WEBVTT - Season 01 Episode 10: The Spaces That Linger (RERUN) 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:03.360 Hello, it's Richard mc lean smith here. Due to the 0:00:03.400 --> 0:00:06.640 recent arrival of another Minnie mc lean Smith, there'll be 0:00:06.640 --> 0:00:09.480 a slight pause on new episodes, so for the next 0:00:09.480 --> 0:00:12.640 two weeks will be dipping back into the vaults, before 0:00:12.680 --> 0:00:16.320 continuing rather aptly with the next episode of season eight 0:00:16.640 --> 0:00:21.160 on Friday, the thirteenth of June. This week, we're heading 0:00:21.200 --> 0:00:25.520 back to season one, episode ten. The world of Horror 0:00:25.600 --> 0:00:30.240 is littered with unnerving locations, places that both draw from 0:00:30.440 --> 0:00:34.800 and have in turn seeped into the public imagination. For many. 0:00:35.159 --> 0:00:38.680 There is one place in particular that continues to fascinate 0:00:38.840 --> 0:00:43.120 like no other in the UK. With its combination of mystery, 0:00:43.640 --> 0:00:47.960 intrigue and its atmospheric location. You couldn't make up a 0:00:48.000 --> 0:00:55.400 better setting the place Burleskin House. This is unexplained Season 0:00:55.440 --> 0:01:11.840 one episode ten, The Spaces that Linger. The world of 0:01:11.880 --> 0:01:17.160 Horror is littered with unnerving locations, places that both draw 0:01:17.280 --> 0:01:20.800 from and have in turn seeped into the public imagination. 0:01:22.560 --> 0:01:25.440 Perhaps the most symbolic of them all being the forest, 0:01:26.080 --> 0:01:29.800 the archetypal liminal space of what Joseph Campbell termed the 0:01:29.840 --> 0:01:34.760 hero's journey. Not only is the forest dark and mysterious, 0:01:35.319 --> 0:01:38.399 but it is of course profoundly symbolic, being as it 0:01:38.520 --> 0:01:43.720 is a manifestation of our deep unconscious. As we venture 0:01:43.760 --> 0:01:47.080 deeper into the forest, so too do we journey deeper 0:01:47.120 --> 0:01:51.040 into ourselves in our quest to confront our greatest fears, 0:01:51.240 --> 0:01:56.880 before with any luck, ultimately emerging victorious and changed. But 0:01:56.960 --> 0:01:59.920 for all the creatures and the hidden and unknoble fears 0:02:00.080 --> 0:02:03.040 we might discover along the way, the forest, in a 0:02:03.120 --> 0:02:07.560 sense remains a space that is our own, those fears 0:02:07.600 --> 0:02:14.079 within our own to decipher and overcome. Far more chilling, therefore, 0:02:14.360 --> 0:02:17.400 are the places that, when entering, we find ourselves crossing 0:02:17.400 --> 0:02:20.400 a threshold into a world that is very much not 0:02:20.760 --> 0:02:24.840 our own, Places where no longer are we at the 0:02:24.880 --> 0:02:29.519 whim of our darkest unconscious, but rather that of somebody else's. 0:02:30.800 --> 0:02:34.120 God forbid you ever find yourself checking into the Bates Motel, 0:02:34.480 --> 0:02:37.800 as found in Robert Box's Psycho, or stumbling into the 0:02:37.800 --> 0:02:41.799 family home of leather Face, so disturbingly depicted in Toby 0:02:41.840 --> 0:02:47.640 Hooper's mesmerizingly deranged Texas Chainsaw Massacre. What both stories have 0:02:47.760 --> 0:02:51.200 in common is a location so inextricably linked to the 0:02:51.240 --> 0:02:55.560 bad guys as to be almost inseparable from them. There 0:02:55.600 --> 0:02:58.720 is the sense that even when empty, the locations will 0:02:58.760 --> 0:03:04.840 somehow incubate the things that have happened inside. Both stories, incidentally, 0:03:05.080 --> 0:03:07.680 were partly based on the life of murderer ed Gean, 0:03:08.080 --> 0:03:12.320 whose proclivity for manufacturing ornaments and furniture from human bone 0:03:12.360 --> 0:03:16.120 and skin continues to shock the world almost sixty years 0:03:16.160 --> 0:03:21.040 after the event. After Gene's conviction, it was decided that 0:03:21.120 --> 0:03:24.960 his house should be torn down. So incapable with the 0:03:25.000 --> 0:03:28.400 local community from separating the location from the events that 0:03:28.400 --> 0:03:31.240 had taken place inside, there was no other option but 0:03:31.320 --> 0:03:36.760 to remove it entirely. A similar theme emerges in many 0:03:36.800 --> 0:03:41.000 cases of alleged domestic