A Haunting at the Cornwall Hotel – Moonta

Built in 1862, The Cornwall Hotel was originally known as ‘The Globe Hotel’ and was a popular drinking, and overnight accommodation spot in the busy mining town of Moonta.
 In the late 1870s, the hotel saw an increase in patronage, which led to the hotel having extensive alterations and additions under the ownership of JK Dawson in 1881.

 The hotel was almost destroyed on March 23 1889, with only the kitchen left standing after a fire broke out in the front bar. No deaths occurred due to the fire and the hotel was rebuilt by its owners, the SA Brewing Company.

Notable deaths in the hotel include a former ostler (a man paid to look after horses in the rear stables).  Thomas Senior died in his bed in 1888, it is thought, after he had fed the horses, he may have overstrained himself. He returned to his room to lay down after complaining about severe chest pains and died only a couple of hours later.

In 1928, the 28-year-old son of the publicans, Leslie Ferguson passed away in the hotel. Ferguson had served in World War One, and upon returning to South Australia to his wife and children, became ill. He stayed with his parents in the hope the sea air would help relieve his ailment but unfortunately passed away in his bed from chronic illness caused during his timer at war.

The haunting of the hotel is often blamed on the former publican George Walkley who took over as publican in 1926 after a long run as the publican of the Joiners Arms Hotel in Hindmarsh. The Walkleys owned the hotel into the 1940s before retiring back to Hindmarsh in Adelaide.
There really is no good reason why the former publican would haunt the hotel, other than his love for the place may have brought him back, He did not die on the site, in fact, He and his wife, both died in their Hindmarsh home a few years apart from each other.
This may, in-fact, be someone naming a ghost, when truly it isn’t that person at all…

Although Mr Walkley might, or might not, be the resident spirit, there are some odd goings-on in the hotel. After a recent talk to staff I discovered the smell of tobacco smoke (not paranormal in itself) is a common complaint, as are cold spots, taps turning on and off by themselves, dirty footprints appearing on clean floors (when no-one has been in the room) and doors opening and closing.

One staff member had the eeriest of all encounters at the hotel when they walked into the kitchen to discover a man sitting on the counter. The man, dressed in very old-styled clothing was smoking a rolled-up cigarette, looked at the staff member, hopped up, and walked out the door. He walked across a freshly washed floor, and left no footprints!

Allen Tiller is the Australian star of the international hit television show “Haunting: Australia” and author of “The Haunts of Adelaide – History, Mystery and the Paranormal” as well as being a historian, lecturer, poet, musician, Tour Guide, blogger and podcaster. Allen is also a volunteer for many different associations and groups.

You can find Allen online at:

www.twitter.com/Allen_Tiller

www.facebook.com/AllenHauntingAustralia

https://www.facebook.com/TheHauntsOfAdelaide

First Published in MEGAscene issue 9 2016

© Allen Tiller

A Haunting at the Cornucopia Hotel - Wallaroo

 

This month we are travelling to the Copper Coast to the historic mining seaside town of Wallaroo to visit one of my favourite haunts in the area – the Cornucopia Hotel, located at 40 Owen Terrace, right in the heart of the historic town.

This Copper Coast Hotel was built circa 1862 and first licensed to Mr R Hazelgrove.

 The hotel, boasting 52 rooms, was built in 1862 and was first licensed by Mr R Hazelgrove. It was the central meeting point in the town and had a purpose-built dance hall upstairs. It is the only hotel in Wallaroo to still retain its original opening name, having never been called anything other than “Cornucopia Hotel” (until recently when it was renamed The Copper Coast Hotel).
 It was also home, in the early days, like many hotels in that era, as the staging point for coroner inquests into local deaths. Often this would see the body laid out, with Doctors, Judges and other local dignitaries sitting around deciding if there was more to a death then an accident or natural causes.

 I have investigated the hotel on a number of occasions, both privately and with the public, and have encountered some very strange phenome within its walls.
 The upstairs section of the hotel houses the guest’s suites and shared shower facilities. This seems to be the epicentre of the haunting, particularly in the one wing containing bedrooms 11 through to 13.
 On one occasion, about the middle of the day, I was standing in the junction of the hallways, which wind and turn through the upper levels. In one spot I could smell very distinctly the smell of the ocean and old tobacco, but take a step in any direction and the smell would be completely gone. Now, not being one to jump to the “ghost” conclusion in an instant, I put it down to being so close to the ocean, and the smell of tobacco being embedded in the walls and carpets, and didn’t think any more of it, until I went downstairs to the dining room and a psychic told me that right above us was a spirit of an old Swedish sailor who had died elsewhere, but returned here as he felt this was home – (this still did not convince me the place is haunted by a Swedish sailor!).

