Eidolon - RUPI Joint Investigation - Overland Corner Hotel - SA - (2014)

The Overland Corner Hotel

Barmera - The RIverland

South Australia

Eidolon Paranormal were invited by the team of Riverland Unexplained Paranormal Investigators to investigate the historic Overland Corner Hotel, situated some 21kms from Barmera on the road to Renmark.

 This was a great opportunity to catch with another of South Australia's honest and down to earth paranormal investigation teams, have some fun, investigate, and document another of South Australia's historic locations.

The History Of 

The Overland Hotel

 

Overland Corner Hotel - circa 1889: Photo Courtesy of The State Library of South Australia

One of the more interesting historical origin stories of a pub in South Australia belongs to the Overland Corner Hotel, which was built in 1859 by the Brand Brothers.

The hotel gained its first license on the 13th of March 1860, made out to William Brand, but it was actually John Chambers who applied to have the structure erected on Crown Land to serve the local community, which already had a police station (built in 1855) that was to curb the antics of the local population and indigenous peoples which tended to not get along.

In 1862, George Brand took over the licensing of the hotel. The Brand Brothers, George, William, Harry & Jim had pretty much built the pub themselves, and stayed on living in the area, and working at the  puib, which would eventually end up in the hands of William and his wife Hannah.

It was around this time that the Hotel become a stopping point for the mail coach from Wentworth, N.S.W., which would then go on to Blanchetown, then to be loaded on to trains at Freeling destined for Adelaide.

The building was constructed with Limestone from local quarries and consists of 14 rooms and an inner courtyard.

In 1965 it was purchased by the National Trust for historical preservation as it was thought to be one of the very first stone buildings in South Australia.The roof was originally a thatched roof but was eventually replaced with a tin roof.

 Another building also stood beside the current Hotel, a house that used as the residence of the publican, but it has long been removed, and no trace remains today, except for small hints of its existence in State Library photos

B45951 The Brand Brothers Harry, William,

George & Jim builders of the Overland Corner Hotel 1860 

 Captain Moonlite

Andrew George Scott (baptised 5 July 1842 – 20 January 1880), also known as Captain Moonlite, was an Australian bushranger.

The son of an Irish Anglican Clergyman, that moved to New Zealand in 1861, Scott was wounded in battle in the “Maori Wars” at the battle of Oraku where both his legs were wounded. After a long period of recovery, Scott was court-martial from the service for his objection to the slaughter of women and children during the siege.

He moved to Australia, in 1866 to become a lay-reader at Bacchus Marsh, with the intention of joining the Anglican Clergy in Australia, however these plans were not to come to fruition

On 8 May 1869, Andrew Scott was accused by the local constabulary, of disguising himself and forcing bank agent Ludwig Julius Wilhelm Bruun to open the bank safe. Bruun described being robbed by a black-crepe masked figure who forced him to sign a note absolving him of any role in the crime. The note read "I hereby certify that L.W. Bruun has done everything within his power to withstand this intrusion and the taking of money which was done with firearms, Captain Moonlite, Sworn.

Bruun claimed the man sounded like Scott but no gold was found in Scott's possession. Andrew George Scott acted dumbfounded and categorically refuted the claims, explaining that he had just arrived from Melbourne, and produced a train ticket to prove his innocence. The Reverend Scott even went as far as visiting Bruun's father, demanding that he advise his son to apologise. He was so convincing that the police believed he was innocent and therefore diverted their attention to Bruun, who was duly arrested. They also took into custody the School Master, James Simpson, who was accused of being an accomplice and author of the "Moonlite" letter.

For a more indepth look at the life of Captain Moonlite - please follow this link:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_Moonlite

 Captain Moonlite was said to have entered the Overland Corner Hotel on his horse, and was known at times to frequent the pub on occasion 

Investigation

Eidolon Paranormal was invited by R.U.P.I to investigate alongside them at the Historic Overland Corner Hotel in South Australia's Riverland - We would like to thank Kathy & Richard, Louise and Wendy for allowing us to come along, and a very special thanks to our amazing host, and licensee of the Overland Hotel, Phil. Your hospitality, kindness and sharing of history with us, and allowing us to enter your amazing property is most appreciated, and we thank you and team R.U.P.I. for allowing us the privilege to, not only investigate such an amazing place, but share and experience it with you all - what a fantastic night! :)

For more photo's please visit: Allen Tiller's "fan" page

Our investigation started with a chat to current licensee, Phil Reddy, who has a passion for history and the Hotel. Mr Reddy has amassed a vast knowledge on the location and shared much of it with us.

 This is the first location, where almost immediately upon entering the site, Allen witnessed something he cannot explain, and only a little while later, Allen and Karen, whilst interviewing Philip on Camera, both witnessed movement inside the hotel, whilst everyone was accountable, and within eyesight outside.

Kathy of RUPI began sensing Mr Patrick Devlin outside near the old horse cart, and using her skills, connected to the Gentlemen who put upon her a vision of his torturous death, and the vision of 5 men on horses, could this have been the notorious gang that rode with Captain Moonlight, and could they have had a hand in the death of Mr Devlin?

Our night progressed with an EVP session from Karen and Wendy, and also two apparition sightings by Allen. One appeared as a man wearing a brown tweed jacket, brown pant and black books, with a large black beard, who walked through a wall from what is now the mens toilets, into what was then a gambling wall - could this have been one of the Brand Brothers? As it was so quick, and nothing was caught on camera, Allen dismissed it as a personal experience.

The second of allens personal experiences happened outside the kitchen area, as Allen was walking through the hall from the bar, he noticed a young, possibly indigenous girl who was covered in bright orange. As it turns out, Bright Orange is the colour of ochre found only meters away in a local Aboriginal sacred area, and was a known colour for young indigenous girls to wear in the area!  - Again nothing was caught on camera, but interestingly, it wasn't until after Allen had seen the apparition and was talking to Phil that he learned of the colour orange being the natural ochre colour of the local indigenous tribes.

So is the place haunted? It is our belief that in this particular location there are events unexplainable that would fall into the category of "Paranormal phenomena", but at this stage they need more exploration.

 

Allen Tiller, Philip Reddy and Karen Tiller

Richard, Kathy, Phil, Wendy and Louise - Team RUPI with Phil Reddy at Overland Corner Hotel

 

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