by Murray Byfield
Australia’s most famous Ghost Story!
The legend of Fisher’s Ghost would have to be Australia’s oldest and best known ghost stories.
It is all the elements of classic ghost tale including murder and revenge from beyond the grave.
In June of 1842 ex-convict and ticket of leave man Frederick Fisher disappeared from his farm in Campbelltown west of Sydney Australia.
Sometime later another ex-convict George Worrall took over the farm claiming that Fisher had returned to England and sent him a letter informing him that the farm was now his.
Sunday Mail 26 September 1948
Four months later a friend of Fishers named John Farley barged into the local Hotel in a distressed stated and claimed he had seen Fishers ghost sitting on a slip rail beside the creek. Some accounts say that Farley’s horse reared and wouldn’t approach or go anywhere near the spectre.
Farley said the ghost kept directing his attention toward the creek.
A search party including Aboriginal trackers eventually found Fishers remains buried in a shallow grave near the edge of the creek exactly where the ghost had been pointing.
Worrall came under suspicion as the murderer of Fisher when he tried to pass off a fraudulent document that stated Fisher had left him the deeds to his farm.
Worrall was later arrested and confessed to the murder of Fredrick Fisher and was eventually hung in Sydney.
This classic ghost story became very famous throughout the world at the time, so famous that a silent film was made about the ordeal in the 1924.
Today Festival of Fisher’s Ghost is an annual event in Campbelltown organized by Campbelltown city council.
Sources:
Wikipedia
Brisbane Sunday Mail
