Boleskine House
| Boleskine House | |
|---|---|
 Boleskine cemetery | |
 | |
| General information | |
| Architectural style | Manor house |
| Town or city | Foyers |
| Country | Scotland |
| Completed | c.1760 |
Boleskine House is a house on the south side of Loch Ness. It is in the Scottish Highlands. It is best known for having been the home of two famous people. First was the writer and occultist Aleister Crowley. Then later, it was the home of Jimmy Page, the guitarist for Led Zeppelin.[1]
The house was mostly burned down by fire in December 2015. Boleskine House is a Category B listed building in the United Kingdom,[2] along with the stables and a small lodge (cottage). This means it has historical and cultural importance.
History[change | change source]
Boleskine House is 21 miles south of Inverness and close to the village of Foyers.[1] The house was built in the 18th century as a hunting cottage or lodge.[3] The house is right next to a graveyard. The graveyard was already thought to have ghosts and supernatural happenings, even before Crowley bought it.[4]
Aleister Crowley[change | change source]
Crowley bought Boleskine House from the Archibald Fraser family in 1899.[3] There were rumors of him using black magic and rituals while he lived at the house.[1] His housekeeper had bad things happen while living there, including the death of his two children.[1] Crowley later said that he had used too much black magic.[5] He sold the house in 1913, because he was running out of money.
Jimmy Page[change | change source]
Page was already collecting things about Aleister Crowley. He was reading about him and was interested in his ideas.[6] He bought the house and land in 1970.[7] He thought it would be a good spooky place to help him write songs.[8] At the time it was in bad shape and needed repairs. But, even though he had the house fixed up; he did not spend much time there. Page sold the house in 1992. He actually lived there for less than six weeks.
A fantasy scene for Page that was shown in Led Zeppelin's movie The Song Remains the Same was made around Boleskin House. It was made during a full moon in December, 1973. Page is climbing a mountain in the moonlight.
Later history[change | change source]
After Page sold it, the house was run as a guest-house. In 2009, the house and land were put up for sale. The sale also included 140 feet of shoreline of Loch Ness.[1][9] The new Dutch owners, who are not known, were using it as a holiday home.[10] It is now owned by the Boleskine House Foundation and will open to the public after it has been restored.[11]
Fire[change | change source]
On the afternoon of 23 December 2015, a motorist passing by saw flames and smoke coming from Boleskine House.[9][12] By the time fire crews arrived, almost 60 percent of the home was already burned. Flames were rising up to 20 feet high.[10] The firefighters tried to save the west wing of the house, as the rest of the building had been too badly damaged.[13] The fire was thought to have started in the kitchen, but no one was home.[10][13]
It is not known how much of Boleskine House is still standing since the fire. A former owner said that the damage is so bad it "is unlikely it will ever be rebuilt unless there is someone out there with an interest in the occult wanting to spend a lot of money."[12]
References[change | change source]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Kelbie, Paul (19 April 2009). "For sale on Loch Ness: Aleister Crowley's centre of dark sorcery". The Guardian. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
- ↑ "Boleskine House (Ref:1849)". Listed building report. Historic Scotland. Retrieved 30 September 2014.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Redfern 2013, p. 120.
- ↑ Paul Geraghty (23 November 2013). "Boleskine House". Spooky Stuff UK website. Retrieved 18 August 2014.
- ↑ Redfern 2004, p. 205.
- ↑ Case 2007, p. 98.
- ↑ Hoskyns 2012, p. xxvi.
- ↑ Hoskyns 2012, p. 167.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 "Former Home of Most Evil Man in Britain burns Down". Telegraph. 23 December 2015. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 "Owner "distraught" after Highland mansion gutted in blaze". Press and Journal. 26 December 2015. Retrieved 11 May 2016.
- ↑ "Boleskine House". Retrieved 2020-01-29.
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 "Aleister Crowley's Inverness mansion destroyed by fire". The Scotsman. 23 December 2015. Archived from the original on 20 May 2016. Retrieved 10 May 2016.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 "Firefighters called to historic Boleskine House on Loch Ness". BBC. 2015-12-23. Retrieved 2015-12-24.
More reading[change | change source]
- Case, George (2007). Jimmy Page: Magus, Musician, Man: an Unauthorized Biography. Hal Leonard. ISBN 978-1-4234-0407-1.
- Hoskyns, Barney (2012). Led Zeppelin: The Oral History of the World's Greatest Rock Band. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1-118-22111-2.
- Redfern, Nick (2013). The Most Mysterious Places on Earth. Rosen Publishing Group. ISBN 978-1-4777-0685-5.
- Redfern, Nick (2004). Three Men Seeking Monsters: Six Weeks in Pursuit of Werewolves, Lake Monsters, Giant Cats, Ghostly Devil Dogs, and Ape-Men. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4165-0057-5.
Other websites[change | change source]
- Aleister Crowley at Boleskine House
- Boleskine House Foundation official website https://www.boleskinehouse.org