The Haunting of Kelly's Steps - Battery Point - Tasmania

 

The Haunting of Kelly's Steps - Battery Point -

Tasmania

Kelly's Steps - Salamanca Place
Photo Allen Tiller 2022

Constructed in 1840 by the adventurer James Kelly, these steps were carved from the cliff face to allow workers to get to Salamanca Place and the wharf faster. [1]

 Captain Kelly circumnavigated Tasmania (then Van Diemen’s Land) in a whaleboat and discovered Port Davey and Macquarie Harbour. He was a well-respected whaler in Tasmania and became incredibly wealthy through his whaling activities. By 1842, Kelly was bankrupt, his wife and seven of his 10 children were dead.  He later was employed by Tasmanian Port Authorities. He died aged 67 in 1859. Ironically, Kelly's eldest son was killed by a whale![2]

Kelly’s Steps were notorious for assaults and other nefarious activities, hidden away from prying eyes. Jan Scott who grew up on Kelly Street in the 1950s stated,

“Kelly’s Steps were spooky to us at nighttime. We would go down in the dark. We would run up there and shout “Let’s go!”. There was always blood there – a lot got assaulted there.… You had to learn to run fast if you were going up there…that’s how we learnt to run I think – Kelly’s Steps and St David’s Park!” (– Jan Scott talking about her childhood in the 1950s and 60s)

 

On 31 October 1863, labourer, John Dunn fell down the steps and died ten days later in the local hospital.[3]  In 1926 Hannah Mollross, aged 41, who lived at 35 Kelly Street, allegedly had an accident on Kelly’s Steps that led to her having a miscarriage. She was taken to hospital and had surgery but died the following day.[4]
 It was discovered during her autopsy that she had had an illegal abortion and that the accident on the steps was a cover-up to hide the crime. The abortion had been botched, and Mollross died from blood poisoning.

Kelly’s steps are alleged to be haunted by numerous ghosts, of which no one knows their identities. Shadow people have been seen here, and the ghosts of wharfies!

© 2022 Allen Tiller

[1] ‘Kelly’s Steps’, Battery Point Community Association Inc, (2021), https://www.batterypointwalk.com.au/locations/kelly-street/


[2] 'CAPTAIN KELLY', World, (1 November 1922), p. 6. , viewed 27 Sep 2021, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article190273194


[3] 'THE REGATTA.', The Mercury, (14 December 1863), p. 3. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article8823154


[4] 'MARRIED WOMAN'S DEATH', The Mercury, (28 June 1926) http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article29449270

 The Oatlands Commissariat - Tasmania

Constructed in 1827, was built to securely house the provisions for the military and convict establishment at Oatlands. Learn more about the restoration project here: Oatlands Commissariat Restoration Project: https://www.facebook.com/oatlandscommissariat/

There is no evidence that this building is haunted, I am including it here as we visited in 2022 with Paranormal Holiday, and I wanted to place the photos somewhere :)

Photos: Allen Tiller © 2022

 The Pirate Bushrangers

The Pirate Bushrangers is a true story of murder, robbery, and bloodshed across three Australian States. Patrick O’Connor and Henry Bradley were convicts sent to Port Arthur in Tasmania. Both were noted for increasingly bad behaviour and sent to the notorious penal colony on Norfolk Island to be broken. After serving their time in the infamous Norfolk penal colony, they were transported back to Tasmania within weeks of each other. They met again as 'ticket of leave' men and began a murderous rampage in northern Tasmania as bushrangers. They stole a ship at Circular Head van Diemen’s Land becoming pirates, sailed to Cape Schanck, and returned to bushranging in Victoria, where they were eventually caught and hung. This is the story of the pirate bushrangers who for 40 days were two of the most brutal, bloodthirsty villains in southern Australia’s history.

Purchase Today!: https://www.amazon.com.au/Pirate-Bushrangers-Allen-Tiller/dp/B0C47YLYF4

Haunted Salisbury: South Australia 

Haunted Salisbury: South Australia is the culmination of many years of research into the haunted history of Salisbury, South Australia by award-winning paranormal historian, Allen Tiller. In this book, Allen Tiller investigates the origins of historic local hauntings and crimes, Salisbury’s founding, and the people who shaped the City of Salisbury, some of whom, are now alleged to haunt the places they lived and worked.
Allen Tiller is a university-educated, award-winning paranormal historian from Gawler, South Australia. He was a member of the cast of the television show Haunting: Australia, and the best-selling author of The Haunts of Adelaide: Revised Edition, and Haunted Adelaide, the first book in this series about hauntings, history and crimes in Australia.


Buy here: https://www.amazon.com.au/Haunted-Salisbury-Australia-Allen-Tiller/dp/B0C1JD315F

Haunted Adelaide

Did you know there are 3 separate (allegedly) haunting incidents reported on the ANZAC Highway?

1. The children at the Morphett Road crossing in their PJ's, sometimes seen covered in blood!

2. The ghost girl asking to be picked up and taken to her mother’s. There are police reports of this incident.

3. The family in their car who drive along next to you, stare at you, and then suddenly distort into a bloody cut-up mess like they've been in a car accident!

All this and more in Haunted Adelaide – available only at Amazon.

Buy it here: HAUNTED ADELAIDE

The Haunts of Adelaide: History, Mystery and the Paranormal

REVISED EDITION

The Haunts of Adelaide: History, Mystery and the Paranormal is researched and written by award-winning historian Allen Tiller.

This second edition of The Haunts of Adelaide has been completely rewritten with extra historical facts, footnoting, an index, more photos, and most importantly, more ghost stories!

Join Allen Tiller, one of Australia’s leading paranormal historians, as he documents some of Adelaide’s most haunted locations and the history behind the buildings, the people, the urban legends and the ghosts that haunt Adelaide and its suburbs, in this completely revised and rewritten edition.

Inside you will discover the ghosts that dwelled at Graham’s Castle, Younghusband Mansion, The Adelaide Arcade and Waterfall Gully. Find out the truth behind Schneider’s Alley and read about the tiger of the Union Hotel!

Get spooked with 30 stories from the other side: The Haunts of Adelaide: History, Mystery, and the Paranormal. REVISED EDITION

Buy here:
https://www.amazon.com.au/Haunts-Adelaide-History-Mystery-Paranormal/dp/B08JLQLLC5

Outside the Box - Episode 5: Allen & Karen Tiller - Eidolon Paranormal, ...