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