Can you tell me a true South African "spookstorie"?

Question

It's almost Halloween and my kids as well as the students in my afternoon classes are pestering me to tell them something scary with South Africa as background. Can you help me out? And this is a fun question, guys. No need for any sarcastic answers.

Answer 1

Hi Porgie. I know you're out of the country, but there is a book that CJ Langenhoven wrote, that is a collection of SA spook stories. He travelled all around the "Ou Kaap" interviewing people and collecting theses stories, see if you can find out anything about that online.
I have loads of stories, I'll tell you some.
Well first there is the "Spook van Uniondale" there's actually a song about her (Blommetjie gedenk aan my) She is a girl who died on a cross road near there on a Easter weekend. Many people who have driven on the old road on Easter have reported seeing a young women hitch hike there, shortly after seeing her, motorists report feeling their cars getting colder inside and smelling apple blossoms, motorcyclists report feeling the weight of someone getting on the bike and holding on around their waist. Rumour has it that her soul is trying to escape this crossing.
Then of course there is the tokoloshe, he can not be forgotten. There are so many stories of people who reported to have seen him, or to have had things happen to them with clues leading to the tokoloshe. As a small child I was very scared of this little monster, it sounds silly now, but I use to worry that he was hiding under my bed.
Here is one from Langenhoven's book, it originally in Afrikaans, and was called "Die vrou voor die hek", but for the sake of all the readers I'll write in English.
Once at the turn of the century there was a young man in the Cape who lived on a farm. (I cant remember his name or where it precisely was, but this is true) He went to go visit a young women who he was inlove with on a farm about half a day away ("Om te gaan opsit".) That night when the opsit kers burned out, as tradition had it, he didnt stay the night, but instead got on his horse and faced the journey home. He rode for many hours in the dark, before realizing that he is lost. As he was riding he saw a deserted farmhouse in the distance and decided to go there. But as he approached the front gate his horse wouldnt go nearer. He looked up and saw a women standing at the gate holding both her hands up, as if forbiding him to enter, and his horse wouldnt go nearer, so he couldnt even go talk to her. Eventually he went on his way in the darkness. He came to a fork in the road, and the scene repeated itself. His horse was spooked and wouldnt go down the one road, he looked up and saw the woman holding her hands up standing some distance down the road, so he took the other road. The whole night his journey went like this with the woman appearing ahead of him, guiding him and his horse. Suddenly, a few hours before sunrise he found a small hut in a dark area near a creek. He approached and found there was a small fire, almost burned out inside, but otherwise it was quiet. He rekindled the fire, and then realised there was a dark figure in the corner of the hut. He approached, and found it was a woman cluthing a baby. The woman was dead, her body almost cold, but the baby was still alive. That night he stayed awake and kept the baby warm and alive. In the morning he dragged the women's body out to give it a proper Christian burial. When he got outside in the sunlight and looked at the body he realised with a shock that it was the body of the woman who he had seen in front of the gate and who guided him here the night before. Her soul wouldnt rest until her baby had been saved.

Answer 2

Well here is a "funny" one. For years and years when I went home to my parents who lives in North West; I would see a sign on the road to Rustenburg that said " Hier spook CJ van Rensburg". Translated it means the gost of CJ v Rensburg visits these parts. I must say I was very curious about this ghost and always wondered what happened and if actually there was a ghost...ehm, until I found out it was actually the name of a farm...one of the most originall names I must say, but I could only laugh...

Answer 3

Haha

Answer 4

NOOOOOOOOOOOO !!!! You request for no sarcastic comments prohibits you from telling how INCREDIBLY scary it will be if OOM JACOB takes over.

On a slightly more serious note, East Coast Radios sometimes retells SA urban legends and spookstories. I suggest you have a look at their website too.

Answer 5

I know of one spookstorie...there's this one deserted road going out from Meyerton to somewhere else (whoopsy, dnno where to) but anywho, apparently a ghost of a woman and her child haunt that road at night!! I think she was killed horribly back in the days...like a while after the Voortrekker days!! But there's a bend in the road and she sits on a rock there...my mom and pa both said they've seen her!! I wanted to see it too, but my ma said no!! From the sounds of it, this ghost sounds eeevillllll!!
Tell them about how Dingane killed Shaka....oh wait, what about that mountain in KZN (dang, i also dunno what the name is...wait, I've just found it-it's Ghost Mountain), but the mountain gets all misty and people have been said to see flickering lights on the mountain!! Hey, I just rememebered I have a book of eerie things that have happened in SA...let me go find that book quick!! I'm back...hey, what about the Macrorie House in Pietermaritzburg??
My answe's gonna be long...so I'll mail you another FREAKY story...it's freaks the bananas out of me!!

Answer 6

Arnie a deserves that 10 points i am covered in goosebumps

Answer 7

Blixem Anria A must get ur 10 points! She got me into spookstories now!!!

Answer 8

DITTO ON dWali'S FIRST ANSWER! BUT YOU CAN ALSO LOOK ON THE WEBSITE www.ruff.co.za. POST AN E-MAIL ON THE SITE AND ASK THEM TO HELP YOU. YOU CAN ALSO GO TO www.woes.co.za (THE AFRIKAANS VERSION OF ruff) and ask them. THE SOUTH AFRICANS ARE VERY PROUD TO SHARE THEIR CULTURE WITH ANYONE AND I AM SURE THAT THEY WILL GO OUT OF THEIR WAY TO HELP YOU. UNFORTUNATELY WITH TELEVISION ETC. "SPOOKSTORIES" ARE DYING OUT. THESE STORIES WERE TOLD TO OUR PARENTS ETC, AROUND A FLAME ON THE BOER FARMS OF YESTERYEAR. GOOD LUCK! NADIA.

Answer 9

Please visit my website www.louiseprinsloo.co.za for ten original Afrikaans Ghost stories published by Human & Rousseau in Gedaantes en Geraamtes Omnibus 1, 2 & 3