Happy 2nd Birthday The Haunts of Adelaide

Happy 2nd Birthday

The Haunts of Adelaide

Tomorrow The Haunts of Adelaide turns 2!

 Many thanks to all our readers that have found us and stayed with us over those two years, as we have delved into some of South Australia's, Ghosts, Crimes and Eccentricities...

We appreciate your support and encouragement.

We would also like to thank

The National Library of Australia

The Library of South Australia

TROVE

The PANDORA Archives

The Bunyip

The Kapunda Herald

The Advertiser

and all the Historians and Genealogists who have helped along the way

Below is some of our artwork from the past 2 years

Grisly Gawler - Part III - Death in Custody

Grisly Gawler - Part III: Death in Custody

Life was hard in the late 1800s, and criminals were justly dealt with. Standards were a lot different from what we are used to today with many police station being stone buildings with harsh conditions.

In Gawler, if arrested, you would visit the police cells on Cowan Street. In its day, long before the modern Police Station, we see now, there stood a stone building ( as shown in photos below) which had very simple, and cold stone cells.

Much like now, back in the day there were rules and regulations Police had to follow whilst they had prisoners in custody. Those rules and regulations didn’t take in to account the human factor. If someone really wants something bad enough, they will find a way to do it, and with that, there were quite a few deaths in custody in the Gawler Police station in the late 1800s.

I am going to touch on one briefly in this article.

In 1872, a man by the surname Docherty had been arrested in front of his own home for suspicion of stealing a horse saddle three months earlier. The arrest was made by Sergeant Woodcock at 5am on the 16^th of October 1872.
  The sergeant took the defendant back to the Gawler Police station on Cowan Street and placed him in the cells.

Precautions were taken to make sure the prisoner had no weapons upon his body and he was left alone in the cells, checked upon on a regular basis by the station officers, as was customary.

 Docherty was last seen alive at 9pm Saturday night when his dinner was brought to him by Constable Farrell.

Docherty had been totally sober and of no nuisance to the Police officers, not complaining about his situation nor offering any objection to his treatment.

He was found hanging from his belt the following morning by constable Farrell, who called on Sergeant Woodcock to come and assist in cutting down the man.

  Docherty had climbed up on his night bucket, and slipped his belt loop through the top rails above the doorway, then fastened the belt. He then made a makeshift noose and hung himself.

  Due to the extreme summer heat at the time, it was decided to make an inquest into Docherty's death that same day. His friends and wife were called to the courthouse to offer witness statements as to the mental condition of the man.
  His wife told officers as of late, her husband, who was usually a quiet man who took no alcohol, had become much keen to drink and was often out drinking and doing things in the scrub, but she was not aware of what, as he did not say.

The Police made a report that Mr Docherty's suicide was: 'The deceased, being of weak intellect, committed suicide in a fit of temporary insanity”!

There were many more reported suicides and attempted suicides in the Gawler Police Station, as well as many other police stations around Australia. In the era, for most people, being arrested was a much more serious thing than it is now. People liked to keep good reputations intact, and being arrested, or worse, gaoled, was the kind of thing that could cost not only livelihoods but also social status and Church Status in serious jeopardy. 
Often people once released would move on to new areas to try and wash those old stains from their past.

The link below shows statistics for deaths in custody across Australia in the last few years: http://www.aic.gov.au/publications/current%20series/mr/1-20/20/08_prison.html

The following link shows statistics for crimes over various decades.

http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/4524A092E30E4486CA2569DE00256331

George Massey Allen

George Massey Allen

George Massey Allen was one of the most controversial newspaper editors South Australia has ever had.

In 1860, Allen worked for The Advertiser but decided he wanted more and left to form the first English language newspaper in the Mid-north, The Northern Star at Kapunda. (The only previous newspapers in the Barossa Valley and Mid North had been German-language newspapers).

Allen was a man of principle, but also very outspoken, which often got him in serious trouble with the law.

His newspapers were often very controversial as he preferred to voice his own opinion, without considering the consequences of his actions.
 This eventually led Allen into a liable case in Kapunda, in which he was declared guilty of liable and slander. His newspaper was cancelled after his conviction, which came with a 6-month gaol sentence.

