Borley Rectory — England's Most Haunted House Plagued by Apparitions for Decades

Borley Rectory, built in 1863 in the village of Borley in Essex, England, became known as the most haunted house in England following decades of reported paranormal activity including phantom lights, ringing bells, disembodied voices, apparitions of a ghostly nun, and poltergeist phenomena.

The rectory gained its reputation beginning with the occupancy of Reverend Henry Bull and his family, who claimed to see the apparition of a nun repeatedly crossing the grounds. Subsequent occupants reported increasingly bizarre phenomena including messages written on walls, objects thrown or moved, and strange sounds at night.

Investigator Harry Price lived in the rectory for a period during the 1930s and documented an astonishing range of phenomena. He published two books about the case that brought it international attention. During one session, a planchette board produced messages claiming the spirit of a murdered nun was buried beneath the building.

The rectory burned down in 1939, reportedly after a lamp was knocked over by an unseen presence as the new owner had been warned during a seance. Excavations after the fire revealed female bones beneath the cellar floor. The bones were given a Christian burial in 1943, though the phenomena continued to be reported in the surrounding area. Borley remains one of the most investigated and debated haunting cases in British history.