Well known Windsor businessman, Mr. Alex Hendrikson, had the shock of his life on Wednesday evening ... he claims he saw a ghost.
Mr. Hendrikson claims he saw the ghost sometime between 9 p.m. and 9.30 p.m. on Wednesday near the St. Matthews Church rectory in Moses St., Windsor.
"I was confronted by what I believe to be an apparition or a figure of Samuel Marsden", a frightened Mr. Hendrikson said. "It looked like a figure dressed in dark robes. He had a very round face with what appeared to be a cruel look in his eyes."
Mr. Hendrikson said he based the apparition on being Samuel Marsden because of his background in history. "I know a fair bit about St. Matthews Church and the rectory and the different things Samuel Marsden did." "They called him the flogging parson in the early days and I understand from the pictures I have seen of him he had a cruel look about him."
Samuel Marsden (1764-1838) was a chaplain, missionary and farmer who was born in Yorkshire, England. He came to Australia and was a well-known figure throughout the colony in the early days. Three years after the death of his wife, Elizabeth, Marsden died on May 12th, 1838, at St. Matthews rectory, Windsor. He had gone there in ill health for a rest.
Marsden, however, was buried at St. Johns, Parramatta.
Mr. Hendrikson was making his way home after attending a Hawkesbury Shire Tourism Committee meeting at the Council Chambers when he saw the alleged ghost.
"I left earlier than usual because I had a film appointment the next morning. I usually walk home past the rectory and St. Matthews Church."
Mr. Hendrikson lives in a house behind St. Matthews Church.
"Just after the rectory I was confronted by the ghost. It loomed out of the dark. This scared the daylights out of me and I took off down Moses Street and bolted back to the Council Chambers", he said.
"There was no way I was going to get involved or assume any conversation with a person like this. It startled the daylights out of me. I am not scared of anybody but I was certainly scared of this" he said.
A pale looking Mr. Hendrikson said when he ran back to the Council Chambers he would have "left Herb Elliott for dead".
I explained to the Committee members exactly what happened to me but they did not believe me. It made them laugh as they thought I was joking, but I would sign a pledge on what I saw. This is black and white. I saw this and I don't wish to see it again."
Mr. Hendrikson said he was even considering moving residence because of what he had seen.
He said he thought the ghost was coming towards him. "I am sure it had me in its sights. It had an extremely angry look on its face, why, I don't know. I was certainly not going to hang around and find out anymore."
Mr. Hendrikson said it was the worst thing that had ever happened to him.
"Some people have called me a bit of a psychic. I have confronted a ghost in the theatre building in George Street which is now converted into my antique market. We believe someone might have been killed there."
"One night for security reasons, I was in residence there and something sat on my bed next to me and touched me on the shoulder."
"I tell you what - that was the first confrontation I have had with a ghost and that scared the daylights out of me. I really don't want to know about things like this. It is enough to keep a business going and keep a family happy without things like this happening to you."
Mr. Hendrikson said he knew of other ghost sightings near the rectory. "I have read about Samuel Marsden and the history of the rectory and a minister who was living there apparently heard footsteps in the hall and outside, a draw(sic) opening and closing, and footsteps running away. When getting up and turning on the lights there were no signs of doors being opened or draws opened," he said.
Mr. Hendrikson said he had not been drinking to any great extent and swears he had a clear mind on Wednesday evening.
He said that he did not believe that what he had seen could have been caused by lights. "It was more than just a live human being I am certain of that."
Mr. Hendrikson said he was driven home from the Council Chambers. "There was no way I was going to walk. From now on it is going to be a taxi or a lift. There is no way I am going to walk around the church area again," he claimed.
(Windsor and Richmond Gazette 6th July,1984.)
The ghost of Samuel Marsden has been seen again by Windsor businessman, Alex Hendrikson - and, fortunately for him, this time there were plenty of other witnesses.
