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In this article, Ellie Welsh delves into the history of the eerie Boleskine House in Inverness, Scotland. The building has been occupied by a whole range of people, including occultists and band members, and many believe it to be haunted by the supernatural. In recent years, the site was damaged and became uninhabitable, so has since been taken over by a charity, who are now working to restore the historic house to its former glory. Learn more about the peculiar claims surrounding the manor.
Nestled in the banks of the infamous Loch Ness is a house shrouded in mystery, and supernatural occurrences. Once upon a time, Boleskine House was home to a famous occultist among various other occupants - many of whom faced unexplainable occurrences over the years. After facing 2 major fires, The Boleskine House Foundation is a charity working hard towards restoring the house to its former state.
The History
Boleskine House was commissioned by the Archibald Fraser of Lovat (1736–1815) and completed in 1809. The manor overlooks Loch Ness, which is renowned for the legendary Loch Nech monster that supposedly resides in its waters. The land on which Boleskine rests dates as far back as the sixth century, when Celtic missionaries brought Christianity to the Highlands; the estate began as a church parish around the thirteenth-century, when the Church of Rome first began settling in the area. The house overlooks Boleskine cemetery, which also has a reputation, much like the manor, for its occult activities and paranormal happenings.
One of Boleskine House’s most famous inhabitants was author and occultist Aleister Crowley (1875- 1947) who bought the house in 1899 to seclude himself to do a six-month operation to perform black magic from the Book of Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage. Crowley grew to love Scottish culture, describing himself as the "Laird of Boleskine"; he also often wore traditional highland dress, even during his trips to London. During the 6 month operation, Crowley had summoned the “12 Kings and Dukes of Hell." However, before he could finish the ritual, he was summoned to Paris by his master, who was one of the three founders of ‘The Golden Door’: an organisation that studies and practices the occult, metaphysics and paranormal activities. The ritual was never finished, which led to the locals blaming the manor’s unlucky history on evil spirits that had been left behind by Crowley. As he continued to carry various rituals out, the occulist kept a diary. At one point, he claimed that he had been performing in a particularly sunny room, when it suddenly turned completely dark, which prompted him to use an artificial light so that he could carry on. Crowley later admitted that the rituals he performed at the manor had got out of hand.
After returning from Paris, Crowley didn’t spend as much time at Boleskine, and he sold the property in 1913. After it was sold, the manor wasn’t free from the dark energy that constantly surrounded it. In 1965, an army major named Edward Grant, who had bought the home, committed suicide by shotgun in Crowley’s bedroom.
The next famous resident of Boleskine was Jimmy Page - the lead guitarist of the famous rock band Led Zeppelin. Page was a fan of Crowley’s works and was quick to buy the manor in 1970, when the previous owners put it up for sale. Page felt that Boleskine had an ideal atmosphere for writing music. The manor was in a derelict state when he first purchased and began restoring it. However, he didn’t spend much time at the manor, and rather gave the house to a friend and his family to use. Despite his friend being a sceptic, he reported strange noises, ghostly apparitions and a terrifying animalistic noise that had woken him in the night. People who were fans of both Crowley and Page frequently flocked to the grounds of Boleskine. Page later sold the manor in 1992.
The house saw 2 more owners, who did not report any strange occurrences happening in the house. However, tragedy struck when the manor mysteriously caught fire in 2015; fortunately, there were no casualties. The manor suffered more damage as it caught fire in July 2019 - a result of a suspected arson attack. A charity named Boleskine House Foundation has now taken over ownership of the manor and aims to restore it to its former glory.
The Charity
The Boleskine House Foundation is a non-profit charity that was set up to restore and maintain the Boleskine estate. Kyra and Keith Reddy founded the charity in July of 2019 and became interested in Boleskine after hearing about its complex history. Kyra explains, “It is an inspiring heritage project to work on and we hope that we can do it justice.” The charity has also created a donation page, and has recently released a magazine which exhibits the progress of the restoration with every annual. Despite the paranormal activity that plagues Boleskine, the restoration team has not encountered anything out of the ordinary, as Kyra said: “We have a running joke at Boleskine. When we are asked this question we always respond and say, ‘the weirdest thing about the house is that it just never gets warm, it is always cold’. One is normally greeted with a surprised facial expression.” Jokingly, the volunteers then add: “we hope [this] will change when the house gets a roof on it!”.
“In all seriousness, however, we have not experienced anything strange or paranormal at the house or on the lands. We have had a few paranormal groups do investigations but nothing definite has come from them yet.”
The restoration project will be completed in early 2022 as the project has been pushed back due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
Bibliography
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