Boleskine House

[+Feb82000]

Probably the most notable (or notorious) building along the south side of Loch Ness lies, half hidden behind the trees, approximately midway between Foyers and Inverfarigaig above the B852 loch side road. This is Boleskine House.

Originally named Boleskine Lodge, it was built as a hunting lodge in the late 18th century by the Honorable Archibald Fraser who was related to Lieutenant General Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat. The house was built on land acquired from the Church on a site reputedly chosen to annoy Lord Lovat whose estate surrounded the property. During the Jacobite rebellion of 1745, Lord Lovat had unpopularly supported the English. Legend has it that the house may have been built on the site of a church that caught fire trapping the entire congregation who perished, but this is unconfirmed.

A young Aleister CrowleyThe Frasers retained the house until the late 19th century and its notoriety stems from one of it?s a later owners, Aleister Crowley, the Beast of Boleskine, also dubbed the most evil man in the world. Crowley bought the house in 1899. He was born in 1875 and was an educated man, attending Trinity College Cambridge, and was an accomplished Alpine Mountain climber as well as poet, novelist and painter. But it is for the practices in the occult for which he is remembered. He was a self proclaimed magician and the press of the day reported accounts of black magic, devil worship and human sacrifice.

Unexplained (and unconfirmed) stories of the time include those of a local butcher cutting off his own hand with a cleaver after reading a note from Crowley written on a piece of paper with a spell on the reverse. There are rumours of a tunnel from the cellars of the house to the burial ground which lies below the house by the loch side. Little wonder that local people would make long detours to avoid passing the house.

What is certainly true is that Crowley left the house for Sicily in the late 1920?s where he established a commune. He died in poverty in 1947 having over indulged in drugs and alcohol but his reputation survived him and the area still attracts a cult following in the 21st century.

Crowley is featured on the cover of the Beatles album, Sergeant Pepper, but the pop music connection with Boleskine House does not end there. In 1971 the house was bought by Jimmy Page of the band Led Zeppelin. Page was obsessed with Crowley and the house once again became home to reputed black masses and rituals.

In the 1990?s the house was purchased by the MacGillivrays who remained there until shortly after Ronald MacGillivray?s death in 2002. The house is currently in private ownership and their privacy should be respected.

Below the house, and just over the B852 road, lies the Boleskine burial ground, the burial place of the Fraser Clan. There once stood a medieval church here, now long since disappeared, the only building remaining being a small mort-house. A mort-house was a mortuary where the coffined body would lay under guard until such time as it was of no use to body snatchers!

Two particular gravestones are perhaps worthy of mention.

The tombstone of Donald Fraser of Erchit dated 1730 clearly shows three holes made by musket balls. It is said that, just after the Battle of Culloden, a military wagon carrying supplies to Fort Augustus and guarded by soldiers, passed along the road above the burial ground as a funeral was taking place. One of the mourners is said to have grabbed a loaf of bread from the wagon and thrown it to some dogs. The soldiers fired their muskets to frighten the mourners before arresting the culprit and taking him to Fort Augustus. Those musket holes are still visible today. The story has a happy ending in that the minister of the time, one Thomas Fraser, followed on to the fort and persuaded the Duke of Cumberland to release his prisoner.

Another grave, that of The Honorable Jane Fraser, mentions her husband, The Honorable Archibald Campbell Fraser, 38th Chief of the Frasers, son of Simon 12th Lord Fraser of Lovat beheaded at Tower Hill in 1747. This may neatly complete the circle as it could well be this Honorable Archibald Fraser (born 16.08.1736, died 08.12.1815) who built Boleskine House. In 1772, his brother, General Simon Fraser (born 19.10.1726, died 08.02.1782) had petitioned the British Government for a restoration of the Lovat estates and the Lovat title which had been forfeited to the Crown when his father, Simon Lord Lovat, was executed for supporting the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion. A special Act of Parliament was passed in 1774 enabling the King to grant to General Simon Fraser, in recognition of his military service to the Crown and subject to a payment of ?20,983, the lands forfeited by his father. However, the Lovat title was never conferred on his younger half-brother Archibald.

me in talks with most haunted about this location going to talk to the person in charge of the house when am there to get ok from them

[starchief]

Can you give me your background to these ghost investigations you're doing.  I'm going to be opening up Starscape webcomic (actually, it's also got books, films, tv and soon music) to some more 'weird' stuff, like old paintings of UFOs, EVP recordings and things like that.

