WEBVTT - S01 Episode 10: The Spaces that Linger 0:00:00.520 --> 0:00:04.320 LLL Flooring is everything flooring professionals need to keep clients 0:00:04.360 --> 0:00:08.479 projects on track. Visit your local store or lllflooring dot 0:00:08.520 --> 0:00:11.879 Com for quality flooring that's in stock and ready to go. 0:00:12.320 --> 0:00:14.920 Plus get the accessories you need to finish the job 0:00:15.000 --> 0:00:18.880 right at exclusive pro prices so you can stay on budget, 0:00:19.160 --> 0:00:22.040 and LLL Flooring offers job site delivery at a flat 0:00:22.120 --> 0:00:25.680 rate to save you time and money. Lumber Liquidators is 0:00:25.720 --> 0:00:29.120 now l L Flooring. These are the floors homes are 0:00:29.160 --> 0:00:44.440 built on. The world of horror is littered with unnerving locations, 0:00:45.440 --> 0:00:48.720 places that both draw from and have in turn seeped 0:00:48.720 --> 0:00:53.880 into the public imagination. Perhaps the most symbolic of them 0:00:53.920 --> 0:00:57.960 all being the forest, the archetypal liminal space of what 0:00:58.120 --> 0:01:02.840 Joseph Campbell termed the hero journey. Not only is the 0:01:02.880 --> 0:01:07.280 forest darkened mysterious, but it is of course profoundly symbolic, 0:01:07.600 --> 0:01:11.080 being as it is a manifestation of our deep unconscious. 0:01:12.640 --> 0:01:15.840 As we venture deeper into the forest, so too do 0:01:15.959 --> 0:01:19.680 we journey deeper into ourselves in our quest to confront 0:01:19.760 --> 0:01:24.120 our greatest fears, before with any luck, ultimately emerging victorious 0:01:24.280 --> 0:01:28.479 and changed. But for all the creatures and the hidden 0:01:28.520 --> 0:01:32.480 and unknowable fears we might discover along the way. The forest, 0:01:32.560 --> 0:01:35.479 in a sense remains a space that is our own, 0:01:36.640 --> 0:01:42.640 those fears within our own to decipher and overcome. Far 0:01:42.720 --> 0:01:46.000 more chilling, therefore, are the places that, when entering, we 0:01:46.080 --> 0:01:49.360 find ourselves crossing a threshold into a world that is 0:01:49.440 --> 0:01:54.280 very much not our own, Places where no longer are 0:01:54.320 --> 0:01:57.480 we at the whim of our darkest unconscious, but rather 0:01:57.520 --> 0:02:02.320 that of somebody else's. God forbid you ever find yourself 0:02:02.440 --> 0:02:06.120 checking into the Bates Motel, as found in Robert Box's Psycho, 0:02:06.680 --> 0:02:09.720 or stumbling into the family home of leather Face, so 0:02:09.800 --> 0:02:15.240 disturbingly depicted in Toby Hooper's mesmerizingly Deranged Texas Chainsaw Massacre. 0:02:16.280 --> 0:02:19.520 What both stories have in common is a location so 0:02:19.600 --> 0:02:22.720 inextricably linked to the bad guys as to be almost 0:02:22.800 --> 0:02:27.280 inseparable from them. There is the sense that, even when empty, 0:02:27.440 --> 0:02:31.640 the locations will somehow incubate the things that have happened inside. 0:02:33.040 --> 0:02:36.280 Both stories, incidentally, were partly based on the life of 0:02:36.400 --> 0:02:40.920 murderer Ed Gene, whose proclivity for manufacturing ornaments and furniture 0:02:41.120 --> 0:02:44.600 from human bone and skin continues to shock the world 0:02:44.680 --> 0:02:49.720 almost sixty years after the event. After Ghane's conviction, it 0:02:49.800 --> 0:02:53.560 was decided that his house should be torn down. So 0:02:53.639 --> 0:02:57.520 incapable were the local community from separating the location from 0:02:57.560 --> 0:02:59.880 the events that had taken place inside, there was no 0:03:00.120 --> 0:03:05.280 other option but to remove it entirely. A similar theme 0:03:05.320 --> 0:03:10.240 emerges in many cases of alleged domestic supernatural disturbances, such 0:03:10.240 --> 0:03:12.640 as those that took place at thirty East Drive in 0:03:12.720 --> 0:03:16.959 Pontefract or at number two eight four Green Street in Enfield. 