Saturday 24 December 2011

The Ghosts of Christmas Past: A Brisbane Tale...


 1938 Christmas Greetings Card, from your friendly Brisbane Dunny Man.

*Preface*  A century ago, it was customary to run Christmas ghost stories in the newspapers throughout the British Empire, a yearly event in which Australia also indulged - this tradition was most likely fuelled by the famous author Charles Dickens, who published many works on ghosts centred around Christmas.  The newspapers of early Brisbane were no different - each year, a collection of ghost stories both fictional & real, would be published as a Christmas Supplement...& for this week's article, we will tap into the Christmas Supplement published in The Queenslander on the 17th of December 1887.  The story recollects a visit to a haunted house on the outskirts of 1887 Brisbane, at Albion, by two adventurous women - whilst it is quite lengthy, it demonstrates the language & intrigue of early Brisbane perfectly & is well worth the read.  So, without further ado, please enjoy our "Ghosts of Brisbane's Christmas Past" article - & Merry Christmas to you all, from the Haunts of Brisbane!


     Before beginning my story, I feel that I owe you, my readers, a few words of apology for expecting you to believe a ghost story written by a woman; but I wish you to understand that I am—for a woman—most unimaginative and strong minded, and had indeed always held in supreme contempt anything connected with ghosts and 'such like nonsense,' until something befell me which caused me to alter my opinion. The story I am about to relate to you is perfectly true, and as it happened to me so will I tell it you, merely changing the names of some of the people concerned for reasons of my own.

     One morning as we sat at breakfast in our cosy little cottage at Toowong, my husband said suddenly, "By the way, Dot (that was his pet name for me), I shan't be able to get home tonight I am afraid. I forgot to tell you that I had a telegram from an old friend—you have heard me speak of him, George Cortis—asking me to meet him at the wharf tonight. He has just come out from home, and left Sydney on Tuesday by the Eurimbla, which is due late tonight. He is going to settle out here now and practise as a doctor. There's a chance for you, Jo"—turning to my sister, who was staying with me. "He's good-looking, very clever, and one of the best fellows I ever met."

     "All right, Charlie," said Jo, brightly; "Trot him along for my approval." Jo was rather prone to use slang in the bosom of the family.

     "I will," said Charlie, laughing. "I'll bring him home with me tomorrow." Then turning to me: "'Good-bye, little woman; take care of yourself. You won't be dull with Jo here, and I'll get back to lunch tomorrow and bring George with me to stay a few days with us. Good-bye, darling;" and he was gone, leaving us to our own devices for thirty-six hours.

     "What shall we do with ourselves, Jo?" I asked. "Go for a picnic, or what?" 

     Jo was silent for a minute and began another breakfast. 

     "I've got it!" she exclaimed at last. "'I've got it, Dot; we'll go ghost hunting tonight."

     "Ghost hunting, Jo!" I cried. "What do you mean? You know I don't go in for anything of the kind, and I thought you had too much sense to believe in it."

     "Well," she said doubtfully, "I'm not quite sure whether I do believe in it or not, but I want to "see the folly of it," as they say, and when a real ghost comes in our way, why not "explore" him? Dot, I'll tell you what put it into my head. We were talking about ghosts at Mrs Davis's last night, and someone told a story of a house at the Albion which was said to be haunted—a house belonging to a Dr. Macauly, who has been dead about twelve years. It seems he was a bit of a miser, and used to keep his gold in a disused upstairs room in a big iron safe, and one night he was shockingly murdered and robbed, and his body was found in the morning thrown down the quarry in front of the house. Now, the story goes that every year, on the anniversary of that night, lights are seen in the upstairs rooms, horrible shrieks are heard coming from the house and quarry, and the whole scene is enacted over again. As there is no one about the place but an old caretaker—caretakers can always be bribed, you know—what is to prevent our driving out there this afternoon, leaving our horse and cart at the hotel, picnicking in the quarries, and spending the night in the haunted room just to see if there's anything in the story? Dost like the picture, sweet one, or art thou "funking" on it?" she added, in her usual elegant style, coming round the table to me.

     "Funking?" I echoed; "no, not I, but I think it will be going out of our way for nothing. However, there may be some ferns about there, and the picnic will be jolly. It's a funny idea, you know, Jo; but I suppose it's all right."

     "Oh, quite all right," she answered, cheerfully. 

     "No one need ever know beside Charlie, and he'll enjoy it, especially if we have a thrilling tale for him when we get home. Well, we may consider that settled, Dot. I'll go and see if I can "raise" a "billy" to boil our tea in, and some food to take with us, and we'll have our picnic in the moonlight, and go to bed about 8, so as to give the ghost a fair show."

      "You seem to take things very much for granted, Jo," I remarked. "Remember, we are not there yet, and the old woman mayn't like the idea of two strange women going there on such an errand."

     "Oh, never mind the old woman. I'll settle her. I'll "grossly insult" her, you know. Now, I'm off to ask cook to make us some cakes."

      When she had gone and I had time to consider the matter seriously, it dawned upon me that our plan was certainly a mad, not to say undignified, one—and I had certain misgivings as to what Charlie would think of it all—but in the end my natural woman's curiosity prevailed, and about 3 o'clock we started. 

      It was pretty late in the afternoon when we reached the Albion, and leaving our horse and cart at the hotel we started off in the direction of the house, which was pointed out to us by one of the ostlers—a large bare-looking two-storied stone place, standing in an isolated position above one of the quarries, a commonplace looking house, not at all the sort of house where one would look for ghosts most certainly, and yet it had a dreary abandoned look that seemed to suggest a mystery. 

      We found a nice sheltered spot in the quarry for our picnic—had our tea there—made a goodly collection of ferns, and when the moon had risen we gathered up our belongings and repaired to the house. 

      It looked very lonely and deserted in the moon light—what is there in moonlight, I wonder, that gives to things and places such an eerie solemn look?—as we walked up what had once been a carriage drive to the big hall door. 

      A wide stone veranda ran all round, and was built right on to the ground, and over this a few creepers had struggled to climb, but, missing a careful training hand, had fallen to the ground and straggled there in a confused heap. 

