The Ghost of Kitty Whyte

Brighton Beach The Ghost of Kitty Whyte

“Perfect service rendered, duties done

In charity, soft speech & stainless days:

These riches shall not fade away in life

Nor any death dispraise”

(From The Light of Asia by Sir E.Arnold)

In March 1926 Adelaide suffered its first shark attack fatality at Brighton Beach when a young lady, Kitty Whyte, went swimming off the pier and was attacked by a Great White shark.

Memorial to Mrs Whyte

Kathleen Whyte (nee Macully) was the daughter of an Anglican Priest in Brighton. She was holidaying in Brighton with her two young children, awaiting her husband to join them from Port Augusta.

Kitty, as she preferred to be called, was an energetic worker for the Glenelg and Brighton branch of the District Trained Nursing Society, and also taught young children swimming.

On the day of her death, she had just finished teaching her young swimming class, and had her two children with her, when she decided to enter the water again, within minutes.

Mr Harry Southcott, who happened to be seated upon the Jetty, heard loud screams and went to see what was wrong, He witnessed Kitty struggling in the water. Soon the whole ocean around her turned

red with her blood.
 Mr Southcott and another local Mr Trott jumped into a dinghy which happened to be sitting next to the jetty and made their way, 100 feet out into the water where Kitty was frantically struggling.

The two men dragged her into the boat, where she gave them a look of recognition and became unconscious. The two men got her to the shore, where a Doctor was called.

Kitty Whyte died on her way to the hospital from massive trauma and blood loss.

Barrier Miner
, Friday 19 March 1926, page 4

Dr Yeatman who examined Kitty's body found that no one could have helped Mrs Whyte stay alive. The shark had first grabbed her by the left ankle, then when she struggled, had snapped at her body, a wound made its way from her thigh to her buttock, tearing the flesh from her bone and severing the femoral artery and muscles.

Brighton Beach has remained a relatively safe beach since the death of Kitty Whyte in 1926, with few deaths recorded on its shores since then.

Since Kitty's death in 1926, the ghost of a young woman has been seen running along the shore, or at times, along the pier. Witness's claim they watch the young lady as she jumps into the water but she simply vanishes from sight before hitting the water!
 Could this be the ghost of beach-loving Kitty Whyte?

After her death in 1926, a drinking fountain near the jetty entrance was erected in Kitty's memory.

© 2013 Allen Tiller
www.eidolonparanormal.com.au

A Haunting in the Stirling Community Theatre

A Haunting in the Stirling Community Theatre

On 20 October 1883, Dr Edward Stirling (Later Sir Edward Stirling) laid the foundation stone for the Stirling Institute Hall.
On 18 January 1884, the Hall was opened, even though it was not yet completed. A large “opening party” was held in Dr Stirling's Aldgate flower gardens.
It wasn't until Saturday, 8 May 1884 that a musical and literary evening was held at the hall, of which the hall would host many more, although somewhat sporadically, until 1972.

The building had two front rooms added in 1885. Further additions were completed in 1898. These included the stage area and two rooms upstairs. Downstairs, the two rooms were used as the Stirling Council offices and the town library. Two upstairs rooms were used by Council for meetings, Lodge on Friday nights, and Anglican church services on Sundays.

The Hall was well used by locals, with silent movies being played there, dances and Grand Balls to raising money for the local hospital. In 1962 the library closed and in 1978 the movie theatre ceased showing films.

The building was saved from demolition in 1972. An effort was made by local community groups to revamp the Hall, the name was changed to the Stirling Community Centre (later to become the Stirling Community Theatre). In 1972 the two resident groups were the Stirling Players and the Hills Musical Company.
The facilities of the location improved over the years and now the Theatre stands to the testament of its two main attractions, The Stirling Players and Hills Musical Company, if neither had attracted large crowds with their excellent reputations, this building would probably have been lost to development many years ago.

It is rumoured that the old council chambers are haunted by a former councillor who was caught having an affair with a colleagues wife. The husband, it is said, beat the adulterous colleague senseless and stuffed him into a large safe in the building, where he eventually suffocated and died.

As far as we have been able to ascertain so far, this is just a rumour, as of yet, we have found no verifiable facts about a man dying in a safe in the Council Chambers.



© 2013 Allen Tiller
www.eidolonparanormal.com.au

The Gandhi Ghost of Wasleys

The Gandhi Ghost of Wasleys

1953, Wasley's, a town on the Adelaide Plains, north of Gawler. A ghost was sighted walking the streets in obvious distress.

