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

---

[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 Haunting at Melrose - St George’s Folly

 

 The original owner, and builder, of the North Star Hotel at Melrose, was William St. George. The North Star Hotel was originally licenced in 1854, operating from a simple log hut.[1] Such were the profits from his hotel, which allowed St George to build his mansion. The house featured cedar fittings throughout and was believed to be the first in South Australia to have a corrugated iron roof. Unfortunately, St. George never got to enjoy his home, as he was killed in an accident at Roseworthy.

St. George was carting furniture from Adelaide to George’s Knob, ten kilometres south of Melrose in the Flinders’ Ranges when his horses fell into an unseen railway ballast pit, toppling his cart and killing him. William St George was buried at Gawler Cemetery, which is now Pioneer Park in 1863.[2]

His house became derelict and was frequented by squatters. A 1904 newspaper article in the Evening Journal detailed graffiti on the internal walls of the house, one stated ‘I can’t sleep here tonight; this great windy house seems to haunt a fellow.”[3]
It became rumoured that the house was haunted. The Evening Journal claimed that “a party of superstitious people recently slept on the premises with loaded guns, but the ghost did not come that night.”[4]

Eventually, the property was purchased by J. H. Angus and became a part of the Willowie Pastoral Company. It was renovated and lived in by a pastoral overseer for the company John Ross and his wife Lyn. The house then became known as Rosslyn Estate.[5]

From the 1^st of November 1920, the house was occupied by Ernest Benjamin Pitman.[6]Pitman received the property from the Soldier Settlement Branch. Soldiers who were honourably discharged from Australia’s Imperial Forces and served overseas were entitled to assistance from the South Australian Government purchased land and assisted in erecting buildings, purchasing seeds and general improvements of the property.
In his book, Ghosts and Haunting of South Australia, author Gordon de L. Marshall interviewed Keith Pitman, son of Ernest. Keith stated that in the 1920s his father first witnessed a ghost. During daylight, the ghost came out from the cellar, it was a skeleton dressed in a shroud. According to Keith, his father was sitting near a window when he witnessed the ghost walk alongside the house, through a 3000-gallon water tank, and out to a paddock, some 400 meters from the house. There it stopped.
Ernest went and investigated the location and found the remnants of an old grave, but no headstone.[7]

The family believed that another ghost haunted the old home, that of William St George. They believed St. George would open doors in the house. The family never felt uncomfortable around this ghost. Keith Pitman sold Rosslyn in 2002.[8]

Researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2023

[1] North Star Hotel, Melrose Community Development Association, (2022), https://www.melrose-mtremarkable.org.au/historic-buildings/
[2] 'MOUNT REMARKABLE', South Australian Register, (29 October 1863), p. 3.
[3] 'WHEN MELROSE WAS YOUNG.', Evening Journal, (29 September 1904), p. 2.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Ibid.
[6] ‘PITMAN Ernest Benjamin Hundred of Wongyarra, Sections 381/3 1 Nov 1920.’, GRG35/320 Record of land held by soldier settlers - Soldier Settlement Branch 1917-1931, State Archives of South Australia, vol 2, (2019), p. 83, https://archives.sa.gov.au/sites/default/files/public/documents/GRG35_320_1917-1931_Record_of_land_held_by_soldier_settlers.pdf.
[7] Gordon de L. Marshall, Ghosts and Haunting of South Australia, (2012), p. 214-15.
[8] Melrose land sale sets new record, The Flinders News, (2017), https://www.theflindersnews.com.au/story/5124039/melrose-land-sale-sets-new-record/.

 Haunted Salisbury South Australia

Haunted Salisbury: South Australia is the culmination of many years of research into the haunted history of Salisbury, South Australia by award winning paranormal historian, Allen Tiller. In this book, Allen Tiller investigates the origins of historic local hauntings and crimes, Salisbury’s founding, and the people who shaped the City of Salisbury, some of whom, are now alleged to haunt the places they lived and worked.
Allen Tiller is a university educated, award-winning paranormal historian from Gawler, South Australia. He was a member of the cast of television show Haunting: Australia, and the best-selling author of The Haunts of Adelaide: Revised Edition, and Haunted Adelaide, the first book in this series about hauntings, history and crimes in Australia.

Purchase your copy here: BUY NOW

 

A Shot of Spirits: Ep 16: Oak Lodge Tasmania

 For the continuity of the series, I am including this video of Oak Lodge in Tasmania. Alleged to haunted by many ghosts!

Shot of Spirits: Ep. 12: St David's Park - Hobart, Tasmania

 

Shot of Spirits: Ep. 12: 

St David's Park - Hobart, Tasmania

 This week, I am keeping the continuity going for my 'Shot of Spirits' video project by extending outside of South Australia, and visiting the Apple Isle, Tasmania.
 Saint David's Park was one Hobart's first cemetery, and is allegedly haunted!

