Reasons to use Sage

Haunted Stone

On top of Bainskloof pass, between Wellington and Ceres in the Western Cape, there is graves of prisoners who died while building the road on the mountain.  It is simple stone mounts without a name. Years back still in the beginning stages of my paranormal investigations, I went to check this graves out. 

Not  being so clued up with the paranormal yet, I took a stone off one of these graves and took it home.  It was about a week later we started noticing activity. 

Someone's breathy wisper in my ear was the last straw, but when I tried to find the stone to get rid of it, it was gone. Very weird. We moved not long after that.

Breytenbach Theater in Pretoria South Africa

Breytenbach Theater in Pretoria South Africa, has long and haunted history. First build as a German club it was later changed to a production art studio, before it had to be used as a make-shift hospital during the 1918 flu epidemic.

So many people died there, mostly the elderly and the young, that they had to bury the bodies under the stage. One of the bodies was a nurse called Heather, that overseen the care of the young and who later also died of the same flu.

When visiting the theater, you can sometimes hear the crying of long lost children’s and know and then see nurse Heather still on her duty, roaming the theater looking after the children.

Credit: PPSA & Fringe Photography

#hauntedhistory; #haunted; #paranormal; #ghost; #hauntings; #supernatural #

I SHOULD BE DEAD

Believing in the Supernatural is quite a broad statement, as by definition all that is not natural falls under this category.  Approaching this matter with a sceptical mind and a bit of science is not a bad way of doing things.  At least after all, logic deductions if there is still something supernatural left, it must be true, right?

In that case, I must have experienced a supernatural miracle, because looking at all fact, I should be dead.

So, we have spirits around us, what about Angels?

One December, just before Christmas, I was doing my last shopping, the heat was unbearable that day in Cape Town.   Running around, I hastily got in my car without eating, as I was late for an appointment.

As I got to the main road, irresponsibly, I put foot to the peddle.   I must have been driving close to 160km per hour.  The youth?

Suddenly, I woke up from a bright light. I immediately tried to brake and gear down, but there was no resistance on the peddles.  Then I notice I was standing still.  I must have fallen asleep behind the steering wheel, but how did I stop. 

Then I saw it, my car's bonnet was gone, and the radiator was in a V wrapped around a signpost.  In shock, I started checking my body for any injuries.  "There must be injuries!", I thought.  How could it be, I'm not wearing my safety belt!

I looked and looked. There wasn't a scratch, not even a mark, not even a hair out of place!

Fact is, I know there was a light that surrounded me that woke me up.  Fact, at the speed I was driving and looking at the impact on the car, I should have gone straight through that vehicle windscreen and surely not survived.

There is no logic explanation, all that is left is to believe I was saved by a Guardian Angel.

@haunted_history_southafrica

#guardianangels; #Angels; #supernatural; #hauntedhisrotyrsa; #hauntedhistory; #IshouldBeDead; #paranormal; #weskusspookstories; Art from http://OMTimes.com.

Lord Milner hotel in Matjiesfontein South Africa

My cousin and his wife and daughter visited Matjiesfontein museum and the Lord Milner hotel during the holidays. When they went though the pic's, the photo taken inside the old Lord Milner Hotel had a strange white light behind her daughter and hotelier.

When zoomed in it appears to have hot and colder areas. Could it be one of the 2 ghosts ladies, that is said to still haunt the hotel?

Lucy is a vague specter with rumors of her floating around the passages and the stairs, wearing a negligee. They speculate that perhaps it’s someone who died in the building. Whoever she is, she’s friendly, and too ethereal to be frightening.  It appears that Lucy has never checked out of her room on the first floor!

We also wonder if Lucy could be one of the voices that can be heard from time-to-time emanating from one of the rooms in the dead of night. A loud quarrels erupts and shatters the Karoo tranquility, even more effectively than a goods’ train clattering past. That’s not all that’s shattered: it also sounds as if hundreds of glasses and plates are being smashed inside too. But when someone goes to investigate, everything is quiet and there’s nothing that has been broken...

