Angle Vale Road Ghost 

- Angle Vale South Australia

Recent reports have come in regarding the sighting of the ghost of a man walking his dog on Angle Vale Road, Angle Vale.
 Witnesses have been driving along Angle Vale Road at dusk, and sometimes late at night when seeing the alleged ghost. The man and dog are walking in the middle of the street. He appears solid but vanishes before the witnesses’ eyes.

If you have witnessed this ghost, we would like to hear your story… please contact us.

An Update (19/10/2022): Since sharing this story of the ghost of a man walking his dog on Angle Vale Road, I have been contacted about the same, or a similar ghost, seen on Dalkeith Road....

ORB's

(This article, in its original form, was first published on the Eidolon Paranormal website in 2011. This is an updated article with new information, new sources and extra clarification.)

ORBS

What is an orb? 

The term orb describes unexpected, typically circular artifacts, that occur in flash photography — sometimes with trails indicating motion — especially common with modern compact and ultra-compact digital cameras.

Orbs are also sometimes called backscatter, orb backscatter, or near-camera reflection.

In the Paranormal/ Spiritual Community, orbs are often associated with spiritual energy or ghosts (yet this remains unproven)

There is much debate and controversy as to whether "orbs" in photos are spiritual (ghosts) or dust, moisture, insects or other airborne particles. 99.9% of orb photos seen in the spiritual/ paranormal community are nothing more than airborne particles.
Camera focal points, flash distance from lens point and environmental conditions create photographic anomalies that create the “orb” in the photo. This is the truth and has been studied by numerous paranormal groups, camera manufacturers, sceptical societies and individuals, and proven to be FACT.

But why do psychics and so many people claim that they are spirits?
 Quite simply, some (fake) psychics want you to believe they are psychic, and many will tell you what you want to hear. Other’s may genuinely have intuition and maybe picking up on a spirit in the photo, or energy from you, which has nothing to do with the orb (or the photo) at all.
Other “orb attributions” are purely psychological where people create a "subjective social reality” (cognitive bias). This can be to “fit in”, to give closure, to feel as if a loved one is around them in some way. 

 Many believers in Orbs point to evidence of the older film cameras, that have no flash, recording orb photos. Some also point to night-vision video cameras capturing orbs, but what they don’t realise is that the camera itself, or a nearby IR light source is bathing the area with a light unseen by our own eyes, and when a particle, be it dust or and inset, or something else passes through this light, depending on its angle, distance from the lens and other factors, an orb will be created. This effect is most clearly seen on CCTV camera’s when a person opens a door and the draft of wind that follows carries dust particle through the room creating multiple “orbs”.

So, you’re saying all orbs are dust, and that should be the end of it?

No, despite my years of research and testing into the subject, talking to entomologists about bug structure and how they might reflect orbs, I still believe there are 0.1% chance of some photos being a genuine anomaly that is yet explained – attributing to a ghost or spirit though, that I am undecided upon (after all why couldn’t it be a fairy, a wisp or some other magical being – why a ghost? And why would something of human size (in energy) manifest as something so small in spiritual energy?) 

 I once took a photo of a fully formed apparition in a cemetery, I could see the apparition quite clearly (and another paranormal investigator had seen the same spirit in the same place many years before me – hence why I was there – He also took a photo of it, and received only a light anomaly) but for reason unknown, in the photo I took, the apparition appears as an orb.
Also, myself, and other team members have witnessed “orbs” with our own eyes in cemeteries and houses, but they were very different to the ones we see so often in photographs.  They appeared to emit their own light from a central point and pulse at the same time (almost like a heartbeat), moving through the air much like a jelly-fish moves through the water – they did not appear on camera, and we ruled out every possibility we could, and could not recreate the objects no matter how much we tried.

 Even though I have seen these strange light anomalies with my own eyes,  I do still believe that the majority of "orb" photos out there are contaminants from the local environment where the picture has been taken, with insects and dust being the most common causes.

 I suggest looking at your environment, taking notes of wind strength, dust, insects and anything that can cause loud vibrations (such as a band in a hall), moisture, rain etc. and if you cannot control these conditions when getting your orb photo, then you can probably discard it as a contaminant and not a spirit (or other mythical entity).

