Five Years of the Haunts of Adelaide: History, Mystery and the Paranormal

Five Years of the Haunts of Adelaide: History, Mystery and the Paranormal

 

The Haunts of Adelaide: History, Mystery and the Paranormal turns 5 years old this week!

When I first started writing this blog back in 2012, I never foresaw myself writing it for 5 years! 

At the end of 2016, I had a little hiatus from writing, due to a number of other project taking up my time, but I returned at the beginning of 2017, and despite paranormal investigation, writing for MEGAscene, writing for the Kapunda History and Eidolon Paranormal blogs, working on the Developing the Ghosts & Ghouls Tour with Adelaide City Libraries, and studying two diplomas, I somehow found the time to keep this blog running…I’m not sure how I did it...passion, dedication, sheer determination, a love of history and writing? 

I’m not really sure myself, but here I am 5 years later still writing!

 So, I hope someone is still reading! (actually, I know exactly how many people read each story, Blogger tells me, and so far the most read story is this one: http://hauntedadelaide.blogspot.com.au/2016/07/muzyk-murder.html with just under 20, 000 reads).

On average the blog gets about 4000 reads a month, which isn’t bad I guess for a collection of South Australian based stories.

The audience is made of predominately readers in Australia. Outside of Australia, the top 10 list of reading countries where readers live, is as follows:  United States, Russia, Ukraine, Germany, France, United Kingdom, Canada, Poland and lastly India and China.

 The blog has led to many great discoveries, and some invitations, including it being archived by the National Library of Australia, and a recent invitation by Trove to write a guest blog – which is an amazing honour in my eyes, as Trove is probably the website I visit most outside of social media websites!

I do have future plans for the blog, which include going through and editing spelling and grammar errors from earlier posts, and adding the correct citations to photos and writings, but that will need to wait until my workload decreases just a little, as its just a little too much work right now!

Here are the top five most read blogs on the Haunts of Adelaide:

1. Muzyk Murders - http://hauntedadelaide.blogspot.com.au/2016/07/muzyk-murder.html

2. The Ghosts of Gawler: Part 6: Para-Para - http://hauntedadelaide.blogspot.com.au/2013/02/para-para-ghosts-of-gawler-part-6.html

3. Woodhouse Activity Center -  http://hauntedadelaide.blogspot.com.au/2014/03/woodhouse-activity-centre.html

4. Dead Man’s Pass – The Ghosts of Gawler: Part 2 - http://hauntedadelaide.blogspot.com.au/2013/01/dead-mans-pass-ghosts-of-gawler-part-two.html

5.  Carclew House, Montefiore Hill,  “Sinister by Design” Part Two- http://hauntedadelaide.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/carclew-house-montefiore-hill-sinister.html

The least read blog surprised me a little bit, it’s a recent blog, so it’s numbers will most likely go up as its discovered, but as it sits at the moment  this is the least read blog post on the Haunts of Adelaide: http://hauntedadelaide.blogspot.com.au/2017/09/sir-arthur-conan-doyle-in-adelaide-part.html

I’d just like to say thank you to each and everyone one of you that takes the time to read my blog. I doubt I’ll still be writing it in another 5 years – but who knows!

Here’s to 5 years of The Haunts of Adelaide!

Thanks – Allen Tiller

Ruby Davy : South Australian Icons

Ruby Claudia Emily Davy

Ruby Claudia Emily Davy was born on the 22^nd of November 1883, in Salisbury. Her father, William Davy was a local shoemaker, and her mother, Louisa, a singer and music teacher. Ruby grew up in a home full of music, not only was her mother an accomplished singer, but her father was an excellent brass instrument player. Their house was full of instruments, and young Ruby was encouraged to play them all.

By the age of 5, Ruby was improvising, and composing on the family piano. By the age of 13, Ruby was teaching 27 students at the Salisbury School of Music. By the age of 20, Ruby had begun studying at the Elder Conservatorium of Music, and also earned an Associate of Music.

 Ruby graduated in 1907, at the age of 24 with a Bachelor of Music, she still taught music in Salisbury, was now also teaching at Allen’s Music shop in Rundle Street, Adelaide.

•        Ruby Davy was the first Australian woman to receive a doctorate in music from The Adelaide University, one of many firsts, which also included:

•  First woman to receive a doctorate in faculty at the University of Adelaide.
•  The first person in Australia to become a Licentiate of the London College of Music (1913).
• First Australian woman to become a fellow of Trinity College of Music, London (1921), the first to be awarded outside England.

Ruby’s outstanding achievements also included earning a Diploma in Elocution from the

London College of Music, and an Honorary Fellowship of the Victorian College of Music (the first person to be awarded this honour outside of England)

Ruby’s life changed dramatically in 1929, first, her mother Louisa died in April, aged 78, and only a month later her father, William died aged 82. Ruby, an only child, fell into a deep depression, which led to a nervous breakdown, and the closing of her music school at Prospect.

 It took four years to recover from the blow of losing her parents, but with support from Pastor John Hewitt, Ruby returned to her first love in 1993, and by 1934 she had returned to performing music in public.

 Ruby soon found herself giving performances on radio, and through 1934 to 1938 found herself touring through Victoria.

In 1939, Ruby toured England and select parts of Europe, Canada and the United States giving lectures and recitals.
In 1941, she founded the Society of Women Musicians of Australia, which she presided over until 1949.