Kate, as the story goes, was a young nurse who used to enjoy playing cards in this room with convalescent patients.  Whether this was in the days of the British officers’ hospital, which seems unlikely if it was a lookout, or later when the hotel was popular as a health resort, is not clear.  But play cards Kate did, as part of the therapy for the people she was looking after.

Then Kate, aged 19, died mysteriously.  And strange things have happened in the turret room and below it ever since.  One young hotel guest saw a woman floating around one of the lower passages at about 7.45 one evening.  A few minutes after that the guest and her friend went up the narrow steps to the card room.  “I felt that there were people in there”.  And as they walked into the room, which was empty after all, the locked door leading to the roof started rattling and carried on for about a minute.

One of our housekeepers had another experience, a woman not given to hysteria or over-imitativeness, who went into the card room at the hour of 12.30pm.  Something brushed past her.  She turned around and saw a woman in a long white dress or a nurse’s uniform.  Almost immediately the apparition faded away.  The housekeeper also scuttled down to the other members of staff, gasping out her story while her hair, she said “stood on end”.  Kate, looking for her patients or perhaps a game of cards?

#LordMilnerhotel; #Matjiesfontein; #ghost; #hauntedhistoryofRSA; #hauntings; #hauntedhistory; #parnarmal

Haunted Kimberley Club - South Africa

Kimberley has a reputation as the most haunted city in South Africa, so it’s unsurprising that the 136-year-old Kimberley club has its share of ghostly tales.

On the main staircase, there are reports of a ghostly woman in white. And in the dining room there’s said to be a spectral waiter who wears a uniform from the 1880s.

The most famous supernatural visitor, though, is claimed to inhabit a guest bedroom. Its eerie modus operandi is to grab the bottoms of lone female guests.

Here are some other interesting facts you probably didn’t know about this historic venue, which is open to paying guests:

  

1. A London club in Africa

The Kimberley Club was founded in 1881 at the height of the diamond frenzy that gripped the city. The leading businessmen and diamond magnates of the time wanted a meeting place modelled on the famous gentlemen’s clubs of London, where they could seek refuge from the common miners and the heat, dust and noise of the diamond diggings.

A statue of club founding member Cecil John Rhodes stands in the courtyard. Rhodes was one of the leading lights of the Kimberley Club before he left for what was to become Rhodesia.

2. Impact on history

There are few social clubs that have had as great an impact on the early colonial history of Southern Africa as the Kimberley Club. Cecil John Rhodes was a founding member and it is said that he sat on the club veranda working on plans to colonise what later became Rhodesia. Another founding member was Dr Leander Starr Jameson, who used the premises as his planning base for the ill-fated Jameson Raid of 1895 into the Transvaal Republic. The raid contributed to the outbreak of the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902.

The elegant original main entrance.

 3. Benefits of membership

Another colourful early member was Barney Barnato, who walked the 1 000km from Cape Town to the Kimberley diamond fields because he was penniless. He left 15 years later as a very wealthy man after selling his diamond-mining business to Rhodes. According to legend, Barnato was initially reluctant to sell, but a deal-clincher was that Rhodes arranged membership for him at the notoriously exclusive club.

A beautiful stained-glass window on the landing of the main staircase.

4. Open to all

In 2005 the Kimberley Club and Boutique Hotel became a combination of members’ club and four-star hotel, as a way to stave off closure due to rising costs and waning membership. The bar, guest rooms, restaurants and other historic facilities are thus open for paying guests to enjoy.

The club was founded in 1881 by the leading men of diamond-rich Kimberley, who wanted a London-style gentlemen’s club.

5. Blackballing of members

For many years the club used the popular 18^th-century system of voting in members using black and white balls. White balls were a ‘yes’ and black balls a ‘no’ (hence the term ‘blackballed’). If a person applying for membership was blackballed, the members who proposed and seconded his application were expected to resign in disgrace for a year. The wooden ‘voting case’ and the balls can still be seen at the club today, although they are no longer in use.

