An (alleged) Haunting at Carclew House, North Adelaide

 

The property on which Carclew House is situated was originally owned by George Cortis in 1837, who sold it to William Bartley in 1847.  It was owned by Edward Stephens in 1848, then by the Crawford family from 1849 until 1855 (with a year of possession by H. Mitchell in 1852).
 In 1855, Abraham Scott and Edmund William Wright owned the property for six years before selling it to James Chambers in 1861.
 James Chambers success came from buying a town acre in the first Adelaide land sale.  With his brother John, he imported horses from Van Diemen’s Land. The two men secured themselves a small fortune through their business dealings and became philanthropists in the small Adelaide community.  He opened a livery stable in Adelaide and purchased coaches from South Africa and England. He gained the mail contract to Burra (around 1845) and built a large business carting people and mail to the mining communities in Kapunda, Burra and other towns in the Mid North of South Australia.  James Chambers also supplied the horses and carts for Tolmer's gold escort from Mount Alexander to Adelaide in 1852.[1]

   Mr Chambers had a small house and stable on the land in North Adelaide, which he sold to tobacco magnate, Mr Dixson, in 1896. Dixson demolished the former home of Chambers and commissioned architect John Bruce to build a stately mansion, which he named Stalheim.

  In 1908, Dixson sold his stately home to Langdon Bonython, the wealthy owner of The Advertiser newspaper. Bonython renamed the building Carclew House and lived there with his wife, Lady Marie Bonython, and their children.[2]  The Bonython family lived happily in the newly named Carclew House from 1908 until its sale to the state government in 1965.

 

  There are numerous ghost stories associated with Carclew House, many of which are urban legends.
 The oldest being that Sir Bonython carried his disabled wife, whom he had found cheating, up into the spire and threw her out of a window. Lady Bonython allegedly hit the ground, but did not die, so Sir Bonython carried her up again and threw her out the window a second time! (An addition to this story sometimes told is that Sir Bonython bricked his wife up inside the spire wall. Another telling is that Lady Bonython caught her husband in the embrace of another woman and threw herself from the tower.)  Whether the story is true has not seemed to matter in the annals of South Australian history; some people never let the truth get in the way of a good story, and this is a story that has it all.

From a conspirator's point of view, though, such a tragic murder could easily have been covered up, with her husband’s control of the local newspaper and other media sources, a son in the Mayor’s office, and an abundance of money and power.  Sir Bonython could have easily covered up such an event, but as we all know, the truth has a way of exposing itself, and if such an event did occur, it would find its way into the public forum eventually.   There is no conclusive evidence to prove that Sir Bonython killed his wife; in fact, her death appears to be a natural one that somehow became a conspiracy against her ever-loving husband.  Perhaps the rumours persisted and became an urban legend due to jealousy over the families’ wealth and power?

 

  Other urban legends from Carclew House involve men being buried inside the walls of the house, possibly builders, one near the front door and the other in a wall at the rear of the house. Urban legends have a way of twisting over time, and the story that once involved Lady Bonython looking longingly from a turret window at the outside world has now evolved into that of a young boy haunting the spire and looking out longingly at the city below.

  What is interesting about this is that there is a ghostly tale of a young man at Carclew House, as told by Lady Wilson, the granddaughter of the Bonythons. In the story from her youth, Lady Wilson recalls sleeping in a downstairs bedroom and witnessing the spirit of a young boy.
 The spirit was that of a young man with blond hair, aged about 15, wearing a long-sleeved white shirt and black shorts with knee-high socks. The spirit would enter the room and go straight to the dressing table, where he would pick up pins…and while she watched him, he would very slowly become transparent, until he disappeared.  Other reports that have come to me over the years have included phantom smells of perfume that waft through the art rooms, one witness to the phantom perfume followed her nose, and although she could not find a source, she said the smell was strongest in the spire below a trap door.

