Allen Tiller's Blog, page 15
November 30, 2021
Peter���s Ghost
Peter���s ghost is also alleged to haunt the Owen Road/ Aerodrome Road between four miles between Mallala and Owen. He is seen walking along the side of the road and sometimes hitchhikes.
It is thought the spirit is that of Peter Denis Kierse, a 19-year-old RAAF Leading Aircraftman (LAC), who was killed while on duty obtaining sand for operations at the Mallala Airbase.
According to the Mallala Now and Then website, ���They were travelling in the open back of a three-ton tender. While travelling along Owen Road, the truck moved from the left-hand side of the road to the centre and passed over a rise, giving a sharp jolt and causing LAC Kierse to lose balance. He fell from the truck and was fatally injured.���
Have you experienced this haunting? I would love to hear your story. Contact me at eidolon@live.com.au.
�� Allen Tiller 2021
RAAF No. 6 Service Flight Training School Fatalities, Mallala Now and Then, (2021), https://www.mallala.nowandthen.net.au...
Peter’s Ghost
Peter’s ghost is also alleged to haunt the Owen Road/ Aerodrome Road between four miles between Mallala and Owen. He is seen walking along the side of the road and sometimes hitchhikes.
It is thought the spirit is that of Peter Denis Kierse, a 19-year-old RAAF Leading Aircraftman (LAC), who was killed while on duty obtaining sand for operations at the Mallala Airbase.
According to the Mallala Now and Then website, “They were travelling in the open back of a three-ton tender. While travelling along Owen Road, the truck moved from the left-hand side of the road to the centre and passed over a rise, giving a sharp jolt and causing LAC Kierse to lose balance. He fell from the truck and was fatally injured.”
Have you experienced this haunting? I would love to hear your story. Contact me at eidolon@live.com.au.
© Allen Tiller 2021
RAAF No. 6 Service Flight Training School Fatalities, Mallala Now and Then, (2021), https://www.mallala.nowandthen.net.au...
November 23, 2021
The Ghost of Edmund Bowman.
Edmund Bowman SLSA: [B 6912/ G6]
Edmund Bowman, a wealthy pastoralist died on his property Werocata Estate near Balaklava in 1866. Bowman had walked out on an incomplete bridge, become unstable and plunged into the Wakefield River below, where he drowned.
It is believed that in late August, near the date, that Bowman drowned, that his calls for help can be heard. The calls fade into the sound of gurgles as he drowns, then the area falls into an eerie silence.
Other people have witnessed Edward sitting on rocks near the pool, appearing to either be fishing or on some occasions in quiet reflection.[1]
Edmund Bowman is associated with two other allegedly haunted locations in South Australia. Barton Vale House at Enfield (You can read more about this building and its hauntings in my 2020 book The Haunts of Adelaide: Revised Edition), completed in 1852.[2]
The other location associated with the Bowman’s is Martindale Hall at Mintaro near Clare, which was built by Edmund Bowman junior in 1879.[3]
The Haunts of Adelaide: Revised Edition (2020) Buy it by clicking here:
Haunted Adelaide (2021) Buy it by clicking here
© 2021 Allen Tiller
Gordon de L. Marshall, ‘Ghosts and Hauntings of South Australia’, (Jannali, NSW, 2012), pp. 150-51.
SA Heritage Places Database ‘Barton Vale House’, http://maps.sa.gov.au/heritagesearch/...
Martindale Hall, Martindale Hall Historic Museum, (2021), https://www.martindalehall-mintaro.co....
November 16, 2021
The Haunting of the Macclesfield Hotel
The Haunting of the Macclesfield Hotel
The Macclesfield Hotel was built in 1841, with a second storey built in 1882.[1] The first publican was Matthew Linn junior in 1855.[2] This hotel was the second built in the town. There are numerous outbuildings on the property, including old stables.[3]
In 2015, the then licensee, Mary Rhode, was interviewed by the media and alleged a woman named Rosemary was pushed down the stairs of the hotel, breaking her neck. It was alleged that a psychic visited the hotel and spoke to the spirit, with the spirit claiming that her murder was covered up by local police.[4]
Rhode claimed, “She was pushed down the stairs and broke her neck. It must have been over 100 years ago. The pub was built in 1841 and the second level was built in 1875. She was having an argument with a man who wanted her to make money for him. She told him that she wasn't that sort of girl and so he pushed her.”
