Page 53 - Encyclopedia of the Unusual and Unexplained Vol. 3

Ghosts and Phantoms 33

Mayerling admits that there was one inci- Calvados Castle
dent he was unable to explain. On Easter in The disturbances that took place in the Nor-
1935, the acclaimed playwright George man castle of Calvados, France, from October
Bernard Shaw; T. E. Lawrence, the famous 12, 1875, to January 30, 1876, were written up
“Lawrence of Arabia”; Sir Montagu Norman, and published in the Annales des Sciences Psy-
Governor of the Bank of England; and chiques in 1893 by M. J. Morice. Although the
Bernard Spilsbury, the Home Office criminal master of Calvados kept a diary that could
forensic scientist—all believers in the haunt- later be used as a documentary of the phenom-
ing phenomena at Borley—joined Mayerling ena, he insisted that his family name not be
and Marianne Foyster for a seance at the rec- mentioned in connection with the “haunt-
tory. All at once, Mayerling recalls, all the ing.” He is, therefore, referred to in the narra-
kitchen bells clanged as one and a brilliant tive only as M. de X. His immediate family
silver-blue light seemed to implode around consisted of Mme. de X, and their son, Mau-
them from the walls and the ceilings. From rice. The remainder of the household consist-
his previous experience creating eerie sounds ed of Abbe Y., tutor to Maurice; Emile, the
and noises in the rectory, Mayerling knew coachman; Auguste, the gardener; Amelina,
that it was impossible to make all the bells the housemaid; and Celina, the cook.
sound at once and he had no idea what had On the evening of October 13, Abbe Y.
caused the lightning-like flash around them. came down to the drawing room and told M.
He was, in fact, blinded by the phenomenon and Mme. de X. that his armchair had just
and eventually recovered sight in only one moved. He insisted that he had distinctly seen it
eye. Shaw and Norman refused to stay the move out of the corner of his eye. M. de X.
night after such a violent display of the para- calmed the abbe and returned with him to his
normal, and Mayerling confesses in his book room. He attached gummed paper to the foot of
that memory of the experience still set his the cleric’s armchair, fixed it to the floor, and
spine to tingling.
told him to call if anything further should occur.
Mayerling’s confession of pranks during
About ten that evening, the master of Cal-
the occupancy of the Bull and Foyster families
vados was awakened by the ringing of the
does not explain the extensive phenomena
abbe’s bell. He got out of bed and hurried to the
reported by Price’s team of researchers during
man’s room. Here he found the tutor with his
its year-long observation of the rectory nor the
covers pulled up to the bridge of his nose, peek-
manifestations noted by Gregson after he
ing out at him as if he were a frightened child.
assumed ownership of Borley. Since the
M. de X. saw that the armchair had moved
admitted pranksters were not present at the
about a yard and that several candlesticks and
rectory during those years, the authenticity of
statuettes had been upset. And, the abbe com-
the haunting of Borley will remain a contro-
plained, there had been rappings on his wall.
versial subject among psychical researchers.
The next evening, the manifestations did
M Delving Deeper not confine themselves to the abbe’s room.
Carrington, Hereward, and Nandor Fodor. Haunted Loud blows were heard all over the castle. M.
People. New York: New American Library, 1968. de X. armed his servants and conducted a
Hill, Amelia. “Hoaxer’s Confession Lays the Famed search of the entire building. They could find
Ghosts of Borley.” The Observer, December 31, nothing. It would be a pattern that they would
2000. [Online] http://www.observer.co.uk/ repeat again and again as the haunting phe-
uk_news/story/0,6903,416556,00.html. nomena began its siege in earnest. Night after
Price, Harry. The Most Haunted House in England. night, its hammering fist would pound on
London: Longmans, Green & Co., 1940. doors and rap on walls. The inhabitants of Cal-
vados Castle would not know a night of unmo-
———. Poltergeist Over England. London: Country
lested slumber for more than three months.
Life, 1945.
Stevens, William Oliver. Unbidden Guests. New York: The curate of the parish arrived to witness
Dodd, Mead & Co., 1957. the phenomena and was not disappointed. Nei-

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