Photos: Rob Coad.

The Sundown Murders:  Part One – Confession

Raymond Bailey (center)

December 1957, the bodies of Thyra Bowman, aged 44, her daughter Wendy, aged 14 and their family friend, Thomas Whelan aged 22 were found at a deserted outback property known as Sundown Station.

The trio was travelling from Glen Helen Station, via Alice Springs to Adelaide.

Each of them had fractured skulls and bullet wounds. Newspaper reports described them as being ‘clubbed to death', and their bodies hidden under 'blankets and canvas'.[1]

  Raymond Bailey aged 24, was arrested by Mount Isa (Queensland) police on a provisional warrant for the murders. Police in Queensland wanted the RAAF to fly Bailey’s car to Adelaide for forensic testing.[2] Bailey was a married man and worked as a carpenter. He had one son. The family lived in Dubbo, New South Wales.
Bailey told police he was driving north to Alice Springs towing a caravan. He saw a Vanguard motor car parked on the side of the road, with three people sitting around the campfire. Bailey stopped further up the road, where his wife went to bed.

 Raymond Bailey had been arrested at Mount Isa in Queensland under suspicion of murder in outback South Australia. In court, Prosecutor, Mr E.B. Scarfe, read to the Judge and Jury a statement allegedly from Bailey, confessing to the crime.

It read,

"I saw the three people lying down. I heard a noise behind me when I was passing through the camp and was just about through it and I turned around and fired. I did not see if it was, but it sounded like a dog growling.
  When I fired, a chap jumped up and made a noise and fell down again. I thought I had killed him and I just went mad after that. When I did this I thought I would have to kill the lot and cover up.
 The young girl and the woman rushed towards, me. That was when I moved over to see if the chap was dead.
  I loaded my rifle again and aimed it at the older woman who was rushing towards me and fired. She fell down straight away. "The young girl ran at me too, so I loaded again, aimed it and shot her. She fell down, too. "I don't know how many times I shot them. I just went mad.”

I put the three bodies in the Vanguard car together in the back and put all the canvas and blankets and other stuff that I could find around the camp with them. Then I drove the Vanguard car into the scrub on the other side of the road and went in a fair way and emptied the back of all the bodies and blankets and canvas. I laid the bodies out and put the canvas and blanket over them as well as everything else that was there.”[3]

 After walking back to his caravan, Bailey washed and went to bed. His wife asked where he had been, and he lied, telling her he had been sick. The next morning, he awoke early and headed back to where he had killed the trio. He found two dogs tied to a tree and shot them.

 He then told police, as he neared Alice Springs, he threw the rifle away into the scrub. Somewhere between Tennant Creek and Mount Isa, he had thrown Whelan’s now empty wallet from the car.

 

Next Week: The Sundown Murders: Part Two: Execution

© 2022 Allen Tiller

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[1] 'Science May Solve Sundown Murder', The Canberra Times, (9 Jan 1958), p. 15., http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article91254845.
[2] 'Charge Follows Arrest Of Murder Suspect', The Canberra Times, (24 Jan 1958), p. 3., http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article91256049.
[3] 'Man Shot Accidentally, Baily Told Detectives', The Canberra Times, (14 May 1958), p. 7., http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article91250300.

Paranormal Research: National Library of Australia’s TROVE (Part 3)

Referencing on Trove

Prior posts on this topic: 

Paranormal Research: The Manning Index of South Australia 

Paranormal Research: National Library of Australia’s TROVE (Part 1) – Basic Search

Paranormal Research: National Library of Australia’s TROVE (Part 2) - Advanced Search 

It is essential that researchers and writer in the paranormal field reference their work. Not only does this stop criticism from potential sceptics, as you can show where ideas and events are sourced from, it also stops plagiarism. Plagiarism is already rife in the field, and the more we stop it, the less infighting we will have.

Another valid point, that I am very vocal about on social media, is referencing our writing, showing our legitimate sources lends credence and respect to the field. It shows those in the scientific and research fields that we are serious about finding the truth about whatever it is we are researching. That we are more than just pseudoscience. 

So whether you are planning on writing a book or blog about ghosts, it is essential that you reference the materials you use in your research. It proves what you are talking about was reported widely. It proves you are not making the story up yourself, but it also proves you are not stealing the original work, word for word, or even worse, changing the story to fit your own narrative, as so many tour groups in this field are guilty of doing. 

Referencing is a standard convention within the academic and professional research communities, which is designed to inform the reader of the sources of information used in a piece of written work. 