supernatural disturbances, such as those that 0:03:41.040 --> 0:03:44.320 took place at thirty East Drive in Pontefract or at 0:03:44.400 --> 0:03:48.560 number two eight four Green Street in Enfield. In these 0:03:48.600 --> 0:03:51.720 stories we find the recurring notion that any new resident 0:03:51.800 --> 0:03:55.200 of the property is merely an invader occupying a space 0:03:55.400 --> 0:04:00.080 that isn't theirs to occupy. At times, it might it 0:04:00.080 --> 0:04:03.040 seems that in some way or another the property has 0:04:03.080 --> 0:04:08.280 developed a soul all of its own. For many there 0:04:08.320 --> 0:04:11.400 is one place in particular that continues to fascinate like 0:04:11.480 --> 0:04:15.600 no other in the UK for its combination of mystery, 0:04:16.000 --> 0:04:20.360 intrigue and atmospheric location. You couldn't concoct a better setting 0:04:21.320 --> 0:04:28.520 the name Burleskin House you're listening to unexplained in dime 0:04:29.000 --> 0:04:40.360 Richard MacLean Smith. The story of Bileskin House is inseparable 0:04:40.480 --> 0:04:43.919 from that of its most infamous former resident, Alister Crowley. 0:04:44.760 --> 0:04:48.080 It was a very particular journey that brought Crowley to Buleskin, 0:04:48.480 --> 0:04:51.520 and it begins a short time before midnight on the 0:04:51.520 --> 0:04:55.640 twelfth of October eighteen seventy five with his birth in 0:04:55.760 --> 0:05:01.919 Royal Leamington, Spa, England. Crowley, who was christened Edward Alexander, 0:05:02.360 --> 0:05:04.680 was the first of two children born to Edward and 0:05:04.760 --> 0:05:08.880 Emily Crowley. Their second, a baby girl, would arrive five 0:05:08.960 --> 0:05:12.360 years later, but would tragically die after only five hours 0:05:12.400 --> 0:05:17.560 of life. The family was devoutly religious and belonged to 0:05:17.600 --> 0:05:21.760 a Christian sect known as the Plymouth Brethren. The sect 0:05:21.880 --> 0:05:24.200 were renowned for their belief in the literal truth of 0:05:24.240 --> 0:05:27.800 the Bible and their puritanical attitude toward sin and the 0:05:27.920 --> 0:05:31.800 dangers of temptation. It was into this deeply rigid and 0:05:31.880 --> 0:05:36.400 conservative environment that Crowley was brought up, an environment which 0:05:36.440 --> 0:05:39.640 many believe contributed to his utter rejection of all such 0:05:39.720 --> 0:05:44.400 beliefs in later life. Owing to his share in the 0:05:44.480 --> 0:05:48.440 lucrative family brewing business, Crowley's father, Edward, had been able 0:05:48.520 --> 0:05:51.640 to take an early retirement, and as such divided most 0:05:51.640 --> 0:05:54.479 of his time between his family and volunteering as a 0:05:54.480 --> 0:05:59.920 traveling preacher for the Sect. Despite the socially claustrophobic upbringing 0:06:00.200 --> 0:06:05.520 and unhappy childhood, Crowley was utterly devoted to Edward. In 0:06:05.600 --> 0:06:09.159 March eighteen eighty seven, Crowley was devastated when his father 0:06:09.279 --> 0:06:12.880 died after a short battle with cancer. The young Allister 0:06:13.240 --> 0:06:16.240 was only eleven years old, and the death would prove 0:06:16.320 --> 0:06:20.960 to be a significant turning point in his life. Crowley's 0:06:21.000 --> 0:06:24.040 sorrow at the loss of his father soon morphed into anger, 0:06:24.320 --> 0:06:26.880 as Crowley began attacking the very thing that had made 0:06:26.920 --> 0:06:30.400 his life such a misery, rejecting what he saw as 0:06:30.440 --> 0:06:36.320 the zealous and authoritarian scourge of Christianity. In the years 0:06:36.360 --> 0:06:39.000 that followed, it would seem that Crowley had developed a 0:06:39.000 --> 0:06:42.560 pathological yearning to commit the sins he had so studiously 0:06:42.720 --> 0:06:48.160 been warned against. He started to experiment sexually, dabbled with debauchery, 0:06:48.400 --> 0:06:51.440 and took any opportunity to point out what he considered 0:06:51.560 --> 0:06:54.679 to be the many inconsistencies in the Bible to anyone 0:06:54.680 --> 0:06:58.800 who would listen. Crowley had the sense that he was 0:06:58.839 --> 0:07:01.680 searching for something, but it wasn't until he arrived at 0:07:01.720 --> 0:07:05.360 Cambridge University that the pieces began to shift into place. 