Tungamah Hotel Spook: Tungamah : VIC

[KANACKI]

Greetings once again old Kanacki has been whipped into shape by the fantastic efforts of Headless finding so many ghost stories that it hard for me to keep up. We try only to post ones with more information or approximate location and hopefully people to story we can identify. Yet some just defy any around of research.

While we try to get as close to real story as possible. Some stories will have correction as other information comes to light. These stories and i guess why your here reading this like me and headless are stories and yarns are part of our folklore. While many will turn out to be just stories others stories will have deeper stories behind them some you could say are explainable.

So sit back enjoy the yarn and once again many thanks to headless for the following haunted pub yarn. Who doesn't a pub ghost story? Perhaps i should say whats a pub without a ghost?

The following pub can be visited and if passing please drop in and you might just see a spirit or two? For those who cannot see the following picture I suggest signing up to this wonderful forum as it gives a fantastic insight into the paranormal. And a amazing insight into haunted places in Australia.

Anyway enjoy.

To continued....

Kanacki

[KANACKI]

As at present there are jobs going everywhere at present. One such place has an unusual job advertisement.

WE'RE HIRING!! Tungamah Hotel is looking for staff to join our family for bar and kitchen/dining room shifts! Must love beer, be able to lift beer and serve beer, must not be afraid of ghosts! If you would like to join our team, please enquire within by sending us a message with your details and any relevant experience and we will be in touch.

Strange advert advising any prospective employee of a ghost?

Tungamah was established in 1875 with grain production in mind. The name came from the local Aboriginal word denoting the native wild bush turkey. and on the original town plan, the site of the pub was owned by a Mr. George Christian. The original small wooden pub opened in late October 1881. Mr. Christian finished building his pub and leased it out to Archibald McIntyre.

Sometime in 1884, Mrs McIntyre choked on a biscuit at the pub causing a coughing fit that led to a fatal
aneurysm. The following year, McIntyre left and Christian started managing the pub himself.  In 1889 when a five-year lease was advertised in the papers by Mr Christian but not long after that though, the hotel was burnt to the ground.

To be continued......

Kanacki

[KANACKI]

It was rebuilt as a strapping Victorian-style two-storied edifice with upstairs verandah and ornate iron railings. It was advertised for sale/lease in March 1891, and the new publican was John Birt with his wife Susan and family living onsite. At this time, there were another three pubs in town – the Commercial, the Royal, and the main competitor the Victoria (1885). The Farmers Arms some six kilometres away at Rowans Lake was also popular. The Birt’s son John junior was run over by a train on the night of 26 January 1892 near the pub and a year later, John senior died at the pub after having the flu for a couple of weeks.

Susan soldiered on alone but eventually sold the licence to Marion Burton in 1896, whilst she still maintained ownership, finally going bankrupt in 1900.

To be continued.....

Kanacki

[KANACKI]

The pub was taken over by an experienced couple, Michael and Margot Kerr. They had successfully run the Farmer’s Arms from 1883 and when that closed, they were the obvious choice to take over. Their popular and successful running of the Tungamah Hotel was blighted by the death of their one-year-old son Desmond at the pub in 1913. They had six other children with two of them, Edward and William perishing in active service during of World War 2. In the meantime, the original founder of the pub George Christian had seen his fortunes fade and in 1902, he committed suicide with a gun in the town of Devenish, some 20 kilometres south.

To be continued....

Kanacki

[KANACKI]

Michael finally decided to retire and move back to Melbourne (he was born in Preston, 1853). The hotel’s license was passed to one Electra Poulton in September 1920, with her publican Herbert George running the place. Michael Kerr passed away in January 1921 whilst in the process of moving his family to Dandenong, and Margot passed seven years later in Essendon aged 53. Things didn’t work out for Mr George and in March 1922, the pub was sold to William Spaven and his wife Sarah. They had relocated from Cowes on Phillip Island to Tungamah for this new opportunity.

The Spavens became very popular around town and the pub was highly successful. William served as president of the local football club (1925-27) and was involved in various town committees and events. He passed away on 25 September 1936 aged 66. Sarah battled on for another two years but passed away on 9 September 1938. Loved by the community, a special upgraded headstone ceremony was held in 2019.