0:03:17.960 --> 0:03:20.840 In these stories we find the recurring notion that any 0:03:20.880 --> 0:03:24.480 new resident of the property is merely an invader occupying 0:03:24.480 --> 0:03:29.360 a space that isn't theirs to occupy. At times, it 0:03:29.520 --> 0:03:32.440 might seem that in some way or another, the property 0:03:32.600 --> 0:03:37.560 has developed a soul all of its own. For many 0:03:37.840 --> 0:03:40.800 there is one place in particular that continues to fascinate 0:03:40.960 --> 0:03:45.320 like no other in the UK for its combination of mystery, 0:03:45.720 --> 0:03:50.120 intrigue and atmospheric location. You couldn't concoct a better setting 0:03:51.040 --> 0:03:57.920 the name burlesque in House you're listening to Unexplained and 0:03:58.000 --> 0:04:16.320 Dime Richard McClane. The story of Bleskin House is inseparable 0:04:16.480 --> 0:04:19.920 from that of his most infamous former resident, Alistair Crowley. 0:04:20.720 --> 0:04:24.039 It was a very particular journey that brought Crowley to Bleskin, 0:04:24.440 --> 0:04:27.479 and it begins a short time before midnight on the 0:04:27.520 --> 0:04:31.640 twelfth of October eighteen seventy five, with his birth in 0:04:31.760 --> 0:04:37.880 Royal Leamington, Spa, England. Crowley, who was christened Edward Alexander, 0:04:38.320 --> 0:04:40.680 was the first of two children born to Edward and 0:04:40.760 --> 0:04:44.880 Emily Crowley. Their second, a baby girl, would arrive five 0:04:44.960 --> 0:04:48.360 years later, but would tragically die after only five hours 0:04:48.360 --> 0:04:53.560 of life. The family was devoutly religious and belonged to 0:04:53.600 --> 0:04:57.760 a Christian sect known as the Plymouth Brethren. The sect 0:04:57.839 --> 0:05:00.240 were renowned for their belief in the literal truth of 0:05:00.240 --> 0:05:03.800 the Bible and their puritanical attitude towards sin and the 0:05:03.920 --> 0:05:07.800 dangers of temptation. It was into this deeply rigid and 0:05:07.880 --> 0:05:12.360 conservative environment that Crowley was brought up, an environment which 0:05:12.400 --> 0:05:15.679 many believed contributed to his utter rejection of all such 0:05:15.720 --> 0:05:20.400 beliefs in later life. Owing to his share in the 0:05:20.480 --> 0:05:24.440 lucrative family brewing business, Crowley's father, Edward, had been able 0:05:24.520 --> 0:05:27.640 to take an earlier retirement, and as such divided most 0:05:27.640 --> 0:05:30.440 of his time between his family and volunteering as a 0:05:30.480 --> 0:05:36.000 traveling preacher for the sect. Despite the socially claustrophobic upbringing 0:05:36.160 --> 0:05:41.520 and unhappy childhood, Crowley was utterly devoted to Edward. In 0:05:41.600 --> 0:05:45.159 March eighteen eighty seven, Crowley was devastated when his father 0:05:45.240 --> 0:05:48.880 died after a short battle with cancer. The young Alister 0:05:49.240 --> 0:05:52.240 was only eleven years old, and the death would prove 0:05:52.279 --> 0:05:56.960 to be a significant turning point in his life. Crowley's 0:05:57.000 --> 0:05:59.960 sorrow at the loss of his father soon morphed into anger. 0:06:00.320 --> 0:06:02.920 That Crowley began attacking the very thing that had made 0:06:02.920 --> 0:06:06.400 his life such a misery, rejecting what he saw as 0:06:06.400 --> 0:06:12.320 the zealous and authoritarian scourge of Christianity. In the years 0:06:12.320 --> 0:06:15.000 that followed, it would seem that Crowley had developed a 0:06:15.040 --> 0:06:18.560 pathological yearning to commit the sins he had so studiously 0:06:18.720 --> 0:06:24.120 been warned against. He started to experiment sexually, dabbled with debauchery, 0:06:24.360 --> 0:06:27.440 and took any opportunity to point out what he considered 0:06:27.520 --> 0:06:30.640 to be the many inconsistencies in the Bible to anyone 0:06:30.680 --> 0:06:34.760 who would listen. Crowley had the sense that he was 0:06:34.800 --> 0:06:37.680 searching for something, but it wasn't until he arrived at 0:06:37.720 --> 0:06:41.320 Cambridge University that the pieces began to shift into place. 