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There are many haunted places and ghost sightings reported around Australia, and yes, I do plan on making episodes about them in the future. But what if I told you that there was an influx of people faking ghost hauntings that occurred during the 19th Century? What was the deal about it?
Find out and listen to me yarn about the ghost hoaxing trend.
As well as talking about urban legends and the unexplained, I also want to delve into some hoaxes, because I personally think they’re just as mind boggling and interesting. So we’ll likely have a gander at hoaxes here once in a while.
So, what’s the go with the ghosts?
Picture this. On a clear, moonless night, you’re on your way back to your camp, after a long, tiring day of panning for gold, with the sun beating down on your back. Lady Luck wasn’t on your side today, and you’re going back without much to show. Your body is tired, painful, and all you want to do is go into your swag and sleep it off, hoping that tomorrow might be the day you strike it rich. As you wallow in your thoughts, you suddenly see something in your peripheral vision. It was faint, maybe white, but you carry on dragging your worn feet against the dirt road. Then you realise, you’re being followed. Was it bush rangers? Despite not being religious, you beg to God, please, don’t let it be. You turn around and your blood runs cold.
In front of you is a ghastly, glowing humanoid reaching out towards you. You scream and turn heel, running away with your heart beating in your ears. At last, you reach your camp, enter your tent and sit in a foetal position. Did you really just see a ghost?
Okay, back to reality. The answer to that question is no. That glowing humanoid was a very alive human being.
As we very well know, a lot of English folk had gone to Australia around this time. And to understand this weird ghost hoaxing thing that was going on, we first have to travel back to England.
It was the Victorian era. Ghost stories were a significant part of people’s lives to the point that it was a tradition on Christmas Eve to gather around and share ghost tales. Back in the day, stories were published as serials, kind of like TV shows, except you read them. Apparently, creepy ghost stories were published frequently because they were cheap, short, and generally easier to publish. Additionally, seances were a common thing to hold. In 1852, an American medium named Mrs Hayden, visited London and conducted seances, which became popular. So, as expected, talks of ghosts and spirits became mainstream.
Moreover, there was also the case of the mysterious, devilish, fire breathing fiend named by the public Spring-heeled Jack, named due to his apparent ability to gracefully leap over fences and houses. All over England, Spring-heeled Jack was a menace towards women, and mobs around the nation formed so that they could catch him. Too bad for them though, he was elusive. They only ever got their hands on not so acrobatic copycats. While this was happening, people donned ghost costumes and terrorised people on the streets.
Speaking of copycats, we now go back to the gold fields of Australia. So it’s safe to say that this ghostly fascination carried on into the great southern land. But mix that in with a bit of larrikinism and you get ghost hoaxing.
Let me introduce you to an interesting character. He was known as The Wizard Bombardier, and he hung around Ballarat. This shady character was known to wear a sugarloaf hat and white robes, and roam at night. He’d scare the crap out of people by screaming his head off at them before hurling rocks at them and then running off. It might’ve been frightening to his victims, but I’m pretty sure the man behind the act would’ve been laughing after the fact. Funnily enough, I know a few people that would probably actually do this as a prank in this present day. I had a friend actually walk around town in a creepy jester costume when he graduated high school as a prank, but I’ll get back to the modern day later on.
Fake ghosts would also sometimes fashion a white sheet as a costume, complete with eye holes. Some hoaxers would make grotesque, frightening masks out of papier-mâché. And some would also take it a step further and cover themselves in phosphorescent paint, making themselves even more eerie-looking. Though at the time, this glow-in-the-dark paint was made from toxic materials, and if you used too much of it too frequently, you’d likely end up becoming a real ghost… if you know what I mean. There was one guy that even strapped a coffin lid to his back when he was out on his ghostly shenanigans.
Usually, these fake ghosts would hang out in places that are typically quote unquote “haunted”. So, you’d probably encounter them in graveyards, abandoned buildings, and not so busy roads.
What was the purpose of ghost hoaxing? Well, it was just for a bit of fun, really. Some folks thought it’d be funny to prank someone, but the people on the receiving end of the scare didn’t. It came to the point that these hoaxers were becoming a nuisance to society, and people had enough. They just wanted to mind their own business, do their own thing without some random person coming at them dressed up as a silly ghost. Rewards were offered to anyone that could catch a ghost hoaxer. Vigilantes had their eyes on the prize, and just like the phoney phantoms, they too prowled around in the night, taking aim with their shotguns if they came across a ghost faker. However, one incident involved collateral damage when a vigilante and a ghost hoaxer exchanged gunfire. When an innocent bystander got shot accidentally, it was then clear that this ghost hoaxing was no longer a laughing matter.
Ghost hoaxing wasn’t fun and games for some of the actual hoaxers. In a dark twist, they used it as a way to intimidate and harass others. One such person was a clerk by the name of Herbert Patrick McLennan, and he struck Ballarat during the very early 20th century. And let me tell ya, the man was a real deviant. As a ghost hoaxer, he wore a glowing white bodysuit, top hat, rubber knee high boots and a white frock coat. He’d carry with him a cat-o-nine-tails whip, which made him very intimidating, and his main victims were women; much like his predecessor, Spring-heeled Jack. What’s messed up was that he’d expose his hose, before physically harming his victims with the whip, or indecently assaulting them. He ended up playing some sort of cat and mouse game with the police, as there was a five pound reward regarding information in catching him. He had the audacity to even write a letter to the mayor of Ballarat, saying the following, quote:
“Dear Sir,
I see that you and your bally councillor’s nave fixed a reward of £5 on my head, but you didn’t say whether dead or alive; and, furthermore, you said you would have me plugged with a lead on sight.
