With these articles I managed to namecheck the Led Zeppelin rock god Jimmy Page and infamous occultist Aleister Crowley.

I knew that Page had bought Crowley’s former home which overlooked Loch Ness but the house itself had an interesting history.

It was ruined in a fire in 2015 and the carved wooden box was claimed to be found under the floorboards there after the blaze.

The box was bought through eBay by Rik Spencer from Grimsby who contacted me saying he was planning to open it and wondered if anyone in the Highlands knew anything about it.

However, once it was opened, it appeared that it was an elaborate fake because the illustration the box contained, which was one of a number of artefacts, bore an uncanny resemblance to a more recent film poster and there was zero fire damage to the box itself.

Mystery of Boleskine House box

A CARVED wooden box may contain the secrets which unlock some of the mysteries of a notorious Highland home.

A man from Grimsby is appealing for information on the box which it is claimed was found under the floorboards of Boleskine House.

The site, previously owned by the infamous occultist Aleister Crowley and Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page, overlooks Loch Ness. It caught fire in 2015 and the previous owner of the carved wooden artefact said it was found under the floorboards of the building after the blaze.

Rik Spencer bought the item from a seller on eBay. He said: “I do collect oddities and the strange and weird – I have studied the paranormal for most of my life, but not so much witchcraft. The more I find out the more points to it being real.”

The box bears a hexagram, a six-pointed star, as well as the initials AC, is covered in melted, red wax, and has intricate carvings on the lid.

The 41-year-old said: “I feel it’s too much hard work to go to to be a fake – it’s too simplistic in the way it is.

“The hexagram is interesting, as this links to Aleister Crowley and the Golden Order. I’m not saying it is Aleister Crowley’s but maybe a homage of some sort. The seller said it was found in 2015, after the first fire, beneath the drawing room.”

He said he had researched the building and it is understood that the drawing room, which was also known as the oratory room, was where the notorious rituals were said to have been held by Crowley and his associates.

The seller, whose identity has not been disclosed, told Mr Spencer that the floorboards above the box had been badly damaged and he was given it by one of his friends who found it at Boleskine when he was assessing the fire damage. 

Mr Spencer said he was hoping to get the box assessed by an expert and a spokesman for the Boleskine House Foundation said he would be interested to hear the expert opinion.

From The Inverness Courier on Tuesday, September 29, 2020.

Lifting the lid on mystery box

THE contents of a mysterious carved wooden box which was possibly buried at the notorious Boleskine House have been revealed.

The item was bought in an online auction by Rik Spencer, who is 41 and from Grimsby, and it was sealed shut with melted wax. There was also wax which had dripped onto the lid.

The seller claimed that it had been found beneath the floorboards of the infamous Loch Ness property after the 2015 blaze. The house was previously owned by occultist Aleister Crowley and Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page.

It was thought to have black magic connections and Mr Spencer took the precaution of surrounding it with a circle of salt before he opened it. “I put salt around it and I was dead shaky,” he said.

Once the lid was lifted, he discovered it contained a doll, coins, vegetation and an illustration, which he said seemed familiar.

After doing some research, Mr Spencer realised the image was very similar to one from the film Sinister which was released in 2012 – meaning it did not have any connection with Crowley.

He said he had heard from experts on the subject who told him it was a Dybbuk box and the contents could have been a witch’s binding spell. He added: “It will be something because people are saying it has been done properly.

“It does look like it’s been done in a ritual way. I’ve messaged the seller and he is adamant it came from Boleskine House.”

Mr Spencer said he was keen to hear from anyone who could provide any information about either the box or the owner of the house between around 2012 to 2015 – the secretive Dutch millionairess Trudy Piekaar-Bakker. He said: “There has got to be someone around that knows her.”

From The Inverness Courier on  Friday, November 13, 2020.