      Jo rang a great peal on the bell, and we heard it echoing through the house; presently the door was opened by a sour-looking old woman with a lighted candle in her hand.

     "Now, Jo," I whispered, pushing her forward, "you must do it, you know."

      "All right," she answered confidently; "I'll manage it," and stepping forward she proceeded to state our errand. 

      The old woman regarded us with disfavour for a moment, and then said doubtfully: "It's a funny fancy for two young ladies to have; you look respectable too"

     "Oh, we are respectable, I assure you," Jo interrupted, forcing back a smile. "You see, we are writing a book, and we want to have a real ghost experience, if we can, to put in it. Now," she added in her peculiarly caressing way, at the same time pressing some money into the woman's hand, "now be an old dear and let us come in and rest a bit at any rate, and you can tell us the story."

     The woman's face softened, and she opened the door to admit us. 

      "Well, Miss, you're welcome to come in and rest a bit, but as to sleeping here, I think as you'll change your minds about that when you've heard all as I can tell you about it. Besides," she added quickly, "there's the young master. I don't know as he'd like to come home and find two strange young ladies sleeping here."

      Jo's face grew long at this. "The young master, eh? That changes the state of affairs, rather, Dot."

     Then, turning to the woman, "We were given to understand that the house was untenanted—but, of course, after what you have told us we should not think of staying."

      "Oh I don't say as he will come tonight, Miss," she returned—"but he may come any minute. He's in England just now." Jo's face cleared instantly. "But I have orders to keep the house ready for him whenever he comes."

      "Well," said Jo in a tone of relief, "if he's in England he can't very well be here tonight, can he? Couldn't do it in the time, you know. So just sit down like an old dear, and tell us all about the murder—this is the very night it happened isn't it?—the ghosts and everything."

      "Well, as to ghosts, Miss," she returned, seating herself, "I can't say as I've much belief in them. I says my prayers reg'lar night and morning, and I never seed a ghost yet—and thank God for it; but, about the murder I can tell you, as I was here when it happened. Yes, twelve years ago this very night, the poor master was murdered, and I the only one in the house beside himself, and never a man within call. I used to sleep in a room off the kitchen, and master he slept in an upstairs room at the back of the house, and in the middle of the night I heard three long shrieks coming from the house, and, thinking the master might be ill, I just put on a few clothes and ran up the back staircase to his room, and knocked; but there was no answer, so I went in and spoke to him, asked him if he was ill, and still there was no sound, so I got frightened, and ran along the passage to get some matches, and then I saw a light burning in the front room—that's the room he used to keep his gold in, in a big safe; he was fond of his gold, poor old gentleman— God rest his soul!—and there was the safe wide open, and all his gold gone; no sign of the master, only a big pool of blood in the middle of the room, and a long thin knife lying beside it. It made my flesh creep to see it, and, while I was looking, I heard the shrieks again, this time sounding outside the house down in the quarries. Then I ran out of the house to some huts at the back, roused the men, and they came back with me and searched the house, but couldn't see a trace of him, and daren't search the quarries till daylight came, and then we found him, with a dreadful stab in his back, his throat cut from ear to ear, and himself clasped in the arms of a big dark man with a large black beard, and all the master's gold and notes on him. He was dead, too, with his brains dashed out on the stones, and it seemed as if he had done the murder, and then took the body to throw it down the quarries and fell himself with it. I don't know as it's true, but folks about here do say that on this night every year the shrieks is heard and lights seen in the room where it happened. I never heard or seen it, but there was a young genta friend of my young master's —as heard the story, and two years ago came to me and asked to sleep in that room to see if the ghosts was there, and in the morning he was found dead in his bed, and never a word to say what killed him, or what he'd seen. Heart disease, the doctor said it was." "There, Miss," she added triumphantly as she finished her tale. "After that I don't suppose you'll care to sleep there." 

      "Oh yes, we shall," said Jo, though I fancied she was not quite so keen about it as at first. "Oh yes, we shall. It's a horrible tale, certainly, but I don't think it will alter our determination, if you will but let us stay."

      "Well, you're brave young ladies," she said, admiringly, "and I suppose it'll do no harm to let you stay, though I've warned you that there's nobody within call. I'll show you the room now, Miss, if you like—unless you'll have a cup of tea before you go to bed."

     We declined the tea, and followed her up a wide staircase and along a cold dark passage, with empty rooms on each side, till she stopped at the door of one at the end looking out on the balcony. 

      "This is the room, Miss," she said, throwing open the door, and holding the candle above her head.

     At this juncture, in a proper ghost story, I am aware that a gust of cold air should blow out the candle and a horrible moan echo through the darkness, and the sound of many feet passing over the uncarpeted floor around us fill our hearts with a nameless horror; but unfortunately nothing of the sort occurred, and we looked round the room as the old woman proceeded to make the bed, and were slightly disappointed, I must confess; there was nothing ghostly about it, as far as we could see—a big bare room with two French windows opening on to the balcony, and one at the opposite end to that by which we had entered. A big iron safe stood between the French windows, a dressing table under the one at the end, and at the opposite end, near the door, a washhand-stand. Near the dressing-table, with its heal to the wall and its foot to the door, stood a large double-bed, turned so that one side was against the wall and the other towards the iron safe. Altogether it was quite a simple room; no big wardrobes or heavy curtains where murderers might "lurk unseen."

      Jo turned to me with a little sigh of relief. "This is stunning, Dot! I think we'll go to bed now, don't you? I'm anxious for the play to begin. Yes"—looking at her watch—"it's 8 o'clock, quite time to turn in." Then, as the old woman prepared to take her departure, she added, "Good night, Mrs. Slade." [We had discovered in the course of conversation that her name was Slade.] "Come and call us early in the morning; we may have some wonderful story to tell you, you know."

     Mrs. Slade shook her head gravely. "Don't you joke about them things, Miss. We never can tell what may come to us before morning. We are in the hands of the Loard, my dear, and what is to be will be—good night, Miss," and she curtsied herself out of the room, looking, I thought, remarkably thankful that she was not in our shoes. 