 Carclew House is one of those locations in Adelaide that every budding Ghost Hunter wishes he or she could have a chance to investigate…

 

This is an extract from my book The Haunts of Adelaide: Revised Edition – for the full story, the book is available here: https://www.amazon.com.au/Haunts-Adelaide-History-Mystery-Paranormal/dp/B08JLQLLC5

 

©2020 Allen Tiller

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[1] Australian Dictionary of Biography, Chambers, James (1811–1862), National Centre of Biography, ANU (1969) http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/chambers-james-3189/text4785, accessed 26 June 2017.

[2] Carclew, Our History, (2014), https://carclew.com.au/Our-History, accessed 14 June 2015.

The Haunts of Adelaide is 7 Years Old Today!

The Haunts of Adelaide is 7 Years Old Today!

Today, the 22nd of October 2019, marks 7 years since I began writing this blog. So to mark the occasion today, I am going to link back to the seven most popular blog posts

1. Muzyk Murder - Unfortunately the most read blog post on The Haunts of Adelaide is the story of the horrific murder of Tracy Muzyk in 1996. 

http://hauntedadelaide.blogspot.com/2016/07/muzyk-murder.html

2. Para Para House - the second most popular blog post is a story of a mansion in Gawler West:

http://hauntedadelaide.blogspot.com/2013/02/para-para-ghosts-of-gawler-part-6.html

3. Woodhouse Activity Centre is the third most read blog post on The Haunts of Adelaide. While the story is brief in this post, a future post or possible book story will go into greater detail about the alleged ghosts

http://hauntedadelaide.blogspot.com/2014/03/woodhouse-activity-centre.html

4. A former convalescent home for children at Grange is the 4th most popular Blog. Estcourt House was built in 1883 and used as a hospital, today it is a private home.

http://hauntedadelaide.blogspot.com/2013/06/estcourt-house.html

5. The Adelaide Central Markets make it into 5th spot with a ghost story about a security guard who claimed to witness strange goings-on in the Adelaide icon.

http://hauntedadelaide.blogspot.com/2018/03/a-ghost-in-adelaide-central-markets.html

6. In the 6th spot, we have a hometown haunt: Dead Man's Pass at Gawler. I grew up playing in this reserve as a child and know its stories, its nooks and crannies, and still to this day enjoy exploring this location.

http://hauntedadelaide.blogspot.com/2013/01/dead-mans-pass-ghosts-of-gawler-part-two.html

7. The seventh most read blog post is "Sinister by Design: Part 2: Carclew House". Since writing this post way back in 2012, I have visited Carclew many times and learned a great deal more about its history and alleged hauntings! look for new stories in future publications

http://hauntedadelaide.blogspot.com/2012/10/carclew-house-montefiore-hill-sinister.html

A big thank you to each and every one of you that has taken the time to read, share or interact with this blog. I enjoy researching history, I enjoy telling stories, and I started writing this blog purely for my own interest, so its a blessing for me that so many people have come to read this blog.

Allen Tiller

Electronic Voice Phenomena

Electronic Voice Phenomena

First published in Heart Soul and Spirit Magazine, Issue 4 Nov/Dec 2014, pags 22, 23

 In 1959, the world of paranormal investigation changed dramatically with the discovery of what is now called EVP, or Electronic Voice Phenomena.

 Ukraine born artist, Freidrich Jurgenson was as his summer house and decided he wanted to record some birds singing close by. It wasn’t until late that evening, whilst listening back to the recording, he made a discovery of a man’s voice in the recording. Knowing he had been alone in his garden, he could not account for whom the man was.

This discovery would lead Jurgenson on to record thousands of samples, of what he termed “Voices of the dead”, he was of course criticised for his work, but it did not faze him as he had one single recording that cemented his belief that these were indeed the dead talking to him. His dead Mothers voice.

He spoke of the recording in his book “The Voices from Space” published in 1964

 Jurgenson: "I was outside with a tape recorder, recording bird songs. When I listened through the tape, a voice was heard to say "Friedel, can you hear me. It's mammy ...." It was my dead mothers voice. 'Friedel' was her special nickname for me." 