Chris

[SMEE]

My mates dad worked in Boleskine House. He said you got an earie feeling as soon as you entered. there was a corridor with three doors, one at either end and one in the middle. He sed the two end ones were shut but the middle one would open itself and BANG closed. Also......he sed he would put tools down, turn to get them again and they would have moved :017:

[Connie.Orr]

:crazy07:    Scary place    :crazy07:

[Charles Bannerman]

During the Jacobite rebellion of 1745, Lord Lovat had unpopularly supported the English.

I would take issue with this. The Jacobite episodes were not a Scotland versus England matter. It is more nearly accurate to look on them as an Old Firm match - Protestant versus Catholic - but even that doesn't totally define Jacobitism. There were both English and Scots on both sides although much of the support for the Jacobites in the four military campaigns between 1689 and 1746 which involved land fighting came from many of the Highland clans (although the Campbells, who supported the Hanoverians, were a notable exception.) As a result the word "unpopularly" (except with the other side!) is hardly appropriate. The campaign of 1689-90 was an attempt to oust King Billy and restore the Stuarts who had departed during the Glorious Bloodless Revolution of 1688. (Interesting, isn't it, how grandiose terms like "Glorious" seem so easily to come to the lips of the 1690 Brigade!) The last three rebellions (1715, 1719 and 1745) were later attempts on behalf of the Stuarts to oust the Hanoverians who took over after Queen Anne died in 1714.

Simon Fraser, Lord Lovat, supported the Jacobite cause in the 45.  The Frasers have a long Catholic tradition although Fraser, who backed the Hanoverians in 1715, had a tendency to change sides which wasn't uncommon in Jacobite politics.  As a result he was on the losing side and was captured and, as mentioned, executed in 1747, becoming the last man to be beheaded on Tower Hill in London.

[starchief]

You should be a teacher  :004:

[Charles Bannerman]

I sure ain't for the next 7 weeks! Whoopee! Off to join a bunch of demob happy fellow travellers in the Heathmount!  :021:

[+Feb82000]

had email from antix productions they would love to do  a show from boleskine house for season 13 for most haunted,now going to ask the person in charge of the house when am  there to the  get ok

looking forward to geting into the house has a tunnel that leads into the burial grounds opposite i will be going down into it

when i get the vigil fixed up will  have some spare places who would like to come

watch out for film clips and photos soon

[kiltarlity]

Yes please!! always wanted to be in on a invesigation. Huge MH fan.

Graham

Please pm me..

[BornCaley]

Someone told me a fascinating story once; (unconfirmed), that Crowley after a dinner party at Boleskine House for his society friends up from from London, brought a small mahogany box into the room and opened it. He removed a pair of white stained gloves from the box and laid them out on a piece of red velvet. His guests were puzzled and asked what they were. Crowley is reputed to have said that the gloves belonged to Jack the Ripper!

I have tried to find this story written anywhere but alas no!...only wish it were true.

Im not a huge fan oh MH, but Boleskine house is something of interest to me, so looking fwd to the show.

[+Feb82000]

got date set for location any one to come pm me

cant post date  on site  for security reasons

have ghosthunters scotland comeing with me team of  10 and tones of ghost gear

feb82000

[+Feb82000]

date set may have the mfr raido guys with us for the night

and ghosthunters scotland

pm me if like to come

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[ElderBoy]

got date set for location any one to come pm me

cant post date  on site  for security reasons

have ghosthunters scotland comeing with me team of  10 and tones of ghost gear

feb82000

date set may have the mfr raido guys with us for the night

and ghosthunters scotland

pm me if like to come

sat 26 july

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:017:

[+Feb82000]

Stories of strange goings-on during Crowley?s residence at Boleskine House are legion. There are tales of people dying or mysteriously disappearing, even of a butcher who chopped his own hand off after receiving a meat order from Crowley which had been inadvertently scrawled on the back of a piece of paper containing a spell. Part of the Abramelin ritual involves summoning a number of demons and subduing them. Crowley believed some of these demons had run amok locally, ?terrifying the natives.? The local people learned to steer clear of Boleskine, taking lengthy detours in order to avoid i

[CaleyD]

There's a whole host of history attached to Boleskine House from before Crowleys time which is far more interesting that the over exaggerated accounts of a man who was clearly mad.  Your team of ghostbusters would be doing themselves a favour by avoiding the subject of Crowley all together and looking to events prior to his arrival.