Kristen says:

Hi Candace! Just wanted to add a little something after listening to the Amelia Earhart podcast this week – there is a great song called Amelia by the Irish band Bell x1 and it touches on a few of the theories about her disappearance. And thanks to your podcast, now I know who this ‘Fred’ is they keep talking about in the song! Definitely look up the lyrics if you get a chance!

Jeremy Knight says:

I had a long drive today, so had downloaded a bunch of podcasts in advance. But when you started discussing ‘Uncle Harry’ I was so surprised to say the lease. Harry Price, my great uncle, was very much considered the black sheep of my family. Although he died before I was born, his wife, Aunty Connie, lived next door to my Grandmother in Pulborough, Sussex UK until she died. Nevertheless we were warned very sternly not to bring up the subject of Uncle Harry. Looked at today, we would see him much more as a ‘colourful character’ rather than a scoundrel and rogue, but at that time (the 1960s) the shame of having an unconventional and scandalous (more on that later) relation was still something to be hidden. Luckily one of my uncles who did know Harry was not so ashamed and has passed on tales of the colourful life that led to Harry’s reputation.

Harry was originally an insurance salesman as I recall. This cannot have given him a very good living – when he and Connie married they could not afford a honeymoon. Harry, it is said, went to the local Rolls Royce dealer (In Horsham) and managed to persuade them he had a serious interest in buying a car. Consequently they ‘lent’ him a model to see if he liked driving (remember this would be the early days of driving when cars were not in mass ownership) and he took Connie off on a tour of the UK. Once place they visited in Exmore became their favourite spot. Later they took my Grand Mother there on a family holiday, and it enchanted her too. So much so that she visited many times in her life, and willed that we scatter her ashes in the same spot when she died. It is still a beautiful and peaceful spot, the location of which I will keep to myself!

Harry always cut a dashing figure. The photos we have of him show a very handsome man, impeccably dressed who always had perfectly brilcreamed hair. My father tells me he would always have a row of gold pens in the top pocket of his jacket, and would usually be seen out wearing one of his panama hats. The image is very much at odds with those you see in his books and later biographies.

I am not sure when he became interested in the occult, but it seemed to be a way out of a routine and poorly paid career for him . Ghost and spiritualists were very fashionable in the early part of the century, and I believe (my opinion only)that he would have see it as a ‘growth market’ and easy money. He had always been interested in magic and was an early member of the ‘Magic Circle’ so would have had he skills to have unmasked many charlatans, which he undoubtedly did. He would have also have had the skills to have woven very realistic illusions and it is believed in the family that this was what he did in places like Borley. It seems likely that this would be a rational explanation of the events. No doubt his selling skills from the insurance days also helped.

Later biographies certainly came to a similar conclusion about the validity of his claims. However the way that one in particular was written was far from charitable, portraying him as an out an out con-man who simply married Aunty Connie for her family money which he bled her of. I believe these allegations were fundamentally unfair – Harry in fact left Connie well provided for when he died and it is debatable whether my family was ever as wealthy as the book suggested. The book was one of the main factors in making Harry a family scandal, and that is still a matter of great sadness to us all. Perhaps an early example of the appalling power of media, but therein lies a different tale!

I was absolutely delighted to hear your views on Borley. I felt you dealt with the haunting, and with Uncle Harry, very fairly, with out any sign of insult: A good combination of facts, story, and mystery. So, thank you for that.

Best Regards

Jeremy Knight
Salisbury, UK