{
  "title": "THE GHOST WALKS",
  "category": "[RADIO-SERIES]",
  "article": "[Adelaide Advertiser, April 9, 1936—“‘The Ghost Walks’”] “A new series of radio thrillers, entitled\n‘The Ghost Walks,’ will be broadcast by 5 AD Adelaide and 5PI Central South Australia, beginning\non April 20. This programme has raised the question whether there are any haunted houses in\nSouth Australia. The manager of 5 AD is endeavoring to get in touch with the owner of a haunted\nhouse with a ‘genuine ghost,’ as it is desired to provide the necessary atmosphere for the opening\nof this series of dramatized ghost broadcasts.”\n[Adelaide Advertiser, April 11, 1936—“‘The Ghost Walks’—New Hair-Raising Radio Feature—5\nAD Search for Haunted Houses”]\n“Standing in a lonely gully in the Adelaide foothills, surrounded by towering pine trees, there is a\ndeserted house built in the early days of the State, which is said to be the playground of ghosts. So\ngruesome is its aspect that even the birds shun the neighborhood. No one will live in it and at last\nit has been decided to raze the building to the ground and destroy all trace of its unwholesome\npast.\n“It was at one time the haunt of horse thieves, who made merry in its cloistered seclusion. It is\nthe first of the haunted houses submitted to the manager of 5 AD as a suitable environment from\nwhich to broadcast the first of a series of dramatized ghost stories which are to be presented by 5\nAD and 5 PI twice a  week beginning on April 20. This feature, which is entirely new to South\nAustralia, is believed to be one which will create an unusual amount of listener attention. A\nsecond haunted and deserted house, also built in the early days of the state, is situated on the\ncoast near Adelaide, and is reported to have witnessed many of the orgies of the early day\nsmugglers. It possesses many secret caverns and cellars, in which they hid their smuggled goods.\nThere may be other haunted houses with histories attached to them. If there are, the manager of 5\nAD would appreciate particulars.”\n[Adelaide Advertiser, April 18, 1936—“Haunted House Series”] “ ‘The Ghost Walks’ is an\ninnovation in Australian broadcasting, and is a feature which follows an inquiry by Station 5 AD\nto ascertain the whereabouts of any legitimately haunted houses in South Australia. The replies\nreceived were numerous, and it has been decided as a result to broadcast the first of a series of\natmospheric presentations from a point on the South Australian coast.”\nCHRONOLOGY\nTHE GHOST WALKS (5AD, ADELAIDE)\n[Monday-Wednesday—9:15-9:30 PM]\nApril 20, 1936\n“Bleak House”\n[ADELAIDE ADVERTISER: “…An innovation in Australian broadcasting is\nto be made by 5 AD, Adelaide, and 5PI, Central South Australia, at 9.15\np.m. today, when the dramatic thriller, ‘The Ghost Walks,’ will be\npresented for the first time. It is the first time, too, that radio in Australia\nhas followed the film technique of placing the cast on location to secure\natmosphere for the play. Among those who will make their appearance\nbefore the microphone are Betty Diamond, who has been for some time\nplaying in Melbourne, and Lew Rodney, another newcomer to the 5 AD\nmicrophone. Others who will appear in the cast from time to time include\nClaire Schulze, James Glennin, and Rupert Cowan. When ‘The Ghost\nWalks’ tonight listeners will hear how the strange atmosphere of ‘Bleak\nHouse’ affected John Lee and Rosemary Crane, who are contemplating\nthe leasing of the place. It will be interesting to find the reactions of the\ntrained radio cast when placed in surroundings in which it is\nremembered that the ghost of years ago was in the habit of walking\nabroad…”]\nApril 22, 1936\n“\nAPRIL 25, 1936:\n[Adelaide Advertiser—“S.A. Houses That Are Haunted”]\n“Dig below the surface of the history of South Australia’s 100 years, and you find\nmany stories, partly fact, partly rumor, of strange happenings that carry no\nexplanation—fantastic episodes that stir the imagination with their suggestion of\nthe supernatural.\n“South Australia has its ghost stories, tales of haunted houses in the city and on\nthe lonely seacoast; of dim, white-clad figures and eerie sounds at dead of night.\n“Thoughts of these phantoms of the past are conjured up by Station 5 AD’s\nseries of broadcasts, ‘The Ghost Walks,’ which is attracting a great deal of\ninterest among radio listeners. It is from houses with ghostly histories that 5 AD’s\nbroadcasts are being made, and many correspondents have come forward with\nstories of old homes that provoke a shudder in the passer-by at night. The\nArchives Department yields still further tales of uncanny events which people\nhave attributed to supernatural agency.\n“The suburbs have several houses of ghostly fame. There is one at Semaphore\nthat was deserted hastily after a few days’ occupancy by a family which now lives\nat Toorak. It was found when the family moved in some years ago that one room\nof the house was much older than the rest of the building. This was given to one\nof the young sons as his bedroom. After his first night there, the child told a story\nof having seen a woman in a white nightgown, who came and stood near his bed\nduring the night. His mother labeled his story a dream and forgot about it, until,\na few days later, she saw a figure in white go from the direction of the boy’s\nbedroom into the garden. Without telling anybody else in the family what she had\nseen, she immediately decided to move.\n“There used to be a big, two-storeyed house in Prospect, known as Graham’s\nCastle, that was declared to be haunted. No servants would stay there for long.