To be continued.....

Kanacki

[KANACKI]

Alfred Rogers ran the Commercial during the 1930s but in 1941 he was forced to relinquish the license, and so he moved across to manage the Tungamah Hotel. Leading up to that, after the Spaven connection had ended, the town’s main pub had had three publicans in as many years. Rogers was definitely still there in 1946 as he won 2nd prize in a prestigious local raffle in March of that year. Around Christmas that year though, he and his wife Ruby were in mourning when their daughter Valerie died after a short illness akin to meningitis. The distraught Rogers family quit the following year.

From there, the pub is mentioned as being up for sale in newspapers of October 1948 and March 1951, with seven publicans in the 10 period after the Rogers’ departure. The pub nearly closed for good in 1969 when it was deemed too run down to meet various hygiene standards, but the community banded together to save it. In 1981, the pub was classified by the National Trust at the time of the centenary of a hotel on that site. Brian “Benny” Milne ran the pub for a few years from the late 1990s until suddenly passing away in October 2002 aged just 52. More recently, North Melbourne AFL premiership player of 1975 Peter Chisnall ran the Tungamah Hotel from around 2002 to 2014.

To be continued....

Kanacki

[KANACKI]

The prerequisite it seems for a building or place to be haunted is usually that someone has suddenly or before their time passed away there, or someone who has lived in the premises for a lengthy period of time has died either there or somewhere else. Given the history of deaths at the Tungamah Hotel itself, any number of candidates could still have a presence in the 130-year-old building.

The only problem is that there is very little information about who or what exactly is haunting the hotel? mention of voices and activity upstairs, with the visitor’s lounge being a centre of attention, and that a number of the rooms are “scary”. The fact that the bar staff advertisement mentions the ghost suggests that things happen on the ground floor as well. And a spooky photo in the cellar showing intensive orb activity as been taken in 2011. 

To be continued.....

Kanacki

[KANACKI]

So, out of the possible sad candidates mentioned above over the pub’s long history, notwithstanding any other people connected with the building over the years before or since, who may be still hanging around? The ghost is described as “friendly” and hence there isn’t too much information about him or her. The only hint of its identity came from a Facebook post that described a discussion between the poster and the sister of Valerie Rogers, who had died at the pub aged 15 late 1946.

“Met with her 12-18 months ago. Showed her a photo in the pub taken by Irish travellers, soon as she saw it, knew it was Val. Had to ask if Val was waiting for her, when she passes will Val move on from the pub.” (June 2018)

To be continued.....

Kanacki

[KANACKI]

The post was a comment to a photograph of the Rogers family headstone in Albury. Valerie’s sister Yvonne was nicknamed “Billy”. It seems that various people strongly believe it is Valerie’s spirit that still holds its presence at the Tungamah Hotel.

Other people who have lived at the pub have openly stated that they never experienced or saw anything during the time they stayed there. Whether working or being one of the long-term lodgers, a popular alternative to renting in the 1900s, these people didn’t feel a thing. One man named Peter, who lodged in the hotel for many years during the 1960s told his wife Pat that there was no ghost at all there. But during a 2012 organized ghost tour the now much older Peter did experience some things that totally changed his mind.

To be continued.....

Kanacki

[KANACKI]

The Tunagmah Hotel still operates to this day, after surviving a further temporary closure in 2015 when the licensee had financial problems. The pub is known for its charming atmosphere, friendly locals and great food.  One day I will get there and hopefully stay a night, but until then, just reading the story of this history drenched, fascinating and beautiful building captivates me. The reports of spooky voices in the pub suggest more than just Valerie’s spirit. Maybe it’s the chitchat of the close couples Michael and Margot Kerr, or William and Sarah Spaven? Or maybe it’s just an imprinted mixture of the memories that permeate a pivotal part of the centre-piece of a small rural town’s culture and history?

Is the alleged ghost Valerie or just collection of forgotten memories replaying over and over? Perhaps out universe is like one gigantic computer and actions and thoughts are wiped away just like the part of brain to save memory space? Perhaps our universe is the same but with partial scrubbed memories still lingering in a time and space?

Kanacki