A Child's Tragic End

While I am still a little skeptical of traditional "ghosts", I am beginning to believe that past happenings can leave an "imprint" on the future....

This happened to myself and friend, a couple of kilometres out of a small South Australian town. We had decided to visit some old Homestead ruins and drove out there one afternoon to have a look around. We explored the old house and out buildings and wandered of to look at the creek and surrounding area. After a couple of hours we realised it was just beginning to get dark, so we headed back towards the house where the car was parked. To get there, we had to walk down a small hill, cross the creek (which was dry) and back up another small hill. As we approached the creek bed I suddenly had a feeling of intense dread. I stumbled and as I straightened I heard the hysterical crying of a small child. I stopped dead to ask my friend if she could hear it too. When I turned to her I realised she too had stopped in her tracks and was standing staring at the house, tears rolling down her cheeks. I ran back to her and shook her shoulders asking what was wrong. She replied "I dont know!" With that she seemed to come around and looked at me frowning. Whose crying? she asked. I said I didn't know, and that it seemed to be coming from the house. (All this time the crying continued).

We hurried across the creek and toward the house but as we neared the crying stopped. It was still light enough for us to see inside the house so we looked around but found nothing. We looked up and down the road to see if some traveller with a crying child had pulled over, but there was nothing. By this time the darkness had really set in and we were beginning to think that we had simply imagined the whole thing. As we drove back to town we discussed what we had heard and felt, but as we could not explain it we just let it slide into our subconscious.

About 6 years later (my friend had moved away and we had never again spoken of that afternoon) I was talking to a long term resident of the town and we got onto the subject of the ruins. I asked him about the history of the place and he shook his head, responding that he didn't like the place and felt ill just driving past it. This surprised me as this bloke was certainly not the type to flights of fancy and would not let anything get to him. When I pressed him for more information, he told me of what had happened there in the early 1960's.

A young couple lived in the house and had a small child. This child was prone to waking in the middle of the night, something that angered the father. One night, the child was being particularly restless and cried non-stop for some time. The father, suddenly losing all reason, beat the child so severely that the youngster died a few hours later. In an attempt to cover up his deed, the father then set alight the poor childs body and threw it down the well. How it was discovered I don't know, but apparently two families had tried to live there but moved on soon after moving in and eventually the place was left to the elements.

Was there a connection to the crying we heard that evening? I think there may well have been. I remember the feeling of dread and my friend told me that evening that she felt that there was something going on but she was helpless to stop it. I only hope that the childs soul is at rest.....