\nThey swore that they heard ghostly groans and wails and sighs and strange\nknockings and rumblings at night. A stockbroker, who was the tenant for several\nyears, gave little credence to the sevants’ stories, until one evening, at dusk, he\nsaw the cloaked figure of a woman on the stairs—a figure that dissolved into\nnothingness as he approached it. For years after he left the house it remained\nuntenanted, an object of superstitious fear, until it was demolished in 1901.\n“The walled basement of a large stone house in North Adelaide, where Calvary\nHospital now stands, was supposed to be frequented by a ghost—the ‘Grey Lady\nof North Adelaide.’ She was said to have been seen sitting in a chair in one of the\nbasement rooms. The story was widely circulated at the time and persisted until\nthe house was pulled down to make way for the hospital buildings.\n“A ghost was supposed to walk at night in Rowell’s road, Lockleys, in the early\ndays. It was said to be the spirit of a Mr. Malcolm, who was killed there when his\nhorse shied and threw him. Mr. Malcolm had lived in a small white house in this\nroad in this road, and the ghost was said to make the house its headquarters. For\nyears, timid people would not go along that part of the road alone at night. When\nthe horse cars began to pass there, the ghost—perhaps indignant at having its\nprivacy disturbed—disappeared from its haunts.\n“In the foothills, just beyond an eastern suburb, surrounded by pine trees, is an\nold home near the mouth of a gully. A party of horse thieves was captured there\nin the early days. This house is said to be frequented by ghosts that make weird\nnoises at night, to the annoyance of the nearest neighbor, about 50 yards away.\n“South Australia’s rugged southerly coastline was the setting for ghostly\nhappenings, supposed to have taken place at the Fountain Inn, which was built at\nEncounter Bay in 1887. In its heyday it was a favorite resort of the whalers of\nEncounter Bay, but after some years, with the advent of newer hostelries, it was\nlet as a summer residence. Nobody would stay there for long, though. At dead of\nnight the tenants would hear eerie noises, as of a number of men walking over\nsoft sand, dragging a heavy object.\n“The rumor was spread abroad that the old inn was haunted; that, years before,\na whaler had been terribly injured there in a drunken brawl, and that he had been\ndragged to the beach and left to die. The sounds heard at night, villagers declared,\ncame from a ghostly re-enactment of the grisly incident.\n“The ghosts of smugglers of the early days are said to haunt a house with an\nuninterrupted view of the coast not far from Hallett’s Cove. Here, so the tale goes,\nthe smugglers had secret hiding places for the goods they smuggled ashore from a\njetty they could see from the balcony of their stronghold.\n“At Normanville, the old house of Robert Norman, who landed there in 1884,\nnow abandoned and dilapidated, is known locally as ‘The Haunted House,’\nalthough nobody actually knows what gave the house its reputation.\n“Such pieces of ghostly association are always interesting, even if their\nsupposed ghosts are not taken seriously. The British Broadcasting Corporation\nrecently made an attempt—which proved unsuccessful—to broadcast the\nnocturnal wanderings of a ghost at a manor house, and now Station 5 AD is\ngiving listeners an opportunity of absorbing, while sitting at home in comfort, the\nauthentic ‘spooky’ atmosphere of a haunted house.”\nApril 27, 1936\nApril 29, 1936\nMAY 2, 1936:\n[Adelaide Advertiser—“ ‘The Ghost Walks’ “]\n“A popular feature heard over 5 AD-PI at 9:15 p.m. every Monday and\nWednesday is ‘The Ghost Walks.’ This series is unique in that the broadcasts\nare made with a cast of studio artists on location. It has been found that the\ndeductions of such a nature gather atmosphere from the surroundings in which\nthe players are placed, and it has therefore been decided to stage each\nperformance in a setting appropriate to the theme…”\nMay 4, 1936\n“The Haunted Theatre”\n[ADELAIDE ADVERTISER: “…an unusual plot dealing with the murder of\nthe owner of a one-time famous theatre…”]\nMAY 9, 1936:\n[Adelaide Advertiser]\n“A great deal of interest has been displayed in the thriller broadcast, ‘The Ghost\nWalks,’ and last Wednesday night’s performance has been described as the best\nof the series…”\nMay 11, 1936\n“The Phantom of the Valley”\n[ADELAIDE ADVERTISER: “…There are thrills in store for listeners at 9.30\np.m. on Monday when the ‘Phantom of the Valley’ will be broadcast as an\natmospheric presentation. This is the story of the mysterious\ndisappearance of several men near an old building situated on the edge of\na valley. Nobody was able to account for the disappearance. The\nsuggested answer to the riddle is the theme of Monday night’s\nprogramme, and listeners will hear some very striking and realistic\neffects…”]\nMAY 16, 1936:\n[Adelaide Advertiser—“The Ghost Walks”]\n“Many listeners have expressed their appreciation of the atmospheric broadcast\nunder the title of ‘The Ghost Walks.’ This series of ghost thrillers has been\nspecially dramatized from stories that are believed to originate from the\nappearances of a ghost. In order to achieve a realistic effect the Production\nDepartment at ‘ The Advertiser’ re-create as much as possible of the written story,\nand to add further realism the cast of players are placed on location at\nsurroundings which create for them as well as listeners a more definite\natmosphere of the plot… In ‘The Ghost Walks’ from week to week the cast include\nGordon Maddigan, Iris Thomas, Claire Schultz, and Lewis Norman.”\nMay 18, 1936\n“The Last Warning”\n[Monday—9:30-10:00 PM]\nMay 25, 1936\n[Monday—9:15-9:30 PM]\nJune 1, 1936\n[Wednesday—9:15-9:30 PM]\nJune 3, 1936",
  "origination": "",
  "duration": "",
  "personnel": "",
  "extant_recordings": "",
  "chronology": "",
  "sources": "",
  "gallery": "",
  "images": []
}