How Loch Ness mansion owned by Aleister Crowley and Jimmy Page became global pilgrimage site for occultists

On the banks of Loch Ness in the Scottish Highlands stands a home once owned by the controversial occultist and self-proclaimed prophet Aleister Crowley.

It has since been owned by Led Zepplin guitarist Jimmy Page and is now due to be reopened to the public after major renovations were carried out.

The original Boleskine House was built around 1760 by a member of the Fraser clan as a hunting retreat.

According to legend, a church stood on the site previously, however, a fire ripped through the building as a congregation gathered, killing everyone inside.

The home is situated near the former Boleskine Graveyard, where it is said a wizard once brought the dead back to life.

The home of a ‘dark occultist’

In 1899, Crowley purchased Boleskine House in an effort to seclude himself as he perfected the dark arts.

The home was the site of many occult rituals, with Crowley himself claiming that his experiments with black magic got out of hand whilst he lived in the Highlands.

The ‘wizard’ later moved to a modest cottage in Dennyloanhead near Falkirk in 1913.

Aleister Crowley purchased the home to isolate himself as he perfected the dark arts. STV News

Despite Crowley’s departure, locals still believe the home is marred with bad spirits. One owner, Major Edward Grant, took his life in Crowley’s former bedroom with a shotgun in 1960.

‘The Great Sausage Scandal’

The mansion’s history doesn’t solely revolve around the paranormal and the dark arts. The location also played a role in a criminal plot.

Dennis and Mary Lorraine purchased the property in 1963 with the intent to use the land as a pig-rearing operation.

However, it was a front for the ongoing Cadco scandal, also known as The Great Sausage Scandal, further south in Glenrothes.

Dennis had diverted millions of pounds from investors and state funds into his failing sausage factory business in Brighton, which he promised would be used in large-scale development projects.

As the scandal was exposed, the couple fled across the pond.

Rockstar owner and life as a hotel

Jimmy Page later bought the home with the hopes of returning the house to a Crowley-like theme.

Ronald and Annette MacGillivray bought the infamous house in 1992 and transformed it into a hotel.

Boleskine House was significantly damaged by a fire in 2015.

Uncomfortable with the house’s darker reputation, the couple avoided references to its myth-laden past and said nothing out of the ordinary occurred while they lived there.

Upon Ronald’s passing, Annette sold Boleskine in 2002.

From ashes to rebirth

Boleskine House hit headlines once again in 2015 after a blaze tore through the historic home, severely damaging the building and almost totally destroying the interior.

The Boleskine House Foundation SCIO purchased the estate in 2019 with the aim of returning the home and the gardens to their original form.

Later that year, two houses on the estate were deliberately set alight, causing further fire damage.

After more than five years of renovation work, the building is set to open to the public in April 2026 after millions were spent retrofitting the home, allowing the estate’s interesting yet dark past to be fully explored.