Ghost stories nothing but urban legends

LIONEL SLIER

Most ghost stories are urban legends, Arthur Goldstuck remarked when he addressed the weekly meeting of the United Zionist Luncheon Club last week. Goldstuck, maybe better known as one of the country’s leading IT fundis, also has another passion: urban legends. He has written several books on the subject and has also written ‘The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Internet” and “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to Going Wireless”.

“Most ghost stories are bobemeisses,” he said “and urban legends are stories told as if they were true, which over time add details to give credibility so that they spread like wildfire. But the fact remains that the story did not actually happen.

“Similarly ghost stories, when they are researched, turn out to be urban legends. Some people convince themselves that ghost stories are somehow supernatural. They are not! 

“One of the most famous ghost stories in the South African supernatural lexicon is the Uniondale-Willowmore incident in the Eastern Cape. One Easter Friday a young girl was hitchhiking outside the town of Uniondale and a couple in a car stopped to give her a lift. 

“After driving for a while, there was a sudden cold blast in the car and the back door opened. Thinking that the girl had fallen out, the driver turned around and went in search of the girl, who had disappeared. She could not be found.

“Now there have been several reports over time of sightings of the girl hitchhiking, then disappearing. Police confirm that they had received reports of the girl standing at the side of the road. One story is of a motorcyclist giving her a lift on his bike, but when he got to Willowmore she was no longer a passenger.

“The motorcyclist also reported to the police that the girl had fallen off somewhere along the way. The story has even turned up in America as ‘The Vanishing Hitchhiker’.”

Goldstuck said another story which left the audience bemused, was that of the old lady in a white coat standing at midnight in the Club Street dip in Sandringham, Johannesburg. She had been killed in a car accident in the area and now spends most midnights waiting there. There have been various sightings reported.”

Goldstuck then turned his attention to the Castle in Cape Town, built on the site of Jan van Riebeeck’s original fort; this is reputed to be the most haunted building in South Africa. Goldstuck said when he visited the Castle he found it to be cold and windy, almost unnaturally so. It felt as though it should be haunted. 

Then there was Daisy de Melker, the first woman hanged in South Africa – on New Year’s Eve, 1932. De Melker had poisoned two husbands and also attempted to murder her son – all for insurance money.

She is reputed to be a most restless spirit, haunting the old Women’s Jail in Hospital Hill, Johannesburg, as well as the old Children’s Hospital where she once worked. Jailed inmates reported seeing and hearing here there.

Then, for those who want a more “spiritual experience”, Goldstuck spoke about the Nottingham Road Hotel in KwaZulu-Natal which offers a “ghost experience” when you book into room number 10 for the night.

Anyone wanting to curl up on a stormy night full of lightning and thunder, should look no further than Goldstuck’s “The Ghost That Closed Down The Town”.