Wednesday 23 December 2015

Boleskine House Ablaze





It may have been the house that belonged to "the Wickedest Man in the World" and also owned by various other students of magick, but it is sad to see this icon of Loch Ness Mystery nearly destroyed by fire. I had hoped to have lodged there if it ever became a B&B again, now that day looks afar off. 

From the BBC:

Firefighters have been called to a blaze at a historic property above Loch Ness.
Crews from Foyers, Inverness, Beauly and Dingwall have been sent to Boleskine House near Foyers.
The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said a large part of the property has been destroyed.
Boleskine House was owned by infamous occultist Aleister Crowley and later for a time by Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page.
The alarm was raised at 13:40.
Flames from the fire were visible from the other side of the loch.
A fire appliance from Foyers and another from Inverness were first sent to the scene.
Pumps from Inverness and Beauly along with a water carrier from Inverness, a pump from Dingwall and an incident support unit from Inverness have also been sent.

SFRS said: "A large part of the property has already been destroyed by fire and crews are concentrating their efforts on the west wing of the building.
"Crews in breathing apparatus are using four main jets to tackle the blaze and the incident is ongoing."
Crowley, who died in 1947, lived at Boleskine House above Loch Ness from 1899 to 1913.
He was infamous in the late 19th Century and early 20th Century for his promotion of the occult.
During World War I, he wrote anti-British propaganda.
He was also an experienced climber and was part of an ill-fated attempt to scale K2, in modern day Pakistan, in 1902.
Musician Page bought Boleskine House in the 1970s because of the Crowley connection, before later selling it.

8 comments:

  1. So sad. I hate to see historical artifacts damaged or destroyed. Hope it wasn't damaged beyond repair. Too bad.

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  2. That's a real shame, so much history there.

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  3. Twas the night before Christmas, when all thro' Loch Ness
    Not a creature was stirring, not even Dick Raynor;
    The cameras were hung by the shore with care,
    In hopes that Nessie soon would be there;
    Roland were nestled all snug in his bed,
    While visions of Nessie danc'd in his head...

    Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

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  4. Thats terrible news , i can never think of loch ness without thinking of boleskine. i just hope that it can be saved .

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  5. Just saw the added update pic of the front facade. Looks like a total loss. What a shame. Guess your chances of ever lodging there are now nil GB. :(

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    1. I have an article on ghostly boleskine. I'll have to put it on the blog sometime ....

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  6. Had failed to notice at the time of the fire that it was the Winter Solstice. As you are doubtless aware, Roland, buildings with a strong Satanic or Pagan association seem strangely prone to mysterious and often devastating fires, often, but not exclusively, on specific days of the year special to that 'faith'.

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