For many years the club used a system of voting in members using black and white balls. White balls were a ‘yes’ and black balls a ‘no’ (hence the term ‘blackballed’).

Credits to:  Mike Simpson, photos by Jeanette Simpson, OlivePink Photography

#blogger; #blackballed; #kimberleyclub; #haunted; #hauntedRSA; #hauntedSouthAfrica; #paranormal; #ParanormalInvestigations; #ghost; #spirits; #supernatural; #hauntings; #spoke; #geeste

Ghost of Somerset Hospital - Cape Town, South Africa

With the ever growing Cape of Good Hope the need of hospitals got ever greater.  The first Somerset Hospital got to small and got replaced in 1864, by the Somerset Hospital we know today. Situated in the Green Point area of Cape Town, Somerset is one of the oldest hospitals in South Africa and one of the first with a “West” wing for white patients and a “North” wing for non-whites.  

Part of Green Point, just west of the city and close to where Somerset Road is today was a bleak area characterized by the graveyards of the Dutch Reformed Church and the informal graveyards of slaves, paupers, criminals and smallpox victims.

In England the Florence Nightingale School for Training Nurses, send some of these nurses to the Cape Colony, some were appointed to the Somerset Hospital. One of them was Sister Helen Bowden. During her 5 years as Matron she oversaw the training of an efficient body of nurses to replace the men who had previously acted as male nurses. A contemporary was Sister Henrietta Stockdale, who also worked in Kimberley.

They say the hospital is haunted by many ghost, Sister Henrietta Stockdale or could it be Sister Bowden still helping the nurses on their routes; an Indian man walking in a ward and the songs of Schubert sung by a man long gone; on the stairs of the nursing home, a little girl combing her hair, maybe one of the nurse’s children still waiting for her Mommy? 

#somersethospital; #hauntedcapetown; #hauntedhistoryRSA; #ghost; #paranormal; #supernatural; #haunted; #ghoststories, #hauntedhistory, #hauntedhospitals, 

Freaky Friday Funny

REAL ORBS

Orbs are rarely visible to the naked eye but are probably the most photographed super natural phenomena.

  

They may appear very clearly moving fast and on a predetermined path or sometimes fuzzy in isolation or in clusters.

By many paranormal investigators Orbs are believed to be spiritual energy and the first stage of a full blown spiritual manifestation.

But to the non-believers they are merely nothing but smudges, glitches or dust particles caught by reflections of light and or moisture on the lens.

This could be due to the fact that many of the orbs that people witness are only visible in digital photos.

There are, however many orbs that have been witnessed with the naked eye and those are the most credible as being orbs of energy and possibly paranormal or even supernatural.

The truth is that there are probably just as many differing opinions to what orbs actually are, as to the different types orbs photographed.

Orbs can be any colour, all though usually they are off white or milky and can be any shape or size but typically circular, but it's important to differentiate between known causes of orbs and those tagged as paranormal.

One of the most remarkable things about spirit orbs is that they can appear with faces or snake like patterns within them and tend to have a nucleus of some kind.

These faces can be our loved ones who are in spirit letting us know they are still around us, or they can be our pets who have crossed.

It is believed the spirit world is all around us occupying space at a different vibrational speed than our own and spirits prefer the form of an orb because it uses less energy, with the theory that the bigger the orb or the larger more human like shape the apparition the more energy are used.

In these instances you may find that they create cold spots. This is due to the spirit absorbing the thermal energy out of the atmosphere around that particular area in order to manifest.

Some also believe the size indicates the level of soul evolution, the bigger the orb, the more spiritually evolved the ghost is or was at time of death and other believe the size of the orb indicates the power of the emotion. 

There is also assigned colors and meanings to orbs which are widely accepted within the paranormal community.

   

Some of the meanings can be traced to the same color significance given to the main chakras of the human body, and those associated with auras.