 Although Jurgenson can be noted as a pioneer in the recording of EVP, it was Konstantin Raudive's experiments and laboratory testing that made the Spirit recordings famous, and also set many of the standards in the field for how we record EVP sessions in this day and age.

Raudive read Jurgenson’s book in 1964 and was inspired to test theories and procedures written within.

Raudive took the information he learnt from Jurgenson into laboratory trials and scientific testing. He tried many different recording devices, and soon, customised his own germanium circuit, known today as a “Raudive Diode”.

 Raudive took his testing seriously, and even placed the devices into a “Faraday Cage” (A metal cage that blocks radio and Television frequencies). Like most sessions, no voices were heard during the recording, but on playback, to the amazement of all involved, voices could be heard clearly, including Raudive’s own deceased sister, who said her name “Tekle” and Raudive’s nickname, “Kosti”.

In 1968 Raudive published a book titled “Unhörbares wird hörbar:- or “What Is Inaudible becomes Audible”, which has also been published in English as “Breakthrough”, He went on to write two more books before his death in 1974.

In the last ten years of his life Raudive collected around 100,00 audiotapes of “spirit” voices, it is claimed over 400 people became involved with his research and each and every one of them heard the voices recorded.

 In the modern Ghost Hunting age EVP is an essential part of any investigation process, we ask questions, we go home and listen for answers – I should state here the “Spirit” Box or “Franks” Box are not genuine Electronic Voice Phenomena, but “Radio Voice Phenomena” (a term I coined on my blog) – they are sweeps of radio frequencies and ARE audio pareidolia, not something that can ever be claimed as "evidence" of the paranormal.

 Anyone can have a go at an EVP session, there is nothing stopping you, you do not need expensive equipment or specialised training, but there are a few tips I would like to share with you, to get you on to your path of EVP discovery!

 Firstly, I recommend a voice recorder that has a usb or memory card built in, so you don’t have to sit at your computer listening back to the whole recording, saving it into a program. Rather than that wasted time, you can easily switch the file from the device to your laptop or pc.

 Try and get a voice recorder with a good microphone, brands like Sony, Zoom and Tascam currently have some reasonably priced, stereo microphone records that work exceptionally well. Even your phone or tablet now days have good enough microphones for experimenting with, or you can always buy an external microphone and plug it in.

 If you do EVP sessions, take note of your surroundings, who else is there? What natural sounds are happening?

 I try to always put my recorder down, or use a tripod to support it, so the sounds of my movements cannot be interpreted as an EVP (this does happen). In my team, we also have a video camera pointing at us whilst we record EVPs, that we can play back later on and see if any sounds coincide to our movements.

My wife Karen also takes notes as we work, in those notes Karen will write the time, where we are, what I ask and if any natural or man made sounds are happening at the time (cars driving past, birds flying over etc) – this gives us a little bit more information that we may have forgotten when we begin our review of the recording.

My next tip is a simple one, DO NOT WHISPER – if you decide to go out with a group of people, ask everyone who is with you to be silent whilst you record, but, if they have to speak, do so in a normal voice. This is for the simple reason that you may not know someone else has whispered, and when you get to review your EVP session you hear this amazing EVP...only to find out later that it was simply a team mate whispering...

Lastly, do NOT tell people what you believe an EVP says. Let the person listen and give their ideas first.

Why you ask? Influence... if someone tells you what an EVP says before you hear it for yourself, you are pre-influenced to hear what they say it is, rather than make your own determination as to if the recording is a genuine EVP or just some random mistaken noise.

As always folks, Be respectful. Be prepared. Be protected. Be safe.

© Allen Tiller 2014

Into The Unknown

Into The Unknown

First published in Heart-Soul & Spirit Magazine, Issue 2 July/August 2014, pgs 37,38

 

 As a paranormal investigator, it is your job to walk into the realms of the unknown at every investigation, sometimes walking into places where Angels themselves would fear to tread. You never know what is behind that next door, what is lurking in the shadows around every corner, or what may decide to follow you back to the safety of your very own home.