0:06:43.600 --> 0:06:46.760 At some point Crowley had become interested in the occult, 0:06:47.279 --> 0:06:51.240 in particular the study of ritual magic, an enthusiasm that 0:06:51.320 --> 0:06:54.280 was piqued after he read A. E. Waits's The Book 0:06:54.320 --> 0:06:58.880 of Black Magic and Pacts. An acute interest in alchemy 0:06:59.040 --> 0:07:02.480 brought him into contact with British chemist and occultist George 0:07:02.520 --> 0:07:06.400 Cecil Jones, who in turn introduced Crowley to the Hermetic 0:07:06.520 --> 0:07:11.240 Order of the Golden Dawn. The Order had been established 0:07:11.240 --> 0:07:14.200 in eighteen eighty eight and was led by the charismatic 0:07:14.480 --> 0:07:19.400 Samuel Liddell McGregor Mathis. Some of you may remember that 0:07:19.480 --> 0:07:22.000 it was to Mathis that the Alpha and Omega group 0:07:22.040 --> 0:07:25.560 had stayed faithful, the same group to which Netta Fornario 0:07:25.760 --> 0:07:29.760 had belonged before her death under mysterious circumstances in nineteen 0:07:29.800 --> 0:07:35.600 twenty nine. As we explored in Episode one, after graduation 0:07:36.080 --> 0:07:39.360 and with the luxury of his family's brewing dynasty inheritance, 0:07:39.760 --> 0:07:43.160 Crowley was able to untether himself from the usual constraints 0:07:43.160 --> 0:07:47.040 of life. As such, he was free to throw himself 0:07:47.120 --> 0:08:02.280 into his new and burgeoning obsession of ritual magic. A 0:08:02.400 --> 0:08:05.640 year after leaving Cambridge, Crowley had moved into a luxury 0:08:05.680 --> 0:08:09.240 London flat in Chancery Lane, and had hired fellow Golden 0:08:09.320 --> 0:08:13.000 Dawn member Alan Bennett to become his personal magic tutor. 0:08:14.200 --> 0:08:18.000 It was Bennett who formerly introduced Crowley to ceremonial magic 0:08:18.280 --> 0:08:22.600 and the ritual use of drugs, but most importantly to 0:08:22.680 --> 0:08:26.680 the rituals of the goetia, the practice of invoking what 0:08:26.800 --> 0:08:32.120 are commonly known as angels and demons, in particular the 0:08:32.280 --> 0:08:35.400 urs Goetia, as found in the opening section of the 0:08:35.480 --> 0:08:40.319 seventeenth century Grimoire the Lesser Key of Solomon, a Grimoire 0:08:40.440 --> 0:08:45.760 being another term for a book of magic spells. Maths 0:08:45.880 --> 0:08:48.920 was impressed by Crowley's dedication and rapid rise through the 0:08:49.000 --> 0:08:51.800 various grades of the Golden Dawn, and the two became 0:08:51.880 --> 0:08:56.360 close friends, but Crowley was growing increasingly frustrated with the movement. 0:08:58.240 --> 0:09:01.120 His frustration was in part due to the reticence that 0:09:01.200 --> 0:09:04.600 some of the more established members had about Crowley's membership. 0:09:05.240 --> 0:09:07.920 In what was quite a rarity for the time, Crowley 0:09:08.040 --> 0:09:11.680 was openly bisexual, a state of affairs that many members 0:09:11.679 --> 0:09:16.120 sadly found uncomfortable. But what irked Crowley more than anything 0:09:16.520 --> 0:09:18.960 was what he considered to be the inherent phoniness of 0:09:19.000 --> 0:09:22.920 the group, peopled as it was by many esteemed intellects 0:09:22.920 --> 0:09:26.520 of the day, such as W. B. Yates and Brown Stoker, 0:09:27.000 --> 0:09:29.680 Crowley felt that they were merely playing at magic and 0:09:29.800 --> 0:09:34.680 treated the organization as a glorified salon. In what would 0:09:34.720 --> 0:09:38.360 later become a feature of Crowley's life, he wanted more 0:09:39.120 --> 0:09:44.360 and to go further than anyone had gone before. In 0:09:44.400 --> 0:09:48.439 eighteen ninety eight, Maths introduced Crowley to a strange, nimistical 0:09:48.480 --> 0:09:53.199 text called the Secret Book of abramelon Magic. The book, 0:09:53.480 --> 0:09:55.800 which is said to date back to the fifteenth century, 0:09:56.280 --> 0:09:59.800 recounts the story of an Egyptian carbalistic magician known as 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:06.319 Bremelm the Mage and his pupil, Abraham of Vorms in Germany. 