 After serving his gaol sentence, Allen returned to Kapunda to find that his newspaper The Northern Star had been replaced in his absence with The Kapunda Herald. The new newspaper was incredibly popular and far outsold his former local paper.

Instead of going back into the newspaper business, where his opinions would most likely see him Gaoled again, he instead went into the Hotel business, buying a local Kapunda pub, in which he could voice his opinions all he wanted.

Pub life wasn’t what Allen desired though, and eventually, he moved back to Adelaide in 1867 and founded a new newspaper called The Satirist.

The Satirist was in direct competition with another newspaper The Register, and Allen's former employer, The Advertiser.
 The competition did not phase Allen though, and on at least one occasion, his newspaper outsold both his bigger rivals.

Allen had trouble keeping his opinions to himself. His newspaper lampooned local politicians, events and his rival newspapers and because of Allen's unwillingness to reel in his satiric tongue,  he eventually found himself in court again charged with liable. Not having the finances to keep hiring lawyers, and prosecuted again, with a gaol sentence, he eventually had to shut his newspaper down.

The prospectus of the South Australian satirist read:
“The lamentably abject condition of the daily Press of South Australia, its want of political principle, its hypocritical fear and timorousness, has forced upon the proprietors of the Satirist the palpable necessity of launching forth upon the unimpassioned waters of honesty, truth, and fearless independence, a journal whose aim shall be to guide, not truckle to, the public opinion of this colony. ... What, then, is the demand of the hour? To find and to sustain a fearless advocate of the people's rights and requirements, one who will dare to speak and teach the truth ...” (27 July 1867, p. 2)

 Allen was incarcerated for six months by Judge Wearing, his wife and six children, who needed his income to survive, became destitute and relied on the kindness of others.
A parliamentary enquiry ensued, and eventually, a Parliamentary Intervention happened, releasing Allen from Prison.
  Judge Wearing declared he had probably misinterpreted the law somewhat harshly but stated: "the great social advantage which has, I believe, resulted to the public by the cessation of so infamous a print as the Satirist." (South Australian Parliamentary Paper no. 145, 1868/69)

Allen and his wife didn't enter into the media again, instead, they took up another Hotel, The Alexandra Hotel in Rundle Street and lived out the rest of their lives as publicans.

Researched and written by Allen Tiller ©2014

Ghosts in the Television

Ghosts in the Television

In our modern age, we take television for granted and with that the special effects that come with it.

In 1949, Australia had yet to see television, we didn't get that big old box in the living room until September 1956 - and that was only after our Government of the era had instigated a Royal Commission to decide how we, the public, should accept our TV broadcast, how many channels Australia should have, and a vast number of other issues the government thought they should control.

Even though television had not yet hit our shores, we still had production houses making movies, and won our first ever academy award in 1942 with the documentary movie "Kokoda Front Line!
 We also had some world-famous movie actors including Oliver Heggie (from Angaston).

On 2 November 1936, the BBC began transmitting the world's first public regular high-definition service from the Victorian Alexandra Palace in North London (this is now considered to be the birthplace of broadcasting).
Meanwhile, in the USA, television made its breakthrough with 1939's Worlds Fair but wasn't generally accepted by the American public until after the Second World War, when mass production of television sets begun. In 1948, Television broadcasting, as we accept it now, really took hold in the USA, and the most popular man on television at the time was Milton Berle

So now we have got some history out of the way, I thought I would share this little newspaper story from 1949 describing how to create a ghost for television. There were no photoshop programs, no home PC editing tricks, no "green screen" or Chroma Key settings, everything had to be done "in camera", generally live to air!

So how did they do it?

A Ghost On Television

When 'Blithe Spirit' was televised by the BBC recently, the problem arose as to how to produce a ghost for the television camera. How they did it is shown in the diagram below.
The actress who played the ghost stood between black curtains. This meant that only her form and no other objects were reflected into the mirror at A. The plate glass (B) picked up the reflection from the mirror. The photographer was then able to photograph through the plate glass, picking up the reflection of the 'ghost' as well as the live actors.

