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Paranormal and Supernatural => Australian Hauntings Portal => Topic started by: KANACKI on April 26, 2016, 09:31:44 PM
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Here is another interesting story perhaps crossed between fact and folklore dating back to 1931.
A realistic ghost story is told by a Bagman in the in various newspaper of 1931. A Bagman was slang for a tramp wandering the outback for work in the bleak years of the great depression.
' The writer is recounting his experience during a 1300-mile tramp from Victoria to New South Wales, and had reached the point where he had settled down for the night in the porch of a small church near Orange, on the road from Bathurst.
He writes: —I shall never forget the sensation which awoke me. A wave of sheer physical horror seemed to engulf my body. I sat up and looked around. Only the creek and the stars were there. I lay down again and once more that wave of horror swept over my consciousness. It was when fear began to obtrude
that I got off the bench and went outside. The Southern Cross had nearly completed its great sweep
across the- south, and I judged the time to be about 4 a.m. Once out side in. the porch in the keen air the
fear and the horror departed, but I knew another feeling, this time one
of expectation. Among the Headstones.
Something impelled me to go along the side of the little lane on the hill towards the rear, where earlier I had seen half a dozen headstones. I must have stood there for quite a while, when I heard voices. They
seemed low, and I could scarcely separate them from the voice of the creek. But they were voices. Then
I saw a little group of people standing in the darkness less than fifty
yards away. They appeared to be talking among-st themselves. ?????
The strangeness, much less the weirdness,' of the scene held me to the spot. Then, as I peered at
them, I saw a figure coming towards me. Ten feet from me the figure was plain and I saw it was a. girl,
possibly 20 years old, who wore a long white garment and whose feet, to my utter astonishment, were bare.'Stay With Us!'
I find it very hard to describe my sensation at that moment. But the predominant one was that I was not
afraid. Instead of clearing out, I stood there waiting — for what? She was the first to speak.'Won't you stay with us?' she asked, and her voice was the softest voice I'd ever heard.
'Me?' I stammered, completely amazed. And again: 'Me?' 'You see,' she said, 'you have nowhere to go and we like company. Stay with us.' My balance was returning and I took .a long look at her. ?She didn't
seem real somehow. I couldn't make out any part of her clearly.
And those others —?'But where do you live?' I asked. 'Who are they?' All Young. She laughed and I jumped. For her laugh was the babble of the creek. Then she pointed to her companions. And now it seemed as though a light came from somewhere, for I could them plainly. They were men and women, all young, all dressed in white, and all looking at us;'You are tired,' said the girl. 'You have nowhere to go. Stay here and you will never be cold or hungry or tired again.' ..
Then I got her meaning. She—and those others— the headstones —the. lonely hillside, the light. Why,
she was dead — they were dead — I was dying — 'Never to be cold or hungry again.' Was I mad? There
she stood, smiling at me. What Was it?
I know I must have cried out, and the next thing I knew I was running down that hillside as fast as I could,
with my things held anyhow in my arms. I was a long way from that church when I lit a great fire of logs and sat down to collect myself.
To this day I do not know whether I dreamed that scene, whether I went through delirium, or — or — but
the alternative surely could not be.But as I sat at the fire I remembered the words of the Penrith hospital
sister when she urged me to stay there, and told me I had nowhere to go to
Sleep, was far from my mind 'that morning 'as I sat and waited impatiently for the -Dawn, for the dawn and sanity.
Interesting story and I tried to find this mysterious place of this alleged supernatural encounter in 1931. In fact I did find a place that fitted the description of this alleged encounter.
To be continued.....
Kanacki
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Curiosity got the better of me as it seemed an interesting story and in my travels I did find a cemetery and church that fitted the description between Bathurst and Orange.
It was on a dirt country road half forgotten little country church off the beaten track so speak. You even hear the little babble of creek nearby and the cemetery was on the hill across the road from the old stone church. It was such a serene place When I visited on quaint peaceful Sunday afternoon.
Here is some pictures of it posted below.
Kanacki
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Could a man obviously suffering from extreme hypothermia and exposure sleeping out in a cold winters night hallucinate the encounter? Or did he really encounter in the twilight depths of the night and early dawn ghosts from this little forgotten cemetery?