0:10:06.880 --> 0:10:10.320 As the story goes, Abraham found the Maide living in 0:10:10.360 --> 0:10:13.480 the desert outside a Ratchi, an Egyptian town near the 0:10:13.559 --> 0:10:17.480 River Nile. After agreeing to serve and fear the Lord 0:10:17.880 --> 0:10:20.000 and to live and die in his most holy Law, 0:10:20.640 --> 0:10:24.200 Abraham was instructed by Abramelin in the divine science and 0:10:24.240 --> 0:10:30.120 true magic embedded within the two manuscripts. Abraham was warned 0:10:30.320 --> 0:10:32.680 only to pass this knowledge on to those he knew 0:10:32.720 --> 0:10:36.520 well and trusted, but now it was in the hands 0:10:36.720 --> 0:10:42.840 of Alister Crowley. Crucially, the book describes an elaborate ritual 0:10:43.120 --> 0:10:46.440 known as the Abramelin operation, designed to conjure up the 0:10:46.480 --> 0:10:50.600 magician's guardian angel. It became clear to Crowley that this 0:10:50.720 --> 0:10:52.760 was the next step that he must take in his 0:10:52.880 --> 0:10:57.000 path to complete enlightenment. It is a path that many 0:10:57.040 --> 0:11:14.839 believed to have led to fatal consequences. Not wanting to 0:11:14.920 --> 0:11:18.080 leave anything to chance, the well heeled Crowley embarked on 0:11:18.080 --> 0:11:21.640 a lengthy undertaking to find the ideal location for the operation. 0:11:22.559 --> 0:11:25.800 As Crowley later wrote, the house must be in a 0:11:25.880 --> 0:11:29.280 more or less secluded situation. There should be a door 0:11:29.480 --> 0:11:31.760 opening to the north from the room of which you 0:11:31.840 --> 0:11:35.640 make your oratory. Outside this door you construct a terrace 0:11:35.880 --> 0:11:39.200 covered with fine river sand. This ends in a lodge 0:11:39.480 --> 0:11:44.640 where the spirits may congregate. A year after searching, Crowley 0:11:44.679 --> 0:11:48.280 had failed to find the perfect location. That was until 0:11:48.280 --> 0:11:51.600 he found himself traveling into the highlands of Scotland along 0:11:51.640 --> 0:11:57.000 the haunting shores of the Majestic Lochnets. A short time later, 0:11:57.240 --> 0:11:59.800 Crowley arrived at a small grave side by the side 0:11:59.800 --> 0:12:04.400 of the road overlooking the Loch. There perched a short 0:12:04.440 --> 0:12:07.800 distance up the hill, overlooking the graveyard, he saw it 0:12:07.920 --> 0:12:11.400 for the first time, the house that would forever become 0:12:11.440 --> 0:12:19.480 synonymous with his name. Bleskin. The single floored mansion, located 0:12:19.520 --> 0:12:22.000 on the eastern shore of Loch Ness, was built in 0:12:22.000 --> 0:12:25.720 the late eighteenth century by a Colonel Archibald Fraser. It 0:12:25.880 --> 0:12:28.840 is not clear what exactly brought Crowley to Bileskin, though 0:12:28.840 --> 0:12:32.760 the filmmaker and crowley a ficionado, Kenneth Anger, has pointed 0:12:32.760 --> 0:12:34.600 out that he may have been drawn to the name 0:12:34.920 --> 0:12:38.719 and its similarity to Baal, the Canaan god of gods, 0:12:38.840 --> 0:12:42.160 later remodeled as the lord of flies. In the Old Testament, 0:12:43.679 --> 0:12:46.840 Bal is represented by the symbol of the bull, the 0:12:46.920 --> 0:12:50.400 word ball from Balskin, being an ancient Scottish form of 0:12:50.440 --> 0:12:55.600 the same animal. Others believe, however, that Crowley had in 0:12:55.640 --> 0:12:59.800 some way been preternaturally drawn to the house. It was 0:13:00.000 --> 0:13:02.360 head that a medieval church had once stood on the 0:13:02.440 --> 0:13:07.640 same site. One morning, with the congregation inside, the church 0:13:07.880 --> 0:13:12.559 mysteriously caught fire. As the congregation rushed to escape, they 0:13:12.600 --> 0:13:18.120 found themselves inexplicably trapped inside. Unable to escape, they perished 0:13:18.120 --> 0:13:22.680 as the church burnt steadily to the ground. Had something 0:13:22.679 --> 0:13:26.560 of the event remained, something that Crowley was eager to 0:13:26.600 --> 0:13:30.680 tap into. It is also said that the graveyard itself 0:13:30.960 --> 0:13:34.600 was once a meeting point for witches. Reports of a 0:13:34.640 --> 0:13:37.320 tunnel leading from the house to the grave site, which 0:13:37.320 --> 0:13:40.000 some claim to have been used by Crowley to conduct 0:13:40.000 --> 0:13:46.720 his own nighttime rituals, remain unsubstantiated. So convinced was Crowley 0:13:46.760 --> 0:13:49.880 of the house's suitability that in August eighteen ninety nine, 0:13:50.080 --> 0:13:54.320 he paid more than twice its value to secure the property. 