As Mr. Hendrikson describes it, the flogging parson made a brief reappearance last Sunday in Thompson Square when he and Mr. Steve Pye, his driver, were sitting in their tourist horse coach late in the afternoon. Some passengers were also present.
The tired horses began to fidget in the gloom. Then suddenly, said Mr. Hendrikson, something appeared out of the shadows of the wind-tossed trees. The apparition was "black and man-like, dressed in a black cape and bishops hat."
Last time the good Reverend was sighted by Mr. Hendrikson was outside St. Matthews Rectory. But he was on his own. Also, an out of pocket bikie had called at the Rectory about that same time and it was thought that in the dark it was a case of mistaken identity. Only a few took the Hendrikson version seriously.
However, this time says Mr. Hendrikson, even the passengers saw a form appear- and just as quickly disappear.
He says he and Samuel Marsden, who once had sinners placed in stocks in Thompson Square, have a personal affinity- both are disturbed by the construction upheaval Windsor is undergoing. "I know he is annoyed by things that are happening in town. Last time I saw him was during the Mall construction; now there is upheaval in Baker Street," he said.
Mr. Hendrikson says he is perfectly serious about the sightings.
"It's not like the flabbit or anything like that. I don't need any publicity. Lots of people see things that could be considered strange in Windsor, but I don't really take much notice. There is something about Samuel Marsden, though."
(Hawkesbury Gazette 22nd May, 1985)
Given heart by the courage of Alex Hendrikson in admitting to his confrontation with the ghost of Samuel Marsden, I have decided that it is time for me to share a similar experience.
My close encounter of a ghostly kind occurred also in Windsor, on a Thursday night in April, about 10 p.m. I was returning home from Richmond by way of the Terrace and the newly-formed highway through Hollands Paddock.
I was suddenly aware of a ghostly apparition who was, to my surprise, digging in the approximate region of where the Terrace closure had taken place.
But this whitish "shadow" certainly didn't resemble the Flogging Parson. He was short, thin and Asiatic in appearance, dressed in the apparel of a farmer.
As I drove quickly past the area, the shadow chased me, waving with a hoe violently.
I have never again driven through Hollands Paddock at night.
(Hawkesbury Gazette 13th July, 1984)
The Close Encounter of a Ghostly Kind reported by "Scared Stiff", in a recent edition of the Gazette, brings to recall a long forgotten story told to me by my old grandfather.
The old fellow was considered a bit of an eccentric, but he could scare the pants off me in my younger days. One of his favourite stories was the Ghost of Chinaman's Hill.
It appears in the early days of Windsor, there was an old Chinese farmer who worked the land which has since become Hollands Paddock and which has been the focus of so much discussion of late. It seems that in years gone by, the Terrace was not open through its entire length, but was in fact closed where the present closure has taken place.
The Asiatic also had a distrust of the colony's financial institutions and would rather keep his life savings secretly buried on his farm.
When the authorities decided in their wisdom to join the two sections of the Terrace, the road covered the old man's savings and he died of despair. His ghost was afterwards seen roaming that section of the Terrace searching for his savings.
Could it be that, with the disappearance of the bitumen, the old Chinaman's Ghost has returned to claim his fortune?
(Hawkesbury Gazette 20th July, 1984)
On Friday, 30th June, the pupils of the Wilberforce Public School, in charge of the headmaster (Mr. T. F. Campbell) and accompanied by Mrs. J.C. Timms, made a pilgrimage to the Haunted Hill and inspected the historic tombstone near the river bank. Here Mrs. Timms related the story of Wilberforce's earliest settler, John Howarth, a soldier who held that portion of land as a grant from the Governor in 1801.
It is related that John Howarth cleared the land and engaged in sheep farming. In 1804 his two little boys, John and Jim, were minding sheep when the former, putting his hand in the hole in a tree, was bitten by a snake and died. Two years later, Mrs. Howarth disappeared and was never heard of again, and it was supposed that she committed suicide by drowning herself in her grief over the loss of her little son , John.
