax law was one of the first thing that popped into people's heads when they saw this window. But consider that the window tax law was done away with before the Rectory was even built.

(Note the scale of the Rectory with respect to the previous picture. His buttocks come up only as far as the window sill. The top of his head isn't even half the height of this window. Also note that the caption indicates that the dining room was called the haunted room. This is incorrect.)

Let's discuss this window...

Regarding the interest in this bricked up window, the story goes that many times when Reverend Henry Bull, the man who had the Rectory built, was eating a meal at the dining room table, the ghost nun would appear at the window and stare at him. The ghost nun was alleged to appear at this window so regularly, in fact, that the Bull's were said to have avoided having guests for dinner.

I am now debunking the theory that Reverend Bull had this window bricked up just to prevent the ghost nun from staring at him. Rev. Bull couldn't hide the fact from his children that this window had some interesting problems so he told them the line about the nun so they wouldn't worry about it too much.

In my opinion this window had become a problem for Rev. Bull apart from a ghost nun staring at him. I suspect that this window was closed for the same reason that windows in general are sometimes permanently closed. Reverend Bull's dining room window kept on breaking. But in this case, this window kept on breaking for reasons that Rev. Bull couldn't identify. (Isn't it interesting that "Harry" Bull had noted that the family had associated breaking glass in general with poltergeist activity. Was the dining room window one of the examples that he had in mind?) But Rev. Bull certainly wouldn't have been willing to keep on replacing the window just to find out why it kept on breaking. (I also suspect that the window was mysteriously shattered on occasions when its shutters were closed.) Given the possibility of poltergeist activity with this problem window, a factor not in his direct control if such was the case, Rev. Bull ultimately had no choice but to permanently get rid of the glass. So he had the window bricked up.

The astonishing thing about this window is the possibility that the Rectory's ghost nun was not only aware of the normal activity associated with this window but that the combined imagry of this activity, including her shattering of the glass, can arguably be construed as a reenactment of her murderer dropping her down a well. Let's consider this imagry and see how it all fits together.

I presume that Reverend Bull had the dining room table positioned so that he could sit at one end of the table and enjoy the view of the countryside through the window centered beyond the far end of the table. But he had also probably learned to appreciate some curious reflections that he occasionally noticed in this window too. He actually became aware of a second table in line with the main table, the second table being a reflection of the dining room table appearing beyond the window. He was also undoubtedly aware of his own reflection at the far end of this "outside" table, a table that actually appeared to be immersed in water because of glare on the window. I also wouldn't be surprised if Rev. Bull daydreamed at times that he was seeing himself at the bottom of a well shaft with respect to his reflection at the far end of the table's extented top, fancifully thinking to himself that it wasn't that hard to breath under water after all.

Reverend Bull also pondered the ghost nun who occasionally appeared outside the window. He wondered if she might be responsible for breaking his window regardless that she never seemed to be in sight when the window was broken - but was that so surprising for a ghost? He had nonetheless seen her at the window enough times that he had also fancied that she could breath under water just like he could.

Sometimes he would also be concerned about the expression on her face. His phantom nun was a sad ghost, always staring at him at the far end of the table with a hurt look as if he had just done something terrible to her.

Let's pull all this imagry together.

If you hadn't already surmised, the surfaces of the table and its reflection play the part in the nun's charade of a well shaft. The ghost nun played herself drowning in the well by appearing outside the window, her image behind the various things reflected in the glass meant to suggest the similarly reflective surface of the water that this imagry suggested that she was sinking into. Her sad expression was actually intended for her murderer, unknowingly played by Rev. Bull at the end of the table. So the ghost nun was trying to give the impression that she was looking up the well shaft, trying to get a glimpse of her murderer looking down at her from the top of the well.

The shattering window glass can easily be though of as splashing water which, with respect to the imagry associated with the dining room window, was meant to suggest that the nun had fallen down the well. Shattering glass also used in at least two other incidents at the Rectory suspected as examples of poltergeist activity. These incidents can likewise be construed as depicting an object falling down a well.

Finally, let's see how our clever ghost nun actually killed two birds with one stone with respect to the shattering glass special effect.

Reverend Pythian-Adams speculated that the nun's murderer had the well closed up - for "safety" reasons you know. Rev. Bull, in keeping with his part of playing the nun's murderer, likewise unknowingly "closed up the well" when he had the window bricked up.

Finally, I wouldn't be surprised if the Borley Rectory legend concerning a nun who had been bricked up alive originated from the commotion concerning this window. Indeed, this window and its peculiar problems were probably the talk of the village at one time.