Aleister Crowley is one of the most infamous figures in British history. During his early twentieth century heyday the occultist and seeker after esoteric truths was dubbed “the most evil man in Britain” by the popular press, denounced as a Satanist and black magician.
Throughout his adult life, Crowley was fascinated by magic. At one point he came into possession of a book called “Book of the Sacred Magic of Abramelin the Mage,” written in the Middle Ages by someone calling himself Abraham the Jew. According to the book, each person had a Holy Guardian Angel assigned to them at birth and the text provided instructions on how this spirit could be contacted. Once the sequence of ceremonies, known as the Abramelin operation, had been performed successfully, the Angel would impart magical wisdom to its invoker, so it was said.
Boleskine House
The method described in the book involved a long process of ritual and meditation which was to continue for many months. Location was crucial, said the author. Crowley was determined to complete the ritual and scoured the face of Britain looking for the ideal place. At last, he thought he had found it in Boleskine House, located near Inverness in Scotland, on the shores of Loch Ness. He bought the building, an eighteenth century mansion, in 1899. Crowley later said he had picked Boleskine “for its loneliness” and that it was “already the centre of a thousand legends.” Rumours ran that it had been built on the site of a church where the congregation had once burned to death while attending Mass. No doubt this thought appealed to Crowley who had rebelled against a strict Christian upbringing.
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 it.
Crowley founded a religion, or system of magic, depending on your perspective, known as Thelema. The central tenet of Thelema is embodied in Crowley’s dictum “Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be the Whole of the Law.” Though it is not well known, there are still practitioners of Thelema in the world today. They regard Crowley as the Father of their faith and Boleskine House as the kiblah, or focal point, of the faith’s magical energies. The building has something of the same significance to Thelemites that Mecca has to Muslims.
Boleskine House Today
Crowley eventually sold Boleskine House, though it has retained its spiritual significance to practitioners of the Thelemic faith. After his departure, the building fell into decay, though in the 1970s it was bought and restored by the legendary Led Zeppelin guitarist and reputed Crowley obsessive, Jimmy Page. Boleskine House even featured in the Led Zeppelin video The Song Remains the Same. In the 1990s, the building was sold again. It is now a private residence and its owner continually complains of having to fend of the legions of Crowley devotees who regularly turn up on his doorstep.
I visited Boleskine house and graveyard in october 2012 with an open mind and now i have no dout in my mind whatsoever that there is definatly something there still haunting the house, the two tins of tennents lager you left in the shed Frank are still there on the table in the midle of the shed, I definatly felt something when i looked into the shed like sonmething was telling me to stay away so i never went in, I walked round the grounds of the house and noticed two trees directly north of the north facing door and as I stood between the trees looking at the house I had an overwelming rush or shiver through my whole body so I took a picture with my iphone of the house, When I later looked at the photo I can clearly see a bald headed figure wearing a long coat or tunic looking toward the graveyard, I walked toward the east of the house and noticed an upstair window that suprised me as i thought the house was all one level as I stood under the window looking up I felt the feeling again so I took another photo and when I later looked at the photo you can clearly see three figure heads looking straight at me with one of them pointing towards the graveyard, In the graveyard there is an evergreen tree in open ground with a dead strip all the way up to the the top of the branches only on the side that faces Boleskine house so I took a photo of the tree and when I returned home I showed the pictures to a local pasture of a local church and he was astonished to what he saw, he thinks the tree is full of deamons being sucked into hell and he made me promise never to return to the house or graveyard.
Jack Johnes - 3-Feb-13 @ 4:38 AM
my self and a friend and went inti the graveyard and bolted the gate shut then went into the cript then heard the gate open and no one was there but the bolt still open since been studing the occult
kev - 25-Jan-13 @ 1:00 PM
Me and my girl stayed for 2 days just at the side of the graveyard in our car, we checked out the graveyard and had a look inside the old morgue late at night, it was amazing. you could feel the place.
The next day we went up to the house and looked through all of the widows, the place was stunning, The atmosphere was electric, although the carpets were full of dead bugs it only added to the creepiness.Its doubtfull though that any one stays within the building overnight, Behind the house rests a broken down shed with old tools and stuff inside, its floor was rotted and broken and the inside roof was hanging in disaray, while we stood inside we heard very clearly a hand tapping its fingers against theside of the structure. We assumed it was the care taker, maybe owner and froze, It was then quiet apart from the rain hitting the roof, just as we relaxed we heard it again, it was louder, I ventured outside to appologise for being there but there was no one there. It was wierd. We left leaving behind 2 beers for the owner and went back to the car. Later that night we went back up to the house.In the dark it felt more scary my girl Charlene got very upset and wanted to get back out of there so we did so. A few hours later as we were preparing to sleep we both felt the presence of something in front of the car, we put on the headlights, there was nothing there. We tried to sleep again, but again we could both feel it, it felt threatning, we put the headlights back on, but still there was nothing, we both freaked a little and drove away and slept a few miles along the road just outside Dores village. I think as does she that it was the coolest 2 days we ever spent. I will go back in a few months and hopefully she will come to as I miss the place, its a wierd and wonderfull place thats strangly stayed within our minds
