THE GHOST WALKS
[RADIO-SERIES]
[Adelaide Advertiser, April 9, 1936—“‘The Ghost Walks’”] “A new series of radio thrillers, entitled
‘The Ghost Walks,’ will be broadcast by 5 AD Adelaide and 5PI Central South Australia, beginning
on April 20. This programme has raised the question whether there are any haunted houses in
South Australia. The manager of 5 AD is endeavoring to get in touch with the owner of a haunted
house with a ‘genuine ghost,’ as it is desired to provide the necessary atmosphere for the opening
of this series of dramatized ghost broadcasts.”
[Adelaide Advertiser, April 11, 1936—“‘The Ghost Walks’—New Hair-Raising Radio Feature—5
AD Search for Haunted Houses”]
“Standing in a lonely gully in the Adelaide foothills, surrounded by towering pine trees, there is a
deserted house built in the early days of the State, which is said to be the playground of ghosts. So
gruesome is its aspect that even the birds shun the neighborhood. No one will live in it and at last
it has been decided to raze the building to the ground and destroy all trace of its unwholesome
past.
“It was at one time the haunt of horse thieves, who made merry in its cloistered seclusion. It is
the first of the haunted houses submitted to the manager of 5 AD as a suitable environment from
which to broadcast the first of a series of dramatized ghost stories which are to be presented by 5
AD and 5 PI twice a week beginning on April 20. This feature, which is entirely new to South
Australia, is believed to be one which will create an unusual amount of listener attention. A
second haunted and deserted house, also built in the early days of the state, is situated on the
coast near Adelaide, and is reported to have witnessed many of the orgies of the early day
smugglers. It possesses many secret caverns and cellars, in which they hid their smuggled goods.
There may be other haunted houses with histories attached to them. If there are, the manager of 5
AD would appreciate particulars.”
[Adelaide Advertiser, April 18, 1936—“Haunted House Series”] “ ‘The Ghost Walks’ is an
innovation in Australian broadcasting, and is a feature which follows an inquiry by Station 5 AD
to ascertain the whereabouts of any legitimately haunted houses in South Australia. The replies
received were numerous, and it has been decided as a result to broadcast the first of a series of
atmospheric presentations from a point on the South Australian coast.”
CHRONOLOGY
THE GHOST WALKS (5AD, ADELAIDE)
[Monday-Wednesday—9:15-9:30 PM]
April 20, 1936 “Bleak House”
[ADELAIDE ADVERTISER: “…An innovation in Australian broadcasting is
to be made by 5 AD, Adelaide, and 5PI, Central South Australia, at 9.15
p.m. today, when the dramatic thriller, ‘The Ghost Walks,’ will be
presented for the first time. It is the first time, too, that radio in Australia
has followed the film technique of placing the cast on location to secure
atmosphere for the play. Among those who will make their appearance
before the microphone are Betty Diamond, who has been for some time
playing in Melbourne, and Lew Rodney, another newcomer to the 5 AD
microphone. Others who will appear in the cast from time to time include
Claire Schulze, James Glennin, and Rupert Cowan. When ‘The Ghost
Walks’ tonight listeners will hear how the strange atmosphere of ‘Bleak
House’ affected John Lee and Rosemary Crane, who are contemplating
the leasing of the place. It will be interesting to find the reactions of the
trained radio cast when placed in surroundings in which it is
remembered that the ghost of years ago was in the habit of walking
abroad…”]
April 22, 1936 “
APRIL 25, 1936:
[Adelaide Advertiser—“S.A. Houses That Are Haunted”]
“Dig below the surface of the history of South Australia’s 100 years, and you find
many stories, partly fact, partly rumor, of strange happenings that carry no
explanation—fantastic episodes that stir the imagination with their suggestion of
the supernatural.
“South Australia has its ghost stories, tales of haunted houses in the city and on
the lonely seacoast; of dim, white-clad figures and eerie sounds at dead of night.
“Thoughts of these phantoms of the past are conjured up by Station 5 AD’s
series of broadcasts, ‘The Ghost Walks,’ which is attracting a great deal of
interest among radio listeners. It is from houses with ghostly histories that 5 AD’s
broadcasts are being made, and many correspondents have come forward with
stories of old homes that provoke a shudder in the passer-by at night. The
Archives Department yields still further tales of uncanny events which people
have attributed to supernatural agency.
“The suburbs have several houses of ghostly fame. There is one at Semaphore
that was deserted hastily after a few days’ occupancy by a family which now lives
at Toorak. It was found when the family moved in some years ago that one room
of the house was much older than the rest of the building. This was given to one
of the young sons as his bedroom. After his first night there, the child told a story
of having seen a woman in a white nightgown, who came and stood near his bed
during the night. His mother labeled his story a dream and forgot about it, until,
a few days later, she saw a figure in white go from the direction of the boy’s
bedroom into the garden. Without telling anybody else in the family what she had
seen, she immediately decided to move.
“There used to be a big, two-storeyed house in Prospect, known as Graham’s
Castle, that was declared to be haunted. No servants would stay there for long.
They swore that they heard ghostly groans and wails and sighs and strange
knockings and rumblings at night. A stockbroker, who was the tenant for several
years, gave little credence to the sevants’ stories, until one evening, at dusk, he
saw the cloaked figure of a woman on the stairs—a figure that dissolved into
nothingness as he approached it. For years after he left the house it remained
untenanted, an object of superstitious fear, until it was demolished in 1901.
“The walled basement of a large stone house in North Adelaide, where Calvary
Hospital now stands, was supposed to be frequented by a ghost—the ‘Grey Lady
of North Adelaide.’ She was said to have been seen sitting in a chair in one of the
basement rooms. The story was widely circulated at the time and persisted until
the house was pulled down to make way for the hospital buildings.
