It seems our swamps are haunted too!
Of course in days gone by you can imagine the bush at night and the sounds and and emanations that would have befuddled and scared early settlers!!
I can't even imagine the life and struggles of those trying to live in the bush.
Here is a story set in Ellalong near Cessnock NSW.
Cessnock Eagle and South Maitland Recorder (NSW : 1913 - 1954), Friday 23 January 1942, page 4
Of course in days gone by you can imagine the bush at night and the sounds and and emanations that would have befuddled and scared early settlers!!
I can't even imagine the life and struggles of those trying to live in the bush.
Here is a story set in Ellalong near Cessnock NSW.
Cessnock Eagle and South Maitland Recorder (NSW : 1913 - 1954), Friday 23 January 1942, page 4
THE GHOST OF ELLALONG AND EARLY SETTLERS
By ARTHUR BIGGERS.
Just near the little old village of Ellalong is situated Catchaboy Swamp.
This is a large and deep swamp, that is never known to be dry.
This swamp, many years ago, first came into notoriety by reason of a peculiar and weird sound like a moan being heard at night time in the centre of the swamp.
Many people shunned this particular spot at night time. The name of Catcha-boy was given this swamp by the aborigines over a hundred years ago.
This story was told to the early settlers by the blacks.
The story runs that some huge animal came out of the swamp and took hold of one of the blacks and conveyed him into the swamp.
This black man was never seen again and for the past seventy five years, up to the present time, this weird and uncanny moan is heard from the centre of this Swamp.
The three first settlers who came to Ellalong, over seventy years ago, were Samuel Cadman, the grandfather of the late. S. W. Snape of Cessnock, and Mr. Benjamin Bridge, the grandfather of the present Ellalong Bridges, also Mr. James Hamilton whose grandsons still live in the district.
These three pioneers when they first came to Ellalong were greatly impressed by the richness of the soil and abundance of water.
They cut their way through, and arrived at East Maitland and secured the ground.
These old pioneers had much to contend with in the forties.
After a considerable amount of labour and hardship the wild forests of Ellalong were turned into several farms.
Our old pioneers soon discovered that they were in a country highly adaptable to wheat growing, so for many years following, from the old village of Wollombi to Ellalong, was considered a great wheat growing area.
The late William Snape, who after-wards was appointed one of the first councillors in the Cessnock Shire, was the first man to start a timber mill in the Ellalong district.
This was in the seventies.
The stories told by the old pioneers have been handed down from father to son, and the doings of the blacks and the ghost, and weird sounds of Catchaboy swamps, is still discussed in the village of Ellalong.
It appears that this moan could be heard for a distance of three miles, in fact, the moan was continually heard as far away as the head of Congewai, a neighbouring farming locality.
Forty years ago, when persons were returning from a party about midnight on a very dark night and just when passing this historic swamp the swamp was all at once lit up with a grey light and a large white object was seen to sink into the middle of the swamp.
Ellalong near Cessnock NSW
This is a large and deep swamp, that is never known to be dry.
This swamp, many years ago, first came into notoriety by reason of a peculiar and weird sound like a moan being heard at night time in the centre of the swamp.
Many people shunned this particular spot at night time. The name of Catcha-boy was given this swamp by the aborigines over a hundred years ago.
This story was told to the early settlers by the blacks.
The story runs that some huge animal came out of the swamp and took hold of one of the blacks and conveyed him into the swamp.
This black man was never seen again and for the past seventy five years, up to the present time, this weird and uncanny moan is heard from the centre of this Swamp.
The three first settlers who came to Ellalong, over seventy years ago, were Samuel Cadman, the grandfather of the late. S. W. Snape of Cessnock, and Mr. Benjamin Bridge, the grandfather of the present Ellalong Bridges, also Mr. James Hamilton whose grandsons still live in the district.
These three pioneers when they first came to Ellalong were greatly impressed by the richness of the soil and abundance of water.
They cut their way through, and arrived at East Maitland and secured the ground.
These old pioneers had much to contend with in the forties.
After a considerable amount of labour and hardship the wild forests of Ellalong were turned into several farms.
Our old pioneers soon discovered that they were in a country highly adaptable to wheat growing, so for many years following, from the old village of Wollombi to Ellalong, was considered a great wheat growing area.
The late William Snape, who after-wards was appointed one of the first councillors in the Cessnock Shire, was the first man to start a timber mill in the Ellalong district.
This was in the seventies.
The stories told by the old pioneers have been handed down from father to son, and the doings of the blacks and the ghost, and weird sounds of Catchaboy swamps, is still discussed in the village of Ellalong.
It appears that this moan could be heard for a distance of three miles, in fact, the moan was continually heard as far away as the head of Congewai, a neighbouring farming locality.
Forty years ago, when persons were returning from a party about midnight on a very dark night and just when passing this historic swamp the swamp was all at once lit up with a grey light and a large white object was seen to sink into the middle of the swamp.
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