Martindale Hall was built for pastoralist Edmund Bowman Jr. but due to drought, this Georgian style mansion was bought by the Mortlock family, who saw much tragedy and death befall their young.
It is believed that at least one of those childen continues to call Martindale Hall home.
It is believed that at least one of those childen continues to call Martindale Hall home.
The 'Cast'
On Friday the 18th October, The Paranormal Guide was joined by South Australia's Paranormal Field Investigators (PFI), Adelaide's Haunted Horizons (HH) and all the way from New South Wales APPI - Australian Paranormal Phenomenon Investigators (APPI), for a multi-team investigation of the historic Martindale Hall just outside of Mintaro, south Australia.
APPI had come to South Australia for a full weekend of investigations and to see some of the haunted sites we have to offer, and Martindale Hall was on that list. Many of you reading this might not realise, but you have likely seen Martindale Hall before. In the movie 'Picnic at Hanging Rock', the Hall was used as the fictitious Appleyard College, the school the girls attended before their mysterious disappearance.
APPI had come to South Australia for a full weekend of investigations and to see some of the haunted sites we have to offer, and Martindale Hall was on that list. Many of you reading this might not realise, but you have likely seen Martindale Hall before. In the movie 'Picnic at Hanging Rock', the Hall was used as the fictitious Appleyard College, the school the girls attended before their mysterious disappearance.
It is known that some of the cast who stayed at Martindale Hall during the shoot had had some paranormal experiences of their own, and add to that, a few other experiences reported online, the hall was definitely one of the places on the teams 'to do' list.
This was actually my fourth visit, and second investigation of the Hall, and with a few strange occurrences the first time around, I was quite excited to get back there.
This was actually my fourth visit, and second investigation of the Hall, and with a few strange occurrences the first time around, I was quite excited to get back there.
History
Under construction The Hall was built for Edmund Bowman after he inherited the Martindale Estate from his father who had drowned in the River Wakefield in 1866. By 1879 the Mansion was completed, built of Manoora freestone which had been ornately carved by skilled tradesmen who had been especially brought out of England. The house and property was named after Martindale in Cumbria which was close to the family’s home town. The property was intended as a sheep station and evidence of that is still seen today.
Edward Bowman lived in style. He built himself a large stable complex and training track. He also possessed his own pack of foxhounds and even had his own cricket ground where the English Cricketers would come and stay. During this time Edward even gave license to a small group of people to hunt for gold on his Estate and they did indeed find some there.
Edward Bowman lived in style. He built himself a large stable complex and training track. He also possessed his own pack of foxhounds and even had his own cricket ground where the English Cricketers would come and stay. During this time Edward even gave license to a small group of people to hunt for gold on his Estate and they did indeed find some there.
William Tennant Mortlock However, in 1892, debt eventually forced Edward to sell Martindale to William Tennant Mortlock, who bought it a year after marrying his cousin Rosina Tennant. They had 6 children of which only 2 survived adulthood, one being John Andrew Mortlock. John inherited Martindale Hall and bequeathed part of the Estate to the University of Adelaide. The rest was transferred to the University in 1965 by his widow.
For those who love movies, you would also remember that Picnic at Hanging Rock was partially filmed there in 1975. Although filmed around SA and Victoria, most of the inside shots took place in Martindale Hall.
Martindale Hall is now Martindale Hall Conservation Park and run through DEWNR. It is open daily to visitors as a self guided tour or for stays.
Alison Oborn
For those who love movies, you would also remember that Picnic at Hanging Rock was partially filmed there in 1975. Although filmed around SA and Victoria, most of the inside shots took place in Martindale Hall.
Martindale Hall is now Martindale Hall Conservation Park and run through DEWNR. It is open daily to visitors as a self guided tour or for stays.
Alison Oborn
Deaths and Ghosts
Valentine As mentioned, the Mortlock's lost several of their children, and one of those was young Valentine who died at the age of 8 in 1906. Valentine was born with downs syndrome and cerebral palsy, and possibly several other disabilities. As such he was mostly confined to his room, and although many believe it was for his own safety, others believe Valentine was possibly a shame on the family's name, a weakness to their high society status, and kept hidden.
The owner believes she has had a encounter with Valentine, as she woke up one night with what she thought to be a young girl standing at the foot of her bed. Although she spoke to the child, the child did not respond. On later reflection she now believes it was a young boy, the long blonde hair being common for young boys in at the time of the Mortlock's residence of the hall. She believes it was Valentine.
One of the owners friends has also experienced Valentines presence – waking up to find him in her bed. Others have experienced seeing previous men and women of the house, in period clothing, walking the stairs in the entrance hall, the back hallways and the servants staircase.
Another death at Martindale is one that is only spoken of through word of mouth, a rumour that a young woman (possible 'working girl') had gone missing, last seen with some of the men who built the hall.
With all this information in hand, and darkness falling, we set off in groups to see what we could find, if we could make any contact, and have experiences of our own.
The owner believes she has had a encounter with Valentine, as she woke up one night with what she thought to be a young girl standing at the foot of her bed. Although she spoke to the child, the child did not respond. On later reflection she now believes it was a young boy, the long blonde hair being common for young boys in at the time of the Mortlock's residence of the hall. She believes it was Valentine.
One of the owners friends has also experienced Valentines presence – waking up to find him in her bed. Others have experienced seeing previous men and women of the house, in period clothing, walking the stairs in the entrance hall, the back hallways and the servants staircase.
