Tuesday, May 21, 2013

IGA Brompton

IGA Brompton

One of the most recent haunting cases in South Australia is that of the IGA convenience store located on Torrens Road Brompton.

The store garnered international attention when video footage was shown on Australian TV of a “roll-up” bar being thrown down an aisle way at 11:30pm at night, well after the shop had closed.

Shop owner, Norm Hurst, stated that the roll up bars are actually stored over 12 metres away in another aisle and that he cannot explain why the camera came on and captured the event.
Adelaide Paranormal Detectives were invited by Mr Hurst to investigate the location, during their investigation the team tried to recreate the actions of the bar, but were unsuccessful in doing so, they also received no other information to confirm the IGA as being haunted.

Ms Pulvirenti of Adelaide
Paranormal Detectives

Despite the Paranormal investigation gathering no evidence of ghosts, the haunted label has stuck with the IGA and a number of theories have risen, one theory regards the death of a boxer, Mr Bora Altintas, as a possibility of being the ghost, but why he would choose to throw a child's food bar down an aisle instead of something more appropriate to a boxer, and a man of his alleged character is something we will never know, if indeed he is the IGA Ghost

On the 21st of September 1998, Bora Atlintas, a Turkish national who had emigrated to Australia was shot dead by a single bullet, in the phone booth outside the take-away store near the IGA.

Bora Atlintas

Mr Atlintas was a very well known boxer in Australia, a professional middleweight State Champion. It is alleged that Mr Atlintas had become involved in Adelaide's seedy underworld as a drug dealer and a stand over man. He was facing a string of offences and time in prison for a number of drug related crimes when he was gunned down.
Investigations continue into the location, but as of yet nothing of solid evidence has been found.

For more information please follow the links below

http://www.news.com.au/national-news/are-ghosts-haunting-brompton-iga/story-e6frfkvr-1226303625611

Story on Adelaide Paranormal Detectives investigation into the IGA Store

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/adelaide-sleuths-spurred-on-iga-supermarket-ghost-video-inquiries/story-e6frea83-1226309726609

Videos

On Sunrise

http://youtu.be/7ykCaBMkQEQ

http://youtu.be/1ExrlYjaLcY

www.eidolonparanormal.net

All content on “Eidolon Paranormal & The Haunts of Adelaide” sites, blog and corresponding media pages (eg Facebook, twitter etc) is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any means or process without the written permission of the author. © 2012, 2013

All photos remain the property of their respective copyright owners and are displayed here for the purpose of education, research and review under the copyright act "fair usage" clause.

Some photo's used here on this site are sourced from The Sate Library of South Australia, and The National Library of Australia and http://www.gawler.nowandthen.net.au - all photos are out of copyright and have no usage restrictions implied.

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Engelbrecht Caves: Ghost of the South Coast part VIII

Engelbrecht Caves

One of Mount Gambier biggest tourist draw cards is the Engelbrecht Caves
The Cave system was explored in 1864 by John Stratford, Charlie Brad , Albert Grosser and 10 year old Charlie Grosser, in a canoe built by pioneer settler Dr Edward Wehl.
The adventurers explored, but soon found themselves caught in strong currents in the underground cave system and were pulled through the network. They had a hard time making it back to where they started, but made note of the enormous size and beauty of the caves during their trip, which was eventually written about much later in 1933.

The caves are formed of Gambier Limestone, and by a process of chemical dissolution have formed over thousands of years, the limestone being originally formed some 35 to 45 million years ago!
The cave gained its name after a Mr Carl Engelbrecht arrived from Germany, and bought a nearby flour mill, turning it into a whiskey distillery. He used the caves to dump all of waste and by products, evidence of bottles can still be found today!