Chronicle (Adelaide, SA: 1895 - 1954), Thursday 24 February 1949, page 44

BATTERED TO DEATH

 BATTERED TO DEATH

  September 3^rd 1924, Mrs Henderson, a neighbour of Mr and Mrs Barrowcliffe of O'Halloran Street, Adelaide, went next door to check on her elderly neighbours, who had always been very friendly with her.
  She was surprised when she walked through the unlocked back door to find her neighbours hadn’t gotten up yet, as it was their usual custom to rise early on a Saturday. She entered the bedroom to make sure the old couple were ok and discovered Mrs Barrowcliffe, who was 77 years old, laying on the floor with her head splintered open.
 On the floor next to her was her 79-year-old husband John Barrowcliff, who had suffered a severe laceration to his throat.
  Mr Barrowcliff was still very much alive and whispered to Mrs Henderson “We had a row yesterday. I did it, and after I hit her she never moved."
Mrs Henderson called for help, and Mr Barrowcliffe was taken to the hospital, where he later died from loss of blood.



Police investigated the murder-suicide and determined that at some time in the previous night, Mr Barrowcliff had struck his wife in the head with a tomahawk, splintering her skull and killing her.
He then took a knife from the kitchen and slit his own throat.

The Barrowcliffs had no immediate family in Adelaide, as they had moved from rural New South Wales and had made few friends.

There was no real motive offered for the killing.

Experimental Gaol: Stories From The Gladstone Gaol - Part 3

Experimental Gaol:

 Stories From The Gladstone Gaol - Part 3

  In late 1953 the Gladstone Gaol was re-opened for a period as a Medium Level corrective training facility for 18 – 25-year-old offenders.

  In 1955 Gladstone Gaol saw its first new extension, what is now known a “C” block, or the experimental wards. The complex increased to 125 cells.  In 1969 130 prisoners were housed with up to 20 transfers each day.

Looking at the central guard tower - Gladstone Gaol
© Karen Tiller

The term “experimental” is misleading, I have read many outrageous stories that have abounded because of misinterpretation of this word. The Gaol was never “experimental” with its prisoners, there were NEVER pre-frontal lobotomies, or other medical procedures done to prisoners, in fact, what the “experimental” refers to is the style of the cells themselves.

  At the time, no other prison in the world had cells like the new ones built at Gladstone Gaol. These Cells had no windows at all, and contained a concrete ledge at the end of the cell, which was the prisoner bunk.   It also had its own internal air circulation vents, which were made in such a manner they could not be escaped through. The cell block is also raised from the ground (as can be seen from the outside when one walks around the cell block), allowing air to circulate underneath the cells, therefore keeping them much cooler in the hot Gladstone summers, where the temperature can easily reach 46C in summer.

In all its years of operation as a gaol there were only 26 escapes in the gaol’s 100+ year history and only one of them, an Italian man who had fashioned a “Master Key” from a piece of wire, was never caught and returned to the facility.

Looking over the Laundry area from the tower
© Karen Tiller

  The Gaol eventually closed in December 1975 due to the Governments concern that its facilities were “outdated”. Recently a former prison worker who was there for the last five years of the Gaols service has publicly pushed for the facility to be reinstated as a Gaol and used to house lower-level criminals.

  In 1979 The gaol saw some new prisoners enter, but these were all just actors there to film the Bryan Brown movie “Stir”. A disturbing and graphic movie about life in an Australian Prison. Many of the props from the movie, including the “daily activities” lists on the back of cell doors, still exist to this day, as a well as a tiny museum dedicated to the movie in the “C” Block. Many signs, including one saying “Maximum Security” within the gaol, are leftover props from the movie.

Movie Prop from the movie "Stir"
©Allen Tiller

  Mr Rob Williams was quoted in the local regional newspaper “The Flinders News” as saying
“It was a very sad, depressing and unnecessary day when the prison closed, It was a ridiculous decision, one that was totally political.
Now, the whole criminal justice is soft. There is too much emphasis today on the comfort of the offender than there is on the welfare and safety of the victim.
Gladstone Gaol is unique in all ways possible, with its high tapered walls and self-sufficient arrangement, Instead of closing places such as Gladstone and Adelaide Gaol, both should have been kept operational.”


Currently, the Gaol is a Bed and Breakfast and Museum under the care of Tony Holland, it features its own coffee and gift shop and allows for people to stay overnight to experience prison life first hand.

