The Bent Tree Haunting - Watervale

 

On the Horrocks Highway, between Leasingham and Watervale there once stood a landmark, a bent tree, which marks the spot of a tragic accident.

 Andrew Sands came to Australia on board the passenger ship Epaminondas, arriving at Port Adelaide on 2^nd August 1852. Andrew was a 30-year-old Scottish-born Miner, his wife, Margaret was 28, they had (at the time) three children, David, aged 8, James, aged 4; and 1-year-old Margaret.[1] The couple had one South Australian-born child, Archibald in March 1866.

 

On Tuesday 2^nd February 1869, Andrew Sands was thrown from his horse during a thunderstorm, near the Bent Tree, a local landmark at the time. Sands was found and taken to the Auburn Hotel, where he was attended by Doctor Wall. He was diagnosed with a severe concussion of the brain.
 On 4 February 1869, Andrew Sands died. Sands had a fractured skull, and his brain had swelled, eventually killing him. He was buried the following day 5^th of February 1869, in the Auburn Cemetery, overseen by Reverend Crawford.[2]

Since his untimely death, a local legend states that on moonlit nights, the exact spot where he came off his horse, the ghost of Andrew Sands appears.  Before the time of motor cars, it was claimed that Sand's ghost would try and stop passersby. He walks with his arms out, pleading for a lift. Horses would rear up at the sight of the ghost, bolting, and often throwing their rider to the ground, just as Sands horse had done many years before.

Sand's ghost is not seen as much these days. As cars speed by on the Horrocks Highway, but every now and then, a report of an oddly dressed man, arms outstretched, as if pleading, begging for someone to stop and save him, is seen…

Researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2024

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[1] Robert Janmaat, ‘Epaminondas’, The Ships List, SA Passenger Lists, 1847-1886, (2008), https://www.theshipslist.com/ships/australia/epaminondas1852.shtml.

[2] 'AUBURN.', Kapunda Herald and Northern Intelligencer, (5 February 1869), p. 3.

 A Phantom at Moonta

 

Many people have been reporting a phantom hitchhiker appearing in their headlights on Moonta-Wallaroo Road; and sometimes on the Moonta end of the Spencer Highway.
There have been reports of a phantom man wearing a large black coat. The ghost stands in the middle of the road, staring straight up at the sky. When the witness’ stops, he disappears. Others have seen the man walking in the middle of the road, a black silhouette in the distance, and as you get near him, he vanishes from sight.
 Some people who have stopped and checked the area, thinking the man in black has just moved to the side of the road, have reported after getting back into their cars, witnessing an ashen white face against their passenger side window. The face looks at the witness with absolute horror, before vanishing into the night!!!

 

Have you experienced this phenomenon? I would love to hear your story!

Apparitions

This week I thought I might take a different approach and discuss some of the classifications of Apparitions.

What is an apparition?

 Dictionary.com defines the word as “a supernatural appearance of a person or thing, especially a ghost; a spectre or phantom; wraith:”

Crisis Apparition:  A crisis apparition are visions of a person, who may be under duress or undergoing a crisis. They can involve death, severe injury or severe illness.

These apparitions are extremely common but very hard to verify, as one has to “be there” at the right time to see them. It is believed by some in the paranormal community that the “sender” of the apparition, the person under duress, “sends out” a ghostly image of themselves telepathically to a person, or people, who they have had a close personal relationship with.
 

Collective Apparition:  This is a ghost or apparition witnessed by multiple people at once.
 

Death Bed Apparition:  These are the ghosts witnessed by people upon, or before the impending death of a loved one.
 Occasionally these apparitions are living people (*Bilocation), deceased loved ones or religious figures described by the dying person as standing beside or near their deathbed as they pass away.
 

Reciprocal Apparition:  These are a type of apparition where both of the “ghosts” are actually still alive when they see each other, and both remember the details of their spectral meeting. They are considered very rare.
 There is speculation that they can occur from extreme emotional states such as loneliness or worry, or missing each other so intently, that both parties manifest before each other.

Reincarnation Apparition:  These are apparitions that can appear in dreams to a family member, indicating that the “apparition” or soul, will be born into the family of the dreamer in the near future.

Religious Apparitions:  Apparitions of important religious figures are common place across the world. These apparitions can be omens for change, for disaster or for comfort.

Verdical Apparition:  These are apparitions that can convey verifiable information to the witness. For example, they may deliver a message such as “My body is buried in the place marked X”, and in fact, their body can be found in the spot stated.
 They may also appear in the act of dying their own death, which is verifiable via newspaper stories.
Often these apparitions are residual in nature, but on occasion they have been documented as intelligent and interactive.

Written and Researched by Allen Tiller.

www.allentiller.com.au

www.eidolonparanormal.net

Bibliography

apparition. (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged. Retrieved September 8, 2016 from Dictionary.com website http://www.dictionary.com/browse/apparition

Apparitions. 2016. Apparitions. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.studiesoftheparanormal.com/apparitions.html. [Accessed 08 September 2016].

Dictionary.com. 2016. Veridical | Define Veridical at Dictionary.com. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.dictionary.com/browse/veridical. [Accessed 08 September 2016].

West, T, Death Bed Visions and Escorts, Encyclopedia of Death and Dying,  viewed 8 Sept 2016,http://www.deathreference.com/Da-Em/Deathbed-Visions-and-Escorts.html

The Phantom Accident of Lochiel

The Phantom Accident of Lochiel

Last week we took a brief look at the Haunted Ambulance and ghost nurse of Lochiel,< Read it here>  a town located 125kms north of Adelaide, on Highway 1, in the Mid-North region of South Australia. This week we are going to look at another very well-known haunting in the area.

  For many years people have been seeing a car on the side of the road near Lochiel, the car looks as though it has been in a very nasty accident, possibly hitting a tree. Passers-by will look in horror at the car, pull over to help, only to find the vehicle disappear from sight as they approach it.

 This particular accident apparition has been reported for more than 3 decades, and only ever happens during severe weather conditions. Not much has changed about the story over the years, except for one small detail of the stories passed to me, the phantom car has kept up to date with current models – so is this, in fact, an urban legend?

 The stretch of road, Highway 1, approaching Lochiel from Adelaide is notorious for fatal car and truck accidents, and tragically, many people have lost their lives there. In theory, this could be a probable cause for a haunting, as events surrounding deaths of a tragic nature and the emotions surrounding the event could be considered as an explanation for a possible ghostly car sighting – but with that little detail of the car make and model updating as time goes on, it hints that the story is untrue. 

There is always the possibility that there is some truth in the story, and rather than fade from memory, the urban legend has grown thanks to the internet, and internet jokers keeping the story alive. Perhaps this is the case, or perhaps there is an intelligence to the haunting?
 Another theory is that the phantom car could be the image of the latest victims of that stretch of road.
 Have you experienced the phantom car accident near Lochiel? We'd love to hear from you id you have. 
Contact us at eidolon@live.com.au

 May all the people who have met tragedy on Highway 1 Rest In Peace

© 2015 Allen Tiller