 Some may scoff at such a thought, “why would a spirit wish to follow me home”?
Good or bad, have you not just asked the very spirit to communicate with you?
 Would a spirit not be just as inquisitive about you as you, are it?

 Also, you've entered its territory to communicate, why can the spirit not enter your home to do the very same?

 There is also the negative connotation to such a thing, a negative entity that wishes to cause you distress and harm, and “feed” on that negativity for its owns reasons.

 I can tell you from experience in this field, that this is not a laughing matter. That spirits and other entities can, and will follow you home, at their will, and leave at their pleasure.

   Not too many years ago I had visited a known haunted location in the town of Gawler, South Australia. I finished my investigation, headed home, and went to bed about 3am. Within an hour of falling asleep I was awoken abruptly by the foot of my bed lifting off the ground and slamming into the cement floor hard enough to take a large chip out the concrete. I of course, waking up so abruptly, was in a state of panic not knowing what was happening. I switched on a light and the heavy atmosphere and lingering feeling of danger vanished in an instant.

I eventually laid back down and fell asleep.

 The next night, I was in bed before midnight, and again, within an hour the bed was shaking abruptly. Being a little bit cluey to these type of communications, I had prepared a torch under my pillow. I swung the bright torch light up to see the shadow of a woman disappear in a flash.  No-one else was in the room, No-one else in the house.

Just me.

Alone.

Left to ponder two nights of goings on.

 After work the next day, and a long time to think upon the nightly goings on, I came to the conclusion that this spirit may want to communicate only, and may not be harmful, despite my feelings on the first night.

 The spirits actions on night three changed that opinion very quickly.

 On the third night of the bed shaking, the slamming of the bed was much more abrupt, the atmosphere was much more sinister, and when something unseen, cold and harsh grabbed at my leg, that was enough for me to decide to try and move this spirit on.

 At the time, I wasn't a religious person, and my objective was to only document spirits. As I am not a psychic, I did not believe I hold the power to move a spirit on to wherever it is spirits move on too.

 Instead, I sought out different techniques to solve my problems, and went as far back as I could researching into medieval practices. It seems in more “superstitious” times that there was a remedy for everything, but particularly for spirits and other entities.

I read about Vampires being distracted with piles of sand or rice.

That the Vampire is compelled to count, and therefore too distracted to feed upon its victim, funnily enough, this was also an attribute to stop ghostly activity.

 I read about doors painted red, mirrors placed on the back of entry doors with the reflective side pointing out (theory being the ghost would see its own reflection and scare itself). Another interesting remedy was a shiny metal bowl with water inside placed in the room within which the spirit resides, the spirit looks into the reflective water, and is trapped within it. The water, in the morning, can be poured over a tree grounding the spirit. There was one other technique, that I thought would be the simplest for me to try, as all it required was a pair of shoes.

 At the end of any bed that is being moved by a spirit, place a pair of shoes at the foot of the bed before going to sleep for the night. Place one shoe pointing toe first to the bed, and the other heel end to the bed, next to each other on the floor.

Apparently, spirits will become so confused by this, that eventually, after a few nights they will leave out of frustration.

I tried this for myself, and it seemed to work for me. Skeptics will say it is the power belief, and perhaps they are right, but whatever the reason, the bed never shook that hard again for the rest of the time I lived in that particular house.

 Now days, I am much more informed and experienced in the way I approach the spirit realm. I show them the utmost respect and courtesy, and expect the same to be shown to me in return. I often say a couple of prayers before and after an investigation, including St Michael's Prayer for protection, and within those prayers I ask for any spirit to un-attach from me and to not follow me home.

 My wife Karen also has a ritual she has developed for our team, that involves cleansing ourselves with holy water, blessed objects and crystals.

 I have heard many people laugh at such notions, and some say they would prefer the “whole” experience and have no protection at all, but as I always say;“It is always better to be safe than to be sorry”, and that stands true when working with any aspect of the paranormal or spiritual realms.

 Be respectful.

 Be prepared.

 Be protected.

 Be safe.