A Haunting at Olympic Field – Coober Pedy

 Coober Pedy, South Australia is, known for its opals and underground housing. The outback location was originally home to the Antakirinja Yunkunytjatjara people, who knew the area as ‘Umoona’. Europeans first called the area the Stuart Range Opal Field, named after John McDouall Stuart, who explored the area in 1858. In 1920 a post office was established at the location, so a new name was chosen, ‘Coober Pedy’ which is an aboriginal term for ‘white man in a hole.’[1]

 On the outskirts of the town of Coober Pedy sits the Olympic Opal Field. It is claimed that during the late 1980s, in the evening, miners would report seeing the ghost of an old miner wearing a wide-brimmed hat, carrying a lantern, walking across the field. The miners would investigate, only to see the apparition disappear before their eyes.

  It is not known who the apparition may have been in life, but 3 men have died on Olympic Field. Those three men, Yanni Vosvouris, Nick Nathanael and Gregory Digaletos were killed when a cave collapsed on them in 1980. A cross marks the location of their deaths.[2]

 

Researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2025

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[1] ‘History,’ Coober Pedy Retail, Business & Tourism Association, (2025), https://www.cooberpedy.com.

[2] ‘1990 0102,’ Coober Pedy Historical Society, (2023), https://www.cooberpedyhistoricalsociety.org.au/items/1990-0102/.

 Gawler's Unfulfilled Commercial Precinct

  In 1954, the Gawler Council was planning for future population growth. They estimated that Gawler would soon reach twenty thousand people and that the town centre would have to be redesigned to accommodate the extra traffic.
A survey was conducted and showed that at the time Gawler’s main shopping area consisted of 84 Shops, Willaston had 6 shops, Gawler South, had 7 shops, and ‘other areas' (e.g. Evanston) had 5 shops.

The plan to increase shopping in the town included expanding the shopping precinct west towards Reid Street and closing Jacob and Tod Streets to vehicles between Murray Street and Dundas Street, forming a pedestrian precinct for shopping.[1]

Today we Have the Woolworths Complex and Drakes west of Main Street, and an Aldi opening in 2025. However, no streets have been closed, and the 'shopping precinct' is still unattached, e.g. - no mall or shopping centres like Munno Para or Elizabeth. 

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[1] 'PLANNED FOR GAWLER OF 20,000 PEOPLE', Bunyip, (5 November 1954), p. 1. 

 A Haunting at Bowden and Brompton

 

In 1903 the women of Brompton and Bowden became terrified of the vagaries of a ghost! Women, and some men, became afraid to leave their homes at night in fear of encountering the ghost haunting the streets. Some men began to arm themselves for self-defence if they encountered the terrifying spirit, but one has to wonder what effect a bullet would have upon the non-corporeal.

 According to The Advertiser (newspaper), the ‘ghost is everywhere, and nowhere in particular’. The ghost appeared in East Street Brompton at midnight, as witnessed by a young man in the neighbourhood.
Shortly after midnight on Saturday, the same young man witnessed the apparition again. This time the witness provided an odd statement about the ghost, when he stated, ‘The ghost of someone hath appeared to me two several times by night—at Brompton once, and this last night here in the Bowden brickfields. I know my hour is come."[1]
 

At 9pm Tuesday, the screams of a child shouting on Drayton Street, Bowden were heard. ‘The Ghost! The Ghost! It’s gone up the street!’  the child screamed, which attracted a small crowd of onlookers. None of the crowd were brave enough to chase the ghost down. Frightened women, who were witnesses to the ghost claimed it attacked the child, clasping it in its ghostly arms and almost scaring the child to death…the child lived, and the ghost escaped into the night.[2]

 

The police later ascertained that the ghost was an ‘unfortunate woman’ who could not held responsible for her actions. She was dressed in a ragged and torn white dress, with unkempt hair, and a sullen white face, which gave her a spooky appearance in the moonlight.

Researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2024

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[1] 'A Ghost at Hindmarsh.', The Advertiser, (4 February 1903), p. 4.

[2] 'A Ghost at Hindmarsh.', The Express and Telegraph, (4 February 1903), p. 2. 

 Haunted Kapunda by Allen Tiller

 

  Kapunda, dubbed the 'most haunted town in Australia,’ after a 2001 documentary, is full of history, mystery, and the paranormal. In 2019, MSN.com voted the North Kapunda Hotel the 8th most haunted hotel in the world.  Kapunda’s hauntings were featured in the documentary Kapunda: Most Haunted Town in the Western World and the television series Haunting: Australia.

  What makes Kapunda, a historic mining town in South Australia, so haunted?
Join paranormal investigator, historian, and researcher Allen Tiller as he dives into 20-plus years of research into a town his ancestors helped establish. Read about a one-legged pushbike riding ghost, a haunted lolly shop, murders, mining accidents, the truth about Dr Blood, Haunting: Australia’s paranormal investigation in the North Kapunda Hotel, and Allen's connection to some of the most haunted buildings and ghosts in Haunted Kapunda!

 

HAUNTED KAPUNDA by Allen Tiller

Buy it here: https://www.amazon.com.au/Haunted-Kapunda/dp/B0DV4R599T

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