Ruby was described as a frail woman with haunting dark eyes, she usually wore long black dresses and black clothing, probably in mourning for her beloved parents. 

In 1947, Ruby suffered a tragedy she would never recover from. Diagnosed with breast cancer, she was given a full mastectomy, which negatively impacted her playing. Ruby fell into another deep depression and never recovered, she died on the 12^th of July 1949.
 Her body was returned to Adelaide, and she was buried in the West Terrace Cemetery

.

Ruby Davy collection held at the University of Adelaide:
https://www.adelaide.edu.au/library/special/mss/davy/

The Dr Ruby Davy Prize for Composition: https://arts.adelaide.edu.au/scholarships/prizes/ruby_davey_prize_composition.html

Memorabilia for Ruby Davy can be found in the local history room of the Len Beadell Library in Salisbury, South Australia.
 

Researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2017

https://www.facebook.com/TheHauntsOfAdelaide/?ref=bookmarks

https://www.facebook.com/AllenHauntingAustralia/

Bibliography. 

1929 'MUSICIAN AND ATHLETE', News (Adelaide, SA: 1923 - 1954), 17 May, p. 15. (HOME EDITION), viewed 26 Sep 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article129141051

Joyce Gibberd and Silvia O'Toole, 'Davy, Ruby Claudia (1883–1949)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/davy-ruby-claudia-5918/text10081, published first in hardcopy 1981, accessed online 26 September 2017

1934 'Dr. Ruby Davy's Concert', The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA: 1931 - 1954), 14 March, p. 18. , viewed 26 Sep 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article74082657

1949 'DR. RUBY DAVY DEAD', The Sydney Morning Herald (NSW: 1842 - 1954), 13 July, p. 3. , viewed 26 Sep 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18122279

1940 'DR. RUBY DAVY', News (Adelaide, SA: 1923 - 1954), 25 July, p. 9. , viewed 26 Sep 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article131420359

Death in the Victorian Era part 3: 
Funeral Customs and Superstitions

 Victorian Era customs pertaining to death were very strict. Most people of the era abided by them, believing that bad things could happen to them if they did not.
 It was customary upon the time of death (or as close to it as possible) to stop all the clocks in the house (to stop bad luck); to draw all the curtains in the house and cover all the mirrors with sheets of crepe to stop the spirit of the recently deceased getting trapped inside the mirror.
 Sometimes family photos would be placed face down in the home, which was thought to prevent the recently deceased from possessing the living relatives.


Wreaths would be tied to the front door, lychgate or sometimes front fence, usually made of laurel, yew or boxwood; adorned with black ribbons, to signify a death in the house.

 The body of the deceased would usually be washed and laid out in his or her finest clothing in a room of the house. A family member would then sit with the body for 3 to 4 days, 24 hours a day, just to make sure they were actually dead. This is where we get the modern term “a wake” from.
 The room would be filled with flowers, scented candles, sometimes pine branches or anything else suitable to mask smells that would inevitably come from the deceased body.

 Some families would also take a photo with the body, this was known as ‘Memento Mori’ (of which I’ll be explaining in next week’s blog).
 In later periods of the Victorian Era, it also became commonplace for the deceased person’s body to be carried from the home feet first, restricting the spirit from looking back into the home and beckoning another family member to follow him to death.

 Children’s deaths however were treated a little differently as their innocence was often honoured by white coffins and white silk sheets, white gloves, and on occasion, where available, ostrich plumes

 Some of the many superstitions from the period include:
Never wear new clothes, shoes or jewellery to a funeral.

 
Rain on a funeral procession is a sign that the deceased is going to Heaven.

 
If you hear a clap of thunder following a burial it indicates that the soul of the departed has reached heaven.

 
If a number of deaths have occurred in the one house or family, the tying of black ribbons to anything living that is to enter one's house, including dogs, cats and other pets, will protect against death spreading within the household.

You may have heard this one in your youth, I certainly remember it:
 Cover your mouth while yawning so your spirit doesn’t escape and the devil cannot enter your body. This also applies to someone saying “bless you” after sneezing, stopping your soul from escaping and a roaming spirit from possessing your body!

It is bad luck to meet a funeral procession head-on. If you see one approaching, turn around.  If this is unavoidable, hold on to a button or religious medallion until the funeral cortege passes.

There are lots of superstitions from this period relating directly to someone you know dying, including, but not limited to the following:

If you see an owl in the daytime, there will be a death.

If you see yourself in a dream, your death will follow.

If you dream about a birth, someone you know will die.

If a picture falls off the wall, there will be the death of someone you know.

If a firefly/lightning bug gets into your house someone will soon die.

If you smell roses when none are around someone is going to die.

If a bird pecks on your window or crashes into one that there has been a death.

If a sparrow lands on a piano, someone in the home will die.

Two deaths in the family mean that a third is sure to follow.

 Of course, being a superstitious time in human history, there were a number that dealt with ghosts 

and haunting, including the following:

Never speak ill of the dead because they will come back to haunt you or you will suffer misfortune.

If you hear 3 knocks and no one is there, it usually means someone close to you has died. The superstitious call these the 3 knocks of death. 

Maybe you’ve heard other Victorian Era superstitions, or your family, or culture has its own traditions and superstitions, join me over on Facebook and start a discussion about your own beliefs on this subject – you can find the page here:

https://www.facebook.com/TheHauntsOfAdelaide/

Next Week: Death in the Victorian Era part 4 – Post Mortem Photography