There are several referencing systems in common use, with certain systems being preferred in different academic disciplines., my preferred styles are Chicago and Australian Harvard. I tend to lean more toward Chicago style now, and use extensive footnoting. (which we will get to in another blog post) 

There are two parts to every referencing system (or footnoting): 

1. The “in-text reference”; a reference to a source of information placed within the body of the work. 

In text Referencing Example: “Doyle write about looking for a Skeleton on Rundle Street. (The Register, 1921).” 

2. The “reference list”; a list of all sources referred to in the work, located at the end of the work. (A slight variation is the Bibliography). 

Luckily for us, Trove makes things a simple for referencing. 

If we search a newspaper story on Trove. You will find on the left-hand side are several symbols. The first is an information symbol, this is where Trove cites the work for you. Most of the time the 3rd citation down is Harvard. 

So, you can copy and paste, or write it down as is, and add it in your Reference List/Bibliography or in-text referencing: 

(Harvard Example)

‘1921 'GHOSTS AND SKELETONS', The Register (Adelaide, SA : 1901 - 1929), 25 February, p. 3. , viewed 05 May 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article55150338

Because of the layout of Blogger, I cannot add the content of this talk in its entirety in one blog post. This transcript was originally presented as an interactive video presentation at the City Library in Adelaide and does not transcribe well to this format. 

© 2017 - Allen Tiller - originally presented by Allen Tiller as part of the 'Haunted Buildings in Adelaide' - Paranormal historian in residence project at the Adelaide City Libraries in conjunction with the City of Adelaide.

Paranormal Research: National Library of Australia’s TROVE (Part 2) - Advanced Search

Paranormal Research: National Library of Australia’s TROVE (Part 1)

"Advanced Search"

Prior post on this topic:

Manning Index of South Australia

Trove Part 1

Head to Trove at this location: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/search?adv=y

Now, just under the search window is a couple of checkboxes, which let us search Australian content only or through library holdings, but let's go to the last option though, 'Advanced Search'.

This search window allows us to search in another way that can be much more helpful than basic newspaper search.

 In the top search box:  “All of these words” window, lets type in “Adelaide Arcade” in inverted commas.

In the box “Any of these Words” window lets type in 'Murder, Suicide, death, crime' – then hit search

Trove has now searched every newspaper in its catalogue for the term 'Adelaide Arcade', and the terms we used. As you will see in your results, there is now a ton of deaths, crimes and suicides to look through for this one location – including the death of Sydney Byron Kennedy and a number of others.

For the murder of Florence Horton, which happened at the Rundle Mall end of The Adelaide Arcade, we would change our search to “Rundle Street” instead of "Adelaide Arcade" in inverted commas, as her death, and subsequent haunting of the Arcade were reported as a crime on the street rather than in the Arcade.

Let’s just jump back to our Advanced search window, in the top search "All of these words" write “Adelaide” in inverted commas, in the “Any of these words” section type;  'ghosts, paranormal.' Now in our “Without these words” window we will type;  'theatre, movie'. then press "search"

We’ll refine a little more by selecting South Australia from our “place” limiter and now we have a ton of reports of ghosts, and UFO’s from South Australia.

If we scroll down to number 8 “Ghosts and Skeletons” you will see one of the stories I used, as a jump-off point for more research for my book The Haunts of Adelaide, which involves Sir Arthur Conan Doyle looking for a photo of a skeleton displayed in Rundle Street Adelaide.

As you can see we get a lot of newspaper stories, some are about published poems, but many are local ghost sightings.

Next Week: How to Reference your book, blog or writing using Trove.

Because of the layout of Blogger, I cannot add the content of this talk in its entirety in one blog post. This transcript was originally presented as an interactive video presentation at the City Library in Adelaide and does not transcribe well to this format.

 Next week I will look at Advanced searching options on Trove.

© 2017 - Allen Tiller - originally presented by Allen Tiller as part of the 'Haunted Buildings in Adelaide' - Paranormal historian in residence project at the Adelaide City Libraries in conjunction with the City of Adelaide.

Paranormal Research: The Manning Index of South Australian History

Paranormal Research:

The Manning Index of South Australian History

http://www.slsa.sa.gov.au/manning/

What is the Manning Index?

  The Manning Index is a database of South Australian history, owned by the State Library of South Australia. The Manning Index is an index of Adelaide newspapers from 1837 through to 1937, together with extracts from the published works of G.H. Manning, and essays written from 1982-2002.
It also contains a list of place names in South Australia.

The index is incredibly useful to paranormal researchers as it allows us to find significant information about crimes or deaths or facts about a location. It gives us the newspaper, the date, and the page of the newspaper so we can then go to the National Library of Australia’s, “Trove” newspapers section < https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/?q= > to cross reference our research or find the article in its entirety.