     "Funny old dog," remarked Jo, seating herself on the edge of the bed to take off her shoes. "I didn't quite like her allusion to the Loard, but she means well, poor old soul, and it was awfully good of her to let us stay. Now, Dot, shall we undress or not? Perhaps better not, as we shall have to run out in pursuit of the ghosts, most likely, or one of us may faint and the other have to run for help." [Poor, dear Jo, how little she thought as she spoke that her words would come true before morning.] "Now," she rattled on, "we'll take off our dresses and shoes and just lie down as we are. It's awfully hot; we'd better have both these doors open. There," as she threw them both open and admitted the cool night air, "that's much better, and we'll leave the door into the corridor shut and give the ghost something to do to open it. Now, Dot, you may sleep inside and I'll go nearest the ghost. I've got my watch under my pillow. By Jove, though," she added in a tone of consternation, "we haven't any matches! What shall we do?"

      "Oh, never mind matches," I said lazily, "It's bright moonlight outside, and we most likely shan't want them. The chances are that we shall not wake till morning."

      So we turned in and slept hard till 11, when I awoke and looked at Jo's watch. 

      Everything was very still; no sign of a ghost. The moonlight streaming into the room lighted up every corner, and Jo slumbered peacefully at my side. Then I turned over and went to sleep again and began to dream in a troubled sort of way. We were at a wild beast show, Jo and I, and one of the lions would insist on coming out to shake hands with me, and was trying to get his cage door open. Jo seemed frightened, and begged the keepers not to let him out. Then I heard Jo's voice again, "Good God! The door's opening!" and her hand was laid on my arm.

     "Dot, Dot," she whispered in tones of horror, "Dot, for heaven's sake wake up. The door is opening!" 

     In a moment I was wide awake and sitting up beside her in bed, gazing spellbound at the door, which was opening slowly and without a sound. For a moment I turned sick and faint with dread and then the clasp of Jo's firm cool hand on mine pulled me together. At any rate, I thought, there were two of us, and ghosts can't do one much harm. 

      Breathlessly we sat and watched the door as it opened wider and wider, and at last there appeared the figure of a little old man, bent and tottering, with a thin white face, which looked ghastly in the moonlight, and long white hair hanging almost to his shoulders. 

      He held in one hand a roll of papers and in the other a small bag, and without looking towards the bed walked slowly across the room in the direction of the big safe, stopped at it, and, taking a key from his pocket, opened it, and began to deposit the papers in it.

     Now a cold wind rushing through the room from the open door caused us to turn to it, and there we saw something that made our hearts stand still with terror. Coming slowly and also noiselessly into the room was another figure—that of a tall dark man with a long beard, holding in his hand a long thin knife that glittered in the moonlight. 

     Hardly daring to breathe, we watched him creep nearer and nearer to the figure at the safe, and then the room was filled with three horrible unearthly shrieks, as he drove the knife into the old man's back, and fell with him to the floor, hiding the body from our eyes for a moment. Then he rose, and we saw the old man lying on his back with a hideous dark gash across his throat and horrible stains on the floor. The other form seemed busy with the safe, and, quickly transferring the papers and bags to his pockets, turned to the lifeless body on the floor, lifted it up lightly in his arms and bore it from the room, leaving the knife lying on the floor in a pool of blood, and the door closed swiftly and silently after them. 

      I turned to look at Jo, who was sitting straight up in the bed with a look of unutterable horror on her face, staring at the knife in the middle of the floor. 

     "Jo," I said, shaking her; "Jo, don't stare at it, darling; it has all been a horrid dream, or someone has been playing us a trick." This last I knew could not be the case, as no one had known of our idea, and there was not a soul in the house. "Jo, try and forget it, darling." She only turned to me with a little wild laugh, and seemed to be listening for something. 

      Then on the still night air came those three dreadful shrieks again, seemingly from outside the house. 

      I shuddered, and at the sound Jo uttered a little moan, and fell back in my arms perfectly rigid, with her eyes wide open and her hands clenched. 

      Here was a situation! No one within call if I screamed for help till morning, no matches, my darling sister perhaps dying in my arms, and I— I must confess it—too terrified to move from the bed. 

      What could I do? The very idea of opening that awful door and traversing the whole length of the dreary empty corridor froze the blood in my veins. 

      So for some time I sat with Jo in my arms, striving to master up courage to go for help—and to persuade myself that what we had seen was nothing but a dreadful dream—but the pool of blood and the knife on the floor prevented my believing this. 

      At last Jo began to moan and talk hurriedly, and then a thought struck me. If I could only muster up enough courage to get over to the washhand-stand and get her some water! I would do it! 

      It wanted some courage certainly—as the washhand-stand was at the other end of the room and close to the awful door—but one look at Jo's face convinced me that there was no time to lose—and I leaped from the bed, and went slowly across the room keeping my eyes fixed on the door. 

     I got safely to it, however, and was pouring out some water—when a slight sound in the room arrested my attention and for a moment I was too terrified to move—then, summoning up my courage, I forced myself to look round in the direction whence the sound had come, and there to my unspeakable horror, in the middle of the room, sat Jo, dabbling her hands in the blood, and talking and laughing in a strange voice to the knife. 

     The sight was too much for me, added to the other horrors of the night, and I shrieked aloud, and rushing wildly to the door opened it, fled down the passage, and at last found the staircase. 

      Some wild thought of my husband came into my head, and tearing down the stairs I shrieked, "Charlie! Charlie! Oh Charlie, save me!"

      A door opened somewhere; there was a blaze of light, a confused murmur of voices, and I heard one I knew and loved exclaim, "Good God, it's my wife!" 

     Then I felt my husband's strong arms round me, and his kisses on my face, and for the first time in my life I fainted. When I came round I was lying on a sofa in a big well-lighted dining room, with my husband kneeling beside me.

     "My darling, my darling," he murmured, holding me closely in his arms, "I can never forgive myself for what has happened."

      "Forgive yourself!" I echoed. "The question is whether you can forgive me for coming here without your leave; but, oh, Charlie, we have been justly punished for our misdeeds by the dreadful things we have seen." Then as the remembrance of it all came back to me I hid my face on his shoulder and shuddered.