0:07:07.680 --> 0:07:10.800 At some point, Crowley had become interested in the occult, 0:07:11.320 --> 0:07:15.240 in particular the study of ritual magic, an enthusiasm that 0:07:15.360 --> 0:07:18.320 was piqued after he read A. E. Waits's The Book 0:07:18.360 --> 0:07:22.920 of Black Magic and Pacts. An acute interest in alchemy 0:07:23.080 --> 0:07:26.520 brought him into contact with British chemist and occultist George 0:07:26.520 --> 0:07:30.400 Cecil Jones, who in turn introduced Crowley to the Hermetic 0:07:30.520 --> 0:07:35.240 Order of the Golden Dawn. The Order had been established 0:07:35.240 --> 0:07:38.200 in eighteen eighty eight and was led by the charismatic 0:07:38.520 --> 0:07:43.320 Samuel Liddell mac Gregor Mathers. Some of you may remember 0:07:43.320 --> 0:07:45.720 that it was to Maths that the Alpha and Omega 0:07:45.760 --> 0:07:49.560 group had stayed faithful, the same group to which Nettafornario 0:07:49.760 --> 0:07:53.760 had belonged before her death under mysterious circumstances in nineteen 0:07:53.800 --> 0:07:59.520 twenty nine. As we explored in Episode one, After graduation 0:08:00.120 --> 0:08:03.360 and with the luxury of his family's brewing dynasty inheritance, 0:08:03.760 --> 0:08:07.200 Crowley was able to untether himself from the usual constraints 0:08:07.200 --> 0:08:11.040 of life. As such, he was free to throw himself 0:08:11.160 --> 0:08:25.080 into his new and burgeoning obsession of ritual magic. A 0:08:25.160 --> 0:08:28.400 year after leaving Cambridge, Crowley had moved into a luxury 0:08:28.400 --> 0:08:32.000 London flat in Chancery Lane and had hired fellow Golden 0:08:32.080 --> 0:08:35.760 Dawn member Alan Bennett to become his personal magic tutor. 0:08:37.000 --> 0:08:40.760 It was Bennett who formerly introduced Crowley to ceremonial magic 0:08:41.080 --> 0:08:45.360 and the ritual use of drugs, but most importantly to 0:08:45.440 --> 0:08:49.480 the rituals of the goetia, the practice of invoking what 0:08:49.559 --> 0:08:54.880 are commonly known as angels and demons, in particular the 0:08:54.960 --> 0:08:58.200 AARs goetia, as found in the opening section of the 0:08:58.200 --> 0:09:03.119 seventeenth century Grimoire The Lesser Key of Solomon, a Grimoire 0:09:03.200 --> 0:09:08.520 being another term for a book of magic spells. Mathers 0:09:08.679 --> 0:09:11.720 was impressed by Crowley's dedication and rapid rise through the 0:09:11.760 --> 0:09:14.559 various grades of the Golden Dawn, and the two became 0:09:14.640 --> 0:09:19.120 close friends, but Crowley was growing increasingly frustrated with the movement. 0:09:21.040 --> 0:09:23.880 His frustration was in part due to the reticence that 0:09:23.960 --> 0:09:27.320 some of the more established members had about Crowley's membership. 0:09:28.040 --> 0:09:30.720 In what was quite a rarity for the time, Crowley 0:09:30.800 --> 0:09:34.360 was openly bisexual, a state of affairs that many members 0:09:34.480 --> 0:09:38.880 sadly found uncomfortable. But what irked Crowley more than anything 0:09:39.280 --> 0:09:41.720 was what he considered to be the inherent phoniness of 0:09:41.760 --> 0:09:45.680 the group, peopled as it was by many esteemed intellects 0:09:45.679 --> 0:09:49.280 of the day such as W. B. Yates and Brown Stoker. 0:09:49.760 --> 0:09:52.480 Crowley felt that they were merely playing at magic and 0:09:52.559 --> 0:09:57.400 treated the organization as a glorified salon. In what would 0:09:57.480 --> 0:10:01.160 later become a feature of Crowley's life, he wanted more 0:10:01.920 --> 0:10:07.120 and to go further than anyone had gone before. In 0:10:07.160 --> 0:10:10.640 eighteen ninety eight, Mathers introduced Crowley to a strange and 0:10:10.679 --> 0:10:14.360 a mystical text called The Secret Book of Abramelen Magic. 