A witness stated:

"Eventually, the ghost entered the hall where the ball was being held...the crowd stared....and the ghost asked his friend for directions... home!?!"

So, what was really going on in Wasley's on that night?

 A well known Gawler business identity of the era was invited to a ball at Wasley's, and whether a practical joke or just a misunderstanding, believing the ball was a fancy dress occasion.

He drove to his friend's house and got ready, ripping off his clothes. He covered his head in one white sheet, and his body in another, and made his way to the dance hall.

Once inside, he sat in the middle of the ballroom floor and started a Gandhi impersonation...only to realise, as he looked up, that no-one else was in fancy dress.

He quickly stood and departed as the crowd's laughter erupted in his ears, and made his way outside and down the street – only to find, he didn’t know where he was and was lost in Wasley's...

20 minutes later, the 'ghost of Gandhi', now embarrassed and dishevelled re-entered the dance hall, to ask directions back to his freinds house so he could change into his normal attire.

© 2013 Allen Tiller

www.eidolonparanormal.com.au

Humbug Scrub Wildlife Sanctuary

 Humbug Scrub Wildlife Sanctuary

The sanctuary, located behind the Parra Wirra Reserve near One Tree Hill in Adelaide's north, not far from the Barossa Valley was first established in 1905 by Thomas Bellchambers
Thomas was a keen naturalist and wanted to preserve native fauna and flora, he did this by establishing the wildlife sanctuary and writing articles for various newspapers and magazine columns he also wrote books based on the plants and animals he found in the sanctuary and surrounding scrub.

In the middle of the sanctuary Thomas built a small stone hut, and in i,t he lived with his wife, Eliza and ten children, with no electricity or running water.
The Sanctuary garnered national attention and has been visited by dignitaries such as Governor Generals.
In time Thomas passed the sanctuary on to one of his sons, who took care of the property, and now Thomas own grandson, Neville is the caretaker. Tom's old cottage is now a museum, housing a large collection of photos and histories associated with the Bellchambers family and the sanctuary and surrounding gold mines.
Neville who also grew up in the sanctuary is a very kind, spiritual man, and someone I got to know on a personal level when I volunteered at the Sanctuary, it was through Neville, and long time volunteer Keith, that I got to hear many of the local ghost stories associated with the Sanctuary, many of which happened directly to Keith during his 20 years as a volunteer.
The cottage sits above a small lake, and is 2kms from the nearest road, isolated in the middle of the sanctuary. I was very lucky to be allowed to investigate the Sanctuary and Cottage on a number of occasions over the years, and through my investigations got to feel first hand, some of the goings on in the cottage.

The first story I heard was relayed to me by Keith. Some time ago, he was camping in the sanctuary on rifle duty as stray cats and dogs had been attacking the animals. He noticed strange lights down near “Lingalonga”, a small wooden shelter where volunteers prepare food for the animals.
The lights seemed to float in and out of the hut and around the storage sheds, thinking it might be kids who have wandered across the fence line, he went to take a look. When he got close enough he realised the lights were not torches, but free floating little balls of light, that soon extinguished upon him getting closer.
Another story, which was relayed to me was that of a tourist visiting the cottage, she came back to the volunteer area and asked if there was a costume event on that day. She had seen a man in period clothing, a white shirt with a vest over the top, standing on the front porch of the cottage of which she was about to enter, rather than disturb a re-enactment she walked down to the entry to enquire about goings on.

The volunteer on duty couldn't offer an explanation, so the two of them walked up to the cottage and went inside, when the lady started looking at the numerous photos spread around the cottage, she pointed to one and exclaimed: “that’s him!”.

The photo she was pointing at was an old shot on Thomas Bellchambers, wearing a white shirt with a vest over the top – this was not the last time Thomas was seen, he has also been seen by various other guests around the cottage and near his grave which stands at the top of the hill overlooking the entire sanctuary.
Another interesting story involves the cottage itself, on occasion, volunteers camp at the sanctuary, or host night tours, on a few different occasions a glow has been witnessed coming from the fireplaces in the cottage. The fireplaces have not been in use for many many years.

One of my own experiences involved the cottage. Myself and a friend were camping at the sanctuary and were given permission to investigate the cottage, we let ourselves in at about midnight, and sat facing each other, at the table. We turned out torches off, and in the pitch black began to ask questions. It didn't take long until we heard shuffling footsteps inside the cottage with us!
We sat still and listened, and could feel a cold breeze circling us in the room, we both turned out torches on at the same time, as we both felt we had been touched, thinking it was the other making a joke...neither of us had touched each other – we tried further experiments into the night, but nothing happened again during that night, no noises, no cold breezes, no touching.