Many questions one could ask, do they still haunt the forgotten cemetery along a half forgotten country lane between death and the world of the living?
Once again I let you be judge of that? But with one thing we may just all agree its stories like this reminds us indeed how much ghost folklore around our great country of ours.
Kanacki
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Is the following graves posted in the picture below the site where this alleged sighting of ghosts took place in 1931 still haunted by the dead young people in the cemetery?
Kanacki
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If so what stories could these dead people tell?
Perhaps theses ghosts are a metaphor to remind us....
When between life and death to ease our fears of the unknown.....
Kanacki
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Or perhaps when anyone who is entering a state of death such as the fellow from the story was able to see ghosts from the departed at the cemetery?
Was it an illusion from a sick man with hypothermia or real encounter?
Once again I am sorry to say I have no answers only questions for you to ponder over.
Kanacki
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Pretty little church Kanacki. This is between Bathurst & Orange & featured in the Trundle News? I have moved up to this area last year, Central West NSW. Are you able to tell me where the church is located,? The encounter seemed to be possibly water nymphs more than ghosts, been so many of them & the creek nearby . 🤔
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Hello Bronwyn
Good to hear from you again. The grave yard and church is in the hamlet of Byng. I got from the Orange historical society a list of names of people buried there. Some where quite tragic.
Surname Other Names Year of Death Age Inscriptions
A.E.A. -- 1871 -- --
Abrahams Margarite 1970 80y Aunty Madge
Adamson Anne Elizabeth 1871 19y Wife of Robert
Adamson Robert James 1871 6wks Son of Anne & Robert
Bennett Mary 1898 2y Sister & Daughter
Bennett James 1912 46y Dear Brother
Bennett Herbert George 1920 21y Son & Brother
Bishop William 1864 70y --
Bray John 1843 21y --
Bray Nicholas 1864 75y --
Bray James 1865 19y --
Bray William 1866 17y --
Bray Mary Ann 1867 58y --
Bray Johanna 1865? 80y --
Burns Henry Bertram 1883 1y11m --
Burns Mary 1897 55y --
Caro Catherine Mary 1967 90y Last Descendant of Thomas & Jane Geake Webb
Cornwall Mary E. 1863 12y Dau. of Sally & Francis
Cornwall Sally 1870 16y Wife of Francis
Cornwall Frank 1875 20y Only son of Sally & Francis
Cornwall Anne 1894 62y Wife of Francis
Cornwall Francis 1906 81y --
Cross Ada -- -- --
Dowton Ada Violet Randall 1914 28y Rem. by Claude
Dunlop William 1903 69y --
Dunlop Jane 1903 -- Wife of William
Ellis John 1909 78y --
Ellis Emma 1923 87y --
Evans Celia Bertha 1888 18y11m --
Field May Beryl 1922 2y --
Field Arthur 1963 72y Husband & Father
Field Sarah Ellen 1966 69y Dear Mum
Fuller Harriet 1873 60y Wife of Edward
Geake Webb Thomas 1879 53y --
Geake Webb Jane 1897 51y --
Glasson Annie 1872 32y Wife of Gustavus
Glasson Irene Millicent 1962 79y Wife of Wesley
Goodlock Vic. May 1941 48y Our Dear Parents
Goodlock Albert Ed. 1953 71y Our Dear Parents
Grenfell Richard 1873 86y Native of St Just CON
Harvey Henry 1907 54y --
Harvey Mary 1912 54y --
Hawke Mary 1865 1y6m 3rd Daughter of Anne & Frederick
Hawke Frederick 1867 46y Beloved Husband of Anne
Hawke Jane 1875 68y Wife of George
Hawke George 1882 80y Of Pendarves
Hawke Ada Alice 1894 28y Daughter of Ann & Francis
Hawke Mary Wilkinson 1896 46y Wife of William
Hawke William 1902 56y --
Hawke Edith Violet 1919 41y Born at Pendarves
Hawke Alma Jane 1944 63y Daughter of William & Mary Hawke
