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Post by jane on Sept 13, 2017 15:37:06 GMT -5
Hello Kitty, I have just been on holiday in the Isle of Skye but back now. Thank you for asking. Thank you for that Jane, I would love to know more about what you heard about Marianne. The 'disturbed' comment matches my impression. She was having an affair with the odd job man Frank Peerless, which Lionel knew about. It is said they concocted some of the phenomenon themselves and they also ran a florists together in London. He also called himself Francois D'Arles. She already had a child when she was fifteen which was brought up as her brother and she seemed to spend much of her life seeking a good marriage. She adopted more children but never had any more, although she faked a pregnancy to snare a man later on. First day back at work today, but I will spend more time here now when I have got acclimatised to work after the long summer break. I like the USA perspective. I didn't know your beer was our lager! I apologize for the delay in replying, but if you've been checking the site, you know that Hurricane Irma came through Florida (where I live). Instead of listening to my neighbors who said the hurricane was going toward the west, I listened to the weather reports, evacuated, drove across the state to stay with friends and when I got there, the hurricane turned west and they were told to evacuate and we ended up staying in a shelter.
Getting back to Borley .... Both the mother and grandmother of the lady who showed us around knew Marianne Foyster personally. Her mother was a child then, about the same age as Adelaide Foyster, because she said that her mother and Adelaide played together. I think that her grandmother was around the same age as Mrs. Foyster and didn't think highly of her. Borley is a small, isolated village today and it was even more isolated back then and apparently, Marianne was a gregarious woman and starved for company. One of the major complaints about her was that any time people went to see the vicar, or tried to talk with him at church or anywhere else, his wife was there interrupting and talking about other things. Also, it was said that some men in the village and surrounding area claimed that she was too friendly, that is to say, flirtatious, and made them feel uncomfortable. I got the impression that people in Borley thought that Marianne exaggerated the hauntings and invented a lot of what supposedly happened at the rectory simply because she was bored and wanted attention.
Some of the others who went on the trip probably remember more of what was said, but I got the impression that one of the things that most upset the people of Borley -- other than Mrs. Foyster's extramarital affairs -- was that after the Foysters left Borley, people were told that Adelaide was away at school, but they were never provided the name of the school and no one in Borley ever heard from Adelaide again. Some time later, someone writing a book claimed that he or she had located her through her family in Canada, but not everyone believed that Adelaide had been found. People suspected that as Adelaide got older, she and Marianne had problems and that the Foysters may have passed her along to another family, or put her in an orphanage, but I don't think that there is any proof that either happened. Apparently, Foyster had lost what money he had in Canada and had to depend on what he earned and once he retired, they might not have been able to afford the children, even though by that time, they were living with the man that Marianne supposedly married.
I've read some of the Borley Rectory books and there are a lot of theories, but I don't think anyone has ever been able to explain the Foysters. They were an odd couple and it seems that Lionel had no problem with his wife's infidelities or even that she married another man, who was also married, which made both of them guilty of bigamy. Foyster's actions definitely weren't what you would expect from a vicar.
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Post by madeline on Sept 14, 2017 2:13:38 GMT -5
She did talk a lot about Adelaide, but that was probably because her mother and Adelaide knew each other as children and she passed along more information about Adelaide than the adults. I read some place that Marianne left Adelaide at a convent after Rev. Foyster died, but he didn't die until 1945 and by that time, she would have been 17 and that would have probably been too old for an orphanage because she was able to work and look after herself -- and find a husband.
Another thing she told us that I didn't know was that the Rev. Guy Eric Smith was mixed, half-white and half-Indian (as in India Indians), and he was married to a white woman. She probably wouldn't have mentioned it if we hadn't told her that we were from the American South. Brits have strange ideas about Americans and even stranger ideas about Southerners. I'm sure the people of Borley were shocked that their new vicar was mixed and that was probably the reason that he stayed for only a year.