Another death at Martindale is one that is only spoken of through word of mouth, a rumour that a young woman (possible 'working girl') had gone missing, last seen with some of the men who built the hall.
With all this information in hand, and darkness falling, we set off in groups to see what we could find, if we could make any contact, and have experiences of our own.
Experiences
Setting up a static camera in the cellar I spent most of the night with APPI founders Peet Banks and Nic Hume, and we did have some curious experiences. The cellar of Martindale is quite massive, almost a entire floor unto itself, with multiple rooms, hallways and niches. We set up in the large room that was mainly used for food preparation, and set down to run some EVP and ghost box work. This session will soon be put up on youtube for you to check out, but we did get some very interesting responses.
To begin with the words 'I see you' and 'protect yourself' were heard. This had the extraordinary power to set us a little on edge. What felt fine one moment quickly took on a ominous feeling. However, being used to such things (and of course it could all just be coincidence on the ghost boxes' part) we continued on. Responses continued and were very relevant to questions such as our names, who we are, the name of the building, what we were doing... Then the words 'help me' followed by 'Valentine' and 'Depressional. Cursed. Boy.'
To begin with the words 'I see you' and 'protect yourself' were heard. This had the extraordinary power to set us a little on edge. What felt fine one moment quickly took on a ominous feeling. However, being used to such things (and of course it could all just be coincidence on the ghost boxes' part) we continued on. Responses continued and were very relevant to questions such as our names, who we are, the name of the building, what we were doing... Then the words 'help me' followed by 'Valentine' and 'Depressional. Cursed. Boy.'
The carriage house A very interesting session.
Our second session was in the Carriage House which is located a few hundred meters down from the main house. A bit of a creepy walk down the dirt driveway saw us standing at this impressive structure. Inside is located one of the original carriages, silently standing in the middle of quite a large space.
We set up and began to see strange lights moving about the room, but closer investigation provided us with the culprit – bats flying about, the moonlight filtering in, catching them as they flittered about.
The audio session here was also quite interesting, as I figured it would be, as previous investigations had shown the carriage house to be the most 'active'. Now I don't want to say too much about what happened here, as when I get the session up online, I would like to hear your thoughts before I start putting ideas into your head. I will however say that much of the answers we got could possibly be linked to the rumoured disappearance mentioned earlier.
We finished the night in the main hall, but not before getting the fright of our lives as we walked back to the house. Working each other up, as we do, while taking the back path through the woods, we were suddenly surprised to see a figure standing by the front door... we did not see this person till we were right on top of them, and suffice to say it was quite surprising. However, it turned out to be Spilios from PFI having a breather... in the shadows... of this creepy old mansion.
Go figure
Our second session was in the Carriage House which is located a few hundred meters down from the main house. A bit of a creepy walk down the dirt driveway saw us standing at this impressive structure. Inside is located one of the original carriages, silently standing in the middle of quite a large space.
We set up and began to see strange lights moving about the room, but closer investigation provided us with the culprit – bats flying about, the moonlight filtering in, catching them as they flittered about.
The audio session here was also quite interesting, as I figured it would be, as previous investigations had shown the carriage house to be the most 'active'. Now I don't want to say too much about what happened here, as when I get the session up online, I would like to hear your thoughts before I start putting ideas into your head. I will however say that much of the answers we got could possibly be linked to the rumoured disappearance mentioned earlier.
We finished the night in the main hall, but not before getting the fright of our lives as we walked back to the house. Working each other up, as we do, while taking the back path through the woods, we were suddenly surprised to see a figure standing by the front door... we did not see this person till we were right on top of them, and suffice to say it was quite surprising. However, it turned out to be Spilios from PFI having a breather... in the shadows... of this creepy old mansion.
Go figure
Main Hall While in the main hall Peet noticed a shadow standing at the top of the stairs. After looking a while, the torches were put on, but nobody was there. The next morning Darrin from APPI told us how while standing up the top of the stairs he heard a disembodied voice tell him to 'Wait up'. This was soon followed by him seeing a figure walk into the sitting room, but when he went to check it out, no one was there.
Other Experiences:
Sascha from APPI was alone in the billiard room playing on the table when she asked the room how they felt about a woman playing on their table, she was soon overcome with feeling heavy chested and throat constricted and left. On returning, this time joined by Adam and Darrin, she repeated the question and a disembodied voice responded with 'no'. This was caught on the voice recorder.
Other Experiences:
Sascha from APPI was alone in the billiard room playing on the table when she asked the room how they felt about a woman playing on their table, she was soon overcome with feeling heavy chested and throat constricted and left. On returning, this time joined by Adam and Darrin, she repeated the question and a disembodied voice responded with 'no'. This was caught on the voice recorder.
Valentine has been seen several times in this room PFI were having a very quiet night until they did a vigil in the main hall above the main staircase. It was here that they heard what they at first thought to be a man speaking, though the words could not be made out. On listening back on the audio, the 'voice' was there, but it seems more like an echo. A reverberation.
So there you have it, our investigation of Martindale Hall. It was a great night with a number of curious events. Of course we need to go through more of the data, but for the time being, these events remain as moments of interests and something we will look more into on our return!
So there you have it, our investigation of Martindale Hall. It was a great night with a number of curious events. Of course we need to go through more of the data, but for the time being, these events remain as moments of interests and something we will look more into on our return!
Ashley Hall 2013
RSS Feed