0:10:15.559 --> 0:10:17.560 The book, which is said to date back to the 0:10:17.600 --> 0:10:21.960 fifteenth century, recounts the story of an Egyptian carbalistic magician 0:10:22.280 --> 0:10:26.360 known as abrameln the Mage and his pupil, Abraham of 0:10:26.480 --> 0:10:32.320 Vorms in Germany. As the story goes, Abraham found the 0:10:32.400 --> 0:10:35.920 maid living in the desert outside Aratchi, an Egyptian town 0:10:36.000 --> 0:10:39.760 near the River Nile. After agreeing to serve and fear 0:10:39.800 --> 0:10:42.040 the Lord, and to live and die in his most 0:10:42.160 --> 0:10:46.360 Holy Law, Abraham was instructed by Abramelen in the divine 0:10:46.400 --> 0:10:52.280 science and true magic embedded within the two manuscripts. Abraham 0:10:52.400 --> 0:10:55.040 was warned only to pass this knowledge on to those 0:10:55.080 --> 0:10:58.760 he knew well and trusted. But now it was in 0:10:58.800 --> 0:11:04.679 the hands of Alistair Crowley. Crucially, the book describes an 0:11:04.679 --> 0:11:08.880 elaborate ritual known as the Abremellin operation, designed to conjure 0:11:08.960 --> 0:11:12.920 up the magician's guardian angel. It became clear to Crowley 0:11:13.040 --> 0:11:15.000 that this was the next step that he must take 0:11:15.280 --> 0:11:19.040 in his path to complete enlightenment. It is a path 0:11:19.280 --> 0:11:30.560 that many believe to have led to fatal consequences. Not 0:11:30.640 --> 0:11:33.520 wanting to leave anything to chance, the well heeled Crowley 0:11:33.679 --> 0:11:36.800 embarked on a lengthy undertaking to find the ideal location 0:11:37.000 --> 0:11:41.439 for the operation. As Crowley later wrote, the house must 0:11:41.480 --> 0:11:44.959 be in a more or less secluded situation. There should 0:11:44.960 --> 0:11:47.400 be a door opening to the north from the room 0:11:47.440 --> 0:11:50.720 of which you make your oratory. Outside this door you 0:11:50.800 --> 0:11:54.720 construct a terrace covered with fine river sand. This ends 0:11:54.720 --> 0:11:59.240 in a lodge where the spirits may congregate. A year 0:11:59.280 --> 0:12:02.480 after searching, Crowley had failed to find the perfect location. 0:12:03.400 --> 0:12:06.520 That was until he found himself traveling into the highlands 0:12:06.559 --> 0:12:11.520 of Scotland along the haunting shores of the majestic Loch Ness. 0:12:12.240 --> 0:12:14.920 A short time later, Crowley arrived at a small grave 0:12:14.960 --> 0:12:19.520 site by the side of the road overlooking the loch. There, 0:12:19.840 --> 0:12:23.040 perched a short distance up the hill overlooking the graveyard, 0:12:23.360 --> 0:12:26.600 he saw it for the first time, the house that 0:12:26.679 --> 0:12:34.080 would forever become synonymous with his name, Buleskin. The single 0:12:34.080 --> 0:12:37.240 floored mansion, located on the eastern shore of Loch Ness, 0:12:37.679 --> 0:12:40.080 was built in the late eighteenth century by a Colonel 0:12:40.200 --> 0:12:43.680 Archibald Fraser. It is not clear what exactly brought Crowley 0:12:43.720 --> 0:12:47.920 to Buleskin, though the filmmaker and Croley ficionado Kenneth Anger 0:12:48.320 --> 0:12:50.280 has pointed out that he may have been drawn to 0:12:50.320 --> 0:12:53.560 the name and its similarity to Baal, the can and 0:12:53.600 --> 0:12:57.000 god of Gods, later remodeled as the Lord of flies. 0:12:57.320 --> 0:13:01.680 In the Old Testament, Barull is represented by the symbol 0:13:01.760 --> 0:13:05.320 of the bull, the word boll from Boleskin, being an 0:13:05.320 --> 0:13:10.280 ancient Scottish form of the same animal. Others believe, however, 0:13:10.640 --> 0:13:14.040 that Crowley had in some way been preternaturally drawn to 0:13:14.080 --> 0:13:17.760 the house. It was said that a medieval church had 0:13:17.760 --> 0:13:21.480 once stood on the same site. One morning, with the 0:13:21.480 --> 0:13:27.199 congregation inside, the church mysteriously caught fire. As the congregation 0:13:27.320 --> 0:13:32.600 rushed to escape, they found themselves inexplicably trapped inside. Unable 0:13:32.640 --> 0:13:36.080 to escape, they perished as the church burnt steadily to 0:13:36.160 --> 0:13:41.360 the ground. Had something of the event remained something that 0:13:41.440 --> 0:13:45.480 Crowley was eager to tap into. It is also said 0:13:45.559 --> 0:13:48.880 that the graveyard itself was once a meeting point for witches. 