'Boleskine House Foundation' Offers Charred Remains of Historic Building for Sale on eBay

An “original stone” and “charred remains” as pictured on eBay. (The Boleskine House Foundation) — An “original stone” and “charred remains” as pictured on eBay. *(The Boleskine House Foundation)*

The Boleskine House Foundation is offering "Boleskine House original stone and charred remains" for sale on eBay in a bid to raise the funds necessary to restore the historic building.

According to the item description,

You are purchasing one original stone of up to 400g and one bag of charred remains from the fire on 31 July 2019 from Boleskine House. The package comes with a certificate of authenticity as per the photograph. Each order will be one stone, one bag of charred remains and one certificate.
All of the proceeds of sale will go to the Boleskine House Foundation SCIO which is a charitable incorporated organisation with registered charity number SCO49568. All proceeds will be used toward the restoration of Boleskine House.

A bag of charred remains and a stone is listed at $64.50, while single stones are available for $46.

The house’s occult connections are not explicitly promoted in the description, although the hashtags Occult, Crowley, Thelema, and Led Zeppelin were applied to the items for sale.

The remains are available following a fire last July which authorities say was likely “a criminal act of vandalism.”

A crowdfunding campaign was started last year following the fire, but so far has generated less than $30,000 of the nearly $300,000 goal. The total cost of the rebuild is estimated to be over $900,000, and the Boleskine House’s current owners are exploring different ways to generate the needed income.

Prior to the fire, plans for the property’s development had been moving forward after its purchase by trustees of the Boleskine House Foundation.

The Boleskine House, once owned by infamous occultist Aleister Crowley, rests on the shore of Scotland’s Loch Ness—famed for its monster sightings—and Crowley was said to have purchased the house in order to perform an elaborate ritual invoking his guardian angel. The ritual, which involved abstinence from sex and alcohol, also required Crowley to summon the 12 Kings and Dukes of Hell, in order to bind them and remove their influence from the magician’s life.

Crowley owned the house from 1899 to 1913. Following his ownership it changed hands several times, each time being marked by tragedy—including one owner who used a shotgun to commit suicide in Crowley’s former bedroom—before being bought by musician Jimmy Page in 1970. Page himself was an avid occultist and follower of Crowley.

Page sold the house in 1992, and the house changed hands twice more before being mostly consumed by fire in 2015.

The property was purchased in 2019 by Kyra Readdy, who bought Lots 1 and 3, and William Clifford-Banks, who bought Lot 2.

Readdy and Clifford-Banks are members of a board of trustees belonging to the Boleskine House Foundation, a “not-for-profit group aimed at restoring and maintaining the Boleskine House estate."

“When it comes to heritage property I feel that we are guardians for future generations," Readdy said in a statement on the Boleskine House Foundation website. "It is my privilege and honor to work on this project and to be able to secure the future of the house.”

In a similar statement, Clifford-Banks said “I would like to dispel the negative rumours about Aleister Crowley and restore the estate as a space to host well-being and mindfulness events such as yoga and meditation retreats, and provide a place for lectures, conferences, and even ceremonies.”

The foundation has reportedly been in talks with occult organization Ordo Templi Orientis (O.T.O.) regarding the restoration project and the property's use following its completion.

The O.T.O. is an initiatory secret society known to include sexual elements in their magickal practices, and whose members follow a religion known as Thelema, based on Crowley’s teachings.. Founded at the beginning of the 20th century and still active today, Aleister Crowley was perhaps its best known member.

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