  I also suggest testing your camera in controlled conditions say, inside your own house, put the camera on a tripod and throw some powder, or dust into the air while taking a flash photo just to see how the "orbs" will look in your photo. This will also give you some idea of how the flash to lens ratio works - We at Eidolon Paranormal have done our own experiments with dust, and other objects to see for ourselves that most photos out there are dust or other contaminants -

The Picture below has been produced by a team in the USA named. "Midnite Walkers". Midnight Walkers went to extensive lengths to take photographs of various insects in their local region and explain how insects and incorrect camera use, or settings, can cause various shapes or patterns that some teams or investigators will claim to be spirits, or Angels (with no solid evidence to back their claims).

We would like to thank MidNite Walkers for granting Eidolon Paranormal the use of their pictures on our website.

 Composite picture showing the typical irregular shape and high brilliancy of insect orbs. Image sizes have been scaled to a similar size for easier comparison of shape and brightness.

 This photo was taken in St Johns cemetery by the Eidolon Paranormal team in 2009

The ground had ash on it from a recent fire and it was beginning to rain lightly. After walking through the ash pile, kicking up dust we took the photo. Notice the red dust/red orb, the ash dust appears white/grey and blue - the raindrop appears bluish-grey and has the most density

Midnite Walkers have also granted us permission to use their conglomeration ORB photos as a reference tool for our readers, and future paranormal investigators

Coloured Dust Orbs: Composite image of coloured dust orbs (image size have been scaled to similar sizes for easier comparison)

Grey Dust Orbs:  Composite image of grey dust orbs (image size have been scaled to similar sizes for easier comparison)

Eidolon Paranormal also conducted some experiments within controlled conditions (as mentioned earlier on this page) here a few of our "controlled orb experiment" photos

 

Aerosol Spray

Chocolate Drinking Powder

Sugar

A few of you may be wondering why we chose these, and other household items. It was purely because they were controllable with differing mass, liquidity, and weight, and all would react in differing ways within the field off the camera flash

An orb created by a moth

Two orbs explainable as moisture and dust - both present at the same time at St Johns Cemetery, Kapunda.

An unusually shaped orb taken with an Ir Camera,  that appears to be moving in the direction of the"arrow". Recent inspection has led us to believe this is an insect

 Eidolon Paranormal would like to express our deepest appreciation to

"Midnite Walkers Paranormal Research Society" who are based in Minnesota, United States of America, for allowing us the use of their photos and text.

If you would like to see the above experiments, in full, or other experiments performed by Midnite Walkers, please follow the link below to their website

  

http://www.midnite-walkers.com (first accessed in 2011)

Bibliography

 New Zealand Strange Occurrences Society. 2017. Photography and the Paranormal - New Zealand Strange Occurrences Society. [ONLINE] Available at: http://strangeoccurrencesparanormal.weebly.com/ectoplasmic-residue---blog/photography-and-the-paranormal. [Accessed 07 March 2017].

HowStuffWorks. 2017. How Night-vision Cameras Work | HowStuffWorks. [ONLINE] Available at: http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/night-vision-cameras.htm. [Accessed 07 March 2017].

How Do Night Vision Cameras Work?. 2017. How Do Night Vision Cameras Work?. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.howtogeek.com/291282/how-do-night-vision-cameras-and-goggles-work/. [Accessed 07 March 2017].

Orbs. 2017. Orbs. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.paranormal-encyclopedia.com/o/orbs/. [Accessed 07 March 2017].

ASSAP what are orbs?. 2017. ASSAP what are orbs?. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.assap.ac.uk/newsite/articles/what%20are%20orbs.html. [Accessed 07 March 2017].

Haunted Port Dock Hotel

Haunted Port Dock Hotel

On June 19^th 1855, the newly built (Port) Dock Hotel opened its doors for Port Adelaide’s beer and rum loving sailors and public. In the same month, 15 other new hotels were also declared as licensed in the colony as well – even early South Australian’s loved a cold one after work!

 The building that houses the Port Dock Hotel was rebuilt in 1882. This building was a two story construction containing fifteen rooms, a dining room, a cellar and a number of bars, each with their own separate entry to the Port Adelaide streets outside. This building was built from local stone, coming from Dry Creek, the previous building, as were many others in the Port, were built from ships ballast left from ships travelling to South Australia, removing the Ballast, and filling back up with things like Kapunda Copper, Marble or other commodities.

 The Hotels location was chosen due to its proximity to the South Australian Company Wharf properties and the railway station, this allowed a steady stream of customers to patronise the hotel. Including Sailors, Dockworkers, Stevedores, train passengers, new immigrants and locals.