     "I am not angry, dearie," he answered quickly; "not with you at any rate—there was nothing wrong in what you did—only a trifle wild, like poor old Jo herself. No, darling, I am only sorry."

     But his mention of Jo had brought back to my mind the terrible state in which I had left her, and I sprang up from the sofa. 

     "Oh, Charlie, let me go to Jo. I left her alone in that dreadful room, in such an awful state. We must see to her."

      "Jo's all right, darling," he said, putting me gently back on the sofa. "We have got her to bed in a downstairs room, and Mrs. Slade and Cortis are attending to her."

      "Cortis! why, how did he come here?" I asked, getting more and more bewildered. "And how did you know we were here?"

     "I didn't," he laughed. "Hadn't an idea you were within ten miles of us till you came rushing downstairs shrieking "Charlie!" and then I knew your dear voice at once. 

      "Now lie down quietly and I will tell you all about it. First let me inform you that this house belongs to Cortis. He is the "young master" Mrs. Slade told you about—and as the boat arrived earlier than we expected, and I knew you wouldn't be expecting us, George suggested that instead of putting up at a an hotel we should come out here to sleep; so having dined in town we drove out here about 10, and heard Mrs. Slade's story about the two adventurous young women who had come here to spend the night for the express purpose of seeing a ghost, and thinking it would be a pity to disappoint them we resolved to act for their benefit the little tragedy that occurred here twelve years ago. Cortis knew the whole story, and as he was the smaller man of the two he "made up" as the old man, and I as the murderer. Some red dye did duty for blood, which we spilt plentifully, and the rest you know, darling; but I don't think you ever can know how miserable it makes me to think that the trick had been played on my own wife and sister, though I must say you are two of the pluckiest women I know to go through all that without a single scream, for I flatter myself we did it very well. Don't you think so, little woman?"

     "I do, indeed," I answered. "No wonder it all seemed so real to us."

     A knock at the door interrupted me, and in answer to Charlie's "Come in!" a slight dark man entered, whom I recognised at once as Dr. Cortis, from Charlie's description of him. 

      "How is Mrs. Lancaster now, Charlie?" he began anxiously. Then catching sight of my face he came quickly forward with outstretched hand. "Mrs. Lancaster, I am wondering if you can ever forgive me for the part I have played in this night's work. I do hope that Charlie has made every possible excuse for our conduct, even to confessing that we drank each other's health in champagne before coming out here."

      "No," I answered, laughing, "he certainly didn't tell me that; but seriously I don't think anyone is to be blamed, unless it is Jo and I, for coming out here at all. But tell me, Dr. Cortis, how Jo is now. Charlie won't let me go to her, and this affair had had such a terrible effect on her when I left her."

     "You can do no good by going to her, Mrs. Lancaster," he returned. "She is sleeping quietly now, though she certainly has had a severe shock; but I have given her a sleeping draught, and we must get her away from here in the morning before she wakes, and as soon as she is able to talk it over we'll explain it all to her."

     The next day we drove home—Charlie and I in our cart, and Dr. Cortis with Jo in a cab, and for some weeks afterwards Jo was in a very precarious state, and Dr. Cortis in constant attendance. 

      He it was who, when she was strong enough to hear it, told her the story of the pretended ghosts, and when she heard it explained she rapidly grew better. The funny part of it was, though, that even when she was quite well again Dr. Cortis still continued his visits, and came regularly every day to inquire for her. One day I happened to come quickly into the drawing-room, and to my surprise and horror found Jo's golden head pillowed on the doctor's shoulder in a most confiding attitude. 

      My appearance seeming to call for some slight explanation, he said, quietly: 

      "I have been telling Jo another story, Mrs. Lancaster."

      And Jo, looking up, laughing and blushing from his shoulder, interrupted him— 
      "I suspect it is a story too, Dot. He was telling me that he loves me."

Sunday 18 December 2011

HISTORY MURDERED: Conveyed to South Brisbane Cemetery Morgue for post-mortem

 South Brisbane Cemetery from the Brisbane River, ca. 1896
During the past week, South Brisbane Cemetery has experienced some very good...and some very bad.  The very good came on Wednesday night, with the exposure of an old ghost story of the cemetery which has become horribly jumbled, published on The Chris Dawson History Blog entitled, "The Woman in Black: Solving the mystery of a vanishing ghost."  The very bad came the next night, on Thursday, when the female toilet block within the cemetery was set on fire by an arsonist just prior to 10pm - whilst the fire was extinguished soon after, the building was significantly damaged.  

So, with jumbled ghost stories and cemetery buildings at the forefront of South Brisbane Cemetery news this week, one particular puzzling tale immediately comes to mind.  For some years now, a ghost story has been told on the commercial tours of the cemetery regarding a building that once stood alongside Section 6B - over the space of this article, we'll collate all the necessary historic information required & investigate why this tale is so intriguing.  The story, as relayed to me by those who have taken this tour, goes:

A wooden building used to exist on the site up until a couple of decades ago, when it was demolished to make way for the current cemetery buildings alongside Section 6B.  For the vast bulk of the 1900's, up until its removal, the building was utilised as the Sexton's office, & earned a solid reputation for bizarre incidents & ghostly occurrences.  Items within the building were regularly upset or moved, tools vanished & weird sounds were frequently heard.  Now, it seems that the building's mere situation within the cemetery grounds was not the cause for these supposedly haunted happenings - prior to its conversion into the Sexton's office around 1900, this wooden building had acted as the State Government morgue - the very room in which the cemetery staff would consume their lunches had been the room in which the autopsies had been performed.  Bodies were brought from all over Queensland for the purpose of post-mortem examinations - most notably to the history of Brisbane, those who had lost their lives during the terrible 1893 floods were conveyed to this morgue for autopsy & identification.

