Ghostly dinner, a hoot for sceptics and believers
New show at Jan Smuts Museum
IT SOUNDS ridiculous. A paranormal, themed dinner at the last home of former South African prime minister Jan Smuts – accompanied by a seance and vaudevillian spirit cabinet show.
Maybe some will be lucky enough to contact Smuts from beyond the grave and ask him some flippant questions. “So Jannie: Dlamini Zuma or Ramaphosa? Favourite Gupta brother? How ‘bout that Black First Land First?” At the very least, maybe he could explain why his wife, Isie, never made him shave off that damn goatee. How could you not be curious?
For the past 17 years, event organiser Mark Rose-Christie has been running ghost tours in South Africa.
The Mystery Ghost Dinner is his next step, with the Jan Smuts House Museum in Irene providing a sufficiently creepy venue.
By day it’s a tribute to Smuts, his family and his time as a statesman, military leader and philosopher. By night it’s a solid spot for Rose-Christie to serve his unusual, over-the-top brand of theatre and a threecourse meal of Eyeball Soup (dumplings in a chicken consomme), Braised Ghoul Shank (lamb shank and vegetable ragout) and Devil’s Food Cake (Cape Brandy pudding).
At first it’s difficult to stifle your giggles as Rose-Christie welcomes guests with a piano medley from Phantom of the Opera.
He’s the only one in full costume – top hat, cloak, bright purple cravat.
As he pounds the keys of Isie Smuts’s piano, you notice the animal skulls, the antique weapons and portraits of deadeyed families from past eras.
There is one particularly unsettling framed photograph of a young Queen Elizabeth II and her family staying at the Smuts family home, and she looks as though she really did not want to be there.
Armed with a torch, Rose-Christie infor ms the crowd of the half-dozen or so people known to have died on the property. The psychically sensitive who have stayed at the home have claimed sightings of a Boer woman in the 1800s, her mouth caked in blood.
Rose-Christie says paranormal investigators have found evidence of spirits, particularly those who photographed the dark guest rooms. Orbs of energy have supposedly been spotted, and echoes of a woman saying “perd, perd” have been recorded.
From a less enthusiastic host, the room would be the centre of an epic group eye-roll, but it’s hard not to get caught up in Rose-Christie’s delivery.
If you’re a believer, you may be creeped out by his tales. As a sceptic, he’s entertaining as hell.
“Those of you who are sceptics will become believers,” booms Rose Christie. He asks his audience to explore the creaking building and take plenty of photographs. Maybe he was hoping his audience would see spirits, or at least orbs.
Sadly, none were spotted by the Saturday Star, and it’s unclear if any sceptics became believers, or vice versa.
It’s impossible to write about the seance without spoiling its effect, but the spirits of the house are surprisingly good at parlour tricks, and who knows if they were the ones responsible for a glitch in the performance in which the museum’s fire alarm tripped?
The cabinet act functioned as a showcase of the talents of Rose-Christie’s son, Kyle Basson, whose deadpan facial expression is the perfect contrast to his father’s flamboyance.
If you attend, remember you may be asked to join the act, although that is part of the fun. Tying up one of your hosts as he tries to emulate Harry Houdini could be a highlight for some. Both acts appeared to be well received.
During the sitdown dinner – complete with cobwebbed candelabra and antique tableware – it became apparent the event had attracted some unusual participants. Jaco du Plessis, medium, telepath, psychic and plumber, said he had seen numerous spirits in the house, just a few hours into proceedings.
The 46-year-old said he had communicated with two little girls who had died in the house, and an elderly woman he thought could be Smuts’s mother or mother-in-law.
Sitting in the Smuts’s lounge, Du Plessis said the conversations manifested as whispering, the spirits difficult to see without extreme concentration.
“It’s like looking through a mist, or from your peripheral vision. You need focus to be able to communicate with them,” he said.
“Ghosts aren’t scary. Yes, they can be malevolent, but usually there isn’t anything to fear,” he said.
For Du Plessis, “awesome” shows like the Mystery Ghost Dinner could help people come to terms with their fear of death because it makes the paranormal easily accessible.
Camp enthusiast Hertzog van Heerden was also pleased with the experience.
When asked how he would rate the level of theatricality, he described it as “a scintillating seven out of 10”.
Speaking about Rose-Christie, he said: “Initially I had to giggle a bit, and his approach is so dramatic and full of grand gestures, sweepings and flourishes that you are almost dumbstruck. But you get into it and it’s endearing.
“He’s entertaining and he takes his craft seriously.”
Rose-Christie’s foray into fine-dining was not about turning a massive profit, he told the Saturday Star, but to help keep the Smuts House Museum alive.
With fewer visitors in recent years, the privately funded museum has struggled.
“This is an opportunity to remind people of what a beautiful spot it is,” he said.
And yes, he did get permission to play the Smuts’ antique piano.
• For those interested in attending the show, contact Rose-Christie on MarkRoseChristie@gmail.com or visit http://mysteryghostbus.co.za/ dinners.html