By Victoria Evans, Searchroom Archivist
With it being the month of ghosts and ghouls, we thought it only right to write a short piece about the famed British ghost hunter and physical researcher, Harry Price.
Born on the 17th of January 1881 in Red Lion Square, London, to parents Edward Ditehen and Emma Randell Price, Harry also had an older sister called Annie. His first encounter with magic and the paranormal came in the form of attending a stage magic show in 1889 and this was where a lifelong passion began.
Between 1901 and 1908, Harry moved to Pulborough, where he subsequently met his future wife, Constance Mary Knight. And in August of 1908, at the age of 26, they married.
From Ancestry – Register of marriages (April 1902-January 1912) – Par 153/1/3/4
Alongside pursuing his passions in magic, the paranormal and other hobbies (namely archaeology), Harry worked as a salesman for paper merchants Edward Saunders & Sons and wrote articles for the West Sussex Gazette and the Southern Weekly News. However, after the death of his father in 1906, Harry’s inheritance allowed him to support himself more independently.
By 1920 he joined the Society for Psychical Research (SPR) and would go on to use his skills as a magician to debunk fraudster mediums. One of the most notable mediums he exposed as a fake was the spirit photographer William Hope in 1922. Spirit photography does seem like a bit of fun but at this time someone like William Hope was able to prey upon peoples’ grief by claiming to be able to photograph the deceased. Harry “claimed that Hope used pre-exposed plates in his camera, which he learned by secretly switching the plates the photographer was using with plates of his own.”[1]
In 1925, following disagreements in the SPR, although he did not leave the society, Harry formed the National Laboratory of Psychical Research. And later on, he went on to invent contraptions to aid him in debunking false mediums. In 1927, Harry joined the Ghost Club which will play a larger part in his life later on.
Leading into the 1930s, Harry was very busy and in demand! In between further debunking’s, he was appointed the first chairman of the National Film Library (British Film Institute), then in 1936 he presented a BBC broadcast from a reportedly haunted location in Meopham, Kent and the transfer of his library and investigative equipment to the University of London took place. He also published two books: The Confessions of a Ghost-Hunter and The Haunting of Cashen’s Gap. In 1937 Harry went on to do more televised paranormal experiments and he rented Borley Rectory for a year at this point too (with Borley Rectory being a contentious subject when referring to Harry Price’s legacy that will not be delved into here). To conclude this busy decade, he re-established the Ghost Club in 1938 (it had temporarily ceased operation in 1936) and modernised its practices, making it a place for open-minded sceptics to investigate.
Slowing down in the 1940s, Harry focused on writing and publishing three other books: The Most Haunted House in England, Poltergeist Over England and The End of Borley Rectory. Then on the 29th of March Harry passed away at the age of 63 in his home in Pulborough of a heart attack. He was subsequently buried in St Mary’s church on the 2nd of April (Par 153/1/5/4).
Between the years of 1976 and 1978, Constance donated Harry’s archive to the University of London. His magical library is also still held by the university and is made up of 13,000 books.
🎃 Happy Halloween to everyone who celebrates! 👻
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West Sussex Record Office 
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