Monday, 26 May 2014

HAUNTED TALES FROM AUSTRALIA

A hitchhiking ghost, a haunted ambulance station and a strange apparition that appears at Jenny Dixon Beach are just a few of the eerie tales reported by Central Coast residents.

Like every community, stories of weird unexplained happenings persist in the annals of local folklore.

One of the best known concerns the hitchhiking ghost of Wilfred Barrett Drive, between Magenta and Noraville.

The legend has been around for more than 40 years with numerous reports of a young girl with flowing hair wearing a long white dress seen hitching along a lonely stretch of the road.

Witnesses claim they have picked her up. She gets in the back seat, they say, and talks a little, but mysteriously disappears by the time the car gets to Norahville Cemetery.

There have been 300 plus police reports of a hitch-hiking ghost on Wilfred Barrett Drive.

Many believe it’s the ghost of a young girl heading home from work in the 1970s who was pulled into a car and viciously attacked and raped by five youths.

She was later found barely alive at Jenny Dixon Beach, but died as a result of her injuries.

No one was ever charged with her death, but it is believed the five youths, or four depending on which version you hear, died under mysterious and bizarre circumstances.

A group of campers claims to have seen a strange apparition at Jenny Dixon Beach.
Good friends Julie Baker and Kaye Davison, both of Gorokan, swear they have seen the hitchhiking girl.
The year was 2000 and the women were driving from Gorokan to The Entrance to pick up Melbourne Cup tickets.

It was about 7.30pm and as they travelled along Wilfred Barrett drive heading south, they saw the girl, just opposite the cemetery.

“We both noticed her beautiful dress,” Ms Baker said.

Friends Kaye Davison and Julie Baker of Gorokan believe they saw the hitch-hiking ghost of Wilfred Barrett Drive.

“It was a long white handkerchief dress and we both commented on it.”

“We had seen another girl hitching on Main Rd at Toukley and thought it was dangerous and when we saw a car load of fellows in a car near the girl on Wilfred Barrett Drive we thought we should keep on eye them.

“So we slowed down and were just about pulled over and she disappeared.

“There was nowhere for her to go, she just disappeared.”

Ms Davison, who works at Wyong Police station, describes herself as a sceptic.

“But since I saw this, I am not sure anymore. I saw what I saw and I know what I saw that night.”

The story has also fascinated audio engineer and photographer Christopher Halling, of Watanobbi, for as long as he can remember. He began filming a movie called Jenny Dixon Beach in 2009.

The movie has been in the can for a few years awaiting a decent sound editor.

Halling wrote and directed the movie, which while based on the legend of the hitch-hiking ghost, has a whole fictious back story as well based on the cop who tried to find her killers.

“I was always fascinated by the story. Growing up I heard all about it and had friends swear black and blue they had seen the hitch-hiking ghost,” he said.

Over the years the story of the hitch-hiking ghost has been blended into another famous ghost story in the same area.

In 1973, four young boys decided to camp for the night at Jenny Dixon Beach.

The boys were 12 years old and set up camp on the beach with a large bonfire, huddled together around the flames. They were almost asleep when one felt compelled to look up towards the bush above.

He saw a women dressed in a long flowing dress, similar to the fashion of the 1800s.

Her arms were outstretched and the boys began throwing sticks at her which they claimed passed right through her.

Scared witless, the boys ran back up the stairs to the car park. They decided to have one more and saw her standing halfway along the stairs. They bolted home as quickly as they could.

Jenny Dixon Beach was named after a coal schooner Janet Dixon that was swept ashore in treacherous conditions.

The story goes a woman lost her young son when he was swept overboard and the ghostly mum is pleading with people to help find him.

Lonely stretches of road and windswept beaches are one thing, but strange things also happen at Wyong Ambulance station, according to station crews.
Paramedics are convinced the 62-year-old station is haunted, possibly by the old station master who once lived upstairs, which is now boarded up and no longer used.

Annmarie Delahunty, duty operations manager, Central Coast, inspects the upstairs section, of the old Wyong Ambulance Station, where many paramedics have reported paranormal activity.

Duty inspector Annemarie Dellahunty has only been on the Central Coast for two years and has never seen or heard anything untoward at the old station, but knows plenty who have.

“Some have said cups fly off the bench, the kitchen fan moves when there is no wind,” she said.

“Others have said something brushes past their face when they are walking and something taps their feet.

“A lot of ambos don’t like doing the night shift here.”

Some officers report hearing footsteps upstairs, doors closing for no reason and the feeling of being held down in their seats.

“The stories are widespread amongst Central Coast crews,” Ms Dellahunty said.

Tall Timbers Hotel licensee Kellie Holm says she is sceptical about stories of a ghost in the 100 year old pub.
Another urban legend revolves around the ghostly bride of Tall Timbers Hotel at Ourimbah.
Legend has it a bride died on her wedding night in one of the upstairs rooms not long after the 100 year old pub opened.

“One of our permanent residents insisted the story was true,” licensee Kellie Holm said.

“The story goes that people have seen her walking up and down the corridor in her wedding dress.”

Ms Holm’s dad Mick Trembath owned the hotel from 1988 to 2006 and she spent her teenage years living at the pub.

“I never heard or saw a thing and I was a teenage girl, and if I didn’t see anything at that age, no-one would have seen anything,” she said.



Source: TelegraphAustralia

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