Whilst camping on a hot summer night, Keith took myself and friend on a night bushwalk to some old ruins behind the Sanctuary, he gave us the following story.
 During World war two, many German people were set upon by their fellow Australians out of fear and suspicion that they were secretly helping the Nazi war effort by sabotaging things here in Australia.
 Many camps were set up around the state to "protect" the German people - one camp was set near Sandy Creek, not far from Gawler
 To escape the persecution, a German man, known as "Flett" fled into the wilderness around humbug scrub - he set himself up a makeshift humpee in the ruins of one of the old mining town buildings and lived a very secluded life.
He would fire warning shots from his rifle over the heads of anyone coming near him - the only man game enough to do so was the caretaker of the nearby wildlife sanctuary, Mr Bellchambers, who would walk down and leave Hessian bags, and sometimes food for Flett, the two men never spoke, but had a feeling of mutual respect and never got involved in each others business
 Flett met a tragic end, his body was found lying on the road near Parra Wirra, his bicycle, which he pushed everywhere (but never once rode), was lying next to him - his body was severely beaten
Stories of the ghost of Flett now haunt the old mining area, often he appears when someone comes near his old home, some dilapidated ruins near the back lake of the Sanctuary, but he has been seen on the road near where died as well. One witness who contacted me directly spoke of seen a man laying on the ground as his family drove past, he got up and looked the driver in the eye, and as he did, his body and clothing turned black and he disappeared, the witness described the colour a fluid movement of what we saw as similar to and “Ink Blot”...

There are other stories from the sanctuary that won't be discussed here as they contain locations and information that are culturally sensitive, but there are other mysteries that are yet to be solved, like who's grave is it that lays in the middle of the scrub, far from anything?

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Humbug-Scrub-Wildlife-Sanctuary/246989421651

© 2013 Allen Tiller

www.eidolonparanormal.com.au

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The Station Masters House - Peake

Station Masters House – Peake

In 2010, during a visit to the Tailem Bend region, I travelled with a colleague to several sites of historical interest. Among these was the Station Master’s House at Peake, a property that had been recommended by a local resident as a potential subject for investigation. Although the building possessed a noteworthy past, its condition at the time rendered it unsuitable for any formal study. The interior contained extensive accumulations of pigeon droppings, and one wall of the kitchen was heavily infested with bees. Considerable discussion followed within the Eidolon Paranormal office regarding whether the site should be cleaned and prepared or abandoned as a prospect. Ultimately, the distance involved, the cost of remediation, and the absence of any established tradition of haunting led to the decision not to proceed.


Peake itself is a small agricultural settlement situated approximately 150 kilometres east of Adelaide, near Tailem Bend. Established in 1912 and named in honour of the then Premier of South Australia, Archibald Peake, the township developed around the railway line. It served as a significant stopping point for freight and passenger transport, particularly for the loading of grain destined for regional markets. Although modest in size at its founding, Peake has remained a small rural community, with a present‑day population of roughly two hundred residents.

The Station Master’s House was constructed in 1912 and remained in continuous use until 1990. The final Station Master appointed to Peake was Jozeff (Joe) Suchon. On 8 January 1990, at the age of seventy‑eight, Mr. Suchon died on the kitchen floor of the residence. Local accounts portray him as a man of difficult temperament who maintained limited contact with neighbours and townspeople. Only one individual is said to have visited him with any regularity, delivering firewood during the winter months.

It is presumed that Mr. Suchon suffered a fatal heart attack after carrying wood from the small shed at the rear of the property. He collapsed in such a position that the back door could not be opened inward, leaving his body undiscovered for more than a week during the height of the January heat. The condition of the remains necessitated an unusual and unpleasant method of removal: the lino flooring surrounding the body was cut away so that he could be lifted out.

lino cut where the body was found.

  Today, the Station Master’s House forms part of a tourist walk through Peake. The local tourism catalogue recounts the circumstances of Mr. Suchon’s death and notes that visitors may still observe the section of kitchen flooring where the lino was cut to extract his remains. It stands as a small but striking reminder of the township’s railway heritage and of the solitary life of its final Station Master.

© 2013 Allen Tiller
www.allentiller.com.au