References:

The Flinders News

http://www.theflindersnews.com.au/story/323820/bring-back-the-gladstone-gaol/

 http://www.gladstonesa.com.au/gladstone-gaol/

www.trove.nla.gov.au

Construction: Stories From The Gladstone Gaol - Part 2

Construction:
Stories From The Gladstone Gaol -Part 2

In South Australia's Mid-north, approximately 221 km's from Adelaide sits the town of Gladstone, and over on Ward Street, in the towns west sits the imposing Gladstone Gaol.
The gaol was constructed between 1879 and 1881 with a total cost of £21,640. Its grey slate floors were made from slate mined at Mintaro and carried to Gladstone by Bullock Dray

B Wing - Gladstone Gaol
© Karen Tiller

Many people question the reasoning behind the construction of the gaol in such a remote part of South Australia, and somewhere so close to where three gauges of train line come together, offering an easy escape route if needed.

A newspaper story in The Mail, printed on the 8th of August 1881 refers to the building of the Gaol, but also the first female prisoner to be imprisoned there:

8 August 1881 Gladstone Gaol

On 8 August 1881, two months to the day after it had been opened, Gladstone Gaol received its first female prisoners. Sometime before 1879 Charles Mann, MP for the district, was asked by the residents what he could do for the town. He asked them if they would like a gaol and two years later Gladstone Gaol, said by one writer to have a gloomy solidity, was opened. Mr Pollett from the Redruth Gaol at Burra was appointed head keeper and the gaol had accommodation for 60 male and female prisoners. It appears that it rarely had a full complement and the only ‘lifer’ was a cat called Lady Jane Grey.

Sunset Through The Bars
© Allen Tiller

Rumours have long been whispered that its building was a “political stunt” orchestrated in the area because a former Government Minister who eventually became the Attorney General wanted to see some funding injected into Gladstone, which eventually led to the Gaol being built. The Gaol could house 60 prisoners easily at the time, it was built, when Gladstone’s population was only 900 people.
Because of its distance to Adelaide, the gaol was never used for much more than Debtors and inebriates, in other words, people who couldn’t pay their bills and alcoholics. Much of the time the Gaol was completely empty, in fact, when alcoholics did elect to do their stay in Gladstone Gaol, they actually got paid for it, at £26 per year!

Probably the only time this Gaol saw anything near full capacity was when there was a viral outbreak of measles or some other virally contagious disease in Adelaide, then Gladstone Gaol would become a make-shift hospital and quarantine area.

During the World Wide conflict of World War II, Gladstone Gaol was used as an internment camp for people of Italian and German origin, prisoners of war who were regarded as a security risk to the Nation. It was also used in this period to house soldiers who had gone AWOL (absent without leave) from their Military Posting.
From 1943 until 1953 the prison lay dormant and empty.

NO-ONE WAS EVER HUNG IN THIS GAOL - sorry about the capitals, but I had to reiterate this point, despite all the conjecture, rumours, misinformation and legends, no-one was ever hung at Gladstone Gaol, formally, or informally.

Next week we take a look at the new extensions to the Gaol!

The Death of Eliza Evershed: Stories from Gladstone Gaol – part I

The Death of Eliza Evershed

Stories from Gladstone Gaol – part I

On Saturday the 16th of September 1882, Eliza Evershed, a prisoner inside the walls of the Gladstone Gaol, in South Australia's Mid-north, passed away... her last words “Good Bye”...

  By all accounts, Eliza Evershed had lived a hard life. Her husband, Alfred Batchelor Evershed, had once been the owner of the Maid Of Auckland Hotel in Edwardstown, which eventually she ran by herself after his death.

  No-one was quite sure of her age. At the time of her death she was listed as 65 years old, but doctors proclaimed, she had either lived a very hard life or was at least 80 years old when she died.

  Eliza was often in court, on both sides of the law, as sometimes her hotel would be robbed, other times she would rob people, and, in fact, she was incarcerated in Adelaide Gaol, on a seven-year sentence for Larceny about 12 months previously, but had been moved to the lower security Gladstone Gaol as her health was failing rapidly.

  Eliza's character was on show in 1872, when she fronted court with her friend Catherine Mott. Catherine had been charged with stealing a set of scales worth two-pound by the shop owner Robert Crocker.

Crocker had allowed Catherine into the shop on Grenfell Street to work, but when he returned the next day the scales were long gone.