Mr. Mayor, I give you warning that the first man I see with his hand in his pocket, or otherwise looking suspicious, I will plug a bullet through him. I hope you will caution the ‘Rakebite’ portion of your council of my intentions.
Yours truly,
The Ghost.”
Unquote.
Fortunately, his reign of terror ended when this so-called ghost finally got caught and arrested. McLennan was, prior to this incident, a well-respected man who along with being a clerk was also an elocutionist; so he train people how to speak with class, mind you. Much like other well-documented criminals, even the most respected people may have depraved, carnal urges that had to be unleashed somehow. McLennan was sentenced to a year for his crimes, but was released earlier due to giving an alibi for one of his attacks.
There were some people that decided to take matters into their own hands regarding these hoaxers. A woman only known as Mrs. Date wanted cold, sweet revenge. Her daughter unfortunately had a run-in with a fake ghost which left her understandably terrified and upset. So one night, Mrs Date decided she’d take her beloved bull terrier out for a walk. She was careful not to be seen, but scanned out where this hoaxer could be. As soon as she saw a flash of white, she released the bull terrier onto the menace. The terroriser had now become the terrorised. Furthermore, in 1913 in Buninyong, an old man almost had the life scared of him when a glowing apparition popped out in front of him. The townsfolk were enraged, and they formed a mob and sought out the glow-in-the-dark trickster responsible. They chased him down and beat the everlasting crap out of him. I think this guy learnt his lesson pretty well, don’t you?
Ghost hoaxing had run its course by 1914. By then, everyone read in the news that the Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated, and Germany then declared was on Serbia. More and more nations got involved with this war, and then Australia went on board, to help the motherland. Men, women, and boys went on to the battlefields for Australia’s sake, but many of them never came home. And it was then that death wasn’t something to mock anymore. Dr David Waldron, a senior lecturer at Federation University said there were, quote, ”far bigger issues at stake, and the symbolism of death became less amusing.” Unquote. FYI, I can say with confidence that a lot of the information available about Australian ghost hoaxing is because of Dr Waldron’s research.
So overall, ghost hoaxing was an obscure part of Australian history. Some bored folks did it to entertain themselves, while others did it to sadistically attack others. Now remember when I said I’d come back to the modern day? Well, like the old cliched saying goes, history repeats itself.
In 2016, there was a spate of creepy clown sightings all over the world, Australia included.
There was an ongoing fear that someone dressed up as a scary clown will probably ambush you. In fact, this actually happened on campus when I was in uni, but I only heard it from friends and luckily, for the clown, I never came across one. One night, there was a girl going to her car when all of a sudden, this clown appeared and chased her. She managed to get into her car, but the clown was banging on the windows all that jazz, before the girl started the engine and drove off. The girl was luckily unharmed, but she probably needed a change of pants.
There was basically a bit of a mass hysteria, to the point these clowns were featured on the news, warning people of them. All over Australia, these creepy clowns would jump scare poor random people. People couldn’t exactly relax while they were out as they fear an idiot in a scary clown costume would ruin their day or night. Parents got concerned because of some of these clown would hang around schools and intimidate children while they were on their lunch breaks. They’d even go as far as to wield fake axes and knives, and wore bloodstained costumes to amp up the fear factor. But, these so-called killer clowns were merely just doing it for fun. Though, there are people that genuinely have a phobia of clowns, and they may have inadvertently caused harm to someone without their knowledge; you never know, someone probably had a panic attack or whatnot. One man’s fun is another man’s fear, I guess. It came to the point that police had to get involved, and even arrested some people. Most of the perpetrators were just young fellas that had nothing else better to do than to scare innocent civilians.
Looking back at it all, there does seem to be a parallel to the ghost hoaxing of way back when. In both instances, a bunch of pranksters were all dressed up just to spread mischief and scare people for the fun of it. But some people took it too far, and ended up doing harm, traumatising people, and instilling fear into the public. Maybe we can say that this sort of mischievous behaviour had not exactly exited our culture and society. First we had ghosts, then we had clowns. What follows, I wonder?
And that’s the end of the yarn. Hopefully you enjoyed it, considering it’s kind of different to my usual content, and I hope you don’t mind that it’s kinda short this time. And speaking of different, my first bonus episode is next. I plan on releasing these every ten episodes, so look forward to those ones.
I honestly never knew that ghost hoaxing was a thing. I heard of Spring-heeled Jack before, and I also learned about the gold rush back in school. But hey, the more you know.
As always, rate and review the podcast, give me honest feedback and advice, as I am on my journey to becoming a better podcast host. Any input would be appreciated. I’m now also on Threads, so you can follow me there if you want… though it’s not like I know how to use the platform. Otherwise, stay in touch on Instagram, my mainstay. Recommend the podcast to your friends, family, coworkers, and the bartender that pours your beer the next time you’re out.
Like I always tell you, look after yourselves and others. Don’t forget to lock your doors and windows, and tell the bloodied, knife-wielding clown outside that there isn’t a party at your house; it’s next door. Until next time, have a good one. See you soon!
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