 In 1902, there was an incident within the hotel that saw the publican, Mr Joseph Haines, almost end up the victim of a shooting. A former soldier who fought in the Boer War, Mr Thomas Hope, returned from service in South Africa. On January 15^th of that year, Mr Hope saw fit to celebrate and got very drunk and rode his horse through the streets of Port Adelaide, only to fall heavily from his stead.
 He re-mounted his horse and made his way to the Port Dock Hotel. A large crowd had gathered to watch Mr Hope’s antics, and when he arrived at the Port Dock, Mr Haines went outside to help Mr Hope dismount his horse safely.
 Hope, in his drunken state, saw Mr Haines offer of help as a hindrance, and challenged the publican to a fight. After a barrage of foul language, Mr Haines told Mr Hope it would be in his best interest to take his horse and go home.
 Hope remounted his horse and rode away.
 As with most drunks with a bee in their bonnet, Mr Hope returned shortly after, he entered the hotel demanding to be served a drink. Mr Haines flatly refused to serve him. Hope, now furious, pulled out his pistol and pointed it at Haines, scowling “If you don’t serve me, I’ll shoot you with this!”
 Mr Haines, stayed calm, quickly disarmed and detained Hope. The police were called and Mr Hope was shuffled off to the police station. Soon after he was sentenced in local courts to two months hard labour in Yatala Prison.

 Haines moved on from the Port Dock Hotel not too long after the incident with a new publican taking over in 1904. This publican would find his run with the hotel ending only 5 years later when the momentum of Reverend Kirby and the Temperance movement installed Nocks Act into parliament, forever changing the face of drinking laws in South Australia, with the 6pm shut out.
 The new laws saw hotels across the state lose their liquor license and a number shut down entirely, some though, like the Port Dock Hotel found a new way to survive, becoming an illegal brothel and gambling house.

Allen Tiller in the basement with a number of trigger objects

For the next 66 years, The Port Dock Hotel was used for a number of different things, including a Stevedores office, and the aforementioned Brothel. It wasn’t until 1986 that it reopened as a licensed hotel under the name The Port Dock Brewery Hotel.
 Since the hotel’s reopening a number of ghost sightings have occurred, which have led to multiple investigations by different paranormal investigation teams and amateur ghost hunters over the last few years. The activity has also seen ghost tours become a regular feature in the hotel, the most popular being the Port Adelaide Ghost Crime Tour.
 I myself have investigated this building, and used a number of trigger objects, and a technique of playing age appropriate music that spirits of the late 1800’s may recognise. During our investigation we didn’t gather much information that would conclude a haunting, but the staff at the hotel did tell us that the following few days, they noted regular activity seemed to amplify.
 There are a number of spirits reported in the hotel, one of the more commonly seen ones is a little boy in the basement. I have heard an EVP recording of what sounds like this little boy, taken during a Ghost Crime Tour, there is also a very clear photo of a young boy standing in the cellar that could possibly be of him (please note children under 13 are not allowed on the Ghost Crime Tours, which eliminates the possibility of a child a young as the one on the photo).
Another regular spiritual visitor, most often seen by the staff, is thought to be that a former Madame of the brother, by the name Emily. Emily is often seen on the staircase that leads into the basement. Despite claims she appears in a green or blue dress, staff most often report her wearing a large white Victorian era dress (which doesn’t fit with the time period of the hotel being a brothel, but a much earlier time period – so perhaps the “Madame” isn’t a former prostitute at all, but maybe Mrs Haines or some other woman of importance).

The haunted stairwell in the basement of the Port Dock Hotel

 There are also reports of a former Sea Captain, who may have something to do with the allegations of people being shanghaied at the hotel in the early days, a practice that saw drunk men, knocked out and taken into the basement. The men would be taken by a tunnel out to awaiting ships, and awoken the next morning, just far enough out at sea to see the coastline, they would be told they have two choices, sail on-board as a crew member, or swim back to shore.  There is speculation that the alleged tunnel was a made up story for a former Port Dock Brewery owner to help sell his crafted beer, but there have long been rumours of these kinds of tunnels running under Port Adelaide, and evidence of one in another former hotel that was recently renovated on Commercial Road.

 There have been numerous sightings and odd photographs since the inception of the Ghost Crime Tours, some of these are simple to explain away as dust, hair or other contaminants, but there is quite a few that are not so easy to explain. It is these photos, and video’s that add weight to the argument that the Port Dock Hotel is indeed very haunted!