Keeping this in mind, we need to delve into the annals of history for some perspective.  Throughout February 1893, multiple drowning deaths occurred as a result of the devastating 1893 Brisbane floods.  The details of each drowning, & subsequent Magisterial Inquiries, were documented in the Brisbane Courier - George Brown, who drowned about the 4th of February & was located a week later at Gardens Point, was taken to the hospital morgue; Alexander Freese, who drowned in Grey Street on the 6th of February, was taken to the hospital morgue; Katie Maher, who drowned near Queen Street on the 11th of February, was taken to the hospital morgue; Michael Joyce, who drowned near the Brisbane Wharves on the 11th of February, was taken to the hospital morgue; Patrick Casey, who drowned near Breakfast Creek on the 17th of February, was taken to the hospital morgue; Sydney Hollyman, who drowned in Edward Street on the 19th of February, was taken to the hospital morgue. Whilst further drowning deaths occurred as a result of the 1893 floods, 6 examples are adequate to aid in our investigation.

Two further records must be mentioned before we get to the crux of our investigation, as they are of major importance - on the 9th of September 1896, residents alerted the police to the body of a young girl floating in the river at the foot of the South Brisbane Cemetery.  The police responded immediately, recovering the body from the water, & conveyed the remains to the hospital morgue. After a post-mortem examination was conducted, the body was identified as that of Lottie McCrea, a servant girl who had resided on Boggo Road (now Annerley Road).  4 years later, on the 25th of April 1900, the body of a man was recovered from the river below the South Brisbane Cemetery in an advanced state of decomposition.  The remains were conveyed to the hospital morgue for an autopsy, however all attempts at identification were unsuccessful - the unfortunate soul was buried, possibly back in South Brisbane Cemetery, the next day on the 26th of April.  In both of these cases, & especially the second, the bodies required transport over fair distance to the hospital morgue by either watercraft or by road via horse-drawn hearse - why not transfer these bodies onto land at the foot of the cemetery & traverse the couple of hundred metres to the State Government morgue within the cemetery grounds??

I possess countless records or murder, suicide & accident victims whose remains were conveyed to one of Brisbane's hospital morgues for post-mortem & identification between the years of 1870 when South Brisbane Cemetery was declared open & 1901, when we are expected to believe that the cemetery morgue was converted to a Sexton's office - not one record mentions the South Brisbane Cemetery Morgue.  So...why did the State Government Morgue, the prior site of which is visited every weekend by Ghost Tours' South Brisbane Cemetery Tour, see little if any action as the State Government Morgue??  The answer is very simple - no morgue, State Government or otherwise, ever existed within the grounds of South Brisbane Cemetery!

Photo taken from the Friends of South Brisbane Cemetery website,
showing the flood height in cemetery during 2011 Brisbane floods.

Almost all of this tale is a fallacy - almost all.  To get to the 2% truth in the story, we need to once again head back into the annals of history to uncover the scant details from which this story was concocted.  From the above, we know that many of the 1893 flood victims were conveyed to hospital morgues & not a morgue in South Brisbane Cemetery - given that the lower sections, & buildings alongside Section 6B, of South Brisbane Cemetery were inundated during the floods earlier this year (picture above) at a flood height of 4.46 metres, in comparison to the 1893 floods which peaked at 8.3 metres (almost 4 metres higher) we can only imagine what would have happened to a wooden morgue building in the cemetery grounds on this same piece of ground...it's clear that even if the wooden building had miraculously survived, it would have been in no condition to have officially held bodies from the floods, unless they had fortuitously washed in whilst the building was completely submerged.  Similarly, I have attended ghost tours in Tasmania, Victoria, New South Wales & Queensland that visit actual morgues - never once have I ever come across a morgue that was built in anything but stone or concrete - a timber morgue exposed to the summer heat of Brisbane is a truly novel concept, in an age prior to refrigeration!

So to the 2% truth - the story of the South Brisbane Cemetery Morgue seems to be an amalgamation of two unrelated stories of the cemetery...& an amalgamation of very scant details at best.  The tale consists of a little concerning the Sexton's office, a little concerning the cemetery tool shed, & a lot concerning a non-existent morgue.  From the Heritage Listing on the Department of Environment & Resource Management's website, "Work on the cemetery was halted by wartime shortages of labour and materials, but recommenced in 1945 when a survey of the cemetery noted lavatory blocks for men and women, two shelter sheds, a timber sexton's cottage, a timber tool room, motor shed and men's room. A brick staff amenities block was constructed in 1954."  Here, we find no mention of a timber Secton's office, however the Sexton's cottage mentioned was a different structure that existed until 15 years ago in a different section of the cemetery, until it burnt down.  The old wooden tool shed existed near the front gate, but was pulled down in the 1980's - finally giving us the "demolished a few decades ago" part of the story.  All in all, we have yet another story of South Brisbane Cemetery that has lost its way.

As a postscript, I came across a quote, on Ghost Tours' website of all places, that I think links in with this story precisely - "Many other ghost tours fail to record or preserve this historical information (because in most cases it does not exist), instead relying on either the sensational improvable impressions of questionable psychics or merely tell scant stories from clients on tours. This does not justify a site as haunted and is misleading. It brings disrepute to a unique type of cultural heritage tourism which is growing in popularity worldwide. Clients on such tours expect and need to demand to know whether claims made have been substantiated."  Never a truer word has been spoken - as the paying public, people on Ghost Tours' tours need to demand that claims made have been substantiated, & whilst these demands are yet to be met by Ghost Tours who provided this very advice on their website, the Haunts of Brisbane will always be there to pick up the slack.

Saturday 10 December 2011

Brisbane's "Gruesome" Courts: when horrible research breeds terrible journalism

 
The original Supreme Court building, ca. 1879 
This time next year, the current Brisbane Supreme & District Court Building will lay vacant.  The new Brisbane Supreme & District Court building, taking shape across the road from Roma Street Station & due for completion in the middle of 2012, will take its place at a cost of $570 million.  As reported in the Courier Mail on Thursday (8th December 2011), the Queensland Government is about to seek tenders for a new inner-city development on the site including a hotel & cinema complex.  However, fresh talk about the future utilisation of this site brings to mind an article published in the Brisbane Times on the 24 February 2010, "If you ask staff at Brisbane's Supreme and District Court building - the place is haunted."  So, on what collective ghostly evidence has this haunted classification been handed down??

