HAUNTED OBJECTS

Often objects go "missing" throughout the Homestead, almost as often they're posted back. There are many instances I can recall; a Victorian hip-flask stolen from the Sitting Room and returned before we knew it was missing, accompanied by a strange letter of apology. Then there's the strange case of the key of Monte Cristo, which went missing albeit briefly.

Ten years after we settled at Monte Cristo a grand daughter of the homesteads builder visited one afternoon and mysteriously presented us with a large black iron key, which belonged to the ancient front door of the house. When the Crawley family vacated the homestead in 1948 they evidently took it with them, probably as a memento.

The key slipped comfortably back into the old iron lock on Monte Cristo's front door, the mechanism being in excellent repair it turned and fastened soundly as it once had. The old key still sits firmly in the lock, has now for over 20 years, except for a three week period back in the 1970's when it mysteriously disappeared.

Thinking it may have fallen from the lock and been swept away we searched the homestead high and low but were unable to find it, the theft of such a valueless item never occurred to us. About three weeks later we received a mysterious package postmarked Sydney but with no return address, within it was the missing key and a handwritten letter of apology.

The person who wrote it said he/she wasn't a thief but had taken it impulsively while on a tour of the homestead, restoring an old house themselves they needed such a Victorian key for their own front door. Taking it home they found it fitted their door precisely but didn't turn in the lock, however it was for aesthetics they wanted the key.

According to the letter the family in question seldom had a nights peace afterwards, on their first night home they were awoken by "someone" knocking feverishly on their front door but opening it seconds after the last knock found no one there.

As the days passed so the knocking and pounding on the door continued always after the family in question had retired for the night, some nights the door rattled on its hinges resulting in the family being woken by their dog hysterically barking at it.

Not believing in the supernatural the family in question couldn't understand what was going on, at first they thought it was pranksters and considered calling the Police to try and catch whomever it was but realizing no one could run unseen from their house so quickly they worried about being laughed at or criticized for wasting Police time.

During daylight hours never a sound was heard, but as the nocturnal knocking continued they remembered Monte Cristo's haunted history and came to the realization the key itself was at the heart of it; so mailed it back in the hope the phenomena would cease. We ourselves have never had such problems with our front door or its key, however I do hope the people in question found peace after returning it and their experience causes others to think twice before taking something which belongs to Monte Cristo.

The Crawley's Wandering Ghosts

Mr Crawley.

One of the most memorable recent events involved a small boy aged four, he and a brother aged six were going through the house with their mother. The four year old seemed more interested in staring back out the doorways than into the actual rooms, but being a child nothing was thought about this, children have very little interest in antiques.

The tour finished and they departed, the guide watched the lady start the car and drive down the carriage way before stopping abruptly and reversing back to the front of the Entrance Building, leaving the children in the car she re-entered the building and asked if there was anything strange about the house.

Beth the guide replied "We are supposed to have Ghosts, why?", the lady then told her that her little boy had asked why the old man with a white beard in the brown suit had followed them all through the house.

Mrs Crawley.

An acquaintance of ours had brought her daughter over to attend Monte Cristo Ball, after dropping her off at the homestead she drove out the front gates and on impulse stopped the car to look at the house she had never seen lit up at night. As she watched, a lady in an old-fashioned dark grey frock walked across the balcony. To her astonishment as the figure passed in front of the windows and French doors the light shone through her, it was some time before she could gather her wits and drive on.

Get Out of My House!

The latest verified sighting occurred in August 1996 when I found an upset nine year old girl wandering aimlessly by the side of the house, she had become separated from her group and was quite distressed. I took the girl by the hand and was leading her back to the group as she told me what had happened, looking for her mother she had entered Monte Cristo through the front door and been confronted by: "a nasty old woman on the stairs in funny sort of clothing who yelled at me to get out of her house!".

