Boleskine House - Inverness, Scotland
Highland Paranormal, our friends over in Inverness, Scotland, recently conducted an investigation at Boleskine House. When asked in an email from Angie Shand, (Lead Investigator with Highland Paranormal), if I had heard of the place, I was embarrassed to tell her no. On Angie’s encouragement I looked into this infamous manor, and thought that I would share my findings with you.
Originally known as the Manor of Boleskine and Abertarff, the house was built in the 1760s by Colonel Archibald Fraser. It is believed that the house was built on the site of a 10th-century Scottish kirk, which, according to legend, caught fire during a service, killing everyone inside. The house, which was built on a hillside above a graveyard, had a reputation for paranormal activities. Apparently the executed head of Colonel Fraser can be heard rolling around on the floor.
Aleister Crowley, (Occultist and Author), purchased the home from the Fraser family in 1899. Crowley’s sole reason for purchasing the manor was to aid him in performing a series of operations known as the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage, taken from a grimoire called The Book of Abramelin. The manor met the specifications as laid out in the book.
Ghostly smoke rising from the ruins of Boleskine House
Picture courtesy of Highland Paranormal.
According to Aleister Crowley, the purpose of this ritual, which requires at least 6 months of preparation, celibacy and abstinence from alcohol, is to invoke one's Guardian Angel. However, it also includes the summoning of the 12 Kings and Dukes of Hell, to bind them and remove their negative influences from the magician's life. According to legend, whilst Crowley was in the process of performing the lengthy ritual, he was called to Paris by the leader of the Golden Dawn, a Hermetic Order. As a result of his hasty departure, Crowley left the house without banishing the demons he had summoned, leading to strange happenings occurring in and around Boleskine House.
Crowley left the property in 1913.
In 1965, the then owner of Boleskine Manor, Major Edward Grant, committed suicide in Crowley’s bedroom.
In 1970, Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page, who was an avid reader of, and fascinated with Crowley, purchased the manor despite it being in a state of disrepair. Page believed that the atmosphere there would be good for writing songs. Page sold the house in 1992.
On December 23, 2015, 60% of the house was destroyed in a fire.
Highland Paranormal has published photographs on their Facebook page, (Highland Ghosts), including the picture shown here of ghostly smoke rising from the hearth of the house, which they kindly allowed me to post.
At the time of writing this, Highland Paranormal are still reviewing their evidence.
SOURCES:
-Highland Paranormal
-"House of the unholy". The Scotsman. 22 November 2007. Retrieved2 May 2014.
-Hoskyns 2012, p. 167.
-Redfern 2004, p. 205.
-Campsie, Alison (14 December 2015). "Jimmy Page and his black magic Highland home". The Scotsman.
-Confessions. ibidem.
-Symonds J, Grant K (eds), The Confessions of Aleister Crowley Penguin 1979:184
-The Book of Abramelin
-Crowley, Aleister (1969). The Confessions of Aleister Crowley. Hill and Wang.
-Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia