S01 Episode 10: The Spaces that Linger

built on. The world of horror is littered with unnerving locations, places that both draw from and have in turn seeped into the public imagination. Perhaps the most symbolic of them all being the forest, the archetypal liminal space of what Joseph Campbell termed the hero journey. Not only is the forest darkened mysterious, but it is of course profoundly symbolic, being as it is a manifestation of our deep unconscious.

As we venture deeper into the forest, so too do we journey deeper into ourselves in our quest to confront our greatest fears, before with any luck, ultimately emerging victorious and changed. But for all the creatures and the hidden and unknowable fears we might discover along the way. The forest, in a sense remains a space that is our own,

those fears within our own to decipher and overcome. Far more chilling, therefore, are the places that, when entering, we find ourselves crossing a threshold into a world that is very much not our own, Places where no longer are we at the whim of our darkest unconscious, but rather

that of somebody else's. God forbid you ever find yourself checking into the Bates Motel, as found in Robert Box's Psycho, or stumbling into the family home of leather Face, so disturbingly depicted in Toby Hooper's mesmerizingly Deranged Texas Chainsaw Massacre. What both stories have in common is a location so inextricably linked to the bad guys as to be almost

inseparable from them. There is the sense that, even when empty, the locations will somehow incubate the things that have happened inside. Both stories, incidentally, were partly based on the life of murderer Ed Gene, whose proclivity for manufacturing ornaments and furniture from human bone and skin continues to shock the world almost sixty years after the event. After Ghane's conviction, it

was decided that his house should be torn down. So incapable were the local community from separating the location from the events that had taken place inside, there was no other option but to remove it entirely. A similar theme emerges in many cases of alleged domestic supernatural disturbances, such as those that took place at thirty East Drive in Pontefract or at number two eight four Green Street in Enfield.

In these stories we find the recurring notion that any new resident of the property is merely an invader occupying a space that isn't theirs to occupy. At times, it might seem that in some way or another, the property has developed a soul all of its own. For many there is one place in particular that continues to fascinate like no other in the UK for its combination of mystery,

intrigue and atmospheric location. You couldn't concoct a better setting the name burlesque in House you're listening to Unexplained and Dime Richard McClane. The story of Bleskin House is inseparable from that of his most infamous former resident, Alistair Crowley. It was a very particular journey that brought Crowley to Bleskin, and it begins a short time before midnight on the twelfth of October eighteen seventy five, with his birth in

Royal Leamington, Spa, England. Crowley, who was christened Edward Alexander, was the first of two children born to Edward and Emily Crowley. Their second, a baby girl, would arrive five years later, but would tragically die after only five hours of life. The family was devoutly religious and belonged to a Christian sect known as the Plymouth Brethren. The sect were renowned for their belief in the literal truth of the Bible and their puritanical attitude towards sin and the

dangers of temptation. It was into this deeply rigid and conservative environment that Crowley was brought up, an environment which many believed contributed to his utter rejection of all such beliefs in later life. Owing to his share in the lucrative family brewing business, Crowley's father, Edward, had been able to take an earlier retirement, and as such divided most of his time between his family and volunteering as a

traveling preacher for the sect. Despite the socially claustrophobic upbringing and unhappy childhood, Crowley was utterly devoted to Edward. In March eighteen eighty seven, Crowley was devastated when his father died after a short battle with cancer. The young Alister was only eleven years old, and the death would prove to be a significant turning point in his life. Crowley's sorrow at the loss of his father soon morphed into anger.

That Crowley began attacking the very thing that had made his life such a misery, rejecting what he saw as the zealous and authoritarian scourge of Christianity. In the years that followed, it would seem that Crowley had developed a pathological yearning to commit the sins he had so studiously been warned against. He started to experiment sexually, dabbled with debauchery, and took any opportunity to point out what he considered to be the many inconsistencies in the Bible to anyone

who would listen. Crowley had the sense that he was searching for something, but it wasn't until he arrived at Cambridge University that the pieces began to shift into place. At some point Crowley had become interested in the occult, in particular the study of ritual magic, an enthusiasm that was piqued after he read A. E. Waits's The Book

of Black Magic and Pacts. An acute interest in alchemy brought him into contact with British chemist and occultist George Cecil Jones, who in turn introduced Crowley to the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. The Order had been established in eighteen eighty eight and was led by the charismatic

Samuel Liddell McGregor Mathis. Some of you may remember that it was to Mathis that the Alpha and Omega group had stayed faithful, the same group to which Netta Fornario had belonged before her death under mysterious circumstances in nineteen twenty nine. As we explored in Episode one, after graduation and with the luxury of his family's brewing dynasty inheritance, Crowley was able to untether himself from the usual constraints of life. As such, he was free to throw himself

into his new and burgeoning obsession of ritual magic. A year after leaving Cambridge, Crowley had moved into a luxury London flat in Chancery Lane, and had hired fellow Golden Dawn member Alan Bennett to become his personal magic tutor.

It was Bennett who formerly introduced Crowley to ceremonial magic and the ritual use of drugs, but most importantly to the rituals of the goetia, the practice of invoking what are commonly known as angels and demons, in particular the urs Goetia, as found in the opening section of the seventeenth century Grimoire the Lesser Key of Solomon, a Grimoire

being another term for a book of magic spells. Maths was impressed by Crowley's dedication and rapid rise through the various grades of the Golden Dawn, and the two became close friends, but Crowley was growing increasingly frustrated with the movement. His frustration was in part due to the reticence that some of the more established members had about Crowley's membership. In what was quite a rarity for the time, Crowley was openly bisexual, a state of affairs that many members

sadly found uncomfortable. But what irked Crowley more than anything was what he considered to be the inherent phoniness of the group, peopled as it was by many esteemed intellects of the day, such as W. B. Yates and Brown Stoker, Crowley felt that they were merely playing at magic and treated the organization as a glorified salon. In what would later become a feature of Crowley's life, he wanted more

and to go further than anyone had gone before. In eighteen ninety eight, Maths introduced Crowley to a strange, nimistical text called the Secret Book of abramelon Magic. The book, which is said to date back to the fifteenth century, recounts the story of an Egyptian carbalistic magician known as Bremelm the Mage and his pupil, Abraham of Vorms in Germany. As the story goes, Abraham found the Maide living in the desert outside a Ratchi, an Egyptian town near the

River Nile. After agreeing to serve and fear the Lord and to live and die in his most holy Law, Abraham was instructed by Abramelin in the divine science and true magic embedded within the two manuscripts. Abraham was warned only to pass this knowledge on to those he knew well and trusted, but now it was in the hands of Alister Crowley. Crucially, the book describes an elaborate ritual known as the Abramelin operation, designed to conjure up the

magician's guardian angel. It became clear to Crowley that this was the next step that he must take in his path to complete enlightenment. It is a path that many believed to have led to fatal consequences. Not wanting to leave anything to chance, the well heeled Crowley embarked on a lengthy undertaking to find the ideal location for the operation. As Crowley later wrote, the house must be in a

more or less secluded situation. There should be a door opening to the north from the room of which you make your oratory. Outside this door you construct a terrace covered with fine river sand. This ends in a lodge where the spirits may congregate. A year after searching, Crowley had failed to find the perfect location. That was until he found himself traveling into the highlands of Scotland along

the haunting shores of the Majestic Lochnets. A short time later, Crowley arrived at a small grave side by the side of the road overlooking the Loch. There perched a short distance up the hill, overlooking the graveyard, he saw it for the first time, the house that would forever become synonymous with his name. Bleskin. The single floored mansion, located on the eastern shore of Loch Ness, was built in

the late eighteenth century by a Colonel Archibald Fraser. It is not clear what exactly brought Crowley to Bileskin, though the filmmaker and crowley a ficionado, Kenneth Anger, has pointed out that he may have been drawn to the name and its similarity to Baal, the Canaan god of gods, later remodeled as the lord of flies. In the Old Testament, Bal is represented by the symbol of the bull, the word ball from Balskin, being an ancient Scottish form of

the same animal. Others believe, however, that Crowley had in some way been preternaturally drawn to the house. It was head that a medieval church had once stood on the same site. One morning, with the congregation inside, the church mysteriously caught fire. As the congregation rushed to escape, they found themselves inexplicably trapped inside. Unable to escape, they perished as the church burnt steadily to the ground. Had something of the event remained, something that Crowley was eager to

tap into. It is also said that the graveyard itself was once a meeting point for witches. Reports of a tunnel leading from the house to the grave site, which some claim to have been used by Crowley to conduct his own nighttime rituals, remain unsubstantiated. So convinced was Crowley of the house's suitability that in August eighteen ninety nine, he paid more than twice its value to secure the property. A short time later, he relocated his possessions and began

preparing for the Great operation. Are you always taking care of your family? Do you often take care of others and not yourself? Now it's time to take care of yourself. To make time for you. You deserve it. Teledoc gives you access to a licensed therapist to help you get back to feeling your best to feeling like yourself again. With teledoc, you can speak to a licensed therapist by phone or video. Therapy appointments are available seven days a

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get started. That's teladoc dot com slash Unexplained podcast. It is important at this point to draw the distinction between what many see as Crowley's unhealthy obsession with black magic and Satanism and what, in reality it was that Crowley hoped to achieve. Whether there is a truth to it or not, Crowley's intention and the sole purpose of the ritual was to seek knowledge and conversation with his own

personal guardian angel. It is, by all accounts, a ritual to invoke positive change, a force for good, but there was one glaringly large catch. In order to do this, Crowley would have to invoke and then bring under his control the twelve Kings of Hell before beginning the ritual, which required him to start in Easter. Crowley spent the intervening months entertaining guests and readying the property in preparation for the ceremony. The final stage was to cover the

outdoor terrace in a fine river sand. The reason was simple. It was so Crowley could see the feat marks of the spirits and demons he was about to invoke. The ritual was to last six months and required the utmost conviction. It would require him to live off little more than bread and water, and to wait regularly at three a m. To begin the invocations. Chastity had to be observed at all times, and complete abstinence was paramount for the free

spirited Crowley. That in itself would have proved a tall order. However, as the winter snow of eighteen ninety nine began to thaw and with it past the season of death, new life was bursting forth throughout the surrounding hills. Spring had finally arrived, and Crowley's dedication had not faulted. The time had come to begin the ritual. Crowley began by preparing

the talismans that were essential for the operation. The talismans, which can be found at the back of the Book of Abramelon, are a set of magic word squares required to bring the twelve kings of Hell into order. Crowley had moved to the brightest room in the house to best complete the task. The room, located at the front of the house, overlooked the terrace and down to the

dark and still lockness beyond. Crowley cut the squares from the material vellum, and as a bright sun flooded the room with light, he began to inscribe the squares with Indian ink. When something strange happened. Despite the clear skies, the room began to darken until the light had been almost entirely extinguished. From this point on, Chrowley was required to use a large array of candles to keep the

room alight even during the brightest times of day. With everything in order, Chrowley embarked on his sixth month odyssey. Almost immediately he received confirmation that he was on the right path as he began to chant in the room.

Even with all its artificial light, it again began to darken, while all around the lodge and terrace became peopled with shadowy shapes, or, as Crowley writes, the demons and evil forces had congregated round me so thickly that they were shutting off the light a number of friends had declined to visit Crowley, believing he was going too far meddling with things he couldn't understand, let alone control. The grimoire itself begins with the warning not to attempt any of

the magic contained. Within only a few weeks into the operation, already there were ominous stirrings. One acquaintance, named Rossia, lasted only two weeks before terror forced him to flee Crowley, coming down to breakfast one day, only to be informed that Russia had taken the first boat to in Vaness that morning. At one point, Crowley returned to Boleskin one afternoon to find a Catholic priest waiting for him in

his study. The priest informed him that the day before, his lodge keeper, who had not touched alcohol for twenty years, had come home raving drunk and attempted to murder his wife and children. Already, it would seem that the ritual, despite being a very personal pursuit, was provoking forces beyond Crowley's control. Although it may not have been going well for those around him, the ritual seemed to be working

for Crowley. But all that was about to change. Barely two months in Crowley received a letter from Samuel Mathis requesting Crowley's immediate assistance. In Crowley's absence, the Order of the Golden Dawn had fractured into two opposing schools of thought, with Mather's believing he was in great danger of being usurped despite only being part way through the ritual. Crowley felt compelled to offer his assistance immediately. He packed his bags and headed straight to London, and with that the

magic ritual was broken. It had been Crowley's intention to return and complete the spell, but with one thing leading to another in the summer of nineteen hundred, Crowley instead moved to Mexico. The ritual remained incomplete. As Kenneth Anger notes, if you invoke spirits to help you or teach you, there is something that has to be done afterwards. They must be banished. But Crowley never did that. It is said that soon after a dark cloud appeared over the

house that failed to disperse for many months. Locals refused to go by the house, instead preferring to travel the entire circumference of the lock rather than pass it. As for Crowley, there are some who believe that failure to complete the ritual left him dangerously open to demonic possession, that the twelve Kings of Hell may well have somehow found their way inside him, using him for their own purpose.

Some consider what later became a Crowley to be directly linked to this moment, and for those that came to Boleskin after Crowley, it is hard to resist the temptation to think that some strange gateway had indeed been opened that has never since been closed. Sometime after nineteen thirteen, the property came into the possession of Major Edward Grant.

Not a lot is known about Grant's period of ownership, except that one morning, while his housekeeper, Anna McLaren, had been working in the garden, the family dog had come running up to her, playing with something in its mouth. It looked like some kind of bone, but knowing there was nothing of that sort in the house, missus McLaren grabbed it from the dog and threw it away. A short time later, Anna called in on the Major, only

to make a horrific discovery. There, slumped in front of a large bedroom mirror was the body of Major Grant, lying next to a recently discharged shotgun. His head had been completely removed by the blast. The dog had indeed been chewing on a bone. It was a piece of Major Grant's skull. In nineteen seventy, the house was bought by Led Zeplin guitarist Jimmy Page. Page had for a long time been fascinated by the occult, and in particular

the life of Alister Crowley. However, due to his rigorous touring schedule and other commitments, Page rarely visited the house and had invited his friend Belcome Dent to look after the property in his absence. Dent and his family moved into the property soon after, and it wasn't long before they realized something in the house wasn't quite right. Despite Berleskin's reputation, Dent was a confirmed skeptic and had little time for what he considered to be nothing but superstitious nonsense.

Before long, Dent and his family became plagued by a series of inexplicable noises moving throughout the house. Doors would slam mysteriously all through the night, and carpets and rugs would be mischievously pulled up. Another regular occurrence was that the doors would suddenly spring open, as if someone was running through them, even on a calm day. Dent recalls sitting in bed late at night when something outside the

room began snuffling under the door. It sounded at first like a dog, before growing in intensity, becoming louder and louder. He snapped on the light, only for the noise to become even more intense. As the door began to rattle violently. He had the sudden feeling that something huge and evil was trying to get in. Then as quickly as it had begun, it stopped. Was this one of the twelve Kings of Hell that Crowley had failed to banish, or something else that had entered through a strange gateway he

had failed to close. Dent later discovered that the room he was in at the time had been the same room that Crowley conducted his ritual. In nineteen ninety one, the house was sold again to a Ronald and Annette mac gillivray, who stayed in the property event free for almost ten years. Following the death of Ronald in two thousand and two, the house was again put up for sail and was later bought by a Dutch family, who also reported nothing unusual in all their time staying at

the house. The demons it would seem had finally taken leave, or had they. In December twenty fifteen, the owner's daughter and partner arrived at Bleskan House intent on staying for the Christmas holidays. Shortly after one pm on Wednesday, the twenty third, the couple had left the house to get

some much needed supplies for the days ahead. At approximately one forty pm, a motorist on the A eighty two road on the opposite side of the lock reported seeing flames and smoke coming from the direction of Bleskan House. By the time the couple had returned, half the building was on fire, with the flames rising over twenty feet into the air. Multiple crews of firemen battled the blaze

until the early hours of the following day. By the next morning, sixty percent of the house had been incinerated, as it remains to this day. After an extensive investigation, the fire was found not to have been started Deliverer. The precise cause of the fire is a mystery that

remains to this day unexplained. For more on the story is that greatly misunderstood Alice to Crowley, please listen out of episode ten extra, where we'll be delving a little deeper into the beliefs and magic of the man once described as the wicked as man in the world. As for Boleskian House, whether you care to believe all the stories or not, there will forever remain something compelling about

this most beguiling of places. Whether that is because of what we have projected onto it or due to something perhaps a little more unearthly, is anyone's guess. In fact, there is something of this in all buildings, even those without such ominous connotations. We feel it in our fascination with ruined and abandoned places, because although they may be empty, it is impossible not to sense something of those that had come before, and perhaps in some way still remain.

I will leave you with a passage from Thomas Pinsion's Gravity's Rainbow. In the novel, Pinsion writes of a place known as the Zone, a sort of liminal space metaphorically caught somewhere between life and death. The novel's protagonist Slowthrop, is traveling through the Zone in the aftermath of the Second World War when he finds himself inside an abandoned factory, once a throbbing heart of industry, now quiet and stilled. Though found adrift and haunted, full of signs of recent

human tendency. This is not the legendary ship marries Celeste. It isn't bounded so neatly. The tracks under foot run away fore and aft into all of still to Europe, and our flesh doesn't sweat and pimple here for the domestic mysteries, the attic horror of what might have happened, so much as for our knowledge of what likely did happen. It was always easy in open and lonely places to

be visited by panic, wilderness fear. But these are the urban phantods here that come to get you when you are lost or isolate inside the way time is passing, when there is no more history, no time traveling capsule to find your way back to, only the lateness and the absence that fill a great railway shed after the capitol has been evacuated, and the goat God's city cousins wait for you at the edges of the light, playing the tunes they always played, but more audible now because

everything else has gone away or fallen silent. All elements of Unexplained are produced by me Richard McClain smith. Please subscribe and rate the show on iTunes. Feel free to get in touch with any thoughts or ideas regarding the stories you've heard on the show. Perhaps you have an explanation of your own you'd like to share. You can reach us online at Unexplained podcast dot com or on Twitter at Unexplained Pod. Now. It's time to take care

of yourself. To make time for you, Tell a Doc gives you access to a licensed therapist to help you get back to feeling your best. Speak to a licensed therapist by phone or video anytime between seven am to nine pm local time, seven days a week. Tell a Doc Therapy is available through most insurance or employers. Download the app, or visitteldoc dot com. Forward Slash Unexplained Podcast Today to get started. That's t e ladoc dot com Slash Unexplained Podcast