A haunted Scottish mansion once owned by both a practitioner of 'sex magic' and a member of Led Zeppelin will soon be open to the public for self-guided tours.
From the 17th century estate that featured in Outlander to the 'breathtaking' 16th century Scottish castle you can stay in, there is no shortage of spectacular and historic properties that would make for a perfect day trip or holiday.
It is rare that the pristine manors that have the most fascinating and mysterious pasts, though. More often than not, it is the ruins and half-destroyed sites dotted around the country that have the best stories to tell.
Nowhere is this more true than in the case of Boleskine House, which is situated on the south-east side of Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands. Originally completed around 1760, this manor has had a strange history that has seen some truly unique figures move in.
According to legend, the house was built on the site of an ancient kirk. It is said that the original building caught fire during congregation one time, killing everybody inside.
The house was constructed by Archibald Campbell Fraser of Lovat as a hunting lodge. In the decades that followed, the lodge was expanded into a full manor.
The house's most infamous owner came into the picture in 1899, when author and occultist Aleister Crowley purchased it from the Fraser family. Once proclaimed "the wickedest man in the world", Crowley was a sex magick practitioner and founded the new religious movement and occult tradition of Thelema in the early 1900s.
He reportedly bought the property due to its remote location, where he would perform 'black magic' rituals, including spending six months trying to raise his Guardian Angel. This ritual is said to have involved the summoning of demons, and many believe that Crowley never banished them — leading to unusual happenings at the house from then on.
After years of conducting his mysterious rituals, Crowley was forced to sell the property due to money woes in the 1910s. Decades later, it came into possession of Led Zeppelin guitarist and producer Jimmy Page.
Page was very interested in Crowley's life, and was a collector of his memorabilia. After purchasing the property in 1970, he intended to remodel it and theme it after the occultist.
However, the rock star is said to have stayed there only a handful of times due to the 'bad vibes' he felt around the place, and gave it over to childhood friend Malcolm Dent to look after. Dent was reportedly witness to many strange goings on at the house, such as unexplained animal noises and slamming doors.
Boleskine House has passed to several other people since then. However, in 2015, a devastating fire left the property uninhabitable.
In the years after, the ruin of the home was untouched. Fortunately, in 2019, it was purchased and since then has been in the process of being restored by The Boleskine House Foundation.
After years of work, Boleskine House will open to the public for self-guided audio tours from May 23. Slots can be booked online, with prices starting at £6.
More information can be found on the Boleskin House website.
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