  The index also overlaps with the State Library Of South Australia’s catalogue to some extent, and features many of the newspapers available in the State Library, such as: Adelaide Times, The Advertiser, The Chronicle, The Critic, Express & Telegraph, Frearson's Weekly, The Herald, Illustrated Adelaide Post, The Irish Harp, The Lantern, The Mail, The News, Observer, Register, SA Gazette & Mining Journal and the Southern Australian.

  The index is divided into four folders, which can be found in the top left-hand corner of your screen, these folders are:

1. South Australia: includes coverage of a number of 'State level' topics.
2. Adelaide: includes a number of topics which predominately relate to the city and the metropolitan area as a whole.
3. Port Adelaide:  includes references to Port Adelaide.
4. Place Names of South Australia: an alphabetical list of South Australian place names (including suburbs of Adelaide).

  Each folder contains several sub-folders, which themselves may contain more subfolders.

Some subjects are indexed extensively in more than one section. Generally, biographical references can be found on pages dealing with the place or activity a person is associated with. A few place-names also contain obituaries of people associated with the place name.

ALL place names are inverted, so 'Mount Gambier' will be found as 'Gambier, Mount'.

There are two ways to use the Manning Index:

 You have the option to search via the “Searching folder”, which allows you to search the State Library Catalogue and the Manning Index.

  If you click on the yellow folder, you will see both options. If you click on the Manning Index subfolder, you will see it takes us to a Google search engine.

  If you write Adelaide Arcade in the provided search engine, and press search, you will see that it brings up everything with the words “Adelaide” and “Arcade”.

To make your search more specific we can add inverted commas to the search; “Adelaide Arcade”. We now get three results. If you look to the right-hand side of the screen you will see a drop-down menu that says “sort by” which allows us to look at our findings via relevance or date.

  The second way to use the Manning index, assumes you know a little something about your topic already. We know that the Adelaide Arcade is in Adelaide, and is a building.

  Go to the yellow ‘Adelaide’ Folder and click it. Scroll down the list and find the subfolder, “Buildings” and click on it. Next, we see a list of buildings, written in blue.
 The Adelaide Arcade stands by itself, whereas other buildings are grouped into types. If we click the Adelaide Arcade hyperlink, we are giving a small list of pages where the Arcade is mentioned in local newspapers.

We can make note of these newspapers as a starting point for our next searchable index, the National Library of Australia’s Trove. So you can either write them down, highlight them with your mouse and copy and paste them into a Word File, or screen capture them for later reference:

Adelaide Arcade

Sketches of the Adelaide Arcade are in the Pictorial Australian in
August 1885 (supplement),
January 1886, page 12.

Also see Register,
30 April 1885, page 6g,
1, 14 and 15 December 1885, pages 7a, 4h-5b-6e and 6g, 

Express,
7 May 1885, page 4a,
12 and 14 December 1885, pages 3f and 3g,
17 December 1895, page 4c. 

"Death of the Arcade Beadle" is in the Observer,
25 June 1887, page 27a.

For more info on Geoffery Manning < Click Here>
for a photo of Geoffery Manning: <Click Here> 

Researched and written by Allen Tiller ©2017, for the 'Haunted Buildings in Adelaide' research project at the City of Adelaide Libraries.

The Angaston Hotel

The Angaston Hotel

 

Angaston Hotel 1940 SLSA PRG 1356/4/52

  George Simpson was the first licensee of the Angaston Hotel in 1846.[1] The original hotel consisted of 11 stone rooms, a large well, a large cellar and stables. It also contained a large garden where food was grown to be served in the hotel.
 Simpson advertised his hotel in The South Australian (newspaper) on Christmas Day 1846 as:

“ANGASTON – ANGAS PARK.

 GEORGE SIMPSON respectfully informs the public and inhabitants of the above town, and gentlemen visiting the Poonawurta and Angas Mines (which are in the immediate neighbourhood) and the River Murray, that he has opened a house of accommodation, called the “Angaston Hotel” where he intends to keep a constant supply of the best wines, spirits, and other liquor, and solicits that support which it will be his study to merit.”[2]

 In 1847, the Angaston Hotels publican changed from Simpson to William Hughes.[3] In 1848 the license transferred to Nicholas Player who also owned the hotel.[4] Friedrich Otto Windschied was the next publican, from 1855 until 1859.[5]

 Nicholas Player returned as the publican during 1859 and early 1860, before leasing the hotel to George Fuller until 1861, then James Nolan from 1862 until 1863. From 1863 until 1865 the hotel publican was Richard Milson, followed by AR Preston in 1870, and CF Beaumont from 1870-71.

  In 1871 the Angaston Inn changed ownership when Mr Beaumont sold the hotel to Mr Buckerfield of Kapunda.  The hotel then went through various publicans including James Klotz 1879-1884, George Lawrence 1884-1886 and Arthur Worby 1886-87.

