Many ghosts are said to reside in Grahamstown. Here are a few that Brian Jackson and Pat Hopkin’s book, Ghosts of Grahamstown, makes mention of.
Many ghosts are said to reside in Grahamstown. Here are a few that Brian Jackson and Pat Hopkin’s book, Ghosts of Grahamstown, makes mention of.
•“If you are walking in the Botanical Gardens and you catch a whiff of perfume and a feel a cold draft, then you have come into contact with the apparition of Lady Jana Maria de los Dolores de Leon Smith,”Jackson said. “She was the wife of Sir Harry Smith and Ladysmith in KwaZulu-Natal is named after her,” he said.
•The sound of a baby crying can be heard in the forested area near Stone Crescent Hotel. “When workers tried to follow the cry to find the baby, it stopped as they got closer, but when they turned around
again, the cry started again,” Jackson said.
•“The ghost of a monk resides in St. Aidan’s,” Jackson said. The ghost is reported to have moved bar stools around.
•Jackson says that the spirit of a maid who was murdered by a soldier in Selwyn Castle in 1835 lives on. “Selwyn Castle is now Rhodes University’s Anthropology Department,” Jackson said.
•According to Hopkins, many of Rhodes University’s buildings have ghosts residing in them. For example, Jackson said that the Institute of Biodiversity was built in the place where cottages used to stand and so
he says that the ghost spotted in the new building is probably a ghost from the cottages.
•Jackson says that a young boy and girl have been seen in the journalism department.
•And even in the Grocott’s Mail building, Hopkins says that a ghost by the name of Shaw, who was a reporter for the newspaper many years ago, still roams the newsroom.
Jackson said that Shaw would always check up on his fellow reporter and rival, Levy by walking up behind him and put his hand on his shoulder to peer at what he was typing.
They would alternate shifts at the weekends. On one particular weekend, while Shaw was typing, he had a heart attack and died.
Levy had to take over his stories and as he was working on them he heard Shaw’s familiar footsteps and felt Shaw’s hand on his shoulder and peer over what he was typing.
Jackson says that many people have felt Shaw’s presence while working late in the newsroom.