Apparently, according to the article, the Courts building is haunted due to its "gruesome" nature - "It's a place where stories of violence and horror have been heard and ghosts are often drawn to these sort of places. Their spirits get trapped there."  So clearly, there's on ongoing basis of died-in-the-wool haunted activity within the walls of the building, given cases that have been tried within its confines - & in being completely fair (please follow me through the Brisbane Times article to make sure I don't miss anything), here is a list of otherworldly phenomena that are intrinsic to the building in order of publication (similar instances have been amalgamated): 

i)     Unexplained "whooshes" of air. 
ii)    A seemingly-possessed elevator. 
iii)   A Judge's chair that mysteriously spins in the night. 
iv)   Unspecified "spooky and freaky" incidents. 
v)   Unspecified "supernatural incident" in the basement (dealt with below). 
vi)   Isolated hand-dryer starting in toilet. 
vii)  Isolated Exit doors shaking (stiff breeze on the night?). 
viii) Feeling of not being alone? 
ix)   Portraits & dressed dummies that cause apprehension.

Ok...So, let's remove the spooky feeling of not being alone (subjective), unexplained "whooshes" of air (subjective), unspecified "spooky and freaky" incidents (subjective), possible Brisbane City thoroughfare-induced winds shaking Exit doors (subjective), & portraits/plastic dummies that cause apprehension (subjective).  We can also easily dismiss the "unspecified" supernatural incident where "two painters were in a sealed-off room in the building's basement doing maintenance work when, they claimed, a gust of icy cold wind "whooshed" past them."  This not only falls into the "whooshes" of air (subjective) category, but defies logic - how do workers carry out painting (with fumes) in a supposedly sealed-off room...& how did they get into it in the first place?!?  So, what are we left with?  A seemingly-possessed 30 year old elevator, a Judge's chair that mysteriously spins at night & a one-off hand-dryer incident.  As can be seen, the evidence collected for this article is very shaky at best.  Furthermore, the ridiculous notion that the Courts Building is most likely haunted due to its "gruesome" nature goes to show that both the Brisbane Times journalist, & "Jack" Sim of Ghost Tours notoriety, completely failed to do their homework before the article went to publication.

Stories of the resident ghost have been told throughout the corridors of the Courts Building for years now - even yesterday morning (Saturday, 10th of December), whilst discussing the upcoming refit of the building, a cheeky editorial article appeared on p.43 of the Courier Mail, wondering, "what will happen to the famous court ghost?"  However to get to the more likely genesis of this haunting, we need to delve back through 185 years of history - & believe it or not, we won't be placing our bets on the "gruesome" nature of the Queensland Justice System!

According to the Brisbane Times, "Mr Sim, author of the book Haunted Brisbane, has interviewed several staffers who claimed to have witnessed ghost activity in the building, particularly in the basement.  He said the workers believed the ghosts belonged to prisoners who died in the cells of the original court building built in 1876.  The structure was burnt down by an arsonist in 1968 but some of the original basement cells were kept and form part of today's court building, he said."  In truth, only a section of the original building, officially opened on the 6th of March 1879, was damaged by arson on the 1st of September 1968.  By this time, the decision had already been made to clear the site to make way for a modern structure - a further 8 years passed until October 1976 when the remainder of the building was demolished to make way for the current Court District Precinct, with the new Supreme & District Court Building finally opening officially on the 3rd of September 1981.  Period records show that in the mid 1870's, the site was leveled in order to construct the original building, with no mention of cell blocks being constructed below ground level - given the absolute lack of automated earth-moving equipment in the 1870's, the existence of underground cells is highly dubious. Furthermore, given the number of basement levels in the current building, if original cells had existed below the Supreme Court building, they would have been destroyed during construction of the current Courts.

Our target lies back in early 1827, the Moreton Bay Penal settlement having just been founded. From its first days, the penal settlement began to earn a reputation for its high mortality rate - as published in a an earlier Haunts of Brisbane blog, "What lies beneath: The forgotten souls of Moreton Bay," excessive floggings for minor breaches of conduct oft times proved fatal, whilst malnutrition & tropical disease delivered many more to an early grave.  Over the following years, the Moreton Bay Penal Settlement would record a higher mortality rate than any other penal settlement in Australia, the first year of operation being so brutal that the need for a hospital was vital.  Built aside from the main settlement complex, the hospital functioned in a penal capacity until Brisbane Town was opened to free settlement in the early 1840's, finally becoming a public hospital to cater to the growing free population.  However, as the population rapidly expanded, as did cases requiring urgent medical attention, it became clear that the hospital facilities were grossly inadequate.  In 1867, a new larger hospital was opened in Bowen Park (which in time became the Royal Brisbane Hospital at Bowen Hills), & the old hospital site was handed over to the constabulary for use as a police barracks.

By the early 1870's, the 1828-buit Convict Barracks which was now serving as a makeshift courthouse was also in dire need of repairs - the old hospital site appeared perfect for the construction for a new, purpose-built Court building.  Thus, in 1875 the constabulary were moved to the old military barracks at Petrie Terrace (the currently refitted Police Barracks site at the top of Caxton Street), & the former convict hospital at North Quay was demolished...the next year construction began on the beautiful Supreme Court building pictured at the top of this blog, which would serve the growing metropolis of Brisbane for almost the next 100 years...and as they say, "the rest is history!"

So, the next time someone tells you the Supreme Court building is haunted due to its "gruesome" nature (or because a few prisoners allegedly perished within their cells beneath it), remind them of the hundreds of convicts & free settlers who actually drew their dying breaths on that very same site, many under horrific circumstances, in Brisbane's first hospital 150 years ago.

Saturday 3 December 2011

Some bushrangers, a double execution & a modern-day restaurant: Cleveland's addition to the haunted register

In late 1899, The Queenslander published a number of articles penned by Thomas Archer, underneath the collective title, "Recollections of a Rambling Life - Pioneering in Queensland."  Thomas, one of seven brothers collectively known as the Archer Brothers, played an amazing role in the early history of Queensland, as did his siblings.

