The Haunting of Martindale Hall

 

 A visit to the Clare Valley with our good friends John & Deb from Drifter Paranormal (who are travelling the country investigating haunting phenomena) led us to Mintaro’s exceptional Georgian-styled manor “Martindale Hall”.

 The mansion was built in 1879 and took two years to finish. It is built of sandstone and has 32 rooms, including a large basement which contains seven rooms. The house was used as Mr Bowman's recreation home and featured a boating lake, racecourse, cricket pitch (which saw the English 11 play on its pitch on one occasion), and a polo ground. The property was also used for fox hunting and other hunting exhibitions.
 Its roof was designed to allow for the lady visitors of the house to sit upon and view the goings-on of the sporting achievements of the menfolk.

 

 It is said that Mr Bowman’s wealth was extraordinary and that he spared no expense in building the house, which cost somewhere around 72 thousand pounds. The extravagance is quite evident when visiting the mansion and its extraordinary coach house (which is larger than a lot of people’s entire homes). There are long-held local legends that, in Bowman's day, when only he and his two brothers lived in the home, and later just Edmund and his wife Annie, that Bowman had 14 servants, 4 of which lived on site. Much like TV shows like “Downtown Abbey” or “Upstairs Downstairs” the home had areas purely for the use and movement of servants.
 This was a man so wealthy, that he installed fully flushing toilets for his servant’s use, but insisted on using commodes for himself and his guests, which the servants would have to empty after each use.
The white Carrara marble fireplace in the drawing-room at Martindale Hall was entered into a competition in France, where it took first prize at a Paris exhibition in 1873 and was purchased by Mr Bowman for 75 pounds.

 The house is now a museum owned by the people of South Australia, and within its walls, you can find all its original fittings and grandeur. In the billiard room stands a full-sized English Billiard table (12 ft x 6 ft). It is said the 1.5-tonne pool table was placed in position, and then the north-facing wall of the building was finished.

 

 In 1885, drought overtook Australia, and Edmund Bowman's finances suffered, this was compounded further in following years with a depression lowering the price of wool, causing Mr Bowman's finances further losses. These losses eventually led to the sale of Martindale Estate to another notable South Australian, Mr William Mortlock in 1891.

 

 The Mortlocks brought their own touch to the home and the majority of the fittings and furniture that we see today were theirs. In the smoking room, one can see some of the treasures that John Mortlock returned with from his expeditions across Australia, New Guinea and Africa including a majestic 16th-century Samurai suit, Sri Lankan devil masks and carved elephant tusks. Other pieces of Mr Mortlocks collection can be found in the Adelaide Museum and Mortlock Library on North Terrace Adelaide.

 John Mortlock, who inherited the house from his parents, died in 1950, only 15 months after marrying his wife, Dorothy. After John’s death, Dorothy walked out of the house, leaving everything the way it sat, other than a few personal possessions. She locked the door and then donated the entire building and contents to the University of Adelaide, which in turn gave the entire site to the people of South Australia.
 Unfortunately, the State Government is currently trying to usurp the public and sell the site to a private consortium to start a “wellness clinic”, taking away the public’s right to visit a site that was bequeathed to them.

  Away from the politics, beauty and history, Martindale has long been deemed a significant haunted historic location in the Clare Valley region.

 Many of the staff, and some of the visitors and overnight staying guests have reported strange goings-on, and sightings of mysterious people in the grounds, and inside the home itself.
 A man has been seen, in period clothing, possibly early 1900’s, sitting on the back stairs of the home. The clothing worn, and the site where he has been seen would indicate the possibility of a servant, perhaps one who loved his masters, and the house far too much to move on after his death.
 Overnight-staying guests have reported waking up and finding a child lying in bed with them, when no children have been reported to be in the home. Other people have reported seeing children, in “olden-times” clothing playing on the front steps of the mansion, running around, not noticing the adults staring at them in bewilderment, before the children fade into the surroundings…

 The most often seen spirit in the Home though is thought to be the spirit of Valentine Mortlock. Valentine was born on Valentine’s Day, thus his name. He was born with “cretinism” which is described on Wikipedia as “a condition of severely stunted physical and mental growth due to untreated congenital deficiency of thyroid hormones”.
 Valentine lived much of his life confined to his room, perhaps this was because of his disability, but more likely it is because his well-to-do family saw his disability as a blight upon their name.
 Valentine had long blonde hair, which was common for young boys of the period, and very often, when he was seen, he would be mistaken for a little girl, this could explain the sightings of a long-haired blonde spirit girl inside the hall, mistaken identity!

 The most notable recent sighting of Valentine was recorded by the caretakers of Martindale Hall and is displayed in his room for all to read.
 It tells of a 3-year-old boy, visiting the house with his family. The boy’s mother went to take the boy out of the room, but he did not want to leave his new friend, who he described as having long golden hair, and “looking like an angel”.

Or – visit the Martindale Hall website to plan your visit: - http://www.martindalehall-mintaro.com.au/

 

 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 historical 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 4 Jan 2016

©Allen Tiller