  The hotel was then bought by Frederick Leach in 1887, as owner publican he ran the hotel until 1901.

 He then leased the hotel to Albrecht Borchers until 1904, followed by Thomas Davies from 1904-07 and Edward Cummins from 1907 until 1910.
 In 1910, Leach sold the hotel to William Mitchell who leased the hotel to its first female publican, Janet Bleechmore. Mitchell is credited for building the upper level of the hotel in 1914, which is also the same year the hotel licensee, Albert Lambert was taken to insolvency court by creditors.[6]

 Mitchell later sold the hotel to William Birdseye who owned it from 1917 until 1951. In 1950, Birdseye, now 80 years old, planned to buy more land behind the hotel to extend the accommodation wing.[7] In 1951 the hotel was put up for sale after the death of Birdseye.  A move was made for the Angaston Hotel to bought by the local community, but the executors of the sale of the hotel could not reach an agreement with the community purchasing committee.[8] In late 1952, Mr and Mrs Nicholls, former owners of the Truro Hotel took over the Angaston Hotel.[9]

 This area was originally occupied by the indigenous Peramangk peoples. In December 1838, Colonel Light and his party are recorded as the first Europeans entering the area. In 1939, South Australian Company Geologist, Johannes Menge wrote to George Fife Angas in England of the suitability of the area for vineyards. Angaston was originally known as Angas Town in the region of German Pass, often people cite German Pass as being the original name, but there is evidence in newspapers from 1843 that this was not the case.[10]

 The rear yard of the Angaston Hotel also contains walls that were once part of the Angaston townships original council pound for stray animals.

 The Angaston Hotel is allegedly haunted by a spirit that likes to torment kitchen staff. It has been known to upend tables, push objects off benches, slam cupboard and kitchen doors, and rattle metallic objects!
 It is not known who the mischievous spirit might be. The hotel was often used for inquests on dead bodies, but there are few records of deaths or suicides in the building.

Research and written by Allen Tiller © 2019

Sources:

'Advertising', South Australian, (25 December 1846), p. 3.

'ANGASTONS COMMUNITY HOTEL MOVE FAILS TO REACH FIGURE', Leader, (4 October 1951) p. 1.

'ANNUAL MEETING OF MAGISTRATES. Monday, March 13.', South Australian, (14 March 1848), p. 2.

'COUNTRY NEWS.', The Express and Telegraph, (17 February 1871), p. 2.[11]

'COURT CASES.', The Advertiser, (2 September 1914), p. 14.

'MITCHELL’S ANGASTON HOTEL.', Saturday Mail, (10 June 1916), p. 2

'NEW GENERAL LICENSES.', South Australian, (15 December 1846), p. 6.

'QUARTERLY MEETING OF MAGISTRATES.', South Australian, (14 September 1847), p. 3.

'THE AMATEUR CONCERT.', South Australian Register, (8 November 1843), p. 2.

'Truro Farewell to Mr and Mrs F. Nicholls', Leader, (9 October 1952), p. 1.

[1] 'NEW GENERAL LICENSES.', South Australian, (15 December 1846), p. 6.
[2] 'Advertising', South Australian, (25 December 1846), p. 3.
[3] 'QUARTERLY MEETING OF MAGISTRATES.', South Australian, (14 September 1847), p. 3.
[4] 'ANNUAL MEETING OF MAGISTRATES. Monday, March 13.', South Australian, (14 March 1848), p. 2.
[5] 'ANGASTON.', South Australian Register, (14 March 1856), p. 3.
[6] 'COURT CASES.', The Advertiser, (2 September 1914), p. 14.
[7] 'PERSONAL', Leader, (6 April 1950), p. 3.
[8] 'ANGASTON COMMUNITY HOTEL MOVE FAILS TO REACH FIGURE', Leader, (4 October 1951) p. 1.
[9] 'Truro Farewell to Mr and Mrs F. Nicholls', Leader, (9 October 1952), p. 1.
[10] 'THE AMATEUR CONCERT.', South Australian Register, (8 November 1843), p. 2.
[11] 'COUNTRY NEWS.', The Express and Telegraph, (17 February 1871), p. 2.

Witchcraft in South Australia Part VI: Koro (Suo-Yang) – Penis Panic

Witchcraft in South Australia Part VI:

 Koro (Suo-Yang) – Penis Panic

Although this infliction has not occurred in Australia, it has shown up in Africa and China and originates with witchcraft in Medieval Europe. I thought it was interesting enough to research and write about for the blog, as many people have probably never heard of it before!

 Koro, (known as Suo-Yang in China) is a psycho-sexual disorder where men become panicked, believing their penis is shrinking, retracting, or completely disappearing.
The Medieval belief of Koro can be found in the fifteenth-century Witch hunting book Malleus Maleficarum [Hammer of the Witches] written by Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger. Within the book, Kramer and Sprenger describe various ways to expose witches, but also a few case studies.

