The Mysterious Blue Mountains

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The wooden planks creak and sink a little under one’s feet as you wander through the hotel. It’s no surprise, they’ve been trampled on for over 118 years. The floorboards in the Hydro Majestic, in the Blue Mountains, NSW, have never been replaced. Much of the hotel’s clientele is made up of repeat customers who return years, even decades later, and like to remember where the creaks are.

Ghosts reportedly still haunt the historic Hydro Majestic Hotel, which started life as a hydrotherapy spa offering 83 treatments that included such delights as liver packs, ear douches, rain and needle baths, bowel kneading and electric rectal faradisation.

A grainy black-and-white photograph in one of the hallways reveals two apparitions hovering at the end of Cats Alley, the wing of the property where women were once relegated to sit and, apparently, gossip, while the men played billiards in the red-walled Salon du The.

When Sir Arthur Conan Doyle stayed at the hotel in 1921 he described the property as “an Arabian Nights palace” and was said to have conducted seances, staff members and hotel guests reported seeing ghosts.



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Stories of ghosts haunting the Hydro Majestic especially around room 402 and the eastern end of the building and the area known as Cats Alley.

Former guest Bethany Burgess tells this story:

“We were told not to knock on the door of Room 402, as that was where the resident ghost was residing. Mind you, there’s more than one ghost at the Hydro. My mother thought it would be fun to knock and so she did. Hell rained down on us that night. The ghost came calling and pinned us to our beds. It wasn’t until we could gasp out a prayer that it left us. I screamed and we checked out. I will never return to the haunted Hydro Majestic.”



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Another guest Terry said:—

“Mesmerised by the ghost stories and maybe a little sceptical, but on the final day I was walking down Cats Alley when a door to the outside that was latched shut suddenly opened, stayed open long enough for someone to walk through and then snapped itself shut again. I turned and said to my wife”

“Did you see that?” She certainly did.

“There was no breeze outside or inside to make it happen and it was latched shut. I’m sure the ghost was saying to me, OK, you need evidence? Then try this.”

Could this be the ghost of Australia’s first Prime Minister?



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Edmund Barton became Australia’s first Prime Minister on New Year’s Day 1901, at a huge public ceremony in Centennial Park in Sydney. Barton resigned as Prime Minister on 24 September 1903 to become a foundation member of the newly established High Court of Australia.

He was one of two judges serving with the inaugural Chief Justice SW Griffith. Barton served on the High Court for over 16 years, until his death on January 1920 at Medlow Bath.



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DEATH OF SIR EDMUND BARTON

Thu 8 Jan 1920:— Sir Edmund Barton, Justice of the High Court, died of heart failure in a bathroom in the Hydro-Majestic, Medlow Bath, this morning. Sir Edmund Barton went into the bathroom at about 8 o'clock for his usual shower, but had not returned an hour later.

Lady Barton became anxious and investigations were commenced. The bathroom door was locked, but on looking through an upper window, Sir Edmund was seen prostrate on the floor. Assistance was quickly secured, and an entrance forced, and Dr Crawford Robertson, who was staying at the hotel was summoned, and after examination pronounced life extinct. Death was caused from heart disease.

Deceased had evidently had a bath, and had put on his dressing gown when he collapsed. Sir Edmund Barton was 71 years of age.



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Like most stories, we need to back track way back to the beginning.

The Hydro Majestic Hotel is located in Medlow Bath, New South Wales, Australia. The hotel is located on a clifftop overlooking the Megalong Valley on the western side of the Great Western Highway. With 82 guestrooms to choose from, Hydro Majestic offers several accommodation options to meet the needs of every guest.

Accommodation at the Hydro Majestic is located across 5 different wings; Belgravia main building, the Belgravia Gallery wing, the Hargravia wing, the Majestic wing and the newly renovated Delmonte wing. Within each wing of the hotel, the art deco-inspired rooms have been designed to reflect the rich heritage of this iconic hotel and of the Blue Mountains with the glamour of yesteryear.

One of the most imposing buildings of the hotel is the casino building. "Casino" in this usage means meeting hall or pavilion, and it was never officially used for gambling. The casino building is an ornate late Victorian Italianate wedding-cake structure which serves as the grand ballroom of the current establishment. The dome was bought in Chicago and shipped to Australia, before being shipped to the Blue Mountains by bullock train and reassembled at the site.

The Australian retailer Mark Foy began to purchase the site in 1902 for the purposes of a hydropathic sanatorium under the belief that the land contained mineral springs. The Hydro Majestic site was originally three different land holdings and their buildings.



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The first was the country retreat of W.H. Hargraves, registrar in Equity and a trustee of the Australian Museum in Sydney, son of the man who claimed credit for the discovery of gold in New South Wales in 1851. The single-storey house, with elaborate tree and shrub plantings, was bought by Mark Foy in 1901 and developed into the Hargravia section of the Hydro.

The second was the hotel. It began as the Belgravia Hotel which was completed in 1891. The hotel was a health retreat and the building was constructed in Queen Anne style. It was owned and operated by Mr and Mrs Ellis and was acquired by Mark Foy in 1903.

The third was a cottage owned by Alfred Tucker, whose widow later ran the Wonderland Park guesthouse to the north of the gatekeeper's cottage. At that stage the town was known as "Medlow" and Mark Foy successfully petitioned the New South Wales government to change the name to Medlow Bath, the current name. It is not known if he requested the name change to make it sound more prestigious, or if he wanted to avoid confusion with another town called Medlow, also in New South Wales.



