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The Haunted Whare
This article in THE NEW ZEALAND RAILWAYS MAGAZINE, VOLUME 15, ISSUE 3 (JUNE 1, 1940)
A PLACE OF ENCHANTMENT… — TONGARIRO NATIONAL PARK by Una Auld, with quotes from Sir James Cowan's The Tongariro National Park
The story of the Haunted Whare also has its source in fact. In the early days when sheep-stocking was being attempted in the mountain country, a Maori shepherd, by name Wi Takerei, was found dead on the floor of a slab whare built near the waterfall on the Whakapapanui, one of his eyes being missing. “The lonely desolate spot on which the whare stood had been regarded by the Maoris as haunted by the ghost of a young woman who had come to a violent end near there, and now the people were disposed to believe that the kehua or ghost had had something to do with the young shepherd's death.”
The Haunted Whare now standing is not the original whare, but stands about a quarter of a mile from the site of the original hut. Soon after it was put up, “it was occupied for a time by a surveying party working around the mountains, under an assistant surveyor named Springall, who had a Maori wife. Some time in 1883, Springall and his wife and another Maori woman were snowed up in the whare. Late one afternoon they were playing cards at the table facing the one window when suddenly the woman saw a face at the window. The apparition seemingly was that of a young Maori woman, of a handsome and fair type. The two wahines were overcome by the shock. Springall rushed outside but could see no one, and there were no tracks on the snow.”
Later, after the whare had been deserted for a time, a traveller camping there for a night reported seeing the same face at the window, and an old recluse who was stationed there as a shepherd “used to say he was visited by a mysterious Mohoao woman several times.”
Pictured here are John Cullen and Sir James Gunson outside the Haunted Whare in 1925
Street art outside plateau lodge
Think they’re missing Paul Tyler for their art fix!
Awesome as art work guys Miss you little guys 💖😇🌺
Hi Abby & Cody...great to see you both! Cool street art. :)
Love you heaps guys Nana and GP
This is us 4 week lock down here in new New Zealand.
Brilliant use of the sign, I wish we had thought of this! :)
Eeeek. Good luck !
Life is simple out there 🌻
What a country,..we really must come again when all this "stuff" is over.
I am sure Andrea would love to see you both
Early morning here for the team. First shuttle today is 6am 7am 8am..its looking bright and clear for the Tongariro Alpine Crossing
wow what a gorgeous morning !
Wow beautiful morning picture 🦋
Beautiful 💕