0:13:50.120 --> 0:13:52.400 Reports of a tunnel leading from the house to the 0:13:52.440 --> 0:13:54.920 grave site, which some claim to have been used by 0:13:54.920 --> 0:14:01.720 Crowley to conduct his own nighttime rituals, remain unsubstantiated. So 0:14:01.880 --> 0:14:05.000 convinced was Crowley of the house's suitability that in August 0:14:05.040 --> 0:14:07.840 eighteen ninety nine, he paid more than twice its value 0:14:07.880 --> 0:14:12.840 to secure the property. A short time later, he relocated 0:14:12.840 --> 0:14:23.560 his possessions and began preparing for the great Operation. It 0:14:23.640 --> 0:14:26.280 is important at this point to draw the distinction between 0:14:26.280 --> 0:14:29.400 what many see as Crowley's unhealthy obsession with black magic 0:14:29.480 --> 0:14:32.760 and satanism and what, in reality it was that Crowley 0:14:32.800 --> 0:14:35.880 hoped to achieve whether there is a truth to it 0:14:36.000 --> 0:14:39.120 or not. Crowley's intention and the sole purpose of the 0:14:39.200 --> 0:14:42.800 ritual was to seek knowledge and conversation with his own 0:14:42.840 --> 0:14:46.960 personal guardian angel. It is, by all accounts, a ritual 0:14:47.040 --> 0:14:51.280 to invoke positive change, a force for good, But there 0:14:51.360 --> 0:14:55.160 was one glaringly large catch. In order to do this, 0:14:55.680 --> 0:14:58.040 Crowley would have to invoke and then bring under his 0:14:58.120 --> 0:15:03.880 control the twelve Kings of Hell before beginning the ritual, 0:15:04.160 --> 0:15:07.080 which required him to start in Easter. Crowley spent the 0:15:07.120 --> 0:15:11.040 intervening months entertaining guests and readying the property in preparation 0:15:11.160 --> 0:15:14.520 for the ceremony. The final stage was to cover the 0:15:14.560 --> 0:15:18.800 outdoor terrace in a fine river sand. The reason was simple. 0:15:19.880 --> 0:15:22.400 It was so Crowley could see the feet marks of 0:15:22.480 --> 0:15:27.240 the spirits and demons he was about to invoke. The 0:15:27.360 --> 0:15:31.520 ritual was to last six months and required the utmost conviction. 0:15:32.680 --> 0:15:35.000 It would require him to live off little more than 0:15:35.040 --> 0:15:38.240 bread and water, and to wake regularly at three a m. 0:15:38.480 --> 0:15:42.720 To begin the invocations. Chastity had to be observed at 0:15:42.760 --> 0:15:46.960 all times, and complete abstinence was paramount for the free 0:15:47.000 --> 0:15:51.680 spirited Crowley. That in itself would have proved a tall order. However, 0:15:52.040 --> 0:15:54.840 As the winter snow of eighteen ninety nine began to thaw, 0:15:55.360 --> 0:15:58.520 and with it past the season of death, new life 0:15:58.640 --> 0:16:03.440 was bursting forth throughout the surrounding hills. Spring had finally arrived, 0:16:03.840 --> 0:16:07.440 and Crowley's dedication had not faltered. The time had come 0:16:07.640 --> 0:16:18.440 to begin the ritual. Crowley began by preparing the talismans 0:16:18.440 --> 0:16:22.360 that were essential for the operation. The talismans, which can 0:16:22.400 --> 0:16:24.760 be found at the back of the Book of Abremelen, 0:16:25.040 --> 0:16:27.840 are a set of magic word squares required to bring 0:16:27.880 --> 0:16:32.080 the twelve kings of Hell into order. Crowley had moved 0:16:32.080 --> 0:16:34.320 to the brightest room in the house to best complete 0:16:34.320 --> 0:16:37.920 the task. The room, located at the front of the house, 0:16:38.360 --> 0:16:41.160 overlooked the terrace and down to the dark and still 0:16:41.360 --> 0:16:47.240 loch ness beyond. Crowley cut the squares from the material vellum, 0:16:47.720 --> 0:16:49.840 and as a bright sun flooded the room with light, 0:16:50.320 --> 0:16:53.520 he began to inscribe the squares with Indian ink. When 0:16:53.560 --> 0:16:59.120 something strange happened despite the clear skies, the room began 0:16:59.200 --> 0:17:03.080 to darken until the light had been almost entirely extinguished. 0:17:03.880 --> 0:17:06.359 From this point on, Crowley was required to use a 0:17:06.440 --> 0:17:09.639 large array of candles to keep the room alight. Even 0:17:09.880 --> 0:17:13.720 during the brightest times of day. With everything in order, 0:17:13.960 --> 0:17:18.760 Crowley embarked on his six month odyssey. Almost immediately he 0:17:18.800 --> 0:17:22.800 received confirmation that he was on the right path as 0:17:22.800 --> 0:17:25.320 he began to chant in the room. Even with all 0:17:25.359 --> 0:17:29.320 its artificial light, it again began to darken, while all 0:17:29.359 --> 0:17:34.520 around the lodge in Terrace became peopled with shadowy shapes, or, 0:17:34.560 --> 0:17:38.679 as Crowley writes, the demons and evil forces had congregated 0:17:38.760 --> 0:17:41.560 round me so thickly that they were shutting off the light. 