Boleskine House

Boleskine House is a house on the south side of Loch Ness. It is in the Scottish Highlands.  It is best known for having been the home of two famous people. First was the writer and occultist Aleister Crowley. Then later, it was the home of Jimmy Page, the guitarist for Led Zeppelin.

The house was mostly burned down by fire in December 2015.  Boleskine House is a Category B listed building in the United Kingdom, along with the stables and a small lodge (cottage). This means it has historical and cultural importance.

 History 
Boleskine House is 21 miles south of Inverness and close to the village of Foyers. The house was built in the 18th century as a hunting cottage or lodge. The house is right next to a graveyard. The graveyard was already thought to have ghosts and supernatural happenings, even before Crowley bought it.

 Aleister Crowley 
Crowley bought Boleskine House from the Archibald Fraser family in 1899.  There were rumors of him using black magic and rituals while he lived at the house.  His housekeeper had bad things happen while living there, including the death of his two children. Crowley later said that he had used too much black magic. He sold the house in 1913, because he was running out of money.

 Jimmy Page 
Page was already collecting things about Aleister Crowley. He was reading about him and was interested in his ideas. He bought the house and land in 1970. He thought it would be a good spooky place to help him write songs.  At the time it was in bad shape and needed repairs.  But, even though he had the house fixed up; he did not spend much time there. Page sold the house in 1992. He actually lived there for less than six weeks.

A fantasy scene for Page that was shown in Led Zeppelin's movie The Song Remains the Same was made around Boleskin House. It was made during a full moon in December, 1973. Page is climbing a mountain in the moonlight.

 Later history 
After Page sold it, the house was run as a guest-house.  In 2009, the house and land were put up for sale.  The sale also included 140 feet of shoreline of Loch Ness.  The new Dutch owners, who are not known, were using it as a holiday home. It is now owned by the Boleskine House Foundation and will open to the public after it has been restored.

 Fire 
On the afternoon of 23 December 2015, a motorist passing by saw flames and smoke coming from Boleskine House.  By the time fire crews arrived, almost 60 percent of the home was already burned. Flames were rising up to 20 feet high.  The firefighters tried to save the west wing of the house, as the rest of the building had been too badly damaged. The fire was thought to have started in the kitchen, but no one was home.

It is not known how much of Boleskine House is still standing since the fire.  A former owner said that the damage is so bad it "is unlikely it will ever be rebuilt unless there is someone out there with an interest in the occult wanting to spend a lot of money."

 References 

 More reading 

 Other websites 
Aleister Crowley at Boleskine House
Boleskine House Foundation official website https://www.boleskinehouse.org

Category:Buildings and structures in Scotland
Category:Listed buildings
Category:British culture
Category:Folklore
Category:1760s establishments
Category:18th-century establishments in Scotland