Poltergeist. United Kingdom

The first paranormal events at Borley Rectory reportedly occurred in about 1863, since a few locals later remembered having heard unexplained footsteps within the house at about that time. On 28 July 1900, four of Bull's daughters saw what they thought was the ghost of a nun at twilight, about 40 yards (37 m) from the house; they tried to talk to it, but it disappeared as they got closer.[10] Local organist Ernest Ambrose later said that the Bull family were "very convinced that they had seen an apparition on several occasions".[11] Various people claimed to have witnessed a variety of puzzling incidents, such as a phantom coach driven by two headless horsemen, during the next four decades. Bull died in 1892 and his son, the Reverend Henry ("Harry") Foyster Bull, took over the parish.[12]

Upon Harry Bull's death on 9 June 1927, Borley Rectory became vacant.[13] In the following year, on 2 October,[14] the Reverend Guy Eric Smith and his wife moved into the house. Soon after moving in, Smith's wife, while cleaning out a cupboard, reportedly came across a brown paper package containing the skull of a young woman.[15] Shortly after the family reported a variety of incidents, including the sounds of servant bells ringing despite their being disconnected, lights appearing in windows and unexplained footsteps. In addition, Smith's wife believed she saw a horse-drawn carriage at night.

The Smiths contacted the Daily Mirror newspaper asking to be put in touch with the Society for Psychical Research (SPR). On 10 June 1929 the newspaper sent a reporter, who promptly wrote the first in a series of articles detailing the mysteries of Borley Rectory. The paper also arranged for Harry Price, a paranormal researcher, to make his first visit to the house. He arrived on 12 June[16] and immediately phenomena of a new kind appeared, such as the throwing of stones, a vase and other objects. "Spirit messages" were tapped out from the frame of a mirror. As soon as Price left, these occurrences ceased. Smith's wife later maintained that she suspected Price, an expert conjurer, of falsifying the phenomena.[17]

The Smiths left Borley on 14 July 1929, and the parish had some difficulty in finding a replacement. On 16 October 1930, the Reverend Lionel Algernon Foyster (1878–1945), a first cousin of the Bulls, and his wife Marianne (1899–1992) moved into the house[14] along with their adopted daughter Adelaide.[18] Foyster wrote an account of various strange incidents that occurred between the time his family moved in and October 1935, which was sent to Price. These included bell-ringing, windows shattering, the throwing of stones and bottles, wall-writing and the locking of Adelaide in a room with no key. Marianne reported to her husband a whole range of poltergeist phenomena that included her being thrown from her bed.[19] On one occasion, Adelaide was attacked by "something horrible".[20] Foyster tried twice to conduct an exorcism, but his efforts were fruitless; in the middle of the first exorcism, he was struck in the shoulder by a fist-size stone.

Because of coverage of the case by the Daily Mirror, these incidents attracted the attention of several paranormal researchers, who after investigation were unanimous in suspecting that they were caused, consciously or unconsciously, by Marianne. She later said that she felt that some of the incidents were caused by her husband in concert with one of the psychic researchers, but other events appeared to her to be genuine paranormal phenomena. Marianne later admitted that she was having a sexual relationship with a lodger named Frank Pearless,[21][a] and that she used paranormal explanations to cover up her liaisons.[22]

The Foyster family left Borley in October 1935 as a result of Lionel Foyster's ill health.