Throwback Thursday: The Boleskine Manor

Greetings, my dear friends! While browsing around the net searching YouTube videos, I inadvertently came across a few documentaries on the history of the Boleskine Manor (House). To tell you the truth, I never actually heard of this place before, let alone that it once belonged to the very controversial Aleister Crowley who purchased the house in 1899 for the express purpose of conducting/performing a series of magickal workings called the "Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage" taken from a grimoire called "The Book of Abramelin." According to Crowley, the actual purpose of this ritual is to invoke one's Guardian Angel. Not only does it require at least six months of preparation, celibacy and abstinence from alcohol, but 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. Crowley was so committed to acheiving this goal that one of the many reasons he chose the location of the house was because the grounds facing the Loch Ness (the house was located on the south-east side) had sand which would allow him to "see" the footprints of the spirits he had summoned. While in the process of this magickal working, Crowley was called to Paris by the leader of the Golden Dawn and therefore made the very grave mistake of not banishing the demons he had summoned forth which, according to legend, led to a series of strange happenings both in and around the Boleskine House.

Whether or not one believes in any or all of the tales surrounding this legendary structure, the fact is that strange and tragic events had been going on in that house long before Crowley ever lived there. The house has a very interesting history which dates back to  circa 1760. The Parish of Boleskine was formed in the 13th Century and both a kirk and a graveyard were built in the parish around this time as well. A clergymen at the time named Minister Thomas Houston (1648-1705) was said to have had the task of rather hastily laying animated corpses back in their graves after a (supposedly) devious local wizard had raised the dead in the Boleskine graveyard. 

The Boleskine Cemetary in Scotland beside Loch Ness

The Boleskine House was built on the site of the kirk, which according to legend caught fire during congregation and killed everyone inside. A man named Colonel Archibald Fraser later purchased the ranch-style house which included 4 bedrooms, a kitchen, lounge, drawing room, and a library. There was even a tunnel linking the house to the graveyard. 

Since then, there have been several others who had purchased and lived in the house. Crowley moved out of it in 1913 and an actor named George Sanders bought it. Sanders was involved in a scandal selling shares for a pig farm supposedly built on the grounds of Boleskine - except the farm never actually existed. The next owner was a man named Major Edward Grant. In 1965, Grant committed suicide in Crowley's bedroom with a shotgun. After this, a married couple moved into the house. The wife was blind and after only a month the husband walked out, leaving her to wonder around unable to see. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7uEesEj1G-g

(excerpt from The Oxford Address/interview)

In 1969, an experimental filmmaker named Kenneth Anger bought and rented the house for a few months. Anger had a interest in the occult and knew about the house's strange but tragic history. When musician Jimmy Page heard about this, he bought the house in 1971 - although he spent very little time living there. It is no secret that Page, by his own public admission (for a recent Oxford University interview, please click on the link underneath the above pic), was "very interested actually" in the teachings of The Golden Dawn and "all things mystical and magical, all things bright and beautiful."  (BTW, contrary to popular belief, Page is not a Wiccan, nor is there any evidence to support him even being Pagan to this date. At any rate, the only person who truly knows the answer to that question is Page himself). 

Page had asked a close, long-time school friend of his named Malcolm Dent to stay at the house and take care of it in his absence. Dent recalls quite a few horrifying moments while living there. Page sold the house in 1992 and it had a couple of more owners since that time. It is worth mentioning that the house suffered two more fires and the last one almost completely destroyed it. In spite of this, it is said that the house is due to go back on the market in the near future.  

The 2015 house fire

I, personally, believe in spirits and, of course, magick; however, in my humble opinion, the Boleskine House has a very troubled past, and in regards to Crowley, I believe he indeed practiced black magick there (he even admits it in his own book "The Confessions of Aleister Crowley.") Furthermore, Crowley himself admits his black magic "simply got out of hand." I have said it before and I will say it again, NOTHING GOOD comes from playing and/or dabbling in the black arts! That much, I am sure of.

So, what do you think about the story behind the Boleskine House? I would be very interested in your thoughts or opinions on the subject.