Halloween is a time to tell scary stories, and Wairarapa is not without its own. Mark Pacey of the Wairarapa Archive exhumes three more chilling tales from our past.
The Carterton Chupacabra
The chupacabra is a creature of myth. The American Museum of Natural History states “People tell of the chupacabra’s glowing red eyes and glistening fangs, and of how the beast lurks in the forest, preying on goats and cattle, terrifying local residents.”
They are described as not particularly large, about the size of a small dog. While popularised in Puerto Rico in the 1980s, tales of mythical vampiric beasts go back much further.
In January 1970, a mysterious creature was encountered in Carterton. This particular animal was first spotted dragging a pukeko along the ground that it had killed. A brave fox terrier saw this and took an immediate dislike to this bird killer. The small dog jumped at the creature from behind and bit it on the neck. A battle ensued but the terrier had the upper hand and after emitting blood-curdling cries the creature died.
The newspaper was contacted about the animal and a description of it was printed in the Times-Age.
“It has cat-type ears, longer than the usual opossum ones, which are small; the teeth are different, in that there are two fangs, one on each side of the mouth, and the bottom teeth are long and curved; the fur is fluffy and short, and very soft and, although it has opossum-type claws, the tail is not as bushy as usual.”
What this creature was remained a mystery.
Close encounters
Cases of animal abductions go back over 400 years in the United Kingdom. While the majority of these also involve mutilations, there are examples of animals disappearing.
While the mutilation side can be explained away by animal or insect activity and the abductions as opportunistic thieves who want a free roast, there are the odd cases where neither of these hypotheses applies. And on a Wairarapa Wednesday in 1979 something very peculiar happened.
The details are very sketchy. While there was a Times-Age photographer able to photograph the scene, the follow-up story mysteriously never happened. The negatives of the photo shoot were diligently filed and there they lay for the next four decades.
“Sheep up a gum tree” was all the envelope said. No mention of where it occurred or who saw it, just that and the date, 12 September 1979. While the title seems fairly innocent if a little odd, the photographs themselves paint a different story.
The image that springs to mind is a sheep a couple of feet off the ground; the photographs showed a sheep that was a good eight feet up, its legs on either side of a thin branch. A sheep couldn’t possibly jump that high and there is no way that it could have climbed that far. The banks on either side don’t have high cliffs that the sheep could have fallen off and into the tree. So how did it get there? The range of photographs show the sheep moving so it was very much alive, just bewildered as to how it got there.
Was this some prank by passers-by? Although one has to question how they managed the feat, sheep are not light creatures and short of using a ladder it bewilders the mind as to how this was achieved. Was it a strong wind or freak weather system that got it up there? Or was it the actions of an extraterrestrial abduction gone wrong? Unfortunately, the only witness was in no state to answer.
Gaffney’s ghost
On the top of the Remutaka Hill, about where the rest stop is, once stood a hotel. This was a very long time ago; the hotel was started by John O’Connor as an accommodation house and hotel in 1866. It was a convenient place for travellers to stop over for the night. In those days the train was running, cars were decades away, you either went over by foot or on horseback.
A settler by the name of Gaffney had land on the south side of the Remutaka Range which he farmed with his wife. One day his wife didn’t come home, and he went out in search of her.
He was never seen again. At least not in his mortal form.
Years later stories began to circulate of Gaffney’s ghost, which continued to search the area, still looking for his wife. He would follow travellers and as they walked over the track near the hotel, presumably to ask them to help in his search for his wife. But none lingered to see if that was the case.
In an article that appeared in the Dominion, one of these encounters was described as a traveller making his way to O’Connor’s Hotel by foot after nightfall.
“My correspondent affirms that in his young days on a midnight trip across the hill on foot, he had a creepy feeling that he was being accompanied by someone who wanted him to investigate a certain place.”
Over the years the story of Gaffney faded, and his ghost was no longer reported to have been seen. But he could still be out there, searching in vain for his lost wife.
So if you are travelling late at night over the Remutaka Hill, best to keep your wits about you and not linger, especially at the summit. You might just get a visit from Gaffney.