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Foy spared no expense, building gardens, bringing in his own herd of cows for milk and, not a man to be bested, is said to have had electricity and a working telephone four days before metropolitan Sydney.

By the time the hotel opened in 1904, the mineral springs (if they ever existed) had dried up. Mark Foy had mineral water imported from Germany in large steel containers. After travelling in these containers from Germany to Australia the water reportedly tasted awful, and so it was assumed that it must have been good for a person's health. Guests of the hotel were instructed to drink this water on a regular basis.

By 1906 the popularity of this sort of health retreat had passed and Mark Foy set about rebranding the establishment as a luxury retreat, renaming it the Hydro Majestic. All health treatments and remedies were removed from all advertising, although many remained available on request.



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The sanatorium was replaced by a luxury hotel that opened its doors to cigarettes and alcohol. Weekending Sydneysiders were right behind, and the Hydro Majestic became a party venue for the city elite. Over the decades to come, every effort was made to bring the Hydro forward, but the weight of its past held it down – upgrades were cripplingly expensive.

The Foy family sold the Hydro in 1984 to Sydney lawyer John North, who sold it on to a Malaysian family in 1996. During this time, it became more rundown, its glory seemingly melting into the mountain below. The Escarpment Group bought the hotel in 2008, renovated extensively and reopened in 2014.

The hotel is also frozen in time by government red tape. Some of its balconies stand forever empty because the railings aren’t high enough, but for the sake of history, must be preserved.

Now lets find out more about the hauntings, particularly room 402.



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Mr Foy had his bedroom and living area at the eastern end of the complex (it’s now a conference room). Directly under his room is an area that was used as a morgue. Room 402 is above.

Staff members have seen many sightings of ghostly activities and ‘glowing orbs’ coming from the walls of room 402.

There’s also reports of a ghost nurse moving from room to room checking patients.

A ghost nurse and a morgue?



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“A loud bang and the light bulb was no more, the herd of goats scattered in fear. One of the soldiers convalescing at the hotel during the Second World War, an excess of time and ammunition on hand, was relieving his boredom with a little target shooting; light fittings, garden statuary and indeed the prized goat herd of Mr Foy all fell victim to this bizarre practice”

The Hydro entered yet another phase when, in July 1942, it was requisitioned for the US Army as the 118th General Hospital, providing up to 500 beds for the convalescence of American servicemen. The US Army vacated the premises in 1943.

May explain the hauntings around room 402, however, the hotel has several other resident spirits including a girl in a blue frock and a boy who sits in the dining room chandeliers.



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No records of a boy that sits in the dining room, however, I did find a girl connected to the hotel.

GIRL FOUND DEAD

Sat 15 Jan 1938:— The body of June Clemenger, 20, who had been employed at the Hydro Majestic Hotel, Medlow Bath, for about three weeks, was found to-day under some trees in Station Street, only few hundred yards from the hotel. A cord had been tied tightly round her neck, and her temple had been battered, apparently with a large stone.

Later, a young man was charged at Katoomba with murder, and he will appear before the police court tomorrow.

The dead girl was an attractive blonde, and she filled dual positions at the hotel. She was a typist in the office, and also was in charge of the hotel shop, which is alongside the main dining-room. Up to the time of her appointment on the hotel staff, she lived with her parents in a flat in Blenheim Street, Randwick. She was popular with the guests, but yesterday morning she seemed depressed, appeared agitated.

Police have been told that someone telephoned Miss Clemenger during the morning at the hotel. She closed up the shop, and mentioned to another woman member of the staff that she intended going out for a while. She appeared to be agitated, and asked the woman to accompany her, but the woman was unable to do so. Soon after this discussion, Miss Clemenger walked out of the hotel grounds along Station Street towards the railway station.



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Later in the afternoon, a young man entered the hotel and asked that the police be called. A search was then made for Miss Clemenger, and her body was discovered concealed behind a heap of metal, but close to a number of cottages.

When the Government medical officer. Dr R. W. Richards, of Blackheath, was taken to the spot by Detective-sergeant Devine and Sergeant Bryant, he expressed the opinion that death had taken place less than an hour previously. Dr Richards told the police that, in his opinion, strangulation was the cause of death.

The police believe that there was a quarrel between the girl and young male companion, whom she had known for three years, and that Miss Clemenger told him that she did not desire to continue her friendship with him.

The body was taken to the Katoomba morgue, and the police took a statement from a man, aged 24, before charging him with murder. It is alleged that the man told the police that he lived in Sydney, and that he went to Medlow Bath two days ago. The police will ask for a remand when he appears before the Court tomorrow, pending the fixing of a date for the inquest.



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Another newspaper report which is rather interesting comes from The Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947)
 Fri 14 Jan 1938, stated that:—

“The girl joined the staff of the hotel only three weeks ago. She was wearing shorts and a blue skirt when killed. Friends describe her as a very pretty girl.”

I’m guessing a typo error on the blue skirt, perhaps a blue shirt, or was she wearing a shirt with a blue skirt, either way, a very close description of the alleged girl ghost wearing a blue frock, I’ll let you decide on this one.



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Across the road of the hotel is Medlow Bath Railway Station. There are two ghosts who reside on platforms one and two.

There is an area on platform one where people won’t go at night, it’s not well lit, and the sense of unease is palpable. A gentleman in a long coat, similar to the old railway uniform, who stands at the end of platform one, then disappears.



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