These include, but aren't limited to:

•             Black: Malevolent

•             Blue (dark): Shy spirit

•             Blue (light): Tranquil, peace

•             Blue (medium): Protection

•             Brown: Danger or earthbound

•             Gold: Angelic, unconditional love

•             Green: Healing orb or spirit

•             Lavender: Messenger from God

•             Orange: Protection, forgiveness

•             Peach: Spirit sent to comfort you

•             Pink: Accepting spirit

•             Purple: Orb of information

•             Red: Anger or passion

•             Silver: Messenger

•             Violet: Guide for spiritual matters

•             White: Protection of holy light and power

•             Yellow: Warning

There's currently no way to prove or even disprove what a spirit orb size and color truly mean.  The only thing apparent is that genuine orbs are spheres of some type of energy.  As with most things paranormal, much of the information you choose to incorporate into your own belief system is just that, your personal ideology.

#hauntedhistoryofRSA; #hauntedhistory; #paranormal; #orb; #ghost; #haunting

Green point stadium graves - Cape Town Haunted History

After receiving a fascinating paranormal photo taken inside the well-known Green Point stadium in 2016 of an interesting orb with a tiny face inside it, my interest was once again drawn to the Green Point area of Cape Town and its infamous history of a brutal justice with gallows and a place of torture situated on the prominent sand dune outside the harbour, to been seen as a warning to incoming ships.   

I did a study on the haunted Somerset Hospital, but only after reading the official heritage impact assessment done by the University of Cape Town, I realised that much of Green Point, just west of the city and close to where Somerset Road is today was once the graveyards of the Dutch Reformed Church, then the official and only recognised Church of the Dutch East India Company who reserved the burial grounds only for members of the church or VOC establishment, and its military dead.

Anyone else, including slaves baptised in the Dutch Reformed Church, had to be buried outside of the official burial grounds. Hence there are no formal records of who was buried where, individual burial plots were never allocated, mapped or numbered. Furthermore, the few regulations that were in place with respect to the burial of human remains were regularly flouted.

Slaves, non-Dutch Reformed Church members, free-blacks, executed criminals, suicide victims, unidentified shipwreck victims, smallpox victims and persons who died in either the Company or old Somerset Hospitals whose bodies were not claimed were buried on the outskirts of the town.

Walking in the areas between Alfred Street and the Green Point Stadium, you will probably be walking over some unnamed graves of the underclass of 18th century Cape Town.

During the South African War from 1899 - 1902, Green Point common was, due to its proximity to the Victoria and Alfred Basins, used as a military transit camp for British and Colonial troops who were housed in temporary bungalows. Of particular interest is that the Green Point Track was used as a Prisoner of War Camp for Boer captives who were housed in tents while waiting to be shipped out to St Helena, Ceylon and Bermuda. There are a number of military artefacts that were found during the construction of the stadium that can be associated with the camp.

The death rate of approximately 3%, is proof that the conditions under which the prisoners lived in these camps was not ideal.

On the list of deceased Boer captives was a surname Smit, the same surname as the girl who the orb was so interested in. Could it be family, who knows? 

One thing is sure all these people were the ordinary people of Cape Town – soldiers, artisans, labourers, fishermen, sailors, maids, washerwomen and their children. The lack of written records for most of the Cape Town unmarked graves means that, it is not possible to relate everyone to individual families or even extended families; however the broad truth that cannot be denied is that these are the ancestors of today’s Capetonians.

#greenpoint; #ghost; #hauntedhistory; #paranormal; #spoke; #haunted; #supernatural, #hauntedhistory, #paranormalinvestigation

Lamber's Bay Hotel - "Man" in the shadows

After our last investigation we did a quick walk through the Lambert's Bay hotel, showing potential ghost-inquisitives some of the activity hot spots.