After a group of divers explored the caves by request of local council, it was decided they wouldnt be suitable for a tourist development due to the large piles of rubbish inside and the possibilty if people being hurt in small lakes and waters inside.
Almost 15 years later, The local Lions club took over the site and set about cleaning it up, after 3 years and $10,000 they handed the caves back to council, and from there it became the tourist attraction we know today.
In late 2008 a tourist was enjoying the caves when she took a random photograph, as tourists do, she got a hock when looking at the picture, when she found the face of a small boy looking out at her from behind a rock.
The boy seemed to have an unearthly blue glow too him.
She was stunned, and sent the photo to be viewed by the tour group. Someone in the tour group leaked the photo online, and soon it was in all the local papers and a media frenzy grew around it. The photo was also available online.
This led to a large number of new tourists becoming interested in the caves and the story, and all of course looking for the little lost ghost boy in the caves.
The media attention also caused a large backlash by non-ghost believers, these people began to attack the authenticity of the ghost photos, and even made personal attacks toward to photographer, which in turn led to the photo being removed from all media and internet sites as per her request.

I am lucky enough to have a copy of the photo, but as per the copyright holders request, cannot display it here.
Interestingly a local paranormal investigation team named Abandoned Australia investigated the caves back in May 2009, but found nothing at the time they thought was paranormal, but also stated that this did not mean the location was not haunted – for more about their investigation please follow this link:
http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2009/05/18/2573494.htm

Mount Gambier also offers Ghost Tours, you can find them here via this link: http://mountgambier.localitylist.com.au/yellowresult.php/goal/Detail/ckey/2043

So are the caves haunted by a little boy? If they are, whom is he, and why is there, in a cold wet cave?
These are the questions no-one has an answer too right now...
More investigation and enquiry needs to be done to verify the existence of the boy and the authenticity of the photo's, but this is highly unlikely on both accounts, so the ghost boy for now, will remain another of the mysteries of the area...

That concludes our look into Ghosts of the South Coast for now, we will return to the area at a later date as we have uncovered a number of other local stories as well, but we feel it is important to not dwell on one area for too long. So we will move on for now, and come back down south at a later date.

www.eidolonparanormal.net

All content on “Eidolon Paranormal & The Haunts of Adelaide” site, blog and corresponding media pages (eg Facebook, twitter etc) is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any means or process without the written permission of the author. © 2012, 2013

All photos remain the property of their respective copyright owners and are displayed here for the purpose of education, research and review under the copyright act "fair usage" clause.

Tuesday, May 7, 2013

The Spirits of Lake Leak - Ghosts of The South Coast Part 7

The Spirits of Lake Leak

Not far from Millicent, close to Glencoe, is a large dormant volcano with a lake in its crater, much like Mount Gambier s Blue lake, but much smaller, that lake is known as “Lake Leak”.

For many many years it was rumour din the local area that Lake Leak was haunted, very few people had the courage to venture up to the beautiful setting at night for fear they may encounter the local ghost.

People had drowned in this lake, that is a well established fact, the locals knew those who had lost their lives here, and knew how dangerous the place could be. It was often said on a moonlit night one could see a silver grey figure, strangely looking human-like, lying on the dark waters of the lake, whether it was a man or woman, one couldn't tell, but one could see this mysterious person, floating, still, upon the water...like a dead body...

Not many people ventured to the lake at night, but every so often a stockman or rider passing through, would camp near by and let their horses rest, they would wake in the night and see the mysterious figure floating on the water. The men (or man) would quickly pack up and ride into the night scared out of his wits, others wouldn’t even wait to pack up, but simply split until morning then return for their things.

One evening a man, braver than most, happened upon the lake and decided to stay the night. He spotted the mysterious shimmery silver grey figure and watched it closely, noticing it never moved. Throwing caution to the wind, he decided to move closer and observe the figure.

It just lay there, floating, never drifting, always in the same spot.

The observant man decided not to bother the ghost this time, but just watch the figure, he then decided he should watch it for a few nights, to see if it ever did anything, or would communicate with him, but something odd happened on the third night, he spotted another ghost, this one much closer to him, and weirdly doing the exact same thing as the distant ghost, floating upon the water.

Working up all his bravery he decided to investigate the second ghost much much closer and was shocked at his discovery... the “ghost” was in fact an ancient white gum tree stripped of its bark through wind and water.

