A Visit to St Bathans
Pippy McCurdy:http://www.unusualstays.com/
http://www.stumbleuponcroatiaslovenia.com/
Far off the beaten track in the heart of Central Otago is a small cluster of buildings. This is St Bathans, - once a thriving town of thousands, bustling with miners hungry for gold.The Vulcan Hotel is the only hotel which remains in this isolated spot, yet the locals come from far around to drink at the bar, and the visitors and toursits join them, - but probably struggle to keep up because this is Speights country.
Not many people search for gold here any more, even though there are more than a few who believe there is still gold to be found. So if the tourists do not come for gold, do they come for the strange ethereal scenery; the beauty of the Blue Lake; the ever-changing trees that stand like bare spectres in the midst of winter, or rustle in the warm winds of autumn. Well no. Mostly they come to see the ghost.
Her name was Rose. She was murdered for her gold they believe, - gold she had earned as a lady of the night, - and there were many willing to pay. She was killed in the front bedroom of the Vulcan - one of 13 public houses in St Bathans at the time.
You can still rent her room to this day and be a guest of the Vulcan. Maybe you will encounter one of the hotel's ghosts - because word is that there are not one but three ghosts, who still wander restlessly through the quiet corridors.
I did not encounter Rosie nor her entourage. In fact I spent a very pleasant evening in the company of the patrons and the very hospitable staff. The Vulcan is a friendly, pleasant, rather nice place to stay - a place which still retains a sense of presence and style belonging to its nineteenth century past.
No ghosts chose to reveal themselves to me. But I believe they were silently present. St Bathans - not a ghost town - but somehow a slightly mysterious place, all the same. A part of me wondered if this was not in fact, some parallel universe that I had been fortunate enough to stumble upon.
http://www.stumbleuponcroatiaslovenia.com/
