Meet the ghosts of the Lowveld

Do you believe in ghosts?  Or are you too scared to ask yourself the question?

I never believed in ghosts.

That was until recently. A few weeks ago, yours truly had the privilege of a one-night-only stay in Pilgrim’s Rest.  My chalet was once the home of a miner called Peter.

I know this because I had to ask him to return to his room and leave me alone a number of times.  This was a very uncomfortable, one-sided conversation, as he had died a few decades ago and I could not see him.

However, I am certain that he was there.

The Lowveld has many ghost stories.  Whether you believe in them or not will depend on whether you’ve spent a night alone in an old miner’s house.

Here are a few Lowveld legends that will give you goosebumps:

The Pilgrim’s Rest cemetery is an experience.

Many graves dating from the gold rush days are unnamed, which add a spooky element to the town’s graveyard.  Most of the graves face east to west, but a few face north to south.  These are the graves of criminals.  Be sure to look out for the ominous Robber’s grave.

And then there’s Alanglade’s House, a grandiose double-storey home that once housed the town’s mine manager.  This building is a 100-year old museum today.  Many visitors have reported sensing a ghostly presence in the house, which has been adduced to the death of a 10-year-old girl who died in the house.  She had terminal meningitis.

Kaapschehoop has been called a ghost town by many and the town even offers ghost tours.  Legend has it that an old woman who was rumoured to have murdered her husband with an axe still roams the town.  Children can apparently be heard crying for help at the nearby rocks.  Sometimes one can hear them laughing – so they say.  The town’s pub has reportedly seen and heard a lot of strange events with crockery flying from the shelves when the music gets too loud.  Hush-hush, Kaapschehoop.

Machadodorp plays host to plenty a ghost. Many have seen an old man at the Police Station.  They say that he waits near the cells.  The village hospital was once located here.  Some say that it may be the ghost of someone who waits for a patient at the hospital.

In the 1940s, it was reported that a headless man walked the main street of Machadodorp at night. He was believed to be a wild red haired Scots soldier who was cheated out of some money during the South African wars. He was decapitated during the fight over the cash.  They said that he carried his head under his arm.

The farm Uitkomst is located about twenty kilometres south of Machadodorp. Decades ago, a couple visited a waterfall on the farm, and the bride posed on the edge so that her husband could take a photograph of her. Legend has it that she slipped on the edge of the rock and fell to her death. On the first advent of her passing, he took his life at the same spot.  When the full moon rises, the couple can sometimes be seen at the top of the waterfall.

It’s been more than 110 years since the Second War of Independence/Anglo Boer War came to an end, but the British are still haunting Lydenburg.  Some red coat soldier ghosts are believed to appear close to Lydenburg, now called Mashishing. Many have reported seeing them on mountaintops in the moonlight.

Then there’s the Waterval Onder couple who were every Boer’s worst nightmare 110 years ago.  An Afrikaans nurse fell in love with a wounded British souldier.  They met under a tree, night after night.  The tree was next to the military hospital in Waterval Onder.  The tree has been chopped down and the hospital is no longer functioning, but they say that the couple still meets at night.

When the train goes by the Dalmanutha Station on the yearly advent of an old stationmaster’s death, his ghost appears.  This stationmaster was murdered and his body buried in a shallow grave at the station.

No ghost story digest will be complete without a poltergeist.  Machadodorp’s police station dishes up this one.  A poltergeist has been catching out sleeping policemen at the Machadodorp SAPS, taking out their guns from their holsters and placing them on the counter.

Source: If I told you, I’d have to introduce you…