0:17:43.040 --> 0:17:45.920 A number of friends had declined to visit Crowley, believing 0:17:45.960 --> 0:17:49.520 he was going too far meddling with things he couldn't understand, 0:17:49.720 --> 0:17:54.639 let alone control. The Grimoire itself begins with the warning 0:17:54.800 --> 0:17:58.880 not to attempt any of the magic contained. Within only 0:17:58.920 --> 0:18:04.000 a few weeks into the opera, already there were ominous stirrings. 0:18:05.040 --> 0:18:09.320 One acquaintance named Russia, lasted only two weeks before terror 0:18:09.400 --> 0:18:13.200 forced him to flee, Crowley coming down to breakfast one 0:18:13.280 --> 0:18:16.399 day only to be informed that Russia had taken the 0:18:16.440 --> 0:18:22.200 first boat in Vernesse that morning. At one point, Crowley 0:18:22.280 --> 0:18:25.719 returned to Buleskin one afternoon to find a Catholic priest 0:18:25.840 --> 0:18:29.440 waiting for him, in his study. The priest informed him 0:18:29.520 --> 0:18:32.320 that the day before, his lodge keeper, who had not 0:18:32.400 --> 0:18:35.919 touched alcohol for twenty years, had come home raving drunk 0:18:36.119 --> 0:18:41.320 and attempted to murder his wife and children. Already, it 0:18:41.359 --> 0:18:44.920 would seem that the ritual, despite being a very personal pursuit, 0:18:45.400 --> 0:18:51.480 was provoking forces beyond Crowley's control. Although it may not 0:18:51.520 --> 0:18:54.200 have been going well for those around him, the ritual 0:18:54.359 --> 0:18:57.560 seemed to be working for Crowley, but all that was 0:18:57.600 --> 0:19:02.240 about to change. Barely two months in, Crowley received a 0:19:02.320 --> 0:19:07.800 letter from Samuel Mathers requesting Crowley's immediate assistance. In Crowley's absence, 0:19:08.119 --> 0:19:10.800 the Order of the Golden Dawn had fractured into two 0:19:10.800 --> 0:19:14.040 opposing schools of thought, with Mathers believing he was in 0:19:14.080 --> 0:19:17.920 great danger of being usurped despite only being part way 0:19:17.960 --> 0:19:22.240 through the ritual. Crowley felt compelled to offer his assistance immediately. 0:19:22.400 --> 0:19:25.639 He packed his bags and headed straight to London, and 0:19:25.720 --> 0:19:38.600 with that the magic ritual was broken. It had been 0:19:38.680 --> 0:19:41.760 Croley's intention to return and complete the spell, but with 0:19:41.840 --> 0:19:44.719 one thing leading to another in the summer of nineteen hundred, 0:19:44.920 --> 0:19:51.080 Crowley instead moved to Mexico. The ritual remained incomplete as 0:19:51.160 --> 0:19:54.239 Kenneth Anger notes, if you invoke spirits to help you 0:19:54.720 --> 0:19:57.000 or teach you, there is something that has to be 0:19:57.040 --> 0:20:02.840 done afterwards, they must be bad. But Crowley never did that. 0:20:04.000 --> 0:20:07.440 It is said that soon after a dark cloud appeared 0:20:07.440 --> 0:20:10.879 over the house that failed to disperse for many months. 0:20:11.040 --> 0:20:14.119 Locals refused to go by the house, instead preferring to 0:20:14.160 --> 0:20:17.360 travel the entire circumference of the loch rather than pass it. 0:20:18.680 --> 0:20:21.479 As for Crowley, there are some who believe that failure 0:20:21.520 --> 0:20:25.160 to complete the ritual left him dangerously open to demonic possession, 0:20:25.880 --> 0:20:28.560 that the twelve kings of Hell may well have somehow 0:20:28.640 --> 0:20:32.120 found their way inside him, using him for their own purpose. 0:20:33.240 --> 0:20:36.080 Some consider what later became of Crowley to be directly 0:20:36.080 --> 0:20:39.040 linked to this moment, and for those that came to 0:20:39.080 --> 0:20:42.400 Boleskin after Crowley, it is hard to resist the temptation 0:20:42.800 --> 0:20:46.320 to think that some strange gateway had indeed been opened 0:20:46.600 --> 0:20:52.440 that has never since been closed. Some time after nineteen thirteen, 0:20:52.920 --> 0:20:55.959 the property came into the possession of Major Edward Grant. 