A Paranormal Investigation at
Kapunda Museum
Built in 1866, the main building of the Kapunda Museum served the Kapunda Baptist community until 1948. From 1949 until the mid-1960s the building was utilised as a technical school. It was then sold to the Kapunda Council. The council donated the building to the Kapunda Historical Society which reopened the building as the Kapunda Museum in 1971. In the years that followed the nearby building that once housed the Kapunda Herald newspaper was incorporated into the museum and renamed Bagot’s Fortune.
The museum hosts
Kapunda’s mining, religious and business history, and is considered one of the
finest folk museums in Australia. I have my own personal connection to the
collection with my grandmother, Audrey Tiller (nee Tremaine) donated numerous
items from her properties around Kapunda, including her bedroom suite, my father’s
schoolbooks, and my great grandfathers, H.J.B. Tremaine’s crystal radio set.
Other items in the museum include photos of my relatives from the Hazel, Cole, Rowett,
Datson and Adams families.
In the Hawke Gallery, one can see foundry products from an era long gone, including a cross-compound steam engine. The museum contains a collection covering every facet of Kapunda's history including an extensive display of machinery, agricultural equipment, an old local Kapunda Ambulance, and a collection of old record players, including wax cylinders.
The basement was
quiet. At one point in the evening, we noted what sounded like footsteps
walking through the room above us, when everyone present was accounted for and in eyesight of each other in the basement. However, this could easily be disregarded
as temperature changes in the late evening affect the woodwork in the
building.
At the roadside end of the basement,
there is a small schoolroom display consisting of some desks, mannequins, and
a blackboard. It was in this room that movement was noticed. First was a chain
moving of its own volition. Ghosts? Possibly, but there is also the chance one
of us knocked it and did not notice, or that building movement, or airflow
caused the movement.
While investigating this schoolroom
display movement was noticed near the mannequins. It seemed as though a dark
shadow moved from the right to the left wall behind the mannequins. We tried
our best to communicate but received nothing. We then tried to recreate the movement
but were unsuccessful. We do not have a reasonable explanation as to what caused
the shadowy movement in the schoolroom display – further investigation is
required.
It has previously
been reported that the museum is haunted. Many years ago, local Reggie Rawady
(R.I.P) told me he once experienced the ghost in the old newspaper office. He didn’t
elaborate much on the ghost, only that it was in the rear of the building where
a movie plays (a movie featured Reggie!)
This building is also infamous for the
suicide of former newspaper editor, Leonard Samuel Curtis. In 1911, 52-year-old
Curtis was found dead in his office by his apprentice, Albert Patterson. Curtis
had swallowed a large quantity of Lysol and then shot himself in the neck four
times with a revolver. No note was left… Curtis’s ghost is sometimes reported
to be seen peeking out the window of the building.
If you get the chance to visit Kapunda, do consider spending
some time in the museum. There are some amazing displays, including an operating
table from the Kapunda hospital and out the back, and an old hearse!
A huge thank you to Chris and Deano for inviting us to
investigate – check out their pages on Facebook:
Spirit Crew South Australia: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100084997001604
Smithfield Paranormal: https://www.facebook.com/SmithfieldParanormal
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1_Bxn_uJ1MM_xc_iOz39zw
Researched and written byAllen Tiller © 2023
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