Episode Details

While it is now an affluent Melbourne suburb, Williamstown, or King William's Town as it was originally known has had quite the chequered past. In this episode of Strewth, we tell some good old fashioned ghost stories and explore the truth behind the tales. You'll hear about a ruined opera singer who lost his voice and permanently took a room above a pub. An eighteen year old barmaid, dead of a poison the Government analyst swore couldn't have killed her, and the man who bemoans her death still.

Then a Strewth listener, Matt tells us what he and three mates met on a cold night in a quiet street in Williamstown.

Lantern Ghost Tours, Williamstown - https://www.lanternghosttours.com/

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Theme Music - Jesse Frank on Pixabay

Sources:

• "Suicide of Mr. John De Haga", The Argus 5th October, 1872 via Trove https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/5840007

• "The Williamstown Poisoning Case", The Leader (Melbourne), 4 February 1888.

• February 1862 Williamstown fire (Cole Street / Steam Packet / old Ship Inn). butlerfamilyhistoryaus.blogspot.com,

• Early Williamstown colour: the "Bucket of Blood" shanty (attrib. Michael Cannon, "Old Melbourne Town") and the 1841 "nineteen residents, six publicans" figure (attrib. Paul McGuire, "Inns of Australia").

• Jacqui Travaglia, Lantern Ghost Tours (Williamstown) — background provided directly to the production on the Timeball Tower and Steam Packet Hotel hauntings, including John Price, Richard Vaughan and the lady in white, John De Haga, Jane Nicholls, "Charles", and the reported staff experiences (moving glassware, footsteps, the knocking cupboard, the bed account).