The Haunting of Borley Rectory by Dingwall, Goldney & Hall

Harry Price at Borley

The Haunting of Borley Rectory - A Critical Survey of the Evidence by Eric J. Dingwall, Kathleen M. Goldney & Trevor H. Hall (Also known as the 'Borley Report')

CONTENTS

NOTE & PREFACE

DIARY OF EVENTS AND ABSTRACT

I. INTRODUCTION: THE BUILDING OF THE LEGEND

II. BORLEY RECTORY: ITS TOPOGRAPHY AND LEGENDS

III. THE BULL INCUMBENCIES

IV. THE SMITH INCUMBENCY AND HARRY PRICE

V. THE FOYSTER INCUMBENCY

VI. THE PRICE TENANCY

VII. LATER BORLEY

VIII. CONCLUSIONS

ILLUSTRATIONS

Figures

Fig. I. Ground-floor plan of Rectory

Fig. II. First-floor plan of Rectory

Fig. III. Plan of Rectory and adjacent buildings

Plates

Plate I. The Rectory during the tenancy of Harry Price

Plate II. The St. Ignatious Medal, the 'Confirmation Medal', and the 'French Revolution Medal'

Plate III. Borley, Long Melford, and Sudbury (Ordnance Survey)

Plate IV. Aerial view of Rectory site

Plate V. The 'Marianne' Wall-writings

The Haunting of Borley Rectory was first published in January 1956 in the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research and simultaneously as a book by Gerald Duckworth & Co. The three authors, all S.P.R. members, had worked on their appraisal of the Borley hauntings and Harry Price's role in it since 1951. The results of their investigation dealt a tremendous blow to Price's reputation as a critical psychical researcher as the authors accuse him of fraudulent practices, faking and manufacturing evidence and misrepresentation in practically all aspects of his involvement with Borley. When Professor Anthony G.N. Flew reviewed the report in the Spectator on 27th January 1956, he described Borley Rectory and its ghostly associations as nothing but a "house of cards which Harry Price built out of little more than a pack of lies", a quotation which Trevor Hall, the third author and then newest S.P.R. member, enjoyed using so much that he included it in practically everything else he wrote, about Borley as well as his other literary forays into psychical research.

The entire 'Borley Report' is reproduced here, including the original plates and figures, and as with all the other online books and articles, the original page numbering is retained. The intention over a period of time is to hyperlink the various sections and quotations in the book with the relevant sections of the quoted works which are or will be available online on the website. The intention of including this book on the site is not only to provide as comprehensive a resource of Borley material concerning Harry Price online, but also to allow the text to be annotated with commentaries on the material and cross-referenced with other documents which appeared after it was published in 1956. Where this occurs, there will be a lettered hyperlink in the body of the text which will link with the modern comments in a grey panel at the bottom of the relevant page.

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