One of the spots was a passage just past the staircase where a smoking man in period clothing (1890 - 1920) is said to been seen smoking.  The people you have seen him said they can see his hat and the smoldering coal of the cigarette.  The smell of smoke is also prominent, although this is  now a nonsmoking building.

I took random photos as we went alone.  These photos was taken 1 second apart.  There is no light or window in that corner that could affect the photo.

I found this strange anomaly in the doorway, to the haunted passage?

Photo 1: Nothing in door                                   Photo 2:  Something in doorway

  

Photo enlarged: 1                                            Photo enlarged: 2

What could it be?

#hauntedhistoryRSA; #hauntedhistory; #ghost; #hauntings; #paranormal; #spoke; #westcoast

Ghost car on the West Coast Road (R27) - Cape Town to Langebaan

Be careful not to speed while driving the West Coast Road from Cape Town to Langebaan at night. You may just be flagged by a ghost car.

There have been many people who have experienced the flashing lights of this ghost car behind them. The reports of the passengers were that their driver was driving irresponsible, when suddenly a car appeared behind them, flashing its light.

The driver of the car would normally be over the speed limit, when this car flashes its light at him to pull over and give way, but when the driver slows down and has a look in his mirror to spot the vehicle, there is NO CAR. Not even the passengers can find the car.

The strip past Yzerfontein and Langebaan, there is no big turn offs, so it could not be someone turning off.

The rumor goes that this ghost car belongs to a family of 6, who with a friend drove to Langebaan for a day out. No one knows exactly what happened; maybe a burst wheel; or a truck overtaking and startling the driver. But the driver of the car lost control and the car rolled. All seven passengers died. There are still 7 crosses next to the road till today.

#westcoast; #r27; #langebaan; #vredenburg #hauntedhistory #ghost #hauntings

Lambert's Bay Hotel Investigation - Western Cape; West Coast, South Africa

We met up with someone that has worked at the Lambert’s Bay Hotel for years.  She confirmed that the hotel is super haunted.  You can feel the change in energy as you pass the restaurant area toward the toilets, at the back of the hotel.  The energy is almost static.  There have been many patrons commenting on that area.  This could be due to the phantom man standing, close where the toilets are today.  They start smelling the smoke and then they see his old school hat, the red coal of the cigarette and the smoke.

The reported sighting thought the years also included a tall woman with long red hair and a little girl.  They frequent the area between rooms 20 – 28.  I have spoken to staff before and they told me that one evening, out of season, the hotel wasn’t that full, they heard the most terrifying, loud scream.  It made everyone run up to the rooms.  It sounded like it could have been from room 20, but the room was empty as well as the other rooms next to it.  Maybe the scream belonged to the tall woman with the red hair, that the night guards also reported seeing.  The cleaners won’t work after 10 at night anymore, but they still get freaked out in the morning, when they find little hand prints on the mirrors, in rooms that was cleaned and locked the night before.

   

There has also been a phantom shower.  The staff was sitting in the staff room at the ground floor at the back of the hotel, when they heard someone opening water that sounded like a shower.  They continued hearing this person showering, but there is no shower in that part of the hotel anymore.   It could be that in the past this could have been the bathroom of the original hotel building of 1888.

 

I have tried to find the history of the red hair woman, little girl and the smoking man, but it is still vague. 

We do know that the Marine hotel was built by Mr. Joseph Carl Stephan in 1888, when he saw a need for the hotel during the Anglo Boer War, when all the British soldiers and traders started to use the Lambert’s Bay harbor, close the hotel.    The hotel’s name later changed to Lambert’s Bay Hotel, as it is known today.   With such a long history, it is no wander there is so much paranormal activity there.

With the current investigation I did find strange orbs that could not be explained and what looks like a face of a phantom man, but it looks like most of the bizarre things do happen after 10 at night. I think I shall have to go back and stay a night.  I am sure I will not be disappointed.

Photo Credit: Lambert's Bay Hotel    

#hauntedhistoryRSA; #hauntedhistory; #ghost; #hauntings; #paranormal; #spoke