0:13:54.600 --> 0:13:58.319 A short time later, he relocated his possessions and began 0:13:58.400 --> 0:14:07.600 preparing for the Great operation. Are you always taking care 0:14:07.640 --> 0:14:10.120 of your family? Do you often take care of others 0:14:10.160 --> 0:14:13.520 and not yourself? Now it's time to take care of yourself. 0:14:13.920 --> 0:14:17.680 To make time for you. You deserve it. Teledoc gives 0:14:17.720 --> 0:14:20.480 you access to a licensed therapist to help you get 0:14:20.520 --> 0:14:23.720 back to feeling your best to feeling like yourself again. 0:14:24.400 --> 0:14:27.640 With teledoc, you can speak to a licensed therapist by 0:14:27.640 --> 0:14:31.280 phone or video. 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It 0:15:17.560 --> 0:15:20.160 is important at this point to draw the distinction between 0:15:20.200 --> 0:15:23.280 what many see as Crowley's unhealthy obsession with black magic 0:15:23.360 --> 0:15:26.640 and Satanism and what, in reality it was that Crowley 0:15:26.680 --> 0:15:29.760 hoped to achieve. Whether there is a truth to it 0:15:29.880 --> 0:15:33.000 or not, Crowley's intention and the sole purpose of the 0:15:33.080 --> 0:15:36.640 ritual was to seek knowledge and conversation with his own 0:15:36.720 --> 0:15:40.840 personal guardian angel. It is, by all accounts, a ritual 0:15:40.880 --> 0:15:45.200 to invoke positive change, a force for good, but there 0:15:45.280 --> 0:15:49.080 was one glaringly large catch. In order to do this, 0:15:49.560 --> 0:15:51.960 Crowley would have to invoke and then bring under his 0:15:52.000 --> 0:15:57.720 control the twelve Kings of Hell before beginning the ritual, 0:15:58.040 --> 0:16:00.960 which required him to start in Easter. Crowley spent the 0:16:01.000 --> 0:16:04.960 intervening months entertaining guests and readying the property in preparation 0:16:05.040 --> 0:16:08.400 for the ceremony. The final stage was to cover the 0:16:08.440 --> 0:16:12.680 outdoor terrace in a fine river sand. The reason was simple. 0:16:13.720 --> 0:16:16.280 It was so Crowley could see the feat marks of 0:16:16.320 --> 0:16:21.080 the spirits and demons he was about to invoke. The 0:16:21.240 --> 0:16:25.480 ritual was to last six months and required the utmost conviction. 0:16:26.520 --> 0:16:28.880 It would require him to live off little more than 0:16:28.920 --> 0:16:32.160 bread and water, and to wait regularly at three a m. 0:16:32.360 --> 0:16:36.640 To begin the invocations. Chastity had to be observed at 0:16:36.640 --> 0:16:40.880 all times, and complete abstinence was paramount for the free 0:16:40.880 --> 0:16:45.560 spirited Crowley. That in itself would have proved a tall order. However, 0:16:45.880 --> 0:16:48.400 as the winter snow of eighteen ninety nine began to 0:16:48.440 --> 0:16:52.040 thaw and with it past the season of death, new 0:16:52.080 --> 0:16:56.480 life was bursting forth throughout the surrounding hills. Spring had 0:16:56.520 --> 0:17:00.880 finally arrived, and Crowley's dedication had not faulted. The time 0:17:00.880 --> 0:17:13.600 had come to begin the ritual. Crowley began by preparing 0:17:13.600 --> 0:17:17.720 the talismans that were essential for the operation. The talismans, 0:17:17.880 --> 0:17:19.840 which can be found at the back of the Book 0:17:19.880 --> 0:17:23.360 of Abramelon, are a set of magic word squares required 0:17:23.400 --> 0:17:27.560 to bring the twelve kings of Hell into order. Crowley 0:17:27.600 --> 0:17:29.480 had moved to the brightest room in the house to 0:17:29.560 --> 0:17:33.280 best complete the task. The room, located at the front 0:17:33.280 --> 0:17:36.199 of the house, overlooked the terrace and down to the 0:17:36.280 --> 0:17:42.040 dark and still lockness beyond. Crowley cut the squares from 0:17:42.080 --> 0:17:45.080 the material vellum, and as a bright sun flooded the 0:17:45.119 --> 0:17:47.919 room with light, he began to inscribe the squares with 0:17:48.000 --> 0:17:53.760 Indian ink. When something strange happened. Despite the clear skies, 0:17:54.080 --> 0:17:57.280 the room began to darken until the light had been 0:17:57.280 --> 0:18:01.840 almost entirely extinguished. From this point on, Chrowley was required 0:18:01.880 --> 0:18:04.000 to use a large array of candles to keep the 0:18:04.080 --> 0:18:08.680 room alight even during the brightest times of day. With 0:18:08.720 --> 0:18:12.080 everything in order, Chrowley embarked on his sixth month odyssey. 