User Note: Click on the page images to learn more about each item

Is This the Borley Rectory Ghost?

A page from a newspaper article with a large photograph of an old fence. In front of the fence are some plants. Behind the fence is a dark, indistinguishable shape. Text above the image reads: "Picture Post, 1 January, 1955. IS THIS THE BORLEY RECTORY GHOST?" The image's caption reads: "THURSTON HOPKINS went to photograph the gateway to Borley Rectory -- where a phantom nun was said to wait -- on a calm sunny day. He says: 'It was mid-afternoon. The sky was clear. I wanted sharply to outline the gatepostand fence against the sky. When the film was developed this dark shadow was found in the centre -- and some people have seen the nun as a 'dark shadow'. I can state definitely that the dark mass did not appear in the viewfinder, and I cannot explain it.'"

A PDF of the full article is available here.

“Is This the Borley Rectory Ghost?,” Picture Post, January 1, 1955, in “Borley 48” scrapbook, pp. 106-7, Box 2, Eileen J. Garrett Parapsychology Foundation Collection, Collection 331, Special Collections, University of Maryland, Baltimore County (Baltimore, MD).

← Back to “The Haunting of Borley Rectory”

UMBC logo

Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery
University of Maryland, Baltimore County
1000 Hilltop Circle
Baltimore MD 21250

Special Collections Reading Room Hours

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
12-4pm

Thursday
12-7pm

Appointments required during exam period, Winter session, and Summer session

Schedule an appointment here or email speccoll@umbc.edu for assistance

Content Warning:

Please note that the items in this collection may contain imagery, language, and ideas that are offensive, derogatory, and/or harmful. The items were scanned directly from the original materials and some contain imagery and language that is euphemistic, racist, homophobic, sexist, ableist or that otherwise demeans the humanity of people.