Hayward Annie Marion 1936 72y Wife of William
Hayward William Edward 1943 79y --
Howarth Harriet 1894 44y --
J.X.H. -- 1872 18y? --
Lane James 1865 19y --
Lane Eliza 1865 62y Beloved Wife of Richard
Lane Mary 1872 58y Beloved wife of John
Lane Richard 1875 86y --
Martin John A.E. 1935 60y --
Martin Amy Maud 1953 65y --
Moore Robert 1931 55y Dear Husband
Oates Elizabeth 1867 66y --
Oates Elizabeth Mary 1869 12y Daughter of Wm. & Eliza
Oates Francis James 1870 11m Son of Wm. & Eliza
Oates Eliza 1892 -- 1834-1892 Of St Kevertine CON
Oates William John 1893 17y --
Oates William 1900 -- 1832-1900 Of St Kevertine CON
Oates Thomas 1906 71y --
Oates Elizabeth 1915 72y Wife of Thomas
Pasker William John 1865 24y SARAH JEFFERY Erected by Mother
Pearce Thomas 1846 30y --
R.J.A. -- 1871 -- --
Richards Thomas 1902 -- 1822-1902
Robinson Peter 1926 60y Our Dear Brother
Spicer Mary 1905 18y Daughter of Charles & Matilda
Spicer James Caleb 1920 -- Private 5119 5th Mach. Gun Btn.
Spicer Samuel Archibald 1923 33y Dear Son
Spicer Matilda Mary 1933 72y --
Spicer Charles 1939 78y --
Spicer Margaret 1941 77y Our Dear Mum
Spicer Valma Jeanette 1942 9y Daughter & Sister
Spicer Claude 1946 38y Our Dear Son & Brother
Spicer Robert Samuel 1946 89y Our Dear Parents
Spicer James 1953 76y Our Dear Father
Spicer Ellen Hetherington 1957 76y Our Dear Parents
Stevens David 1876 20y 3rd son of Alfred
Thomas Mary 1862 59y Wife of William
Thomas Thomasins 1917 59y --
Tom Annie Selena 1861 4y6m Eldest daughter of James & Marion
Tom Ann 1870 74y Wife of William
Tom William 1883 91y Born at Bodmin CON
Tom Nicholas 1888 59y Born at Tarana
Tom Sarah Susanna 1890 60y --
Tom William 1904 80y First discoverer of gold in Australia
Tom Eliza 1906 73y Wife of Nicholas
Tom William Wesley 1937 76y --
Tom Mathew Henry 1948 88y --
Tom Annie Theresa 1949 79y --
Tom Lilyon 1962 93y --
Webb Charles Edward 1834 76y Son of Emma & Thomas
Webb Horace Wesley 1870 14m 7th Son of Emma
Webb Emma Fletcher 1872 39y --
Webb Alfred Norman 1872 2m 8th Son of Emma
Webb Florence Ellen 1884 7m Daughter of E.R. & Lilly
Webb Hugh Claude 1937 73y --
Webb Isabella Alice 1942 80y Wife of Charles Edward
Webb Gertrude Maria 1956 83y Died at Brisbane: Wife of Hugh Claude
I had wondered if he had encountered the ghost of Mary E. Cornwall aged 12?
Kanacki
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Hello Bronwyn if you ever visit there please take some pictures.
Kanacki
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Hello Kanacki. Wow a lot of young people on that list .I agree though with it possibly being Mary.
I definitely will take pictures, it's something I do a lot of nowadays lol taking photos. Thankyou for the location, I will google search the area & see how far away it actually is .Probably only hour or 2 .
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I am looking forward to see if you can find out anything more?
Kanacki
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I haven't been to the Cemetery yet Kanacki .Although it is only 1.5 hours away .The creek that surrounds my property access has been flooded about 3 or 4 times since May & up for at least a week last one was 2 weeks cut off .Now lockdown for whole NSW , I think I will get out there about October. I hope lol It's still in my thoughts because not only check out history, check out a possible haunting & fossick for rocks . Hope you are well
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Hello Bronwyn
I am well thanks.
Thank you for update. Last night we was hit by the rain event we sort of escaped the worst of it. Stay safe from the flooding. And only go when its safe to do so. I am interested in what you find and please please take some photos.
Kanacki