Real-life

Haunted places

Situated at the most south-westerly tip of Australia, the Cape Leeuwin Lighthouse stands at the point where the Indian and Southern Oceans meet. It is also haunted by a lighthouse keeper’s wife who has refused to move on. She is the ghost who lives in Cottage Three, the dwelling closest to the historical lighthouse.

“When I go to the lighthouse, I know I can feel her,” says photographer Peter Rigby, who has been snapping the lighthouse for years. “There is a sense of desolation in the cottage, and it’s certainly colder than the other ones.”

The story goes that one day in 1909, the then-lighthouse keeper’s wife Maud Elizabeth Govett Miner was heavily pregnant. She was cleaning up her home in preparation of her baby’s arrival. She stood on a chair to adjust a curtain, suffered a heavy fall and badly injured herself.

Sadly, due to the isolation of the lighthouse, it took days for the doctor to arrive. It was too late. “She died from septicaemia and tragically her baby died too,” Peter explains.

Since her passing, Cottage Three, where she was living at the time, has been a constant source of haunted activity.

“Strange things go on out there,” says Peter. “Lighthouse caretaker Paul Sofilas has lived on site for 10 years and talks of lights going on and off for no reason. Doors will open and close when there is no one there.”

Pregnant women and women with babies are particularly drawn to Cottage Three. “It’s as if the lighthouse keeper’s wife is beckoning them,” says Peter. “Many say the loss of her baby is why her ghost still lingers.”

There was one woman passing by the cottage when she saw a woman in period dress on the verandah of Cottage Three. She went back to the office to report what she had seen.

“The staff took her back to the cottage and showed her a photo of the lighthouse keeper’s wife,” Peter explains. “The woman screamed and almost fainted. ‘It was her,’ she gasped. ‘I just saw her standing there on the balcony.’ How do you explain that?”