“A ghost was supposed to walk at night in Rowell’s road, Lockleys, in the early
days. It was said to be the spirit of a Mr. Malcolm, who was killed there when his
horse shied and threw him. Mr. Malcolm had lived in a small white house in this
road in this road, and the ghost was said to make the house its headquarters. For
years, timid people would not go along that part of the road alone at night. When
the horse cars began to pass there, the ghost—perhaps indignant at having its
privacy disturbed—disappeared from its haunts.
“In the foothills, just beyond an eastern suburb, surrounded by pine trees, is an
old home near the mouth of a gully. A party of horse thieves was captured there
in the early days. This house is said to be frequented by ghosts that make weird
noises at night, to the annoyance of the nearest neighbor, about 50 yards away.
“South Australia’s rugged southerly coastline was the setting for ghostly
happenings, supposed to have taken place at the Fountain Inn, which was built at
Encounter Bay in 1887. In its heyday it was a favorite resort of the whalers of
Encounter Bay, but after some years, with the advent of newer hostelries, it was
let as a summer residence. Nobody would stay there for long, though. At dead of
night the tenants would hear eerie noises, as of a number of men walking over
soft sand, dragging a heavy object.
“The rumor was spread abroad that the old inn was haunted; that, years before,
a whaler had been terribly injured there in a drunken brawl, and that he had been
dragged to the beach and left to die. The sounds heard at night, villagers declared,
came from a ghostly re-enactment of the grisly incident.
“The ghosts of smugglers of the early days are said to haunt a house with an
uninterrupted view of the coast not far from Hallett’s Cove. Here, so the tale goes,
the smugglers had secret hiding places for the goods they smuggled ashore from a
jetty they could see from the balcony of their stronghold.
“At Normanville, the old house of Robert Norman, who landed there in 1884,
now abandoned and dilapidated, is known locally as ‘The Haunted House,’
although nobody actually knows what gave the house its reputation.
“Such pieces of ghostly association are always interesting, even if their
supposed ghosts are not taken seriously. The British Broadcasting Corporation
recently made an attempt—which proved unsuccessful—to broadcast the
nocturnal wanderings of a ghost at a manor house, and now Station 5 AD is
giving listeners an opportunity of absorbing, while sitting at home in comfort, the
authentic ‘spooky’ atmosphere of a haunted house.”
April 27, 1936
April 29, 1936
MAY 2, 1936:
[Adelaide Advertiser—“ ‘The Ghost Walks’ “]
“A popular feature heard over 5 AD-PI at 9:15 p.m. every Monday and
Wednesday is ‘The Ghost Walks.’ This series is unique in that the broadcasts
are made with a cast of studio artists on location. It has been found that the
deductions of such a nature gather atmosphere from the surroundings in which
the players are placed, and it has therefore been decided to stage each
performance in a setting appropriate to the theme…”
May 4, 1936 “The Haunted Theatre”
[ADELAIDE ADVERTISER: “…an unusual plot dealing with the murder of
the owner of a one-time famous theatre…”]
MAY 9, 1936:
[Adelaide Advertiser]
“A great deal of interest has been displayed in the thriller broadcast, ‘The Ghost
Walks,’ and last Wednesday night’s performance has been described as the best
of the series…”
May 11, 1936 “The Phantom of the Valley”
[ADELAIDE ADVERTISER: “…There are thrills in store for listeners at 9.30
p.m. on Monday when the ‘Phantom of the Valley’ will be broadcast as an
atmospheric presentation. This is the story of the mysterious
disappearance of several men near an old building situated on the edge of
a valley. Nobody was able to account for the disappearance. The
suggested answer to the riddle is the theme of Monday night’s
programme, and listeners will hear some very striking and realistic
effects…”]
MAY 16, 1936:
[Adelaide Advertiser—“The Ghost Walks”]
“Many listeners have expressed their appreciation of the atmospheric broadcast
under the title of ‘The Ghost Walks.’ This series of ghost thrillers has been
specially dramatized from stories that are believed to originate from the
appearances of a ghost. In order to achieve a realistic effect the Production
Department at ‘ The Advertiser’ re-create as much as possible of the written story,
and to add further realism the cast of players are placed on location at
surroundings which create for them as well as listeners a more definite
atmosphere of the plot… In ‘The Ghost Walks’ from week to week the cast include
Gordon Maddigan, Iris Thomas, Claire Schultz, and Lewis Norman.”
May 18, 1936 “The Last Warning”
[Monday—9:30-10:00 PM]
May 25, 1936
[Monday—9:15-9:30 PM]
June 1, 1936
[Wednesday—9:15-9:30 PM]
June 3, 1936
THE GHOST WALKS
“Each Thursday evening as the ghost walks, he is forced to live again the misdeeds which destine
him to walk and walk—and tell and retell his story, through all eternity.”
Scripted by Kathleen Hite, who went on to write a number of the early episodes of Gunsmoke as
well as other radio Westerns, this series dealt with historical crime and political intrigue, with the
framing device of the offending spirit being unable to rest after death.
ORIGINATION: KNX, Hollywood, California (CBS).
DURATION: Circa 1946-1947.
PERSONNEL: Dick Aurandt (musical effects, novachord), Kathleen Hite (scriptwriter), James
Matthews (announcer), Dave Vaile (director).
CASTS: Paul Frees, et al.
EXTANT RECORDINGS: “A Short Life in Infamy” (9/12/46), “Power of Attorney” (1/18/47).