Of the brothers, Charles escorted Ludwig Leichhardt to the family property at Durundur (current-day Woodford) in 1843, where the famous explorer resided for a number of months & became a lifetime family friend; William, along with brother Charles, were the first Europeans to discover the Fitzroy River (through Rockhampton), which they named after the New South Wales Governor Charles Augustus Fitzroy; David accompanied Charles Darwin on a kangaroo hunt, unsuccessfully, outside Wallerawang in the Blue Mountains in 1836 as part of Darwin's legendary world voyage;  Archibald became a member of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, & acted as Colonial Treasurer & Minister for Education; Colin went on to become a shipbuilder, constructing the vessel Fram in which Fridtjof Nansen undertook his famous Arctic expedition.  In amongst these achievements, this band of brothers were responsible for exploring & opening up vast areas of Queensland for grazing from the Darling Downs all the way to the Fitzroy - the brothers eventually settled in the Fitzroy region & established Gracemere Station in league with my great great grand uncle Robert Pacey, whose family went on to further their own amazing cattle empire in the region...part of this vast property is now the site of the current Queensland city of Rockhampton, & also gave name to the township of Gracemere beyond the city's limits.

In one of Thomas's articles in The Queenslander, he documents a fascinating story of early Australia, regarding a young man named Francis Edward Bigge whom he'd met whilst exploring the Stanthorpe area for viable grazing land.  In mid-1842, Francis & company had taken delivery of horses in the vicinity of Penrith in New South Wales, for delivery to Moreton Bay.  After suffering through 400km of harsh country & weather, the group of men successfully navigated their way to the vicinity of Tamworth on the 18th of August...however, their journey was about to take a colourful detour - suddenly, 3 men galloped into view, guns drawn, & demanded the party immediately dismount & disrobe.  Not one to be insulted in such a way, Francis emphatically refused & drew 2 pistols from his belt.  Outraged at Bigge's act of defiance, the bushrangers opened fire at close range, Francis returning fire in kind.  Miraculously, the bushrangers having expended their ammunition, Bigge managed to chase them off, taking possession of their abandoned horses & equipment.  However, the altercation came at a cost - during the melee, Bigge was shot through the shoulder which led to a 5 day stint in bed, & his clothing exhibited numerous bullet holes where he'd come within millimetres of further injury.

Ultimately, 2 of the 3 highwaymen, George Wilson & Thomas "Long Tom" Forrester, were arrested shortly after, Bigge having personally assisted in the manhunt - Wilson had arrived in the colony aboard the Moffatt on the 17th of August 1835, after having been sentenced to life at the Old Bailey in London.  However, on the 9th of February 1841, he had escaped from a chain gang & had joined up with Thomas Forrester - the two had taken to bushranging in northern New South Wales, & by the time of the altercation with Bigge had already had a £20 bounty placed on each of their heads by the Government.   At the Maitland Assizes on the 18th of March 1843, both prisoners registered a guilty plea, despite the Judge's repeated attempts to sway their decision, as a charge of "wounding with intent to murder" carried the death penalty.  After Bigge's deposition had been read, & both prisoners insisted they were guilty of the crime, the Judge had no other option but to sentence the pair to be hanged.  On the 25th of April 1843, both George & Thomas went to the gallows - it is said George stated that Mr. Bigge was surely the pluckiest man in the country & he did not mind swinging for such a man - as the newspaper of the day so poignantly reported, "The drop fell, and both were launched into eternity, for which they declared themselves prepared."

So, where's this week's ghost, you may ask?? Well, let's jump forward 10 years to 1852 & change location to Cleveland, just south of Brisbane, on the shores of Moreton Bay.  By this time, Francis Bigge had become a very wealthy landowner, businessman & elective member of the first New South Wales Legislative Council for the Pastoral Districts of Moreton, Wide Bay, Burnett & Maranoa.  Amongst other properties he owned in Cleveland, Francis purchased land in Paxton Street on which a brick building was constructed in 1853 to house workers for his various business interests nearby.  However, by the mid-1850's, Bigge's business interests at Cleveland were beginning to falter in favour of those in the rapidly expanding centre of Brisbane nearby, & the decision was made to downsize - the Paxton Street residence was rented to the Commissioner of Police for a courthouse & lock-up, & Francis took a sojourn to England in about 1856.  Whilst abroad, he married Elizabeth Ord in 1857, a devoutly religious woman & daughter of the Reverend Thomas Ord, before returning to Cleveland with his new bride in June 1858.  After a further 15 years spent in Cleveland, having accepted membership to the Queensland Legislative Council, Francis & Elizabeth returned again to England, where they saw out their days until both passed away in 1915 & 1914 respectively.

So, to our ghost - the courthouse was purchased as a private residence in 1882, & continued as such until it was converted to tea rooms in the 1960's.  In the late 1970's, a very ambitious project was undertaken by the owner to expand the property for use as a restaurant, for which the site has been utilised until the present day.  Best summed up on the Brisbane History website, "Stories of the Old Cleveland Courthouse Ghost (a middle-aged woman in a white gown, her dark hair gathered in two tight buns over her ears) have circulated for generations. No one knows for sure who she is, but most people believe it is Francis Bigge's wife, Elizabeth. The spectre is normally well behaved, content to amuse herself tapping staff and diners on the shoulder or blowing gently in their ears but she has been know to lose her temper on rare occasions, hurling items about the restaurant, switching lights on and off, fiddling with taps and causing valuable pictures to crash to the floor without, curiously, the glass in the frames ever breaking."  A quick look at The Courthouse Restaurant website provides more information, "Mrs Elizabeth Bigge is said to still wander the premises.  She died of hanging in England, but her spirit has returned to the place where she was the happiest.  There have been many sightings, as she seems to just co-exist peacefully, whilst keeping a watchful eye on the place when we are not here..."

So, what do we make of this??  There is clearly no doubt that the site has a resident ghost, although it is very debatable as to "who" is responsible for the haunting. What's more intriguing is the tale that Elizabeth Bigge "died from hanging" in England - it is highly dubious that a woman of such social status was hanged in 1914, nor is it likely that a devoutly religious daughter of a Reverend would take her own life by hanging (she would likely have been in her 80's at the time)...I would love to hear from anyone who can confirm the validity of this?  Ultimately, why Elizabeth's ghost would return to a building in Cleveland, after living abroad for 45 years, is anyone's guess...