“She was really angry. She said he got away with it because he knew the coppers. The person who did the clearing for me was telling me she was so happy because she hadn't spoken to anyone for so long – she was angry and all alone.”[5]
Rhode also claimed that another psychic, who visited later and knew nothing of the pub, also experienced the ghost on the stairs. Currently, there is no proof of the alleged murder in the hotel.
Another ghost believed to haunt the building is a matronly lady. It is claimed this lady has attempted to push people down the stairs!
Macclesfield Hotel - SLSA [B 31754]© 2021 Allen Tiller
Macclesfield Hotel, Macclesfield Community History, (2015), https://www.macclesfieldhistory.com.a....
JL Bob Hoad, Hotels and Publicans in South Australia, (1984), pp. 352-53.
Anna Pope, DC Mount Barker Heritage Survey Part 4, (2004), p. 174., https://data.environment.sa.gov.au/Co....
Madison White, Adelaide Hills Ghost Stories, (2015), https://madisonwhiteportfolio.files.w....
Madison White, Adelaide Hills Ghost Stories, (2015), https://madisonwhiteportfolio.files.w....
November 9, 2021
Adelaide Hills UFO Battle
Adelaide Hills UFO Battle
On Thursday the 7th of February 1980, at 9:30pm, 10-year-old Phil Tindale and his twin brother Rob witnessed what they believed to be two UFOS battling for supremacy over the skies of Aldgate in the Adelaide Hills.
The two boys watched in disbelief from their bedroom window as a yellow object and a red object fought in the skies above Stirling. The two ten-year-old boys claimed they watched the objects fight for a good fifteen minutes.
The alarmed brothers woke their parents, but they told them to go back to bed. The following day, the boy's grandmother found a story in the local paper reporting on Daryl Browne who had seen a similar-sounding incident in the sky.
Daryl Browne, a twenty-one-year-old farmhand witnessed a yellow object in the sky. The object crashed into the ground nearby. He went to investigate the crash and found the object that he described as, “a crescent-shaped 8-metre diameter, speed boat-shaped, yellow, half-moon thing”. He ran back to the house and called the police. By the time the police arrived, the object had disappeared.
Browne was interviewed by UFO Research South Australia the next day and showed them the crash site. The UFO researchers discovered a 40-metre-high pine tree which had a big section of its demolished, as if from an impact.
Multiple government agencies and UFO clubs travelled to the crash site at Glenalta Stud on the Old Gully Road at Stirling. Browne was interviewed so many times, that during a final interview he stated, if he ever encountered anything like this again, he wouldn’t bother reporting it because of all the attention he received. He also stated he did not believe in UFOs.
© 2021 Allen Tiller
Paula Ahillon, Two brothers say they're SURE they witnessed two UFOs 'battle' in the skies above the Australian Outback before one made an 'emergency landing' and crashed into a tree, Daily Mail Australia, (20 October 2019), https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti....
Frank Chung, South Australian brothers say they witnessed two UFOs in ‘conflict’ before 1980 Stirling crash, (21 October 2019), https://www.ntnews.com.au/technology/science/south-australian-brothers-say-they-witnessed-two-ufos-in-conflict-before-1980-stirling-crash/news-story/c752b6a3ef019990819d87fb72b7bd62?fbclid=IwAR0wwwEBU72HxcDnQQ0Kljk6M4OyQmUJkEK7hVP3K-bq_erNXTFBPsn8Zus.
November 2, 2021
A Ghost in The Old Mill Hotel ��� Hahndorf
Old Mill Hotel - 98 Main Street Hahndorf2021 - Allen Tiller
In July 2021, I presented a talk at the Mount Barker Library on ghosts and hauntings in the Adelaide Hills. That evening, Karen and I stayed overnight in the Old Mill Hotel at Hahndorf, where the staff told of us a ghost!
2021 - Allen TillerThe hotel has recently been leased by the Meek family, who own the incredibly popular bars and nightclubs The Woolshed, Downtown and Blackbull. The Meeks have begun renovating the hotel, which as some of you may know, is alleged to be a trigger in some hauntings.