 One of the phenomena he claimed was that witches could remove a man's penis, not actually cut it off, but remove it with magic.
 One of the accounts in Kramer & Sprenger’s book details the story of several witnesses to this very magic.

 “What shall we think about those witches who somehow take members in large numbers—twenty or thirty—and shut them up together in a birds' nest or some box, where they move about like living members, eating oats or other feed? This has been seen by many and is a matter of common talk. It is said that it is all done by devil's work and illusion, for the senses of those who see [the penises] are deluded in the way we have said.”

It is claimed that the witches would have up to thirty penises’ in a bird’s nest or box, all wriggling about, and would feed them oats and other grains, treating them as pets.
Kramer and Sprenger’s book was full of misogynist and preposterous accusations against women’s sexuality, that stem from their (and Medieval Christian Europe’s) infatuation and anxieties with women’s sexual desires, sexuality and place in the Bible. The whole basis of his book and accusation against female witches comes back to one passage that led to countless women being accused of witchcraft, and murdered across the world; "All witchcraft comes from carnal lust, which in women is insatiable.”

Headline from the Canberra Times
 Wednesday 8 November 1967, page 6
(link in the bibliography)

Koro, which is a psychological issue, has seen many mass waves of panic in the centuries since the Medieval Witch hunts. In 1967, Singapore was hit with a mass panic, when 454 men visited the Singapore General Hospital over a period of months.

 One of the Doctors who treated the men, stated afterwards that patients reported; “a sudden feeling of retraction of the penis into the abdomen with great fear that, should the retraction be permitted to proceed ... the penis would disappear into the abdomen with a fatal outcome.”

The next mass penis-shrinkage-panic happened in China from 1984-1985. Over 3000 individual men were treated for Suo-Yang, weirdly, this time it also included a number of women reporting vulva, labia, nipple and breast shrinkage, or disappearance!

Africa has seen the most recent cases of Koro, with ten years between 1998 and 2008 seeing 56 separate cases. In these cases, the common complaint wasn’t shrinkage, but total loss of the penis. 36 people, accused of witchcraft, body part trading, or blackmail by penis-snatching were killed in the hysteria that followed accusations over the years.

Zionist Sorcery was apparently the cause of penis loss in Sudan in 2003. In what was later revealed as an attempt to divert the people’s attention away from what was happening with the presidency.
In 2013, a stranger was visiting a small village in Tiringoulou, Central Africa, when he stopped for a drink. Upon handing the drink to the stranger the vendor suddenly screamed his penis had disappeared, this was soon followed by another villager. Other villagers claimed to see the two men’s penis shrink from adult size to baby size before their eyes! The visitor was duly arrested for sorcery and executed.

Despite the various claims of witchcraft, sorcery and female fox spirits in China stealing penises, believe it or not, koro in men and women has a psychological explanation. It would seem in a society where a person’s reproductive ability helps determine a man’s self-worth, and worth to procreation in their society, are intrinsically connected to anxiety and fear, ethnicity and cultural belief, and political or socioeconomic tension.

Researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2018
https://www.facebook.com/TheHauntsOfAdelaide/

Bibliography

Mattelaer, Johan J, Jilek, Wolfgang (2007). "Koro?The Psychological Disappearance of the Penis". The Journal of Sexual Medicine. 4 (5): 1509–1515. doi:10.1111/j.1743-6109.2007. 00586.x.
Smith, M., (2002). “The flying phallus and the laughing inquisitor: Penis theft in the 'Malleus Maleficarum'”. Journal of Folklore Research An International Journal of Folklore and Ethnomusicology 39(1):85-117
Edwards, J. W., (1984). “Indigenous Koro, a Genital Retraction Syndrome of Insular Southeast Asia: A Critical Review”. Culture Medicine and Psychiatry 8(1):1-24 · April 1984. DOI: 10.1007/BF00053099
China-Underground. (2016). “Koro, shrinking genitals syndrome”, China-Underground, viewed 13 April 2018, https://china-underground.com/2016/05/14/koro-shrinking-genitals-syndrome/
1967 'SINGAPORE KORO 'NOT THREAT TO MANHOOD'', The Canberra Times (ACT: 1926 - 1995), 8 November, p. 6. , viewed 27 Jul 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article106981331

Witchcraft in South Australia: Part IV Gottfried Hoffman

Witchcraft in South Australia

 Part IV

 Gottfried Hoffman

 In 1853, Lyndoch cattle and pig farmer, 28-year-old, Gottfried Hoffman was living the simple country life in the Barossa Valley. He had emigrated to Australia from Germany with his wife and family and settled in the predominately German Barossa Valley.
Devoutly Lutheran, Hoffman and his family were very well known as they often attended church services at nearby Bethany.
 Things had been going well for the Hoffman family until in late October some of his cows and pigs had suddenly, and unexplainably become ill.