Catherine had required Eliza to be present, as Catherine was a tenant in Eliza's Maid of Auckland Hotel. Eliza took the stand as a witness and said “ I am Eliza Evershed, the old woman of the Maid of Auckland. I am a widow, and I am perfectly willing to 'have' Inspector Bee”

  The courtroom broke into laughter, and poor Inspector Bee blushed, embarrassed at the grotesque old woman’s actions.

The court ruled the old woman had “decided traces of real or assumed insanity” and that “no satisfactory evidence could be got from her.”

  Eliza spent her last days in prison, but she was actually, a free woman, having had her sentenced re-missed on the 11th of September, but being as she was so unwell, the Warden thought it unsafe to move her.
Before her death, Eliza spoke of the kindness she had received from female warder Mrs. Pollit

 Honorah Dunn, a prisoner, said Eliza had been ailing for some time. Honorah had been with the old lady a good deal both day and night for the previous fortnight, assisting her with anything she needed. Eliza had everything she required, and never complained of her treatment, she passed away quietly within the walls of Gladstone Gaol

© Allen Tiller 2014

The Rhynie Tragedy: Part One

The Rhynie Tragedy Part One

On April 1st, 1920, tragedy struck the small country town of Rhynie, a little hamlet not far from Riverton in the States Mid-North. The bodies of Mrs Muriel Lee and three of her five children, aged three, five and six years old respectively, were found dead, lying in their beds in their country home, murdered by husband and father, Alexander Lee.

The Argus (Melbourne, Vic.  1848 - 1957), Monday 5 April 1920, page 6

  Alexander had come home a couple of days prior, after being away for a lengthy time shearing sheep at homesteads around the State.
 He had returned home drunk one night and accused his wife of a number of petty things, but had wound himself up, and accused her of having a series of “fancy” men in the house in his absence.

  The night before the murder, Charles Glen, Mrs Lee's brother had visited the house. Alexander was laying on the sofa, smoking a pipe. Glen went to leave saying “I will get away now, as I want to get a pint of beer before 6”, after which Lee said, “A Pint would do me good.”
  Mrs Lee said to her brother “Don't talk to me about beer, I had enough of it last night. He came home drunk and accused me of all sorts of things, and he said I had men in the house when he was away."

  Lee then called his daughter, Amelia into the room and stated "I will keep you and little Alice, and I hope to God the rest of the ------- are dead by the morning." Lee then looked at his wife and said, “You must have riled me to say a thing like that!"

  This was not the first time Alexander Lee had been harsh to his wife. The married couple also had twins babies which at the time of the murders were in a hospital in Adelaide, as they had been unwell with influenza.
 Emily Mellery, a young nurse looking after the young twins, who was later called upon as a witness, reported she had been staying with the Lee family. One evening, Mr Lee arrived home in a bad state of intoxication and began to call his wife all manner of names and curses.

  After a while Lee began to make accusations about the fatherhood of his twins, "I am not responsible for your condition." Lee said, to which his wife answered, "Don't say that to me, Alex You know I don't do that." 

 

Advocate (Burnie, Tas.  1890 - 1954),
 Wednesday 9 June 1920, page 3

  Lee, who had two bottles of brandy and a bottle of wine with him from which he was drinking heavily, then forced his wife to drink several glasses of brandy. After each drink she was sick.
  The following afternoon Mrs Lee was removed to the Riverton Maternity Hospital, and was away from home for about three weeks. On the day she reached home, the twins began to cry, and Lee remarked to his wife, "Chuck the little ----- outside they don't belong to me."   Mrs Lee replied, "Oh, Alex don't say that to me. God put them into the world for something, and we must look after them." Alex replied, "I Wasn't Home, I wasn't home when the twins arrived, I was away shearing. I think your memory has failed you considerably."

There was much speculation that Alexander Lee thought his brother, Leonard, may have been the father of the twin. This, he speculated because, on a day in March, Leonard had been standing at the front gate of the family home when Alexander had returned from work. Alexander said unto him “Hello you F$#@er!” and then had continued to berate his wife inside the home saying “why don't you keep your fancy man in here?”