He ventured to the distant ghost, to discover the same thing.

The next day he road in to town to the pub, to tell of his story of bravery, and to tell the locals that the ghost of Lake Leak, that had haunted them for over a decade was nothing more than old tree!

www.eidolonparanormal.net

All photos remain the property of their respective copyright owners and are displayed here for the purpose of education, research and review under the copyright act "fair usage" clause.

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Dolly's Dollars: The Ghosts of the South Coast Part VI

Dolly's Dollars

Around 148 years ago, in the seaside town of Robe, a little lady named Mary Ann Bryan, came to live.

No-one was sure if she was married or single, as no-one asked and she never introduced herself as such, only as “Dolly”, and that is the only name she became known by.

Dolly ran the local school, near what is now the Robe Hotel, and also a small shop from the same building which was a haberdashery, offering linen, clothing and other materials and also eventually included dress making as one of her items of sale, which in turn brought in a tidy profit.

Her school was the third school to be located in the town after the previous school mistresses passed their licences in upon getting married.

Dolly soon attracted the female squatters and settlers of the area and made a great deal of profit from them from her dress sales, but in the late 1860's she fell deathly ill, and called her maid servant, who took care of a lot of her business, to her bedside, telling her to give her desk to Mrs Peter Roberts

Dolly soon succumbed to her illness and passed away, the local papers ran notifications looking for next of kin, but no-one came forward. Mrs Roberts, concluding that the desk being given to her gave her some right to Dolly's estate made a claim for Dolly's we wealth and belongings. She was awarded a grand sum of £700 (pounds), the family up and left Robe and were never seen again.

This left about £12,000 (pounds) in the Estate curators hands, unclaimed. The money sat untouched for several years.

Eventually someone did come forward to claim the money, a young man and woman, and it was paid unto them, only for the Auditor General to discover that the young man was an officer within his won branch who took the money and his lady friend and absconded to Mexico along with three months of “Leave of Absences” pay.

Church of England Dolly's Ghost was seen within

England had no treaty of extradition with Mexico at the time so the young man was untouchable, this didn’t stop the law at the time trying to coax him out on “fishing trips” to the three mile open waters, where he could be arrested.

The young man was far to clever for the police and stayed well away from their nets, living like a king in Mexico on Dolly's hard earned money.

Meanwhile back in Robe, Dolly's body lay in the local cemetery, with no family visiting, she was a forgotten soul in the lonely cemetery until one day, whilst folk were cleaning the Robe Church of England, Dolly was seen praying inside the Church.

She stood, walked to the cleaning lady and said “I will come again”...

Dolly's grave can be found in Robe Cemetery, it is surrounded with a large, hand-hammered, iron railing....

www.eidolonparanormal.net

All photos remain the property of their respective copyright owners and are displayed here for the purpose of education, research and review under the copyright act "fair usage" clause.

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

The Legend of Ben Bounty: Ghosts of the South Coast part V

Ghosts of the South Coast

Part V

The Legend of Ben Bounty

Tantanoola, a little town not too far away from Mount Gambier was the host to a cave ghost in 1890. The Ghost was spotted by travellers on a few occasions and reported to local police, who in their duties never came across the restless spirit.
The ghost was seen in the same vicinity on the Mount Gambier to Millicent road on a number of occasions by different travelling parties.
It never once hurt anybody, or tried to communicate, but it did scare a number of young men who were riding their horses between the towns and spotted it in the moonlight, staring at them, from the entrance of the cave.

Tantanoola Caves

Not far away on the outskirts of Tantanoola comes the story of our next local ghost.
During the 1870's, a local man, known as Ben Bounty was prospecting, trying to make his fortune, looking for the legendary “gold reef” that was supposed to lay in the caves and cliffs and surrounding hills.
He visited the local quarry one day and noticed a Chinese man a sailor, who had obviously, by his dress and demeanour, been smuggled ashore near Cape Banks.
It was well known that Chinese nationals were flocking to Australia for the gold rush in Victoria, but the Vics had put a toll on the Chinese coming into their State from sea, the easiest way around was to come into Port MacDonnell or Robes ports and then walk across the border, hence avoiding the toll. Obviously, some of the shady characters couldn't risk the customs houses, and would be smuggled ashore and hidden away until the could join a travelling party and blend in.

