Ghost stories where history may still be lingering
Whether you believe in ghosts, spirits or strange energies, one thing is certain: an old gold-rush town with ancient mountains, abandoned mine workings, lonely roads and more than a century of human drama has all the ingredients required for a good ghost story.
Barberton is a town with a long memory. For more than 140 years, its mountains have watched prospectors arrive in search of gold, fortunes being made and lost, wagons battling their way down dangerous mountain routes, and colourful characters filling the streets, hotels and canteens of one of the wildest mining towns in the old Transvaal.
It is a history filled with adventure, hardship, tragedy, celebration, greed and more than a few characters who seemed too colourful to belong in an ordinary history book. So, perhaps it should not come as a surprise that Barberton also has ghost stories.
Whether you believe in ghosts, spirits or strange energies, one thing is certain: an old gold-rush town with ancient mountains, abandoned mine workings, lonely roads and more than a century of human drama has all the ingredients required for a good ghost story.
This is not an attempt to prove that Barberton is haunted. Rather, it is a journey into the space where history, folklore and imagination meet. Some of the stories have been whispered for generations, others have been told by people who claim to have experienced something they cannot explain.
As with all good ghost stories, it is up to the reader to decide what to believe.
Before there were cars, tar roads and GPS, getting to Barberton was an adventure in itself. The old Natal Road became one of the routes used by wagons and transport riders travelling towards the goldfields after gold was discovered in the De Kaap Valley in the 1880s.
One of the most notorious parts of the route was the Chute, where travellers faced a dramatic descent from the escarpment into the De Kaap Valley. According to historical accounts, this section involved a drop of about 650 metres and was regarded as a frightening and hazardous part of the journey. Imagine travelling there after dark.
There were no headlights to cut through the darkness. No cellphone to call for help. No friendly roadside petrol station offering coffee and a pie. There were only the sounds of the wagon, the animals, the bush and the darkness. Unless, of course, those sounds belonged to something else.
Stories about old roads have always been fertile ground for ghostly tales. With the Old Natal Road and the Chute having witnessed generations of difficult and dangerous journeys, it is easy to understand why local imagination may have filled the lonely mountain route with mysterious presences.
The ghosts, however, are folklore, but the dangers of the road were very real. If any ghosts do walk that old route today, one hopes they have better transport than an ox wagon.
Barberton's early days were anything but quiet. The discovery of gold in the 1880s drew prospectors and fortune seekers from far and wide. Hotels, canteens, bars and boarding houses appeared to serve a rapidly growing population of miners, traders and adventurers.
By the end of the boom, Barberton had earned a reputation as a rough and dangerous gold-rush town. Drinking, gambling, fighting and other forms of entertainment were very much part of the frontier atmosphere. Historical accounts describe a community packed with colourful characters and establishments where fortunes could be won, lost or spent before the sun rose the next morning. With that much life being lived at full speed, perhaps it is understandable that some stories suggest not everyone was ready to leave. Old hotels are particularly good places for ghost stories.
The former Transvaal Hotel, later known as the Impala Hotel, is one of Barberton's historic buildings with a colourful past stretching back to the gold-rush era. It has served generations of travellers and residents and was reportedly used as an officers' mess during the Anglo-Boer War. The original wooden structure also burnt down and was later rebuilt on the original foundation.
Does that mean it is haunted? There is no documented evidence to say so. Yet buildings that have survived fires, wars, celebrations, arguments and generations of changing faces almost seem to invite the imagination to wander. Old hotels have creaking floors, empty passages and rooms that become very quiet after dark. Anyone who has spent time in an old building knows that a settling timber beam can sound remarkably like footsteps when you are the only person awake. Or perhaps it really was footsteps.
One of the more intriguing Barberton-area stories was recorded in a 2011 travel feature about an old guesthouse near the town. The owners spoke about an old transport route that once passed through the property and recalled being told by a previous owner that horses could still sometimes be heard passing at night. They reportedly did not believe the story until one evening when the dogs began barking and they heard what sounded like horses moving past.
There is, of course, a perfectly possible explanation. Dogs bark at many things. Sounds travel in strange ways at night. Wind can play tricks. Horses can sound surprisingly close when they are nowhere near you. Still, the story is a good one.
The old transport routes around Barberton once carried stagecoaches, wagons, prospectors and transport riders, including the kind of men who became legends of the gold-rush era. The roads themselves have largely disappeared into history, but the stories remain. So, if you are lying awake in the Barberton mountains one night and hear the sound of hoofs where there should be none, perhaps do not immediately assume the neighbours have bought horses.
Then there are the mines. Gold built Barberton, but mining was never an easy or gentle occupation. Men worked underground in dark and dangerous conditions, often deep beneath the surface. The old Golden Quarry at Eureka City is a reminder of just how hard those early miners worked. Much of the excavation was done by hand, leaving behind a deep and shadowy space where the silence and dampness can feel almost overwhelming.
Standing near an old mine shaft is enough to make even the least superstitious person feel slightly uneasy. There are real dangers associated with abandoned mine workings, including unstable ground and hidden shafts. Yet over the years, places such as these have also attracted stories about strange sounds, unexplained lights and shadowy figures.
Some of these stories are undoubtedly born from imagination. Others may simply be the natural sounds of an old mining landscape. Rocks shift. Water drips. Then again, when you are standing near an abandoned mine in the dark, logic has a habit of becoming less convincing.
Perhaps the most important thing about Barberton's ghost stories is that they are really stories about history. The town's Heritage Walk includes numerous old buildings and sites that have survived from the gold-rush era. Walking through Barberton's streets today means moving through spaces where generations of prospectors, hoteliers, transport riders, soldiers, miners and families once lived their lives.
Eureka City, once a lively gold-rush settlement with hotels, shops, bars and a racing course, is now a ruin. The people are gone, the buildings have largely disappeared and the bustling community that once existed there has been swallowed by time. Places such as these have a way of making people feel that the past is still close. Perhaps that is what ghosts really are. Barberton does not need to manufacture a spooky reputation. Its real history is dramatic enough.
Men died chasing gold. Travellers risked their lives on mountain roads. Fortunes disappeared overnight. Old hotels filled with prospectors, soldiers and adventurers. Entire mining settlements appeared and then faded away. Somewhere along the old roads and in the shadows of the mountains, the stories continue. Whether there are truly ghosts in old Barberton is something this writer cannot confirm.
But….. if you find yourself walking along a lonely stretch of the old Natal Road after dark and hear the distant sound of wagon wheels or horses where there should be none, there are two possible explanations. It could be the wind, or it could be someone who has been travelling to Barberton for more than 140 years and still has not quite reached the end of the road.
Either way, perhaps do not offer them a lift.
Naomi Roebert
Anchen Coetzee
Mariana Balt
Liz Thorne
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