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Post by jane on Sept 16, 2017 11:11:50 GMT -5
She did talk a lot about Adelaide, but that was probably because her mother and Adelaide knew each other as children and she passed along more information about Adelaide than the adults. I read some place that Marianne left Adelaide at a convent after Rev. Foyster died, but he didn't die until 1945 and by that time, she would have been 17 and that would have probably been too old for an orphanage because she was able to work and look after herself -- and find a husband.
Another thing she told us that I didn't know was that the Rev. Guy Eric Smith was mixed, half-white and half-Indian (as in India Indians), and he was married to a white woman. She probably wouldn't have mentioned it if we hadn't told her that we were from the American South. Brits have strange ideas about Americans and even stranger ideas about Southerners. I'm sure the people of Borley were shocked that their new vicar was mixed and that was probably the reason that he stayed for only a year.
Actually Guy Eric Smith remained at Borley for around 18 months, but from July 1929 until the following year, he and his wife lived in another residence near Borley. I knew Smith was half-Indian, I don't know why you and a couple of others didn't know that. I've always wondered if perhaps the Smiths didn't ask for the Borley assignment because before Borley, they were at a place called Great Clacton, which I believe is only about 30 miles from Borley, though all the books claim that they knew nothing about the hauntings before they arrived. I'm sure people were somewhat uncomfortable with the Smiths, not only because he was half-Indian, but because his wife was so much older. They were also the ones who brought all the attention to Borley by contacting the newspaper about the hauntings.
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Post by demdike on Oct 2, 2017 17:40:43 GMT -5
Yes, apparently Mrs Smith was inconsistent in her memories about the haunting too. I am reading 'the ghosts of borley' at the moment. Very informative.
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Post by madeline on Oct 3, 2017 2:49:34 GMT -5
Yes, apparently Mrs Smith was inconsistent in her memories about the haunting too. I am reading 'the ghosts of borley' at the moment. Very informative. I haven't read that one. When you finish reading it, please let us know what you think. I read the Harry Price book about Borley a long time ago.
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Post by demdike on Oct 3, 2017 14:39:41 GMT -5
Yes, apparently Mrs Smith was inconsistent in her memories about the haunting too. I am reading 'the ghosts of borley' at the moment. Very informative. I haven't read that one. When you finish reading it, please let us know what you think. I read the Harry Price book about Borley a long time ago.
About half way through and so far so good. it is so far objective and comprehensive. Will let you know when I have finished it. I am working on creating a storytelling performance on the topic so this is part of my research. One of my hobbies is the art of storytelling as practiced by our ancestors before the invention of tv! The living (at the time) characters fascinate me more than the spirits, who tend to be somewhat hysterically recounted at times (not by the author of the book) but by the alleged observers of them. Which harry price book? I think he did three. I am also reading the most haunted house in England by our Harry, but I can't help thinking that getting proceeds from a book was a great imperative. There was never more haunting than when the foysters were there. I would love to see what Lionel wrote in his account but it was never published.
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Post by madeline on Oct 3, 2017 20:26:45 GMT -5
About half way through and so far so good. it is so far objective and comprehensive. Will let you know when I have finished it. I am working on creating a storytelling performance on the topic so this is part of my research. One of my hobbies is the art of storytelling as practiced by our ancestors before the invention of tv! The living (at the time) characters fascinate me more than the spirits, who tend to be somewhat hysterically recounted at times (not by the author of the book) but by the alleged observers of them. Which harry price book? I think he did three. I am also reading the most haunted house in England by our Harry, but I can't help thinking that getting proceeds from a book was a great imperative. There was never more haunting than when the foysters were there. I would love to see what Lionel wrote in his account but it was never published. The one I read was "The Most haunted House in England." I didn't know that he had written others about Borley Rectory.
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Post by julia on Oct 4, 2017 2:21:29 GMT -5
I guess the lady, who asked that we not use her name if any of us wrote anything about our visit, could tell from the way that we were dressed, with all the women in skirts and the men wearing jackets, that we weren’t going to trash the graveyard or break into the church, so after showing us the grave with the cage and several others, including those of the Bull family of Borley Rectory fame, she offered to unlock the church and show us around. She was also impressed because Lee and Joe were reading the Latin inscriptions and she assumed we could all read Latin. Not many people today are able to read Latin and she seemed astounded that a group of Americans were proficient in Latin when, actually, I believe Lee and Joe were the only ones who actually learned Latin in school. Of course, we didn't explain that and she probably thought America has an exceptional educational system.