0:18:13.240 --> 0:18:16.480 Almost immediately he received confirmation that he was on the 0:18:16.560 --> 0:18:20.080 right path as he began to chant in the room. 0:18:20.600 --> 0:18:24.199 Even with all its artificial light, it again began to darken, 0:18:24.760 --> 0:18:28.000 while all around the lodge and terrace became peopled with 0:18:28.080 --> 0:18:33.200 shadowy shapes, or, as Crowley writes, the demons and evil 0:18:33.280 --> 0:18:36.399 forces had congregated round me so thickly that they were 0:18:36.440 --> 0:18:40.400 shutting off the light a number of friends had declined 0:18:40.400 --> 0:18:43.880 to visit Crowley, believing he was going too far meddling 0:18:43.880 --> 0:18:48.800 with things he couldn't understand, let alone control. The grimoire 0:18:48.840 --> 0:18:51.959 itself begins with the warning not to attempt any of 0:18:52.000 --> 0:18:56.240 the magic contained. Within only a few weeks into the operation, 0:18:56.680 --> 0:19:03.399 already there were ominous stirrings. One acquaintance, named Rossia, lasted 0:19:03.440 --> 0:19:07.520 only two weeks before terror forced him to flee Crowley, 0:19:07.760 --> 0:19:10.880 coming down to breakfast one day, only to be informed 0:19:10.920 --> 0:19:13.520 that Russia had taken the first boat to in Vaness 0:19:13.760 --> 0:19:19.320 that morning. At one point, Crowley returned to Boleskin one 0:19:19.359 --> 0:19:22.639 afternoon to find a Catholic priest waiting for him in 0:19:22.680 --> 0:19:26.280 his study. The priest informed him that the day before, 0:19:26.560 --> 0:19:29.920 his lodge keeper, who had not touched alcohol for twenty years, 0:19:30.359 --> 0:19:33.359 had come home raving drunk and attempted to murder his 0:19:33.400 --> 0:19:38.640 wife and children. Already, it would seem that the ritual, 0:19:38.840 --> 0:19:42.960 despite being a very personal pursuit, was provoking forces beyond 0:19:43.119 --> 0:19:48.120 Crowley's control. Although it may not have been going well 0:19:48.160 --> 0:19:51.040 for those around him, the ritual seemed to be working 0:19:51.080 --> 0:19:56.320 for Crowley. But all that was about to change. Barely 0:19:56.320 --> 0:19:59.480 two months in Crowley received a letter from Samuel Mathis 0:20:00.040 --> 0:20:04.520 requesting Crowley's immediate assistance. In Crowley's absence, the Order of 0:20:04.520 --> 0:20:08.080 the Golden Dawn had fractured into two opposing schools of thought, 0:20:08.280 --> 0:20:11.080 with Mather's believing he was in great danger of being 0:20:11.200 --> 0:20:15.040 usurped despite only being part way through the ritual. Crowley 0:20:15.080 --> 0:20:18.800 felt compelled to offer his assistance immediately. He packed his 0:20:18.840 --> 0:20:22.399 bags and headed straight to London, and with that the 0:20:22.480 --> 0:20:36.600 magic ritual was broken. It had been Crowley's intention to 0:20:36.640 --> 0:20:39.359 return and complete the spell, but with one thing leading 0:20:39.400 --> 0:20:42.640 to another in the summer of nineteen hundred, Crowley instead 0:20:42.800 --> 0:20:49.040 moved to Mexico. The ritual remained incomplete. As Kenneth Anger notes, 0:20:49.520 --> 0:20:52.159 if you invoke spirits to help you or teach you, 0:20:52.680 --> 0:20:56.000 there is something that has to be done afterwards. They 0:20:56.080 --> 0:21:01.159 must be banished. But Crowley never did that. It is 0:21:01.200 --> 0:21:04.600 said that soon after a dark cloud appeared over the 0:21:04.640 --> 0:21:08.840 house that failed to disperse for many months. Locals refused 0:21:08.840 --> 0:21:11.480 to go by the house, instead preferring to travel the 0:21:11.640 --> 0:21:15.760 entire circumference of the lock rather than pass it. As 0:21:15.760 --> 0:21:18.480 for Crowley, there are some who believe that failure to 0:21:18.520 --> 0:21:22.000 complete the ritual left him dangerously open to demonic possession, 0:21:22.720 --> 0:21:25.440 that the twelve Kings of Hell may well have somehow 0:21:25.480 --> 0:21:29.000 found their way inside him, using him for their own purpose. 