A Haunting at the Royal Arms Hotel - Port Adelaide

The Royal Arms Hotel, on the corner of St Vincent Street, Todd Street and Timpson Place were established in 1878.

In his book Hotels and publicans in South Australia, author Bob Hoad writes: 'These modern premises are built on top of an earlier inn which was at the original street level. This earlier inn (of ten rooms) was connected by tunnel to the wharves.'

The Royal Arms Hotel is built upon the remains of a much smaller hotel, thought to have been built around 1851. Much of that former hotel still sits below the Royal Arms today and is used as cellars. The “cellars” would have once been at street level until the raising of the Port to stop flooding.

 There have long been rumours that this hotel was part of the “crimping” practices that saw drunk men knocked out with a “Mickey Finn” and forced through a tunnel which is rumoured to go through to the Dockside Tavern basement, then out to the Port River.

A “Mickey Finn” (or, ‘slip them mickey’ as we know it today,) is the act of dropping a drug into a beer or other drink and giving it a victim. Most often the barman or publican would receive a cut of the Captains payment or be in on the crimping from the start.
 The drugged man would be ushered to a “quieter” place, and then, either knocked out or fall into a drug-induced coma. The crimping gang would take the sleeping man out through a secret passage down to the water and use a longboat to take the future sailor to the waiting ship at Outer Harbour.
 These poor souls would be forced to work at sea on a ship, or swim back to land, and as most men in the late 1800’s could not swim, the choice was obvious.

 To back up these claims, during a refurbishment of the hotel, a room was found that contained a steal barred room, much like a prison cell. This “cell” in the basement, hidden behind an old fireplace and uncovered during a renovation was believed to be a holding cell for drugged men, and once enough were collected, they were run through the tunnels out to the river.

On Friday the 23^rd of September 1898 the Commodore of the Adelaide Steamship company, Captain T.W. Lockyer passed away, at the age of 62, in one of the upstairs boarding rooms of the hotel. Captain Lockyer was known as a kind and generous man, and some say, it could be his spirit haunting upstairs in the hotel.
the spirit is described as a plump gentlemanly figure, often in what appears to be white clothes with a coloured stripe on the legs. A mutton chop beard, and a fat red face.
Captain Thomas William Lockyer is buried at the Cheltenham Cemetery.

There are also unsubstantiated claims that a Cypriot Sailor, named Marcus Tzimopoulos haunts the cellar of the Royal Arms hotel awaiting his revenge on assailants that cut his throat. It is claimed by a local psychic that this throat cutting murder happened sometime around 1879, but I can find no record of such an event happening.
 

The Royal Arms Hotel may not be known as the most haunted location in Port Adelaide, but it has not, as of yet, given up its ghosts. As far as I am aware, no professional paranormal investigation has been conducted inside this prominent historical location, not have any former staff come forward with their own paranormal stories.
 I would love to hear from former staff, patrons and the people who live upstairs, of their personal ghostly goings-on in the hotel.

Also, if you are interested in learning more about haunted locations in the Port, please go to the Port Adelaide Visitor Information Centre and pick a free copy of my book “Ghosts of the Port – Self Guided Walking Tour”.

 

Thanks for reading!

Allen Tiller

 

Allen Tiller is Australia’s most recognised paranormal investigator, eminent paranormal historian, and star of the international smash hit television show “Haunting: Australia”.
Allen is also the founder of Eidolon Paranormal, South Australian Paranormal and the author of book and blog, “The Haunts of Adelaide: History, Mystery and the Paranormal”.
Allen is the winner of the 2017 “Emerging South Australian Historian of The Year Award” as presented by The History Council of South Australia.

Allen has also been employed as “Historian in Residence” in 2016/2017 with the Adelaide City Council Libraries and employed by the City of Port Adelaide Enfield Council to write the popular, “Ghosts of the Port Self-Guided Walking Tour”

 

First published in MEGAscene issue 11

 © Allen Tiller