Boleskine House: Plea to occultists not to spoil house renovation

Highland councillors have approved plans for the restoration of the former home of notorious occultist Aleister Crowley.

Boleskine House, overlooking Loch Ness, was left in ruins by two recent fires.

Crowley was said to have performed occultist rituals at the property when he lived there between 1899 and 1913.

People fascinated by his beliefs have caused "difficulties" for other owners of the home and the local community by gathering uninvited at the house.

Local councillor Margaret Davidson said there were "good quality" plans for the future of the site, and she appealed to people with an interest in Crowley and the supernatural not to spoil them.

She said: "Over the years it has been a place people have visited and become obsessed with the area.

"That has caused its own difficulties for people in Foyers and Inverfarigaig, the nearest villages, and I would wish that to stop for them."

Boleskine House was badly damaged by a blaze in 2015 before another fire ripped through the site in July last year.

The Boleskine House Foundation has been granted planning permission for the rebuilding work, along with the reinstatement of its category B listing and for the construction of 10 holiday units.

The timber clad, grass roof units would be a mix of one and two-bedroom accommodation.

Crowley, who died in 1947, was notorious in the late 19th Century and early 20th Century for his promotion of the occult.

During World War One, 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 Jimmy Page, of the band Led Zeppelin, bought Boleskine House in the 1970s because of the Crowley connection, before later selling it.