The hotel now has several older cars, including Model T Fords as part of its unique decor.
The Mill was built in 1854 by Friedrich Wittwer, an earlier built mill on the site burned down in 1853.It ran for 60 or so years and processed famous brands of flour such as ���Pride of the Hills���, Windmill' and 'Phaultless���.
In 1971 it became a German food-themed restaurant with a motel at the rear.
There used to be an old piano in the hotel. It is claimed that a spirit liked to ���tickle the ivory���, playing piano tunes at random times of the day and night. When staff went to check who was playing, there was no one there. (The piano is no longer in the hotel).
For more information on the Old Mill, visit their website here: https://hahndorfoldmill.com.au/
�� 2021 Allen Tiller.
The Forager, Nightclub owners bringing new life to Hahndorf's Old Mill Hotel, In Daily, (31 March 2021), https://indaily.com.au/eat-drink-expl....
Anni Luur Fox, 'Hahndorf - A Journey through the Village and its History', (2002), https://localwiki.org/adelaide-hills/....
Hahndorf, Old Mill Hotel, (2021), https://hahndorfsa.org.au/business/ol....
A Ghost in The Old Mill Hotel – Hahndorf
Old Mill Hotel - 98 Main Street Hahndorf2021 - Allen Tiller
In July 2021, I presented a talk at the Mount Barker Library on ghosts and hauntings in the Adelaide Hills. That evening, Karen and I stayed overnight in the Old Mill Hotel at Hahndorf, where the staff told of us a ghost!
2021 - Allen TillerThe hotel has recently been leased by the Meek family, who own the incredibly popular bars and nightclubs The Woolshed, Downtown and Blackbull. The Meeks have begun renovating the hotel, which as some of you may know, is alleged to be a trigger in some hauntings.
The hotel now has several older cars, including Model T Fords as part of its unique decor.
The Mill was built in 1854 by Friedrich Wittwer, an earlier built mill on the site burned down in 1853.It ran for 60 or so years and processed famous brands of flour such as ‘Pride of the Hills’, Windmill' and 'Phaultless’.
In 1971 it became a German food-themed restaurant with a motel at the rear.
There used to be an old piano in the hotel. It is claimed that a spirit liked to ‘tickle the ivory’, playing piano tunes at random times of the day and night. When staff went to check who was playing, there was no one there. (The piano is no longer in the hotel).
For more information on the Old Mill, visit their website here: https://hahndorfoldmill.com.au/
© 2021 Allen Tiller.
The Forager, Nightclub owners bringing new life to Hahndorf's Old Mill Hotel, In Daily, (31 March 2021), https://indaily.com.au/eat-drink-expl....
Anni Luur Fox, 'Hahndorf - A Journey through the Village and its History', (2002), https://localwiki.org/adelaide-hills/....
Hahndorf, Old Mill Hotel, (2021), https://hahndorfsa.org.au/business/ol....
October 26, 2021
A Haunting at the Hahndorf Academy
Hahndorf Academy - 2021 Allen Tiller
The Hahndorf Academy was established in 1857 by Traugott Wilhelm (TW) Boehm whose nickname was ‘Chibby’. Two storey building was erected in 1871 and a belltower in 1875.The Hahndorf Academy, according to Boehm was to provide 'a sound and good English and German education, to enable its pupils to enter the learned professions or to prepare for commercial life'. In 1863, the academy became a boarding school.
In 1877, Boehm sold the school to the Lutheran Church for 700 pounds. It became a Lutheran College and seminary. The property was repurchased by Boehm in 1883 and resold in 1886 to Douglas Byard.
Byard reopened it as Hahndorf College. Under Byard an Oxford Master of Arts and Anglican lay preacher, the College gained a solid reputation for scholastic excellence.
When Education Department high schools were introduced in 1916, the building was sold. The property was next owned by H. Hirthe and became a nursing home and hospital between 1917 and 1937. During World War Two, the building housed the local council offices and local military headquarters.
For a short while, it was a betting shop and a dentist. In 1939 the property was owned by Mr H. Haebich, who converted the Academy into flats. He died in 1959, with renovations unfinished, and the property falling into a state of general disrepair.
