New Zealand Realty
The tiny town of St. Bathans, on the barren and windy Maniototo Plains in the Central Otago region of New Zealand, boasts one of the most fascinating pubs in the country. It is called the Vulcan Hotel and is allegedly the most haunted watering hole in the entire ‘land of the long white cloud’ – troubled by a spiteful female spirit whose tragic story is entwined with the region’s gold mining past. In fact, it is estimated as many tourists visit to hear terrifying accounts of her otherworldly antics as they do for its history.
Gold Rush Past
St. Bathans was not always the miniscule dot on the map it is now – with a permanent population of only six. In the late 1800s it was a bustling town of 2000 caught up in the gold rush fever gripping the region. During its heyday, it could perhaps more accurately have been described as spirited rather than spirit-infested. After all, wherever gold was discovered, vice and corruption usually followed, and at one point St. Bathans boasted over a dozen pubs – as well as numerous dance halls and brothels. It was a boom town where a small nugget of gold could buy a miner big night out. And it is at this point the ghost story of St. Bathans really begins.
Tragic Murder of a Prostitute
In the early 1880s an itinerant prostitute known only as the Rose ventured into town, one of a seemingly endless stream of young ladies lured to the minefields with hopes of finding a better life. She worked the dance halls and rented a room at the Vulcan Hotel. A gifted singer, her dulcet tones were claimed to have drawn her no shortage of fans and eager clients. But one evening the Rose invited the wrong customer back to her room. Her body was found the next morning on the bed where she made her miserable living. She had been raped, robbed and strangled to death. Her killer was never caught.
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