 On another occasion, my wife experienced very strange disembodied footsteps in the hallway whilst she was investigating in room 10, at the same time, I was sitting on the bed in room 11 and recorded an EVP that asked the question “Hello?” – this was only the beginning of weird occurrences in the upstairs area that evening,
 Whilst in another upstairs room we all experienced equipment responses to questions. One investigator also heard a disembodied voice within the room.
 During a public event in the Cornucopia Hotel, Rob from “Cityside Paranormal” had a poltergeist event occur. Rob and his partner was staying in room 11, he put his clothes and gear in the room, and during the tour part of the event, re-entered his room to find all his belongings were strewn about the place as if someone had been recklessly searching for some mysterious object!

 So who haunts the Cornucopia Hotel? It could be Archibald Samuels, a young man, aged 14, who lost his life in a water tank that is located directly underneath the current bear garden. Archibald had gone to draw water from the tank and somehow fell in, only to be found the following day when the hotel couldn’t find him to run an errand.

 Or, perhaps it might be Mr Crawford, who had a nasty gash upon his leg that went gangrene, he died in an upstairs bedroom.
 Many of the staff have told me stories of suicides that go unreported in the local media, one involved a young woman hanging herself from the balcony in full site of the town’s main street – it is said she may be the ghost often heard speaking in room 9, that also likes the roll bars of soap across the room.

Another mysterious paranormal event occurred in February 1894 when a fire broke out in the hotel stables (as reported in The Kadina and Wallaroo Times – 3 Feb 1894).  Albert Swanski, the horse keeper locked the stables at 11pm, and when he checked the horses at 7:30am, he found the stalls and horses very badly burnt, so badly, in fact, the vet put them down immediately (they are buried in the hotel grounds). All the leather bridles, reigns etc of the horses were perfect, uncharred, no fire or smoke damage. No one knew how the fire started, or how it got put out, all the locks were still intact, and no entry points could be seen – very strange indeed!

 

The Cornucopia Hotel Wallaroo remains a popular drinking spot within the town and depending on who you talk too, one of the most haunted pubs on the Copper Coast!

My thanks to Rick and Will Parson of Flinders Ranges Paranormal Research Group for assistance with research on this historic location.

<edit> The Cornucopia Hotel is now known as the Copper Coast Hotel.

Allen Tiller is the Australian star of the international hit television show “Haunting: Australia” and author of “The Haunts of Adelaide – History, Mystery and the Paranormal” as well as being a historian, lecturer, poet, musician, Tour Guide, blogger and podcaster. Allen is also a volunteer for many different associations and groups.

You can find Allen online at:

www.twitter.com/Allen_Tiller

www.facebook.com/AllenHauntingAustralia

https://www.facebook.com/TheHauntsOfAdelaide

First published in MEGAscene issue 7 2016

© Allen Tiller

Cornwall Hotel - Paranormal Investigation

Cornwall Hotel - Paranormal Investigation

WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE!

Eidolon Paranormal was invited by When The Lights Go Out Paranormal to investigate the alleged haunting of the Cornwall Hotel in Moonta, South Australia. While experimenting with the Project Paranormal ITC app, the teams captured a very clear command. 

Is this evidence of the paranormal?

When The Lights Go Out Paranormal - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/whenthelight... 

Eidolon Paranormal - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EidolonParan... 

Spirit Tech: https://www.facebook.com/wombatelectr... 

Project Paranormal App: https://play.google.com/store/apps/de...

Witchcraft in South Australia Part V: Kadina to Hahndorf

Witchcraft in South Australia Part V: Kadina to Hahndorf

In the town of Kadina, on the Yorke Peninsula in 1874 a find inside a local house led to much local intrigue and excitement. A family bought a house close to the mine and began to move in. While going about their business, they decided to inspect the building as they cleaned it. On looking up into the chimney, the Father discovered two suspended bottles containing water and pins.
The man looked closer in the chimney and soon discovered an old bullock's heart, which was crammed full of pins.
It was thought that the water, heart and pins were an old protection spell to ward off the evils of witchcraft affecting the householders, by suspending it in the chimney, it is thought to have stopped any witches, or their magic from entering the house through the chimney opening.[1]


Witches were also said to live openly in Hahndorf in the Adelaide Hills. It is claimed an evil witch and a white witch both lived in the town, competing against each other with their various magical wares.
The witches were said to be the reason that some residents in the town began to wear their clothing inside out to ward off evil and to wear red ribbons for the same reason.
The Hahndorf community chose to commemorate their witchy past with a mural inside the German Arms Hotel that immortalises the two magical folks!