0:21:30.119 --> 0:21:32.920 Some consider what later became a Crowley to be directly 0:21:32.960 --> 0:21:35.919 linked to this moment, and for those that came to 0:21:35.960 --> 0:21:39.359 Boleskin after Crowley, it is hard to resist the temptation 0:21:39.640 --> 0:21:43.240 to think that some strange gateway had indeed been opened 0:21:43.480 --> 0:21:49.400 that has never since been closed. Sometime after nineteen thirteen, 0:21:49.760 --> 0:21:52.840 the property came into the possession of Major Edward Grant. 0:21:53.960 --> 0:21:56.280 Not a lot is known about Grant's period of ownership, 0:21:56.520 --> 0:22:00.119 except that one morning, while his housekeeper, Anna McLaren, had 0:22:00.160 --> 0:22:02.640 been working in the garden, the family dog had come 0:22:02.720 --> 0:22:05.200 running up to her, playing with something in its mouth. 0:22:05.920 --> 0:22:08.720 It looked like some kind of bone, but knowing there 0:22:08.760 --> 0:22:11.480 was nothing of that sort in the house, missus McLaren 0:22:11.520 --> 0:22:14.879 grabbed it from the dog and threw it away. A 0:22:14.920 --> 0:22:18.240 short time later, Anna called in on the Major, only 0:22:18.280 --> 0:22:22.480 to make a horrific discovery. There, slumped in front of 0:22:22.520 --> 0:22:25.679 a large bedroom mirror was the body of Major Grant, 0:22:26.040 --> 0:22:30.120 lying next to a recently discharged shotgun. His head had 0:22:30.160 --> 0:22:34.920 been completely removed by the blast. The dog had indeed 0:22:34.960 --> 0:22:37.639 been chewing on a bone. It was a piece of 0:22:37.720 --> 0:22:43.760 Major Grant's skull. In nineteen seventy, the house was bought 0:22:43.800 --> 0:22:47.520 by Led Zeplin guitarist Jimmy Page. Page had for a 0:22:47.560 --> 0:22:50.600 long time been fascinated by the occult, and in particular 0:22:50.760 --> 0:22:54.400 the life of Alister Crowley. However, due to his rigorous 0:22:54.400 --> 0:22:58.400 touring schedule and other commitments, Page rarely visited the house 0:22:58.680 --> 0:23:01.200 and had invited his friend Belcome Dent to look after 0:23:01.200 --> 0:23:05.400 the property in his absence. Dent and his family moved 0:23:05.400 --> 0:23:08.320 into the property soon after, and it wasn't long before 0:23:08.320 --> 0:23:13.080 they realized something in the house wasn't quite right. Despite 0:23:13.119 --> 0:23:17.560 Berleskin's reputation, Dent was a confirmed skeptic and had little 0:23:17.600 --> 0:23:21.560 time for what he considered to be nothing but superstitious nonsense. 0:23:22.520 --> 0:23:25.560 Before long, Dent and his family became plagued by a 0:23:25.600 --> 0:23:30.240 series of inexplicable noises moving throughout the house. Doors would 0:23:30.280 --> 0:23:33.600 slam mysteriously all through the night, and carpets and rugs 0:23:33.840 --> 0:23:38.919 would be mischievously pulled up. Another regular occurrence was that 0:23:38.920 --> 0:23:41.720 the doors would suddenly spring open, as if someone was 0:23:41.800 --> 0:23:45.679 running through them, even on a calm day. Dent recalls 0:23:45.720 --> 0:23:48.480 sitting in bed late at night when something outside the 0:23:48.560 --> 0:23:52.639 room began snuffling under the door. It sounded at first 0:23:52.800 --> 0:23:57.640 like a dog, before growing in intensity, becoming louder and louder. 0:23:58.520 --> 0:24:00.919 He snapped on the light, only for the noise to 0:24:00.960 --> 0:24:04.880 become even more intense. As the door began to rattle violently. 