The Woodside Ghost - 1896

The Woodside Ghost - 1896

“Thomas Meddal I claim you!” came the scream from the spectre that had just emerged from the Wesleyan Cemetery on the Inverbrackie road in Woodside, a small town in the Adelaide Hills.

  One would expect that the next word uttered would be a shriek of fright or an expletive as the victim either fainted, or ran away, but not in this case. The victim, a local shoemaker and poet; Thomas Meddal replied to his spectral assailant“Take me then!”This simple statement was soon followed by a hefty beating on the ghost with the stick Thomas carried with him whilst he walked under the moonlight!

In the scuffle that ensued, the poor ghost's white shroud came off. One would expect to see, as the sheet fell, nothing. Instead, a local man stood before Mr Meddal, someone who was known to him.

The ghost, now identified as Mr A Rudd, scrambled out of hitting distance of the stick and ran into the night.

Mr Meddal, after gathering his belongings, made his way to the local police station and reported the bizarre practical joke, identifying Mr Rudd.

  This was not the first instance of the Ghost of Woodside making a late-night appearance in the town. There are stories told, one by an ex-police officer, Inspector C. Le Llevre, in a local Adelaide newspaper The Advertiser of the ghost appearing and scaring people on other occasions. One story hints at robberies by the ghost, but this cannot be corroborated as truthful at this time.

  Mr Rudd was soon summoned to the local courts. Rudd was charged by the police for being 'Idle and Disorderly' and for  'unlawfully disguising himself with a white sheet' intending to scare or cause harm.

 Presiding Judges, Mr H. Swan S.M. and Mr R.W. Kleinsxhnidt and Mr P Keddie ordered that Mr A Rudd pay 10s and also court costs which amounted to £4.5s (4 pounds 5 shillings) about $8.50c when converted, which in 1896, would have been a fair amount of money.

Wesleyan Church and Cemetery Woodside

When one walks past the Wesleyan Cemetery in Woodside now, on a moonlit night, one has to wonder if any spectres that are seen is that of Mr A Rudd, waiting to play a joke on unsuspecting passers-by, over a hundred years later!

The Haunts of Adelaide

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