However one very intriguing factor comes into play - for those who believe that spirits attach themselves to objects & places, the old courthouse houses something very special that may very well have given rise to the haunting.  During the 1977-78 renovations, suitable materials had to be sourced for the construction of the building extensions - amazingly, a fireplace fitted to the verandah extension was sourced from the sadly demolished Bellevue Hotel, a magnificent building that stood on the corner of George & Alice Streets & was a social hub for the elite in the Brisbane CBD.  Additionally, the main feature wall of the restaurant was constructed using brick & sandstone salvaged from the old Supreme Court Building in Brisbane after it had been gutted by fire - unfounded claims have been made about the haunted nature of the Supreme Court site recently, for the most ridiculous of reasons, however we'll be sure to examine the site's actual haunted history in a future article. Regardless, The Old Courthouse exhibits all the hallmarks of an ongoing haunting, & has every reason to do so given its colourful history...unfortunately, however, we may never know whose soul wanders amongst the tables during dinner service.

Friday 25 November 2011

O' 13th Avenue, Where Art Thou??


12th Avenue within Toowong Cemetery - amongst all other Avenues, this Avenue has always held a special place in my heart as I have family buried there.  At the bottom of the hill, alongside 8th Avenue & almost in line with 12th Avenue, the first wife of my great grandfather, who died in childbirth, is interred (mother to 5 children, half-siblings to my grandmother - 4 of them are interred nearby).  At the top of the hill, just past the end of 12th Avenue at the intersection of 2nd & 3rd Avenue, my grandfather's aunty & family are interred.  My great great grandparents & 6 of their children are interred within an area known as "the grove" alongside 12th Avenue, an area heavily overgrown with Bunya Pines & Camphor Laurel trees, & populated with amazing monumental masonry that has always fascinated me.   Most importantly, which will become apparent shortly, another grave housing my great great grandparents & 1 of their children, lies alongside 13th Avenue.  Needless to say, I know this section of Toowong Cemetery incredibly well, given the number of family interments within its confines.

Searching for stories of Brisbane ghosts & hauntings as I regularly do, my interest peaked recently whilst reading an article published in the City South News, reporter unlisted, on the 13th of September 2010 entitled, "Tour issue dead and buried."  The article itself was unengaging aside from a sadly downplayed parting comment by the Greater Brisbane Cemetery Alliance Vice-President Kelvin Johnston, stating more should be done to prosecute cemetery trespassers - only one year prior, vandals had gone on a rampage through a section of the cemetery, resulting in the destruction of over 80 graves.  Sadly, after a protracted court case, the 4 individuals were acquitted of charges on the back of inadequate cemetery laws.  However, my interest was instantly drawn to a public comment posted about the piece by "Jason" - "Just compare a Ghosts of Toowong map to a real one of Toowong Cemetery to see how Mr. Sim has relocated 13th avenue." 

So, what of these claims of a "relocation" of Toowong's 13th Avenue??  A quick Google search on "toowong cemetery 13th avenue" brought up a blog site, which stated, "At the corner of 12th and 13th Avenue it is said that the Angel of Death stands and hisses whoever comes near."  From this lead, various related search strings pulled up further hints, including testimony from one of the tour guides of the Toowong Cemetery tour  - "While I waiting on the hill alone above the intersection of 12th and 13th Avenue (the place where The Angel is said to appear) I heard a male voice whispering to the right behind me."  Yet another personal blog site stated, "At the corner of 12th and 13th Avenue, said to be the middle point of the graveyard (there is no street sign to mark 13th Avenue as it is the most stolen street sign in Queensland) we joined hands and summoned the Angel of Death.  He must have been taking a night off."  Here, another very important factor wades into the mix - the 13th Avenue sign, allegedly "the most stolen street sign in Queensland".  After some more detective work speaking to extended friends who had taken the tour of Toowong Cemetery, I discovered that the intersection of 12th & 13th Avenue was located above the Mayne monument at the high point of 12th Avenue - I was assured that this "fact" was verified by the "angel" story & Toowong Cemetery map in the book, The Ghosts of Toowong Cemetery: Brisbane's Haunted Necropolis.




Seeking out the story & map in said book, I located the section about the "angel of death" on page 23 - there I found the reference again, as clear as day - "At the intersection of two roads - Twelfth and Thirteenth Avenues, a crossroads in the dead centre of the cemetery..."  I then flipped to the associated map of Toowong Cemetery on page 37, which clearly showed the intersection of 12th & 13th Avenue (marked at Figure 8 above). For reference, the photo at the top of this article shows the intersection, complete with 12th Avenue sign & jagged bracket below where the 13th Avenue sign has supposedly been torn free by thieves.  So - you're likely wondering where I'm going with this?  Well, having family buried alongside both 12th & 13th Avenues & knowing the area of the cemetery extremely well, I can categorically state that no such intersection between the two Avenues exists!  A simple search of the Brisbane City Council website provides a link to the official map of Toowong Cemetery - this map clearly shows that the intersection in question is actually between 12th Avenue & 11th Avenue. 13th Avenue exists much further along 8th Avenue at the bottom of the hill, & in no way comes anywhere near the top of 12th.  Furthermore, the intersection is far from the centre of the cemetery, as claimed.  Conveniently, the missing sign at the top of 12th Avenue belongs to 11th Avenue, not 13th.


How such a glaring error could possibly be made (& continues to be made), given the ease with which the Council's official Toowong Cemetery map can be accessed, is anyone's guess.  However, given that the associated ghost tale hinges wholly on the location of the crossroads between 12th & 13th Avenue (which clearly does not exist), one can only call into question the overall legitimacy of the supposed haunting.  There is no doubt that 12th Avenue is an amazing place, made even more so by the almost mystical grove located down its side...changed street names & the attachment of tall tales only aid in cheapening the historic & potentially paranormal nature of the site.  As a final note, one solitary tidbit of information did come to light whilst investigating the "crossroads" claim, found on a forum site - "I know a friend who told me that a certain 13th avenue either disappeared or appeared (bad memory) at toowong cemetery..."  Perhaps this rumour explains my inability to locate the fabled crossroad...or then again, perhaps it is just as fictitious as the intersection itself??