Tantanoola Hotel

The Chinese man looked at Ben Bounty and pulled from his belt a large knife, he balanced it for only a second, then threw it at the prospector.
Bounty was never seen alive again.
A while later, the story got around about the old prospector and the Chinaman, from the very mouth of the murderer, who seemed quite pleased with what he had done.
One evening, a few young man, who had heard the rumour of Bounty's death, went to the quarry to investigate for themselves, at exactly 8 o'clock in the evening, they witnessed a white-clothed figure leaning against the wall inside the quarry. They stood and watched, one boy got brave and went a little closer to investigate.
When he was just a few yards from the man in white, the man moved just a little, and in the moonlight, the young lad could see the knife in his chest, reflect the moon!
The boys ran from the quarry terrified, and from there, the legend of Ben Bounty's ghost grew into a local ghost story told around camp fires to scare young children...

© 2013 Allen Tiller

www.eidolonparanormal.net

All content on “Eidolon Paranormal & The Haunts of Adelaide” site, blog and corresponding media pages (eg Facebook, twitter etc) is copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any means or process without the written permission of the author. © 2012, 2013

All photos remain the property of their respective copyright owners and are displayed here for the purpose of education, research and review under the copyright act "fair usage" clause.

Some photo's used here on this site are sourced from The Sate Library of South Australia, and The National Library of Australia and http://www.gawler.nowandthen.net.au - all photos are out of copyright and have no usage restrictions implied.

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

The Grinning Ghost of Mount Gambier: Ghosts of the South Coast Part IV

Ghosts of the South Coast

Part IV

The Grinning Ghost of Mount Gambier

1937, Mount Gambier, was bustling town, Adelaide's second biggest city, a tourist hotspot and plagued by a ghost!

Chronicle Thursday 24 June 1937, page 46

Endless reports over a few weeks were being filed with local police and countless of a ghost running amok on Mount Gambier s streets. Women were fainting at the sight of it, men were running away scared and the Police had very little to go, and no sightings themselves, could the ghost feel them coming and disappear?

The description of the ghost was that it was totally white, had glowing yellow eyes and a large grin.

A rumour also sprung up around town at one point of the ghost being captured and hidden away in the local Police cells, of course the police denied this.

Barrier Miner (Broken Hill, NSW 1888 - 1954)
Thursday 24 June 1937, page 5

Two men had an interesting encounter with the Mount Gambier ghost, walking past the local primary school at 2am one morning, one of the men felt someone tap hi on the shoulder, when he turned he saw the grinning ghost staring at him.

He, and his friend, panicked, and bolted down the road as fast as they could. They soon gained their wits and courage and returned to the primary school to investigate, where they saw the ghost, who also saw them, and leapt over the fence and bolted himself!

Town Hall - photo by Allen Tiller

The men, thinking to outsmart the ghost, ran around the outside of school to the front gates, where it seemed their ghostly attacker would be heading. They were in luck! As the ghost turned the corner to exit the school, one of the men made to grab him, the ghost startled, turned and ran back the way he had come!

The two men ran to the local police station and awoke the constable there to tell him of the ghostly sighting, of course it was now too late to capture him as he had fled the scene....or simply vanished.

The two men got a very good description of the ghost, which they said looked like a man wearing a woman’s dress over his head, tied off around his waist.

Another person, this time a woman, was found unconscious in Gray street later that week, when awoken and questioned she said the ghost had surprised her when it touched her on the shoulder, she had fainted and didn't know anymore.

Another police search ensued, but again, the ghost had vanished.

Things got a little more dangerous when a local minister reported that he had been awoken during the night in his house when the ghosts had been watching him through his window. He silently pulled out his gun, and shot towards the ghost, wounding it!