0:20:57.080 --> 0:20:59.440 Not a lot is known about Grant's period of ownership, 0:20:59.640 --> 0:21:03.119 except that one morning, while his housekeeper, Anna McLaren, had 0:21:03.160 --> 0:21:05.719 been working in the garden, the family dog had come 0:21:05.800 --> 0:21:08.280 running up to her playing with something in its mouth. 0:21:09.080 --> 0:21:11.840 It looked like some kind of bone, but knowing there 0:21:11.840 --> 0:21:14.600 was nothing of that sort in the house, Missus McLaren 0:21:14.640 --> 0:21:18.040 grabbed it from the dog and threw it away. A 0:21:18.080 --> 0:21:21.359 short time later, Anna called in on the Major, only 0:21:21.400 --> 0:21:25.600 to make a horrific discovery. There, slumped in front of 0:21:25.640 --> 0:21:28.800 a large bedroom mirror was the body of Major Grant, 0:21:29.160 --> 0:21:33.240 lying next to a recently discharged shotgun. His head had 0:21:33.280 --> 0:21:38.000 been completely removed by the blast. The dog had indeed 0:21:38.080 --> 0:21:40.760 been chewing on a bone. It was a piece of 0:21:40.840 --> 0:21:46.879 Major Grant's skull. In nineteen seventy, the house was bought 0:21:46.880 --> 0:21:50.639 by Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page. Page had for a 0:21:50.680 --> 0:21:53.719 long time been fascinated by the occult, and in particular 0:21:53.920 --> 0:21:57.480 the life of Aleister Crowley. However, due to his rigorous 0:21:57.520 --> 0:22:01.879 touring schedule and other commitments, rarely visited the house and 0:22:01.960 --> 0:22:04.399 had invited his friend Malcolm Dent to look after the 0:22:04.440 --> 0:22:08.680 property in his absence. Dent and his family moved into 0:22:08.720 --> 0:22:11.600 the property soon after, and it wasn't long before they 0:22:11.640 --> 0:22:17.400 realized something in the house wasn't quite right. Despite Bileskin's reputation. 0:22:17.960 --> 0:22:21.280 Dent was a confirmed skeptic and had little time for 0:22:21.359 --> 0:22:26.320 what he considered to be nothing but superstitious nonsense. Before long, 0:22:26.640 --> 0:22:29.159 Dent and his family became plagued by a series of 0:22:29.160 --> 0:22:34.320 inexplicable noises moving throughout the house. Doors would slam mysteriously 0:22:34.440 --> 0:22:37.280 all through the night, and carpets and rugs would be 0:22:37.320 --> 0:22:42.560 mischievously pulled up. Another regular occurrence was that the doors 0:22:42.720 --> 0:22:45.640 would suddenly spring open, as if someone was running through them, 0:22:45.800 --> 0:22:49.480 even on a calm day. Dent recalled sitting in bed 0:22:49.640 --> 0:22:52.920 late at night when something outside the room began snuffling 0:22:53.000 --> 0:22:56.560 under the door. It sounded at first like a dog, 0:22:57.119 --> 0:23:02.159 before growing in intensity, becoming louder and louder. He snapped 0:23:02.200 --> 0:23:04.640 on the light, only for the noise to become even 0:23:04.680 --> 0:23:08.800 more intense. As the door began to rattle violently. He 0:23:08.840 --> 0:23:11.840 had the sudden feeling that something huge and evil was 0:23:11.880 --> 0:23:15.080 trying to get in. Then, as quickly as it had begun, 0:23:15.720 --> 0:23:18.840 it stopped. Was this one of the twelve Kings of 0:23:18.840 --> 0:23:22.840 Hell that Crowley had failed to banish, or something else 0:23:22.920 --> 0:23:25.800 that had entered through a strange gateway he had failed 0:23:25.800 --> 0:23:29.680 to close. Dent later discovered that the room he was 0:23:29.720 --> 0:23:32.080 in at the time had been the same room that 0:23:32.119 --> 0:23:37.680 Crowley conducted his ritual. In nineteen ninety one, the house 0:23:37.760 --> 0:23:41.000 was sold again to a Ronald and Annette mac gillivray, 0:23:41.359 --> 0:23:45.280 who stayed in the property event free for almost ten years. 0:23:46.119 --> 0:23:49.080 Following the death of Ronald in two thousand two, the 0:23:49.119 --> 0:23:51.600 house was again put up for sale and was later 0:23:51.640 --> 0:23:55.119 bought by a Dutch family, who also reported nothing unusual 0:23:55.280 --> 0:23:58.200 in all their time staying at the house. The demons, 0:23:58.280 --> 0:24:05.480 it would seem, had finally taken leave, or had they. 0:24:06.160 --> 0:24:10.480 In December twenty fifteen, the owner's daughter and partner arrived 0:24:10.480 --> 0:24:14.639 at Burleskin House intent on staying for the Christmas holidays. 