The Sea Captain’s Ghost – Anchorage Hotel, Victor Harbor

The Sea Captain’s Ghost – Anchorage Hotel, Victor Harbor

 

Warringa Guest House, Victor Harbor 1920: SLSA: [PRG 1316/12/207]

  Victor Harbor’s Anchorage Hotel is said to be one of the most haunted buildings in the seaside town. It is rumoured to be haunted by an old Sea Captain who haunts an upstairs bedroom. Visitors report the room smelling of cigar smoke, and in the morning find a pile of sand at the foot of the bed.
 Another spirit is said to be that of a little girl, the daughter of a former manager, who drowned nearby.
 The hotel is also alleged to be haunted by an apparition who appears as a “blue light” that likes to play with electrical equipment. Staff also report impressions of bodies left on beds when no one has slept in them.

 Three women in spirit have been seen on the ground floor. One described as being tall and slender wearing a dress with a high neckline. Another as a beautiful woman wearing a large sun hat and sunglasses, seen in the dining room. The third woman has been identified as a former maid who is still performing her duties today in the afterlife.

  Perhaps the most disturbing haunting in this hotel is that of a young boy who it is alleged committed suicide in a cubicle in the ladies’ toilets. Since that time, women will instinctively not use that cubicle. There have also been reports of its door opening and slamming shut continuously of its own volition, even when there is no wind movement in the entire hotel. A smell of rotten meat also emanates from the toilets from time to time and moves through the hotel. On one occasion as this smell moved through the hotel, several electrical items suddenly broke down at once!

 The Anchorage Hotel was built by James Holliday in 1906, and originally opened as the Warringa Guest House. Extensions were added in 1912 and 1952.

Researched and written by Allen Tiller © 2019

Bibliography

Anchorage Hotel, (2019),https://anchoragehotel.com.au/

A Haunting of the Miners Home Hotel – Armagh

 

 A Haunting at the Miners Home Hotel – Armagh

The tiny hamlet of Armagh, north-west of the township of Clare in South Australia is thought to have been founded by Irish Catholics who arrived in the area in the 1840s.[1] It is not known who exactly named the region, but it is thought one of three people, Patrick Butler, E.B. Gleeson, or Henry Clark may have named the valley after their hometown in Ireland.[2]

The Royal Mining Company, on the hunt for copper, opened the Emu Plains Mine in the area. As part of their prospects in the area, and in the hope of a mining boom, they planned the town of Armagh, with provisions for a school, a church, a blacksmith shop, and two hotels.

In 1849 John and William Day, hoping to profit from the opening of a new mine built the Miner’s Home Hotel. At the same time, Patrick Butler built his own hotel, named the Emu Inn.
Only one license was granted by the Bench of Magistrates, which went to Patrick Butler’s hotel. The Days then launched an appeal and sought signatures from friends of influence, which saw the Magistrate board overturn their ruling, granting a license to the brothers to operate their hotel[3]

The Miners Home Hotel operated for only two years, from 1850 until 1851. The license changed from John Day to his brother William in 1851.[4]   After the hotel closed the land was bought by Patrick Butler, who lived in the building and built a larger house on the land. Patrick Butler went on to become a Councillor in the Clare region. Perhaps one of his bigger claims to fame was in 1844, when the then Archbishop of Adelaide, Dr Murphy, assisted by Father Michael Ryan, celebrated the Mass in the Clare district at the Butler residence.


It is claimed that in 1870 the body of a seven-year-old girl was found to be laid to rest under the bar of the old hotel. A headstone now sits in the floor, marking the spot where she is buried.  In recent times, the old house has been a museum, and now, again a private residence.

 For almost twenty years, from around 1850 until 1870, it was thought the hotel was cursed with a haunting. It is claimed that horses would not enter the property at all, and this led to the closing of the original hotel.
 It is also claimed that poltergeist activity was a regular occurrence in the building, with objects being moved around inside, in full view of the occupants. All poltergeist activity is said to have ceased upon the discovery of the little girl’s body buried underneath the old hotel bar.

