英美民間故事賞析：Borley Rectory

Borley Rectory was reputed to be the most haunted house in the uk. The rectory was built by the Rev. Henry D.E. bull in near the river stour, essex, to house himself, his wife and their children. However the rectory burnt down in a fire started in mysterious circumstances in .

It is thought that the rectory was destined to be a haunted house from the start due to the events that had occurred on the site many centuries before. The foundation was an age old priory on land that contained a th century church, caretakers house and other buildings. a.c. henning, the rector in , discovered that the doomsday book told of a borley manor prior to , so he concluded a wooden church was probably also built around that time. The foundations contained underground tunnels and a complex of vault rooms. The rectory had rooms, was about stories high.

The most popular story to the background of borley was that in benedictine monks built a monastery on the site which would later hold the rectory. Legend told of a nun from the bures convent, miles southeast of borley falling in love with a monk from the monastery. They had decided to elope to be together, but the elders discovered their plans. a friend of the monk was to drive a carriage to help them escape. On the fateful night they were captured by the elders. The coachman was beheaded, the monk hanged and the nun was bricked up alive in the walls of the vaults beneath the rectory. Their ghosts have haunted the site ever since.