0:24:14.680 --> 0:24:18.199 Shortly after one pm on Wednesday, the twenty third, the 0:24:18.280 --> 0:24:20.680 couple had left the house to get some much needed 0:24:20.680 --> 0:24:25.160 supplies for the days ahead. At approximately one forty pm, 0:24:25.680 --> 0:24:28.080 a motorist on the A eighty two road on the 0:24:28.080 --> 0:24:31.359 opposite side of the lock reported seeing flames and smoke 0:24:31.680 --> 0:24:36.800 coming from the direction of Burleskin House. By the time 0:24:36.840 --> 0:24:40.080 the couple had returned, half the building was on fire, 0:24:40.760 --> 0:24:43.640 with the flames rising over twenty feet into the air. 0:24:45.240 --> 0:24:48.080 Multiple crews of firemen battled the blaze until the early 0:24:48.119 --> 0:24:51.800 hours of the following day. By the next morning, sixty 0:24:51.840 --> 0:24:55.240 percent of the house had been incinerated, as it remains 0:24:55.359 --> 0:25:00.960 to this day. After an extensive investigation, the fire was 0:25:01.000 --> 0:25:05.960 found not to have been started deliberately. The precise cause 0:25:05.960 --> 0:25:08.720 of the fire is a mystery that remains to this 0:25:08.880 --> 0:25:19.320 day unexplained. For more on the story of that greatly 0:25:19.359 --> 0:25:23.439 misunderstood Aleister Crowley, please listen out of episode ten extra, 0:25:23.760 --> 0:25:26.240 where we'll be delving a little deeper into the beliefs 0:25:26.320 --> 0:25:29.400 and magic of the man once described as the wickedest 0:25:29.440 --> 0:25:34.040 man in the world. As for Burleskin House, whether you 0:25:34.080 --> 0:25:37.320 care to believe all the stories or not, the will 0:25:37.359 --> 0:25:41.760 forever remain something compelling about this most beguiling of places. 0:25:42.720 --> 0:25:45.160 Whether that is because of what we have projected onto 0:25:45.240 --> 0:25:48.679 it or due to something perhaps a little more unearthly, 0:25:49.119 --> 0:25:53.600 is anyone's guess. In fact, there is something of this 0:25:53.960 --> 0:25:58.760 in all buildings, even those without such ominous connotations. We 0:25:58.880 --> 0:26:02.240 feel it in our fascinae with ruined and abandoned places, 0:26:02.680 --> 0:26:06.119 because although they may be empty, it is impossible not 0:26:06.160 --> 0:26:09.320 to sense something of those that had come before, and 0:26:09.400 --> 0:26:14.800 perhaps in some way still remain. I will leave you 0:26:14.880 --> 0:26:19.000 with a passage from Thomas Pinchon's Gravity's Rainbow. In the 0:26:19.080 --> 0:26:22.120 novel pinch and Rights of a place known as the Zone, 0:26:22.600 --> 0:26:26.399 a sort of liminal space metaphorically caught somewhere between life 0:26:26.400 --> 0:26:31.240 and death. The novel's protagonist Slothrop, is traveling through the 0:26:31.320 --> 0:26:34.200 Zone in the aftermath of the Second World War when 0:26:34.240 --> 0:26:38.280 he finds himself inside an abandoned factory, once a throbbing 0:26:38.320 --> 0:26:46.040 heart of industry, now quiet and stilled, though found adrift 0:26:46.040 --> 0:26:49.760 and haunted, full of signs of recent human tenancy. This 0:26:49.920 --> 0:26:54.000 is not the legendary ship marries Celeste. It isn't bounded 0:26:54.040 --> 0:26:57.919 so neatly. These tracks under foot run away fore and 0:26:58.040 --> 0:27:02.639 aft into all stilled Europe, And our flesh doesn't sweat 0:27:02.640 --> 0:27:06.159 and pimple here for the domestic mysteries, the attic horror 0:27:06.200 --> 0:27:09.080 of what might have happened, so much as for our 0:27:09.160 --> 0:27:13.040 knowledge of what likely did happen. It was always easy 0:27:13.240 --> 0:27:17.520 in open and lonely places to be visited by panic, wilderness, fear. 0:27:18.280 --> 0:27:21.639 But these are the urban fantods here that come to 0:27:21.680 --> 0:27:25.280 get you when you are lost or isolate inside the way. 0:27:25.320 --> 0:27:28.960 Time is passing when there is no more history, no 0:27:29.119 --> 0:27:32.680 time traveling capsule to find your way back to, only 0:27:32.720 --> 0:27:35.560 the lateness and the absence that fill a great railway 0:27:35.560 --> 0:27:39.720 shed after the capital has been evacuated, and the goat 0:27:39.760 --> 0:27:42.960 God's city cousins wait for you at the edges of 0:27:43.000 --> 0:27:46.720