At the beginning of the 1960s, the Mt Barker Council declared the building unsafe, meaning it could be demolished if bought at auction. Several petrol companies became interested as the building was in a prime location. Karlis Lidums bought the property in 1961. The Hahndorf Academy Museum Trust was established the same year under Dr Derek van Abbe, with Miss Josephine Heysen (Sir Hans Heysen's granddaughter) as secretary. The aim was to restore the building. In the same year, Sir Hans Heysen donated paintings to the Academy.
In 1963, the Trust took over the building from the Lidums. In 1966, the building was sold to Elva and Walter Wotzke. The Wotzke's restored the property. They opened the rejuvenated building as an art gallery in 1967 on the 90th birthday of Sir Hans Heysen.
In 1988 the building was bought by the Hahndorf Academy Foundation Incorporated, and in 1998 by the District Council of Mount Barker.
GhostsOne of the best-known ghost stories from the Academy is that of the Woman in White. She is alleged to appear at the top of the staircase. She is described as an elegant spirit who appears on the upper level and glides back and forth from the hall to the former balcony. She wears a dress that hides her feet, she wears her hair up and sometimes wears a hat.
Another ghost is that of a young boy, who runs up and down the steps on the south side of the old academy. He is thought to be between 10 and 12 years of age. A witness described him as a blond boy who wore hobnailed boots, home woven pants, and a smooth white shirt. She claimed the boy laughed a lot and was smiling as he ran up and down the steps on the southern side of the academy.
A third ghost is reported as an unpleasant old man who sits at the bottom of the stairs leading to the former Heysen gallery. He is known to terrify visitors as well as frighten local animals. A witness described him as dirty grey in colour. Another spirit was witnessed by Julie Messenger. This spirit was described as a forlorn-looking woman who was looking out a top floor window.
In an article titled “Adelaide Hills Ghost Stories” by Madison White, Academy Director Kate Wake states that she has had her own ghostly experiences in the Academy. “I believe that we do have ghosts and I believe that I've heard them,”. Kate went onto say that heard some very heavy breathing in the downstairs gallery.
© 2021 Allen Tiller.Suzanne Edgar, 'Boehm, Traugott Wilhelm (1836–1917)', Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/boeh....
Gemma Nisbet, Hahndorf’s past proud heritage, Yahoo! News, (5 May 2014), https://au.news.yahoo.com/hahndorfs-p....
Hahndorf Academy, History, (2021), http://hahndorfacademy.org.au/history.
Madison White, Adelaide Hills Ghost Stories, (2015), https://madisonwhiteportfolio.files.w....
October 19, 2021
A Haunting at the Two Wells Hotel.
Two Wells Hotel 2021 - Allen TillerThe Two Wells Hotel opened on 23 April 1860 as the Two Wells Inn. The original hotel was on the Mallala Road. John Cowan, the owner, decided to build a new hotel to better catch passing traffic. In 1867, Cowan applied to transfer his license to the new building, he also changed the name from ‘Inn’ to ‘Hotel’.This new hotel was much larger than the original.
The new building had 18 rooms – nine up and nine down – and a cellar. The dining room also functioned as a courthouse. It was realised close to completion that no provision had been made for an internal staircase to the upper floor, so an outside staircase had to be constructed until an extension was built to allow for the internal staircase.It was officially opened in 1868.
Ghosts
It was alleged in The Advertiser newspaper in January 2016 that the ghost of the Two Wells Hotel is a Sea Captain named George. Publicans, Rodney, and Loretta Wilmshurst who owned the hotel from 1999 claimed that their granddaughter, Krystal Wilmshurst had seen the ghost when she was a child.
Loretta stated that: “On one occasion she (Krystal) came down the staircase, stood at the doorway and said the monster had gone to bed,’’ Loretta recalled.
“She took her dad around through the original front bar to the key room and said, ‘he lives in there!’.”
Krystal referred to the ghosts as a monster, and claimed at times, he would not let her sleep. She witnessed him on one occasion in the shower. He was wearing a hat and a cloak, but he had no feet!
Loretta had not witnessed the apparition but had felt him. She also had an experience; “One Saturday afternoon I was going up the staircase and heard the girls’ soft toys being thrown around the room,’’ she said. “No one was home. I didn’t go up.”