  Alexander Lee obviously had trust issues and a drinking problem, but also had murder on his mind – next week on The Haunts of Adelaide, we take a closer look at the murders, trial and hanging of Alexander Lee


© 2014 Allen Tiller

The Haunting of the Fountain Inn Hotel

The Haunting of the Fountain Inn Hotel

  The Fountain Inn, at Yilki (Encounter Bay area), was built in 1847. One of the first Inn's in South Australia and it still stands today. Now known as “Yelki By The Sea”, a Bed and Breakfast near Encounter Bay.



  One of South Australia’s earliest hauntings (Alongside Graham's Castle in Prospect and Younghusband Mansion in Adelaide City), The Fountain Inn is thought to be one of South Australia's earliest built Hotels, being established in around 1847.

  The original building was constructed of weather-board and a thatched roof, and was the only pub for miles around in the area, which led to it being very popular, as there really was no other place to drink and socialise with other settlers, sailors and locals.

  Whalers in the southern ocean would drink inside its walls, and many wild brawls would occur out of liquor fuelled jealousy and anger. More than one man was dragged from the hotel in the early years, bleeding profusely from wounds sustained in the brawls.
  It wasn't long until other hotels began to spring up in the region. Newer buildings with more room and better facilities. The Fountain Inn Hotel fell to the wayside and became a summer residence let to tenants.
However, no tenants would stay in the house long.

  In the dead of the night, when all was quiet, except the sounds of the waves breaking upon the shore, the old Inn would stir and creak, and something unexplained would come to the fore. Inexplicable noises, like human feet dragging heavily across soft sand towards the lonely Inn. Yet, when one would go to investigate, nothing would be there, except the grassy reeds swaying in the wind.
  Rumours sprung up in nearby towns, about the weird goings-on in the Inn. It was to become local lore that a whaler, who had been beaten in a fight in the hotel, then dragged down to the beach where he died, was now coming back to the Inn on a nightly basis to seek his revenge.
  The haunting rumours spread like wildfire, and soon no-one in the region was brave enough to spend a night in the haunted Inn, except for a young farmer named Mr Smith, who was staying in the Inn with his wife, well aware of the evil reputation of the building.

  Mr Smith was called into town one night and did not want to leave his wife home alone, but she insisted she would be fine and for her husband to go.
  After her husband left, the young wife retired to her room to sew by the light of her flicker oil lamp. The lamp threw strange shadows upon the walls, and outside the wind moaned. She tried to put the thought of ghosts out of her mind and waited for her husbands return.
 At about 2am, the wind had died down, and she listened as the waves broke upon the shore. Suddenly, from outside her window came the sound of a soft dragging rustle, as if a heavy body was being dragged through the sand. It grew louder, closer – soon she could take it no more, and with her lamp, she flung open the outside door and glanced around in the lamp and moonlight only to find the beach deserted.
  She could still hear the dragging noises, only a few meters from where she stood, but whatever was making them was not visible to the eye. In a state of panic, she returned to the Inn, double bolted the door, returned to her room, and waited for her husband with the lamp turned fully on.

  The next day Mr Smith returned, and he found his wife barricaded in the bedroom. After she told him of her frightening encounter with the spirit, they packed up and sought accommodation elsewhere, but not before telling the local newspapers what had happened!!!


© Allen Tiller 2014

(Note: could the dragging sound be a seal? )

AN EVENING WITH SOUTH AUSTRALIA’S VERY OWN INTERNATIONALLY RENOWNED PARANORMAL INVESTIGATOR ALLEN TILLER

AN EVENING WITH SOUTH AUSTRALIA’S VERY
OWN INTERNATIONALLY RENOWNED
PARANORMAL INVESTIGATOR | ALLEN TILLER

Allen Tiller is Australia’s leading Paranormal Investigator. Recently featured on Foxtels hit TV show “Haunting: Australia” which showcased some of Australia’s most haunted locations to a worldwide audience.

Allen is also the founder and CEO of Eidolon Paranormal, the parent company of SA Paranormal and The Haunts of Adelaide which was recently included in Pandora the web archive of the National Library of Australia.

Allen is appearing to a private audience to discuss his years of paranormal experience, reveal the most haunted locations that he has personally investigated around South Australia and give some exclusive behind the scenes information about the amazing locations that they investigated while filming Haunting Australia.

BOOK HERE

Proudly Presented by
Ghost Crime Tours

http://www.ghost-crime-tours.com.au/