Researched and written by Allen Tiller ©2018
https://www.facebook.com/TheHauntsOfAdelaide/


Bibliography

[1] 1874 'OUR KADINA LETTER.', Yorke's Peninsula Advertiser and Miners' News (SA: 1872 - 1874), 18 September, p. 2. , viewed 10 Apr 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article215906689

The Haunts of Adelaide Turns 3

THOA turns 3 on Oct 22

A very big thank you to each and every one of you who has read, shared or commented on a Haunts of Adelaide topic over the past three years.

 This week on Thursday the 22nd, the blog hits three years of weekly articles - that's 156 articles about the ghosts, hauntings, UFO sightings, Bushrangers, Crimes, people, politicians and paranormal investigations of Adelaide, and South Australia.

In that time we have seen the blog (very early on I might ad) get added to the National Library of Australia's PANDORA archives, which aims to protect writings the Government of Australia deems important to the history of our nation.

 It has also seen the birth of its first book " The Haunts of Adelaide - History, Mystery and the Paranormal" by Allen Tiller (me ) - which is a collection of 30 stories some previously published on the blog (but with more details added) and some exclusive to the book itself.

Currently as I write this, I am working on the follow up book " The Haunts of Kapunda"...and after that, maybe a follow for Adelaide, or Port Adelaide, or the Copper Coast..maybe the Riverland? Who knows, there are endless possibilities for locations and ghost stories to be discovered, researched and written ab out in our great state!

Again, thank you for your support

Allen Tiller

The Willamulka Brute a.k.a. "The Kadina Wherwolf"

The Willamulka Brute A.K.A. The Kadina Wherwolf

 The Yorke Peninsula in 1919 saw a loss of sheep happen in such a way, and in such a short time, that it drew similarities to the Tantanoola Tiger sheep killings 30 something years earlier.

For more than 9 months, sheep would be found slaughtered in

fields near Kadina. Farmers described the beast as being "wolf like, but immense in size". 
The beast was described in Sydney’s “The World’s News” on 19 June 1943 published article, "There Are Queer Creatures in This Australia" by V. Molesworth as the “Kadina Wehrwolf”

 Wolf like howls and shrieks would fill the night air, and in the morning, a farmer or two would find some of his sheep torn to pieces – this led to a reward of 10 pounds being offered to capture the beast, which was described in rural circles as “big enough to devour a child”.

 Farmers and hunters began to lay in wait for the beast, hoping to be the one who bagged it. The beast was heard, but never seen, until 21 days later Mr D Tully witnessed the beast.

 Mr Tully had set out to cover watering holes, drinking troughs and dams in his local area. With him a pack of stag hounds and greyhounds, he spotted the wolf, and set his dogs after it, but they flatly refused to chase the beast, being overcome with fear.

 Next he saw it whilst he was riding his horse. He chased the beast and got within 30 years of it, before its odour overcome his horse, which reared back and bolted from the wolf.

 Mr Tully was not one to give up, and set a number of rabbit traps about his farm. He found the beast, foot in trap near a fence and approached it as it snarled and gnashed in his direction. Mr Tully raised his shotgun, and blasted the beast in the mouth. Thinking he had killed the beast, he moved towards it, only to have it raise up and lunge at him again – this time he fired his barrels right down its throat – killing it.

 The “Kadina Wehrwolf” was no more. The beast weighed 30+ KG’s and measured 1.3 meters long from nose to tail. The animal stood at 68cms tall. It was remarked at how strong its chest and neck were. The head was described as being as wide and short pricked ears. The beasts coat was brindle coloured with coarse medium hair, with lines of that alternated black and tan on the rump and forelegs

 The Animal was female, and a small litter of its pups were found near a railway culvert, drowned by flood waters they couldn’t escape from. Mr Tully kept the hide of the beast, and had intentions to take it to the Adelaide Museum, whether or not this was done, has not been confirmed.