 On the 5^th of November 8-year-old Mary Wressell, a neighbour of Hoffman’s suddenly turned up on the families’ doorstep. She asked politely for some butter, which Mrs Hoffman supplied. Before she left Gottfried asked young Mary, if she could please ask her mother to drop by the house.

 Young Mary returned home to her mother (also named Mary) and gave her the butter and message from Mr Hoffman. Mary Ann (mother) finished her chores and went over to the Hoffman house as requested.

Mary Ann knocked on Hoffman’s door and was greeted by Mrs Hoffman, who suddenly became hostile and accused May Ann of bewitching the family's cows.
 Mary Ann, shocked by the allegation, began to deny any such doing when Gottfried suddenly emerged from the side of the house. He came toward Mary Anne, who held out her hand to shake Gottfried’s hand. Gottfried shook in return, then grabbed Mary Ann’s hand tightly, and slashed across her arm with a large knife.
 He rubbed her blood across his hands and then stated: “mein cows right now.”
Mary Ann cried out in shock and pain, and Gottfried stabbed her in the arm again, then as she twisted to get away he stabbed her twice in the back. He then grabbed a large stick and beat her, before hitting her in the head with a large rock. Mary Ann fell to the ground but somehow managed to get up and make her way home.
As she stumbled along the path home, she looked back to see Gottfried standing at the front of the house with a shotgun.

Mary Ann made it home to her daughter, who raised the alarm with her father that something was wrong. Dr Notts from Gawler was called, and when he arrived, found Mary Ann hysterical. She had wound an inch and a half long on her arm that went through to the bone, and two stab wounds on her back and shoulder. She was also badly beaten and covered in bruises.

Gottfried was soon arrested and charged with cutting, maiming and assaulting Mary Ann Wresell. During the court case, Hoffman’s wife and brother’s testimony conflicted with that of Wresell, but the evidence was overwhelming, and the jury found him guilty. Hoffman was sentenced to 5 years of hard labour.

Curiously, during the entire court case, Hoffman did not deny his belief that Mary Ann Wessell was a witch that had hexed his farm, and that washing his hands in her blood would cure the family's problems!

Researched and written by Allen Tiller ©2018

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

Bibliography

1854 'WITCHCRAFT IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA.', Inquirer (Perth, WA: 1840 - 1855), 8 March, p. 2. (SUPPLEMENT TO "THE INQUIRER."), viewed 09 Apr 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article65741753
1853 'LAW AND POLICE COURTS. SUPREME COURT—CRIMINAL, SIDE.', Adelaide Times (SA: 1848 - 1858), 3 December, p. 3. , viewed 09 Apr 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article207121817
1854 'WITCHCRAFT IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA.', Inquirer (Perth, WA: 1840 - 1855), 8 March, p. 2. (SUPPLEMENT TO "THE INQUIRER."), viewed 09 Apr 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article65741753

Witchcraft in South Australia Part III:
Australian Laws

Last blog we looked at Witchcraft laws around the world, this week we will be looking at the Australian States and Territories and laws regarding witchcraft that has been repealed or are still in place.

New South Wales 

The Witchcraft Act of 1735 was repealed by the Imperial Acts Application Act, 1969 (NSW),

The offence of fortune telling, [Section 4(2)(n) of the Vagrancy Act, 1902 (NSW)] was repealed by the Summary Offences Act (Repeal) Act, 1979 (NSW). New South Wales currently has no Witchcraft Act.

Northern Territory

The Northern Territory still had The Witchcraft Act of 1735 (9 Geo. 2 c. 5) as law as late as 2013. (Smail, 2013). The Act was repealed and replaced under the Summary Offences Act 2016 57(1)(d). In the Northern Territory Act, a person commits an offence if they pretend to “…tell fortunes, or uses any subtle craft, means, or device, by palmistry or otherwise, to deceive and impose upon a person”. (NT Gov. 2016).

Queensland 

 Witchcraft in Queensland was covered in The Criminal Code -Section 432, which stated; "Any person who pretends to exercise or use any kind of witchcraft, sorcery, enchantment, or conjuration, or undertakes to tell fortunes, or pretends from his skill or knowledge in any occult science to discover where or in what manner anything supposed to have been stolen or lost may be found, is guilty of a misdemeanour, and is liable to imprisonment for one year."

 However, the code was changed in 2005, and “witchcraft” per-se, is not mentioned, however via invoking Public Nuisance laws, psychics committing fraud can still be charged with a crime.

South Australia
The Statutes Amendment and Repeal (Public Offences) Act, 1991 abolished the Witchcraft laws in SA.