0:24:05.560 --> 0:24:08.320 He had the sudden feeling that something huge and evil 0:24:08.600 --> 0:24:11.439 was trying to get in. Then as quickly as it 0:24:11.480 --> 0:24:15.280 had begun, it stopped. Was this one of the twelve 0:24:15.359 --> 0:24:19.040 Kings of Hell that Crowley had failed to banish, or 0:24:19.080 --> 0:24:22.199 something else that had entered through a strange gateway he 0:24:22.240 --> 0:24:26.320 had failed to close. Dent later discovered that the room 0:24:26.359 --> 0:24:28.440 he was in at the time had been the same 0:24:28.560 --> 0:24:33.880 room that Crowley conducted his ritual. In nineteen ninety one, 0:24:34.160 --> 0:24:36.920 the house was sold again to a Ronald and Annette 0:24:37.040 --> 0:24:40.560 mac gillivray, who stayed in the property event free for 0:24:40.600 --> 0:24:44.680 almost ten years. Following the death of Ronald in two 0:24:44.680 --> 0:24:47.159 thousand and two, the house was again put up for 0:24:47.240 --> 0:24:50.160 sail and was later bought by a Dutch family, who 0:24:50.200 --> 0:24:53.439 also reported nothing unusual in all their time staying at 0:24:53.440 --> 0:24:57.720 the house. The demons it would seem had finally taken leave, 0:24:58.480 --> 0:25:06.000 or had they. In December twenty fifteen, the owner's daughter 0:25:06.119 --> 0:25:09.359 and partner arrived at Bleskan House intent on staying for 0:25:09.400 --> 0:25:13.720 the Christmas holidays. Shortly after one pm on Wednesday, the 0:25:13.760 --> 0:25:16.840 twenty third, the couple had left the house to get 0:25:16.880 --> 0:25:21.160 some much needed supplies for the days ahead. At approximately 0:25:21.160 --> 0:25:24.160 one forty pm, a motorist on the A eighty two 0:25:24.280 --> 0:25:27.399 road on the opposite side of the lock reported seeing 0:25:27.400 --> 0:25:31.000 flames and smoke coming from the direction of Bleskan House. 0:25:33.200 --> 0:25:36.160 By the time the couple had returned, half the building 0:25:36.359 --> 0:25:39.840 was on fire, with the flames rising over twenty feet 0:25:39.920 --> 0:25:44.320 into the air. Multiple crews of firemen battled the blaze 0:25:44.359 --> 0:25:47.359 until the early hours of the following day. By the 0:25:47.400 --> 0:25:50.840 next morning, sixty percent of the house had been incinerated, 0:25:51.240 --> 0:25:56.680 as it remains to this day. After an extensive investigation, 0:25:57.240 --> 0:25:59.919 the fire was found not to have been started Deliverer. 0:26:01.880 --> 0:26:04.840 The precise cause of the fire is a mystery that 0:26:05.040 --> 0:26:23.240 remains to this day unexplained. For more on the story 0:26:23.280 --> 0:26:26.680 is that greatly misunderstood Alice to Crowley, please listen out 0:26:26.720 --> 0:26:29.520 of episode ten extra, where we'll be delving a little 0:26:29.560 --> 0:26:32.359 deeper into the beliefs and magic of the man once 0:26:32.400 --> 0:26:36.560 described as the wicked as man in the world. As 0:26:36.600 --> 0:26:39.800 for Boleskian House, whether you care to believe all the 0:26:39.880 --> 0:26:44.359 stories or not, there will forever remain something compelling about 0:26:44.400 --> 0:26:48.439 this most beguiling of places. Whether that is because of 0:26:48.480 --> 0:26:51.119 what we have projected onto it or due to something 0:26:51.240 --> 0:26:56.960 perhaps a little more unearthly, is anyone's guess. In fact, 0:26:57.200 --> 0:27:00.440 there is something of this in all buildings, even those 0:27:00.480 --> 0:27:04.840 without such ominous connotations. We feel it in our fascination 0:27:05.000 --> 0:27:09.199 with ruined and abandoned places, because although they may be empty, 0:27:09.480 --> 0:27:12.280 it is impossible not to sense something of those that 0:27:12.359 --> 0:27:16.280 had come before, and perhaps in some way still remain. 0:27:18.560 --> 0:27:21.200 I will leave you with a passage from Thomas Pinsion's 0:27:21.280 --> 0:27:25.359 Gravity's Rainbow. In the novel, Pinsion writes of a place 0:27:25.600 --> 0:27:29.400 known as the Zone, a sort of liminal space metaphorically 0:27:29.440 --> 0:27:34.560 caught somewhere between life and death. The novel's protagonist Slowthrop, 0:27:35.000 --> 0:27:37.439 is traveling through the Zone in the aftermath of the 0:27:37.480 --> 0:27:41.200 Second World War when he finds himself inside an abandoned factory, 0:27:42.000 --> 0:27:46.240 once a throbbing heart of industry, now quiet and stilled. 0:27:49.560 --> 0:27:52.639 Though found adrift and haunted, full of signs of recent 0:27:52.800 --> 0:27:56.800 human tendency. This is not the legendary ship marries Celeste. 0:27:57.600 --> 0:28:01.640 It isn't bounded so neatly. The tracks under foot run 0:28:01.680 --> 0:28:04.639 away fore and aft into all of still to Europe, 0:28:05.280 --> 0:28:08.159