How she came to be laid to rest there is still, to this day, a mystery!

© Allen Tiller 2017

Bibliography

[1] “Armagh South,” Irish Place Names in Australia, accessed July 14, 2017, http://irishplaces.flinders.edu.au/items/show/184.

[1] 1850 'LOCAL NEWS.', South Australian Gazette and Mining Journal (Adelaide, SA: 1847 - 1852), 19 December, p. 3. , viewed 15 Jul 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article195941359

[1] 1851 'BENCH OF MAGISTRATES.—QUARTERLY ISSUE OF LICENCES.', South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA: 1839 - 1900), 10 June, p. 3. , viewed 15 Jul 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article38450812

[1] Australian Heritage Places Inventory, 2017, Dwelling and Museum (former Miner's Home Hotel & Outbuilding), SA State Heritage Register, viewed 15 July 2017, https://dmzapp17p.ris.environment.gov.au/ahpi/action/search/heritage-search/record/SA13052

1852 'LOCAL COURT, CLARE.', South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA: 1839 - 1900), 18 October, p. 3. , viewed 15 Jul 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article38459187

1943 'LINKS with THE PAST and Historical Notes.', Northern Argus (Clare, SA: 1869 - 1954), 12 November, p. 4. , viewed 15 Jul 2017, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article97266692

Branson, Vern M & Phillips, Arthur, 1938- 1974, Clare and district sketchbook, Rigby, Adelaide

Broad, Sue 1986, Back to Armagh, Armagh Soldiers Memorial Hall Inc. Committee, [Armagh, S. Aust.]

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"Stonehenge" - Sinister by design Part 3

“Stonehenge” Robe Terrace Medindie

A quick trip back in time, we revisit our "Sinister by Design" series, which covered the architecture of John Quinton Bruce around Adelaide, first we looked at Carclew house, this time we visit the house he designed for Frederick Scarfe in North Adelaide.

The Mail, Saturday 11 October 1919, page 12

Designed by iconic South Australian architect; John Quinton Bruce for Fred Scarfe, A Director of South Australian department store icon, Harris Scarfes, Stonehenge, as the building was named, is a beautiful building located in North Adelaide.

Often it is reported that Frederick Norman Scarfe, former Mayor of Kensington and Norwood is the man who had the building erected, but by the time it was built, he was a very old man. Frederick George Alexander Scarfe is actually the man who built the impressive house, he was a director of Harris Scarfes at the time and a very wealthy individual.

Tony Syrianos - 

THE ADVERTISER NEWSPAPER 

ADELAIDE, April 24, 1994

The building consists of 15 main rooms including a gracious reception hallway and a sweeping grand staircase. There is also a Ballroom, a formal lounge-room, Library and formal dining room, plus 5 bedrooms and a wine cellar.

The house was often featured in local newspaper stories as Mr Scarfe would host his own events, Grand Balls and parties, in his home. In 1919 Frederick Scarfe sold the house for an impressive sum, citing in adds that he found the housekeeping tasks laborious, being such a large manner.

In 1994, The Adelaide Advertiser (April 24^th 1994) published a story about the house featuring a local businessman who had purchased the house for $1.2 million dollars, only to find out that the house is haunted by a young lady.

The Register Thursday 13 November 1919

The young lady appears in an upstairs bedroom known as the Blue Room. It is stated that she only appears during the hours of 11 pm and 5 am and walks from the blue room, to a bathroom, or up the extravagant staircase. She is dressed in a white nightgown with an overly frilly neckline.

It is thought the spirit is that of a young girl who died in the house from tuberculosis around the 1920s, when the disease was making itself felt in North Adelaide.

It has also been reported that whenever renovations take place in the house, the ghost becomes very hostile and begins to throw objects and make a lot of noise, not unlike a poltergeist would do, other owners have also reported cold spots in various rooms of the mansion.

© 2013 Allen Tiller

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