Another witness to the ghostly goings-on was Pam Sisken who was employed as the cleaner. Sisken often worked after hours in the hotel on her own. On one occasion she claimed “strange things” started happening to the alcohol. “I can still see the brandy and whisky bottle in the auto pourer bubbling up, fizzing up with bubbles,’’ she said. “I wasn’t upset. I thought he’s (George) up and about.’’
George has also been heard going up and down the stairs. It was claimed by one witness that George was fond of the downstairs cool room, and this is where he was mostly sensed. A former publican claimed that this was the room that George had lived in while alive, and that George was unhappy as it had been turned into the cool room.
A variation on the identification of George was published by Gordon de L. Marshall in his book Ghosts and Hauntings of South Australia. In this version, George is the son of a former publican who was killed in a war, having half his face blown off.
Further muddying the identification of George is a former publican who claimed the ghost is that of his son. Identified only as a ‘Bruce’ (possibly Bruce Hart, but unconfirmed). This publican claimed that a photo of his son was continually thrown down, and this was the way in which George was trying to communicate with his father.
It is claimed in this version of the ghosts habits, that George is blamed for an upstairs shower that turns on of its own volition. George is also blamed for mysterious goings-on in the toilet, with Toilet doors opening and closing by themselves, toilet paper being strewn throughout the room and hand dryers operating of their own volition.
George has been blamed for three front bar fridge doors opening at the same time. On another occasion six people watched a port keg tap turn on by itself, and then port pour all the over the floor; none of the witnesses were close enough to have turned the tap on.
[1] 'Bench of Magistrates', The Express and Telegraph, (10 September 1867), p. 2. (LATE EDITION.)
[2] Williams, Bet & Williams, Les, & Kranz, David, Two Wells: then and now: a history of the Hundred of Port Gawler, (Mawson Lakes, S. Aust, 1991), p. 30.
[3] Gordon de L. Marshall, Ghosts and Hauntings of South Australia, (Jannali, NSW, 2012), p. 278
[4] Ibid.
[5] Williams, Bet, Two Wells: then and now, p.31.
October 12, 2021
A Haunting at Mount Lofty House
Mount Lofty House - photo courtesy QANTASMount Lofty House was built for Arthur Hardy, Adelaide’s wealthiest man at the time. Hardy was a barrister, pastoralist and quarry owner who was also the first district Grandmaster of the English Freemasons in South Australia.
The home was built in 1852. The upkeep and housekeeping expenses became too great for the family, so the Hardy's sold it in 1865. A Gardener named George Smith died on 10 August 1922 at the property. During the 1970s the house was a commune.
In 1983, all but the walls were destroyed during the Ash Wednesday fires that ravaged the Adelaide Hills.
The property was rebuilt in 1986, with the Piccadilly wing added in 1988. In 2009, the Horbelt family purchased the property and have continually upgraded it adding a day spa and restaurant. The buildings are now part of the Grand Mercure Brand of Hotels.
Haunting Australia planned to film here in 2013, but due to renovations and bookings at the time, were declined. Instead, we filmed at the Adelaide Arcade.
Room 7 is said to be one of the most haunted rooms in the building and is in an original section of the house. A visitor from Sydney once had a ghost experience in this room. He reported to staff that he woke up one evening and could feel a presence in the room with him. He could see, at the end of his bed, a woman standing, staring at him. He jumped out of bed and checked his belongings thinking he was being robbed. When he looked around the room, the woman was gone, except, his bed covers now had the distinct shape of a woman lying underneath them, when he pulled the covers back, no one was there!
The woman in room 7 is not the only ghost, another has been identified as ‘George the Gardener’ who died in 1922. George is seen mostly in the old section of the building. He has been known to wake people up. He is considered a friendly, but curious ghost and is not known to be harmful or to scare people.
© Allen Tiller 2021
Brad Crouch, A magic moment of inspiration, The Advertiser, (8 Sept 2007), http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/travel/....
Powla Gee, Meteoric Rise, Hotel Management, (13 May 2011), http://www.hotelmanagement.com.au/201....
[3]Brad Crouch, A magic moment of inspiration, The Advertiser, (8 Sept 2007), http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/travel/....
