BOLESKINE HOUSE.

The property occupied the site of a Kirk (church) that had burnt down during a church service. The congregation was in attendance, and everyone inside died. Boleskine House also suffered a fire that caused a certain amount of damage. But not as severe as the later fires that almost destroyed it completely. Built around 1760 by Colonel Archibald Frazer as a hunting lodge. He carried on extending the house until 1830 and formed a tunnel that links the house to the graveyard.

The house and its surroundings have a history of strange happenings. They go long into its distant past.

In one incident a minister named Thomas Houston (1648-1705), had a gruesome task. Laying corpses back in their grave. After a local wizard had raised the dead from the village graveyard. Not a very likely event but it does give some credence to the strangeness of the place at the time.

The Frazer family sold the house in 1899 to Alistair Crowley. An occultist and practitioner of black magic, (dubbed at the time, by the press, as the evilest man in Britain).

The house contained evil long before Crowley moved in. But it was he that invoked the spirits that led to several demons residing there. Crowley performed rituals to conjure up various spirits. There is one ritual that particularly interested him. It is from a book called The Book of Abramelin. The purpose of the ritual was to invoke a person’s, Guardian Angel. It is a detailed ritual. It requires the person to prepare themselves, usually over several months. It includes the summoning of several demons brought in from hell also.

Many consider “The Book of Abramelin” to be the best book on magic available. It relates to an Egyptian magician known as Abramelin the Mage. First published in 1900 and translated from a French script. Written by Abraham for his son Lamech. This book was Crowley’s inspiration and he based much of his sadistic work on it. It contains rituals for both black and white magic. If carried out it could produce successful results. Crowley, it seems, was only interested in the dark side.

While carrying out this ritual, Crowley left midway for Paris. He never finished the ritual. This released evil into the house and the surrounding area in the form of demons from hell. From then on, many strange happenings occurred in and around the place.

Who knows what Crowley released? But it had severe and sometimes tragic consequences upon several people around him. His housekeeper himself suffered the loss of two children. A 10-year-old daughter, and a 1-year-old son, who both died under strange circumstances.

Another incident involved one of Crowley’s employees. That had long given up alcohol, got drunk, and attempted to murder his whole family.

A further incident in 1965 involved the then owner, an army major by the name of Edward Grant. He committed suicide by using a shotgun on himself in Crowley’s old bedroom.

The housekeeper at the time, Anna MacLaren, foresaw the incident in a premonition she had. She was alone in the garden when she heard the shotgun go off inside the house. She went to investigate but found no-one there or anything amiss. It was a week later at around the same time that she experienced the incident for real. This time the major was there with half his head blown off.

Alistair Crowley sold and left the house in 1913. It seems the demons didn’t. They decided to stay and reek their evil on any unsuspecting victims that came their way. Crowley had added to the already macabre mystery of the place. While Crowley resided at the house, he admitted his rituals and his evil practices had gotten out of hand.

In 1969 the house was up for rent and a filmmaker named Kenneth Anger rented the place for a while. His interest in the occult and the property’s history drew him to it. But it wasn’t long before moving out for some undisclosed reason.

In 1970 Jimmy Page, of the band Led Zeppelin, heard about the house for sale and bought it. Again, due to its history and Jimmy’s interest in the occult and also in the antics of Allister Crowley. He had a special interest in Crowley and it was one of the reasons that attracted him to the house. He owned the house for the next 22 years until 1992. Jimmy had planned to have the house restored but spent very little time there. Instead, he put a friend of his in charge: Malcolm Dent.

Dent moved into the Boleskine House and found it in a sorry mess. The grounds were in a state of decline, the garden all overgrown and the house in bad need of repair and renovation.

After a while, Dent started to experience strange happenings. Such as rumbling noises coming from outside his bedroom door. He experienced noises one night coming from the same vicinity that sounded like a beast of some sort. He never opened the door that night in fear of what he might find. Dent also experienced various other events. Doors opening and closing and furniture moving. A friend of Dent’s even reported an attack in the night by a devil of some kind.

But all this didn’t seem to put Dent off as he still carried on living in the house.

In 1992 the house sold. Ronald and Annette MacGillivray became the new owners. It was still in much need of repair. They spent a large amount of money on the property renovating it. It was later turned into a hotel.

When Mr. MacGillvray died in 2002 the house changed ownership again. This time Dutch owners who preferred to remain anonymous. They converted it back to a private dwelling and used it as a holiday home.

On the 23rd of December 2015, a fire damaged the house. Although most of the house was ablaze, no-one was home at the time so there were no casualties.

The house is now in the hands of an organization that intends to restore it to its former glory. It being a grade B listed building has piqued interest. With its long reputation of evil. It being a place of devil worship, Satanism, and occult practices it would be better to leave well alone. Instead, it looks like the demons are getting their dark house back. A place where the evilest Satanist in Britain once lived. A place where a portal opened up to let free hell’s inhabitants. A place where evil feelings move through the atmosphere. Many local residents have given it a wide berth in the past and still do to this day.

As I creep down the staircase
while my parents are asleep
on a cold and frosty Christmas eve
into the room I peep.

I see the shining Christmas tree
with the angel on the top
and the only sound that I can hear
is the ticking of the clock.

I wonder, is he coming?
or perhaps he’s been and gone
but then I hear a crash
also, a rustle and a bang.

And standing there in front of me
I bet you’ve guessed of course
was the very one and only
Mr Santa Clause.

Hello he said, now off to bed
your presents I will leave
but remember, do not open them
for its only Christmas eve.

Now I must go out in the snow
for my reindeers there they wait
and I have lots more places to visit
and many more presents to take.

Goodbye Santa, I shouted
as he rode off into the sky
with his reindeers all in order
and his presents stacked so high.

I looked at the presents that he had left
how happy I was that he’d been
and ran upstairs to mummy and daddy
to tell them who I’d seen.

Mummy, daddy, I shouted
Father Christmas has just been
oh, go to bed, they quietly said
you’ve just been having a dream.

They didn’t believe that I saw him
they didn’t believe that he came
but next year I’m going to wait up
and hope that he visits again.


Beryl Marsden (Gladwin) 1974 ©