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Post by madeline on Oct 4, 2017 14:12:08 GMT -5
She was also impressed because Lee and Joe were reading the Latin inscriptions and she assumed we could all read Latin. Not many people today are able to read Latin and she seemed astounded that a group of Americans were proficient in Latin when, actually, I believe Lee and Joe were the only ones who actually learned Latin in school. Of course, we didn't explain that and she probably thought America has an exceptional educational system.
I didn't see any point in wasting time telling her who did and didn't read Latin.
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Post by demdike on Oct 5, 2017 2:45:32 GMT -5
About half way through and so far so good. it is so far objective and comprehensive. Will let you know when I have finished it. I am working on creating a storytelling performance on the topic so this is part of my research. One of my hobbies is the art of storytelling as practiced by our ancestors before the invention of tv! The living (at the time) characters fascinate me more than the spirits, who tend to be somewhat hysterically recounted at times (not by the author of the book) but by the alleged observers of them. Which harry price book? I think he did three. I am also reading the most haunted house in England by our Harry, but I can't help thinking that getting proceeds from a book was a great imperative. There was never more haunting than when the foysters were there. I would love to see what Lionel wrote in his account but it was never published. The one I read was "The Most haunted House in England." I didn't know that he had written others about Borley Rectory.
He did one called 'The End of Borley Rectory' and you could push it to three if you count the blue book, a set of guidelines for the team of amateur ghost hunters he invited to seek spirits there with him during the year he lived in it.
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Post by pat on Oct 6, 2017 19:28:36 GMT -5
I read "The Most Haunted House in England" and another book called "The Enigma of Borley Rectory."
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Post by Sam on Dec 20, 2017 1:41:34 GMT -5
I willl look forward to that. I can't get enough of Borley at the moment. I have started to write a novel about it. I find the character of Mrs Foyster most interesting. I want to encompass the whole story though, including the reverend Henry Dawson Ellis Bull in the 1860s. By all accounts he was something of a lively person.
Have you started on your book about Borley Rectory yet, or are you still doing research?
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Post by demdike on Dec 25, 2017 14:56:57 GMT -5
I willl look forward to that. I can't get enough of Borley at the moment. I have started to write a novel about it. I find the character of Mrs Foyster most interesting. I want to encompass the whole story though, including the reverend Henry Dawson Ellis Bull in the 1860s. By all accounts he was something of a lively person.
Have you started on your book about Borley Rectory yet, or are you still doing research?
I have started it, and also,still researching as I write. I started it homing in on the Foyster incumbency, but want to alternate it with Henry Dawson Ellis Bull and family too. That reminds me, I had a dream about it last night. Dreamt it was still standing and I was wandering round it. Utterly delicious.
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Post by Sam on Dec 27, 2017 3:39:53 GMT -5
I have started it, and also,still researching as I write. I started it homing in on the Foyster incumbency, but want to alternate it with Henry Dawson Ellis Bull and family too. That reminds me, I had a dream about it last night. Dreamt it was still standing and I was wandering round it. Utterly delicious. Do you think that the dream meant something or if you dreamed it because you've been thinking about Borley Rectory?
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Post by demdike on Dec 30, 2017 4:12:43 GMT -5
It is deep in my psyche. Oddly, I have been thinking about other things more, so I hope it means something. I woke up disappointed that in reality the house is no more, but in my dream I was in it, and that was a good feeling.
Accounts of those who have been in it, Harry Price, for example, describe it as cold, and rambling, and I get the impression that even in its time it was a bit of an anachronism. It had no running water and had to be served with a pump, so I guess it was quite a chore living there.
It is such a shame it got burnt. Given its hectic life though, I can’t imagine it would have been used for much. Maybe a care home or similar. I have no doubt stories would have rumbled on.
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