The first time I heard about Borley was when my friend let me listen to a tape of a team of professional ghost hunters who had spent the night there. They had spent time in the church investigating and they experienced some paranormal activity, from things being thrown at them to hearing unexplainable noises and seeing small moving lights. They also left the tape inside running all night, even after they left. It was then that the tape really freaked me out! The tape had picked up the sounds of footsteps and creaks. It also picked up a sound that sounded like a deep sigh. That's what really freaked me out as it sounded so scary. Even just remembering listening to it gives me goose bumps!
They also taped themselves when they went to investigate where the old Rectory once stood. It was there they had a sighting of the Nun who is said to roam where the building used to stand. This supposed sighting lasted about twelve minutes.
The first time I went to Borley nine of us visited. We hired a transit van for the weekend so we could get us all in. I was driving and it took hours. When we finally got there it was about 2am. There was no parking outside the church so we drove a bit further and found a local field to park in. We all got into the back and I said that we should listen to the tape prior to our own investigation. I had brought a copy of the tape recorded by the professional ghost hunters at Borley. Prior to listening to the tape we had decided that afterwards we should walk around the church. However after listening to the tape nobody wanted to walk back down to the church with the van so far away. So I drove back to the church and managed to squeeze the van in. When we parked up and got out I told everyone to be quiet because there was a house right opposite. We noticed that the house had a boarded up window. It was the window facing the church. The house was lived in and it had the prettiest garden. I made a joke about it being boarded up because it was facing the church, and the owners of the house didn't like what they saw out of it at night. I was trying to scare everyone because I thought it was funny. But really I scared myself!
I was the only one with a torch so everyone huddled up behind me. We walked down the path through the graveyard towards the church. We heard a noise in the bush in front of us and we all stopped and hung on to each other. We realised that is was probably an animal and we carried on walking. As we wandered around we started walking faster and faster as we got to the back of the church. By the time we got round to the other side we were all almost running. We all got back to the van and got in and sat just outside the church for a little while. I wanted to go back round again but no one seemed to share my enthusiasm. So we went home.
My return visit was with three friends. We hadn't planned it at all, we just went for a drive and ended up there. It was dark when we got there and we parked outside the church like we eventually did last time.
I was sat in the back because it was my friend's car so he was driving. I had complained that I didn't want to sit with my side next to the church. So my friend, after making me sit there for about ten minutes, finally turned the car round so that I was now nearer to the road. When I looked over at the pretty little house we had seen before with the boarded up window, it still had a boarded up window. I couldn't believe it! Why was it still boarded up? I mentioned it to my friend who was driving as he had come with us on the first visit in the transit van. He looked across and said that I must have been right about the window. But I still choose to believe that it just hadn't been fixed a year later.
We sat there for a while and then eventually decided to take a walk around. I really didn't want to go around there, but I didn't want to stay in the car on my own either. We got out and walked up the path towards the church. It was so dark we really couldn't see much at all. The church yard is only small with a few graves, so it didn't take long to walk round. At the speed we were walking I'm not surprised! Even though the boys acted like they weren't scared, really they were! We got back to the car and I said that it was a waste of time coming all this way and not actually staying in there longer. So we decided to wait for a while and go back in.
While we sat waiting we all managed to fall asleep and I was the first to wake up and it was almost daylight. I woke the driver and tried waking the other two but they wouldn't wake up. So me and the driver just sat talking for a while. I asked him if he wanted to go and walk round the church now it was light. I thought it would be good to see it in the light rather than the dark for a change. As I asked him he said "It must be quite windy out there, can you feel it moving the car?" I had felt the car moving and thought nothing of it really. But then my friend pointed out that the trees weren't moving. Now I was really freaked out because the car was moving quite a lot, but the trees outside definitely were not. My friend then opened his window and put out his hand to feel for the wind but he could feel nothing. I told him to close the window up but he wouldn't. I was sat in the back directly behind him so I started shaking his seat and telling him to close the window. He just kept laughing and telling me not to be so stupid and that's what we were there for. He was right but I still couldn't help being scared. However what happened next made him close the window!
We heard a faint rumbling in the distance, almost like the sound of rolling thunder. But the rumbling sound was a constant sound and it was getting closer. By this time I was sat on the floor of the car squeezed between the seats. My friend was scared now, he had be backed away from the window that he had now closed. I couldn't help myself and I had to look out to see what the rumble was. But there was nothing to see just the sound. It got closer and closer as it came down the lane. Then it was right outside and still we saw nothing. By this time the other two had woken up from my almost screaming to my friend to get us out of there. He was just so scared to move he couldn't do it. The other two asked what was up and I told them to listen. But by this time the rumbling had passed us and was going off into the distance. They managed to hear it though, before we could hear it no longer. We all sat there amazed by what had happened. Then I realised that the car was still rocking, not as much as before but very slightly. I pointed it out to the other two and the fact that there was no wind and the trees were still. They just wanted to get out of there as I did too. But the driver didn't want to, he just wanted to know what we had heard. I tried to think what the sound had sounded like but I couldn't quite put my finger on it and neither could the driver. One of the others that had only heard it going away said that it sounded like possibly cart wheels. When he said that I agreed and so did the driver. Then pointed out that if it had been the sound of cart wheels where was the sound of the horses hooves?
It was now almost 7am and daylight. The car had finally stopped moving and we decided it was time to go. We were all pretty intrigued by what had happened, but none of us could explain it logically.
That was the only time I have ever been that scared. I have been scared plenty of times before and since but never as badly that night.
