Situated in Essex across the road from an ancient monastery that dates back to the 1300’s, is “the most haunted house in England” – the Borley Rectory. Even though a mysterious fire destroyed the home in 1939, many ghosts are still reported at the site to this very day. Legend has it that the site itself has been host to a pair of very unlikely lovers.
Long before the Borley Rectory was built, history records that a Priory, or convent, existed at that exact same location. This makes the location full of contradiction, as the church had very strict rules of celibacy that applied to both monks and nuns. If these rules were violated, the punishment was excommunication, and possibly even death. According to local folklore, a monk from the Borley Rectory and a nun from the Nunnery of Burnes (about seven miles away) fell so madly in love with each other that they decided to forsake the church, and elope.
Unfortunately, while they were trying to flee in a carriage driven by a friend, their plans were discovered by church authorities and they were captured. The church did not take this sacrilege lightly, and the monk and his carriage-driving friend were hanged. The young nun was forced to face an even worse fate. Local legend says that she was bricked up inside the walls of the monastery where she was left to die a slow, painful death. It is believed that these two unlikely lovers are responsible for much of the haunting and paranormal activity reported over the years at Borley Rectory.
Paranormal Activity
Reported experiences at Borley include apparitions
of the young monk and nun, stones being thrown by unseen forces disembodied voices and much more. While it is believed that after the mysterious fire of 1939, the ghost of the nun relocated across the street at the Borley Church, there are still reports of ghostly, paranormal activity at the original site.
Many witnesses and investigators have documented volumes of ghostly activity at the Borley Rectory that are sure to fascinate and frighten the curious and not-so-curious for many years to come!