In the 1808 flood, Howarth was drowned whilst crossing the river in a boat in an endeavour to save some of his stock. His body was never recovered. A brother, W. Howarth, then came to take care of the farm and little Jim. Shortly afterwards, Jim was lost in the bush, and after a long search he was found by a stockman just as he was dying. His uncle returned to Sydney and in 1811 dropped dead in Chapel Row, now known as Castlereagh Street.
The tombstone on the river bank at Wilberforce is erected to the memory of John Howarth, also to Elizabeth and Katherine who died in infancy.
( Windsor and Richmond Gazette - 14th July, 1933 ).
Note: The tombstone was relocated by the Hawkesbury Historical Society to the Macquarie School House, Wilberforce, in 1960, first having the inscription re-cut.
The inscriptiion reads:
The Sydney Gazette of 21st October gave the following account of the death of John Howorth, Jnr:
Two sons of Mr John Howorth, settler, went together among some standing and fallen timber to look after a small flock. The eldest boy, sitting near a large tree in which three apertures had been cut for the purpose of searching after the bandy coot, unhappily stretched one of his arms within the hollow, and suddenly withdrawing it much terrified, acquainted his brother that he had received a bite from a black snake. The poor little fellow, conscious of his danger, with an air of despondency remarked that he should soon die; and complaining of sudden illness, made an effort to return homeward. But his faculties yielding to irresistible lethargy and stupor he lost his way before he had proceeded many paces and was observed by a neighbouring settler, who enquired what ailed him, received in feeble tone the information of his illness, but without assigning any cause to the complaint. The good man took him in his house and lay him on his bed. The parents were made acquainted with the state of the child was in and immediately attended him; but he was then wholly insensible and continued so during the short remaining period of his existence. About four in the afternoon the doleful accident occurred and at about the same hour the following morning he expired, to the extreme regret of his parents, who were totally unacquainted with the cause of his death until after the event had taken place, when the other disclosed the above circumstances and the body being examined, a wound appeared on the left arm, thro' which the noxious viper had poured the contaminating fluid.
Some queer stories are being told of a "ghost" which has made its appearance in a house in New-street. There is a long-standing belief among the superstitious that this particular house is haunted, for different people who have resided there declare that they have encountered the apparition.
(Windsor and Richmond Gazette - 8th May, 1897).
The New-street "ghost" is again scaring people almost to death. An occupant of the haunted house was aroused one night recently by a peremptory order to leave the place. As he awoke he saw the form of a one-time Windsor resident, long since dead, bending over his bed, and from whom the voice issued.
( Windsor and Richmond Gazette - 8th May,1897).
Note: Two different ghosts have been reported in the 1970's and 1980's to occupy an historic dwelling in New Street. One is the spirit of a large man, with a deep voice, who claims to be a former inn-keeper. The second is that of a young woman, who had been left by her lover with a promise to return. He never honoured his promise and she became earthbound, occupying the front bedroom of the house. She appears to be quite benign, apologising for disturbing the family's sleep.
(Source - oral.)
A now-retired Windsor doctor stated that he frequently heard footsteps moving up and down the verandah of his Baker Street premises, but never saw anybody whenever he investigated the cause. He eventually attributed the sound to " Surgeon Mileham".
(Source - oral.)
Note: James Mileham (?1763-1824) was given a commission as assistant surgeon in New South Wales in 1796, and arrived on the "Ganges" in June, 1797. He was sent to the Hawkesbury in 1808, remaining there until his retirement. He was a trustee of the Windsor Charitable Institution, treasurer of the Hawkesbury Benevolent Society and vice-president of the Windsor Bible Society.
Elizabeth Price lived with Mileham until her death in July, 1818, having borne him several children. On 2nd June, 1819, he married Susannah Kable. Mileham died on 28th September, 1824, aged 61, at Castlereagh Street, Sydney. His wife received a pension of one hundred pounds annually until her death in 1885.
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