OLD HAUNT
THE Haunted Stream was given its name following the suspected murder of a local identity, Sir Roger Tichborne, better known as ‘Ballarat Harry’. Ballarat Harry disappeared on a trip to Omeo with a mate, who subsequently returned to the diggings at Stirling with a large amount of money and some of Harry’s possessions. While nothing was proven and a body never found, locals began to report strange sounds in the night and ghostly apparitions which ultimately led to many considering the area haunted. In reality, the strange noises were probably the calls of the powerful owl which sounds not unlike someone screaming, and the ghostly apparitions were most likely due to the alcohol-fuelled, overactive imagination of superstitious miners.