However, the 1991 Act came with a new section, Section 40. A person who, with intent to defraud purports to act as a spiritualist or medium or to exercise powers of telepathy or clairvoyance or other similar powers, is guilty of an offence.

Victoria

Victoria was the last Australian State to repeal a witchcraft act, which happened in 2005 with the "Vagrancy (Repeal) and Summary Offences (Amendment) Act 2005", prior to this repeal the law in Victoria Stated:
Section 13 of the Vagrancy Act 1958 which is entitled 'Fortune Telling and Pretending to Exercise Witchcraft, etc':
Any person who pretends or professes to tell fortunes or uses any subtle craft means or device by palmistry or otherwise to defraud or impose on any other person or pretends to exercise or use any kind of witchcraft sorcery enchantment or conjuration or pretends from his skill or knowledge in any occult or crafty science to discover where or in what manner any goods or chattels stolen or lost may be found shall be guilty of an offence. (AAP, 2005)

Tasmania, Western Australia and the ACT have no laws against witchcraft.

Researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2018

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

Bibliography

AAP, 2005, Victoria clears witches for take-off, Fairfax Media, viewed 9 April 2018, https://www.theage.com.au/news/National/Victoria-clears-witches-for-takeoff/2005/07/21/1121539075041.html


Smail, S, 2013, Northern Territory government to repeal centuries-old witchcraft, tarot card law, ABC News, viewed 9 April 2018, http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-08-17/northern-territory-to-ditch-their-witchcraft-law/4894086


Northern Territory Government, 2016, Legislation, NT Government, viewed 9 April 2018, https://legislation.nt.gov.au/Legislation/SUMMARY-OFFENCES-ACT

Witchcraft in South Australia: Part I The Hammer of the Witches.

Witchcraft in South Australia: Part I

The Hammer of the Witches.

Over the coming weeks, I will be looking into crimes in South Australia relating to Witchcraft, but before we get to those cases, I thought it best to establish some background on the persecution of Witches around the world, which was predominately focused on women in most countries.

Witchcraft – the word conjures up images of, cauldrons, green-skinned women riding on brooms, and women being burnt at the stake. Many people also associate witchcraft with the Salem, Massachusetts witch trials in 1692/93, but don’t know that the trials were much further widespread at the time, with many scholars agreeing that in the one hundred years between 1600 to 1700, somewhere between 100,00 and 200,00 people were tried for witchcraft across Europe, and between 40, 000 to 60, 000 people were executed for the crime. (Wiesner-Hanks, 2006)

Back in those days, there were two basic claims associated with being a witch, performing harmful or evil magic or directly making a pact with the devil. Male practitioners of witchcraft were known as ‘malefici’ and female practitioners of witchcraft were known as ‘maleficae’. [in Latin the terms are maleficia = evil deeds; maleficium = evil deed].

 In South America, many women fled into the mountains to avoid slavery from the Spanish who were entering South America under the guise of “spreading the word of God”. These women were sometimes captured, and because they would not yield to their Spanish captors and take the word of the Lord (A God and religious system they had never heard about) they would be tried as witches, and often they were executed.

We don’t hear much about people being persecuted for witchcraft nowadays in the Western World, as most countries have repealed their witchcraft laws, but as late as 1944, 3 women were sentenced in the UK for breaking the law, with one, Mrs Helen Duncan considered the last of the Witch Trials. 
 Duncan had come under scrutiny after making claims about a sailor on a sunken British ship. The sinking of the ship had never been made public, so she drew the attention of military officials, who after testing her abilities, concluded she was a fake. She was charged with two counts of conspiring to contravene the Witchcraft Act, two counts of obtaining money by false pretences, and three counts of public mischief – she was sentenced to nine months imprisonment. (News, 1944).

Modern Witchcraft, sometimes called Wicca or “The Craft” is very different to the witchcraft of old. Modern witchcraft concerns mainly the worship of the Goddess, and many following this interpretation of witchcraft see themselves as healers or helpers and often take from various pagan beliefs that have before them such as shamanism and druidism.

In the next blog, we will look at the various Witchcraft Acts around the world, some of which still apply to this very day!

Researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2018

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

Bibliography

Merry E. Wiesner-Hanks, Early Modern Europe 1450-1789 (Cambridge and New York, 2006), pp. 386-93.

WITCHCRAFT. (1853, December 10). Adelaide Observer (SA : 1843 - 1904), p. 1 (Supplement to The Adelaide Observer.). Retrieved April 9, 2018, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article158095751

1944 'Medium in "Ghost" Trial Gets 9 Months' Gaol', News (Adelaide, SA : 1923 - 1954), 4 April, p. 5. , viewed 09 Apr 2018, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article128401480