After this the ghost fled into the night, and never returned again!

www.eidolonparanormal.net

All photos remain the property of their respective copyright owners and are displayed here for the purpose of education, research and review under the copyright act "fair usage" clause.

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

The Death of Captain Broadfoot: Ghosts of the South Coast Part 3

Ghosts of the South Coast

Part III

The Death of Captain Broadfoot

Port MacDonnell is located 450km south east of Adelaide, and is the southern most town in South Australia.
The area was first sighted by Lieutenant James Grant whilst sailing the ship, The Lady Nelson (now part of the Mount Gambier Tourism Centre), and later the port was named after Governor Sir Richard Graves MacDonnell
The town officially became a port on the 4th of April 1860

Coastline view from old Port MacDonell Light-house

It is a beautiful place to visit, with an amazing scenic coastline, and one of the longest jetty's in South Australia and was second only to Port Adelaide in terms of business, shipping wool and grains around Australia and the world.

In 1853 murder came to Port MacDonell when Captain Broadfoot, Captain of the ship “Jane Lovett” (which was wrecked) was murdered by two men working locally as shepherds at Leak's Station.

South Australian Register,
Friday 11 November 1853,

The men would do his chores, shave him, the menial household stuff the Old Captain could no longer do for himself, but would also go and plunder the old Captains wrecked ship.

One day Broadfoot saw the two men, pillaging the cargo from his ship and went to confront them, he wasn’t seen again until much later, when a man named Ferguson and a local Aboriginal found the Captain, with his throat cut, and the cut-throat razor in his left hand, the paralysed hand.

Instantly an alarm was raised in the town, the local constable who knew Captain Broadfoot very well, knew he could not grasp a bottle, let along a cut-throat razor in his left hand, and deduced that suicide was out of the question, He also knew Crawford and Stevens aided the old man on a regular basis.

The two men, Crawford and Stevens were Van-Demonians ( A term used to describe people from the then named “Van Diemans Land”, now known as Tasmania) who were very well known in the local area.

Customs House - Port MacDonell

The Two men used to visit Captain Broadfoot, who was a very old drunk with a paralysed hand, and couldn't do much for himself anymore.

The constable went to Crawford's meagre hut to question him, and quickly decided to handcuff the alleged murderer. Whilst there Crawford asked the Constable to get him a drink before he took him back to the station, of which the humble officer did, only to turn around to face Crawford again with the drink, and find Crawford holding a gun.

Crawford then uncuffed himself, stole a horse and rode off to Mount Gambier to make his escape, local gossip at the time reports that he went straight to bar that had two officers in it and ordered a drink, but made a clean getaway.

Stevens on the other hand was arrested at Mount Schanck, past Mount Gambier, where he confessed (conveniently) that he had seen Crawford slit the throat of the Old Captain, he was duly sent to trial.
Stevens trial was to be held in Adelaide, and upon getting near to the city, he escaped, ran to a butchers shop where meat was being cut for trade, and asked to have his chains cut off. The Butcher refused and a scuffle broke out, the Police were soon upon the scene, and Stevens (also spelt Stephens in some news reports) was rearrested and duly taken to the police courts.

Soon it was discovered that Crawford and Stevens were both ex-convicts and known for their criminal activity, which didn't fair well for Stephens who was duly sentenced and did time in Adelaide Gaol.
Crawford on the other hand had long escaped into the bush, but word got back to the police that he was telling everyone, that “I wont be going down without there being bloodshed” - but he was never heard from in South Australia again. It is assumed that he changed his appearance and name, and returned at some point later to recover the stolen money and valuables he had hidden somewhere near Mount Gambier.

www.eidolonparanormal.net

All photos remain the property of their respective copyright owners and are displayed here for the purpose of education, research and review under the copyright act "fair usage" clause.

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www.eidolonparanormal.net

All photos remain the property of their respective copyright owners and are displayed here for the purpose of education, research and review under the copyright act "fair usage" clause.