Her tour group by that time were out in the stables of the Homestead and there was no one in the house who could possibly have matched that description, of course I never told her such an incident had happened before, that she had met one of the Homesteads resident ghosts and lead her back to her mother and all was soon okay again.

Mrs Crawley's ghost always has a negative effect on girls, most people who have had negative experiences at Monte Cristo are likely to be girls who have strayed into areas once the private domain of the mistress of Monte Cristo.

Strange Lights

As a young man local John Hume worked for the railway as a Call Boy, this entailed going to the residences of railway employees and informing them of their next shift. On this particular night John remembers it was around 2AM, the chap he had to call was boarding at "Monte", we were away at the time and as we only had one boarder an arrangement was made with him to securely lock up the house whenever he went out.

John said everything went as usual, he entered the back door, went up the stairs, out the French doors and onto the balcony, (there were no outside stairs at that time) on around the corner to the young mans room where he waited for the chap to dress and watched as he diligently locked the French doors and then the back door before they proceeded down the side lane towards town.

Both instinctively looked back and to their immense surprise saw what seemed to be a light floating along the balcony, this of course startled them as they knew there was not supposed to be anyone else there, either in the house or grounds.

However they returned immediately finding nothing or more important no one, they checked all the doors and windows and again set off. Once more they saw the light floating along the balcony as they walked down the lane, again they returned to find nothing amiss. John said by this time they were both thoroughly spooked and when the light appeared for the third time, neither were game enough to return.

Glows in the Dark?

Several people have asked us over the years what big functions we had held the previous night, as Monte Cristo was glowing when viewed from the town. However on all these occasions there were no special event or illumination on our part, we usually only leave a couple back lights on at night and they're not visible from town.

Big Country

Although we have covered the effect the special program dedicated to Monte Cristo by ABC TV's program "Big Country" had on the homestead there's one story I left till now, probably the most tragic thus far. As noted psychic's Liz James and Van Blerk wandered through the grounds of Monte Cristo they came upon the old Dairy, now referred to as the Caretakers Cottage. Their reaction was instant and strong, they both agreed this room was very evil and violence had been perpetuated therein, the sense of evil so strong it sent shivers through them both. We actually did know something quite disturbing about the Dairy. In 1961 a local youth having become unhinged after having seen the movie "Physcho" three times came up and shot Monte Cristo's caretaker, resulting in a massive local manhunt. Still on the door is the chalk inscription "DIE JACK HA HA", that either he or some other macabre person scribbled at the time.

We also know that for 40 years there had been a mentally retarded chap named Harold Steele chained up in there like an animal, there's still a round hole in the wall at the left of the door worn down by his grating chain. He used to howl like a banshee at night, his anguished cries were a familiar sound to locals which helped set the seal on the macabre reputation of the homestead locally.

His mother was a housekeeper at the Homestead when Mrs Crawley was alive and on her death allowed to stay on, hired by the Crawley estate as a live in caretaker. However she passed away from an apparent heart attack and due to the remoteness of Monte Cristo her failure to come down to the town for supplies was not noted for several days, eventually the Police were notified and called to investigate. On their arrival the silence must have been rather eerie. One can imagine the shock of finding poor Harold, who by now must have been missing his mother and undoubtedly very hungry and thirsty.

The poor man apparently couldn't talk, his hair was long and matted, his fingernails curled round and growing back into the palms of his hands as he languished in a pool of excrement curled in a fetal position. Everything had been eaten within reach of his chain, only a few pitiful crusts just outside his reach remained.

The final chapter of his life was no happier than the earlier, he was taken to Kenmore, a home for the mentally insane in Gouldburn but died shortly afterwards, it's believed he fretted for his mother and wasted away.

Final Notes

It never ceases to amaze us how calmly people who have had these experiences accept them, as if whatever it was, is not threatening, somehow a little sad, more poignant or something.

All the preceding stories are true to the best of my knowledge, I'm sure in future many more inexplicable events will occur here and hopefully be recorded.