Ghost Light of One Tree

[Headless2]

One Tree is a location on the Cobb Highway on the flat plain between Hay and Booligal in the Riverina district of New South Wales, Australia. In 1862 a public house was built there, originally called Finch's Inn and the locality developed as a coach changing-stage and watering-place between the Murrumbidgee and Lachlan rivers. One Tree village was surveyed and proclaimed in 1882, though the location remained as just an amenity on the plain, centred on the hotel.

The existing One Tree Hotel is the second building of that name to occupy the site. The first hotel was destroyed by fire in 1899. The hotel was re-built in the same manner as the original structure. The licence of the One Tree Hotel was relinquished in 1942 by its last publican, Frank McQuade. The One Tree Hotel is an important historical building, providing a tangible link to the heyday of pastoral settlement in the Riverina.

The name ‘One Tree’ derives from the presence of a large gum tree on the otherwise treeless plain (called the One Tree Plain). The landmark tree was blown down in a storm on New Year's Eve, 31 January 1897.



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The country around this crumbling ruin is regarded as among the flattest on the planet. It's so flat that you can actually make out the curvature of the earth on the horizon and not just in one direction, but to all points of the compass.

In fact, on the Cobb Highway, 16 kilometres north of Hay, is a special viewing area where, because of the flat landscape, you can simultaneously see the setting of the sun (in the west) and the rising of the moon (in the east) when the moon is full.

Until its liquor licence lapsed in 1942, the One Tree Hotel was a thriving outback outpost. Since then the years have not been kind to the isolated inn and today the dilapidated structure looms imposingly out of a veil of shimmering heat haze, like the back gates to hell.



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Although the last beer was poured here decades ago, the One Tree Hotel remains a famous landmark. Travellers come after hearing tantalising tales of a mysterious light that for over a hundred years has been spotted in and around the One Tree Hotel.

There are various stories about the origins of the mystery light but most relate to travellers on the highway who see a light, which remains in the sky until they are almost at the pub ... only to inexplicably vanish.



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One local tells the story of his brother who, 40 years ago, fled from a drovers camp.

 'As he walked further and further into the saltbush he became disoriented and lost. At around midnight, he spotted a light in the sky, which he followed for over an hour and eventually led him to the One Tree Hotel. Once at the pub, the light disappeared.'



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Although it's easy to imagine a beam of bright light being able to travel for a long way in the five million hectares of the Hay Plain, no-one has ever been able to explain the source of the light or to photograph it. Whenever someone gets close to it, it simply vanishes.



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Wendy MacAskill of Gymea in Sydney recalls her first encounter with the spook light.

‘My parents lived on a property near Booligal and one night I was going into Hay at about 8 pm near One Tree Hotel. A mysterious light followed me for up to 10 miles out of Hay and whilst it was following me it split into two with varying colours.

It was behind me on the highway and appeared to be a car but was a little too close for a car. I went a little faster and it followed me at the same pace and disappeared just as fast as it appeared.'



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In its heyday in the late 1800s, horse groom, Henry Spencer, tended to the horses of visiting coaches at the One Tree Hotel. Legend has it that Henry constantly checked the front of the hotel - lantern in hand - to ensure no coaches had arrived without his knowledge.

Soon after Henry died, sightings of the spooky light peaked, prompting speculation that the mystery light was in fact Henry's restless spirit waiting for one last coach to tend to. Even if this explains some of the reports of the spook light, it certainly doesn't explain them all.



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[Headless2]

However, many sightings predated Henry's death and are also reported roaming almost 100 kilometres away from the pub. Take, for example, Clive Field of Coffs Harbour in New South Wales, who recalls an encounter he had with the light over half a century ago; it was closer to Booligal than to the One Tree Hotel.

'In 1954 while living in Hillston, I was contracted to build a homestead between Hillston and Booligal. In the months that we camped on-site, we saw many strange lights. Our first encounter took place the second night we were camped and we assumed it was a light on a bicycle that appeared to be coming down a well-marked track close to where we were building. It was about a metre off the ground and swayed from side to side as it came towards us, then it suddenly vanished.’

‘We called out thinking that there must be someone there and when there was no response we went searching with our torches but found nothing. After that almost every night we would see lights at different spots and at what seemed varying distances from our site. Once we drove after one of them but we never seemed to gain on it till it vanished ... Generally the locals treat the lights with disdain, but I would like some answers for what I encountered all those years ago.'



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The sightings of this haunting light continue right up to today, making it one of the most common spook lights in the world. Trevor Kane from Narellan in New South Wales, has seen a lot of strange things in his 45 years of long-haul truck driving, but nothing has ever spooked him as much as the strange light of the Hay Plains.



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His vivid account is indicative of dozens of documented reports made by truckies each year and arguably countless unreported sightings.

'While crossing the Hay Plains I encountered a violent electrical storm. The thunder and lightning was unreal. At midnight I stopped at South Hay Truckstop for a meal. At 1 am I started off again. The storm had passed and it was a clear and dark night. There was no moon. After about 30 kilometres I noticed a green light up hich on the right side of my windshield. For the next hour this light stayed there, sometimes appearing closer and brighter and then moving away.’



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‘I stopped and stood next to my truck and watched it for 15 minutes completely confused. I moved on for another half an hour and the light was still there. I finally stopped and slept until daylight.’

‘Two weeks later I met a driver from South Australia while unloading in Sydney. We were talking about strange lights and he mentioned seeing one near Hay. Comparing our log books we discovered he was about an hour behind me on the same night. This was 50 years ago and I can still see this light. I just can't explain it.'

Will you be next to spot the spook light of the One Tree?

[KANACKI]

Hello Headless great story keep up the good work. I found some picture to add to the story.

Kanacki