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Bainskloof Ghosts

 

In South-Africa, in the Western Cape, there is a mountain called Bainskloof. Bainskloof has a very steep pass for trafic, called Bainskloof Pass. On the one side of the pass is the mountain, on the other side, only a very very steep cliff, with the Bainskloof river at the bottom. Many accidents happened there over the years. It looks like there is a spell on this pass, because the cars will just run over the cliff, with no reason whatsoever.

If you have the guts to stop and look over the cliffs, you will see many cars that found their final resting place there. Some of these cars dates from the early 1900's. The pass was build in the 1840's by Andrew Bain, together with slaves from that era.

Many people claim to have seen spirits along the road. It is really a very beautiful but creepy place. Many times me and my family went for a drive over the Bainskloof pass, and I can confirm that this beautiful place give you the creepers! I try to avoid the pass as much as I can, it just gives me a 'dead' feeling.

In the early 1900's a man build a beautiful house for his wife in the Bainskloof mountains. A fire broke out and they died there. Of course this became a sight for tourists to visit, and one day a woman and her husband were murdered there inside the ruins of the house. After this, many people claimed to have seen a woman haunting the grounds. One day while we were driving there, I was curious where the house once stood, and I was just looking over the mountains. Then all af a sudden I saw a woman in a dress standing on a rock, further up the mountain. When I looked again, she was gone.

Now of course this could have been a tourist, but I am not so sure...

There was also another brutal murder. One day a couple stopped their car next to the road for sight seeing. They were hi-jacked and their heads were covered with black plastic bags. They were shot dead! No wonder the place is haunted!

My friend, Ray, had a very bad experience on the pass. She and her husband were driving towards Wellington over the pass, when Ray looked into the sunscreen mirror to check her makeup. And what she saw gives her the jitters until this day. In the backseat she saw a woman with long blond hair, with a helmet on her lap. The woman was busy combing her hair in slow strokes, while she stared at Ray. All Ray could do was look back, she could not move, she said it was as if everything turned into slow motion. She turned her head towards her husband who was driving the car, and he was white of shock, he saw the woman too! When they looked, the woman vanished.

We did a bit of investigation, and there is a few cases reported by people who saw hitch hikers along the road, that vanished when they come closer. There was also a reported motorbike accident where the couple crashed and lost their lives. Could it be this girl?

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The following comments are submitted by users of this site and are not official positions by yourghoststories.com. Please read our guidelines and the previous posts before posting. The author, anneke8, has the following expectation about your feedback: I will read the comments and participate in the discussion.

Fergie (40 stories) (1159 posts)
 
12 years ago (2013-05-28)
Hi Alden, unfortunately the O/P of this account doesn't frequent this site anymore.

My interest was piqued when I saw your comment. If you have read the comments, you will see that I am a descendant of the builder of Bain's Kloof. I have inherited a few story books, with the name "Bain" written in pencil, on the fly leaf. I have no clue which "Bain" these belonged to, but I inherited them from my paternal grandmother.

I have a book of my genealogy, on my dad's side, tracing my ancestry back to Andrew Geddes Bain, and further. 😊
Alden (1 posts)
+1
12 years ago (2013-05-28)
After I read the story of the Uniondale lady to my class I googled ghost stories and found this article. I drove this pass for the first time the other day and its absolutely beautiful. I have read these stories and found it so interesting always thought about what went into building passes like these back then. Places and there history are so fascinating I found a foto on flicker of Hugo's dream and more info regarding the pass. Http://www.flickr.com/photos/8270787 [at] N07/6970131277/
Fergie (40 stories) (1159 posts)
 
12 years ago (2012-10-30)
Hi dazram, sorry about the Afrikaans. The words in that language were more or less a 'personal' exchange between the O/P and myself; before we 'found' each other on e-mail. It wasn't anything 'vital' to the story. 😊
dazram (16 posts)
-1
12 years ago (2012-10-30)
gee. I wish you guys could speek english and not africaans. Or how ever you spell it. That way we all could read the posts. It would be much appreciated. Good story though.
anneke8 (10 stories) (274 posts)
+1
13 years ago (2012-03-01)
jnysschen, nice to see another South African on the site! So you also saw someone on a rock? I wish we could speak to more people who saw strange things on the Bainskloof Pass, it would be very interesting!
jnysschen (1 posts)
+1
13 years ago (2012-02-23)
Hi Anneke8 For 22 Years I have been searching for info on Bainskloof regarding the woman standing on a rock, but could not find anything. I was 12 years old and saw her as well. Finally I have peace to know it was not my imagination. 😊
anneke8 (10 stories) (274 posts)
+1
13 years ago (2012-02-13)
Fergie, het vir jou 'n lang e mail gestuur 😁
Hoop nie dit is te lank nie!
Fergie (40 stories) (1159 posts)
+1
13 years ago (2012-02-11)
Hi Anneke, check my profile again, it should be up now. 🤔 Jy het nie skeel gekyk nie! Ek was net dom gewees! Please accept my apology?
'Skies my maatjie. 😳
Fergie ❤
crecentblue03 (151 posts)
+2
13 years ago (2012-02-10)
You guys got me interested looks like I'm going to look up information on it would love to go there but with money being tight I'll have to be content with reading about it for now.Thanks
anneke8 (10 stories) (274 posts)
+1
13 years ago (2012-02-10)
Fergi, ek sien nie jou e mail addres nie, ek is dalk skeel en weet dit nie 😊
Only from when I started to read some of these stories I started to get the most horrible nightmares. Almost every night. I don't even reed the stories about ouija boards and try to avoid the evil stuff, but it is not always possible. I don't and won't ever do those things, I know it is looking for big big trouble. Like the people that played with the ouija boards, and they then complain of spirits not leaving them alone, I am like - no WHY the hell did you do that in the first place...? 😠 You mos know what was going to happen! Maar hier is so baie lost souls op die site, mens voel mens moet hul probeer help.
When you see how confused they are, and they don't even believe in God, I feel like put my hand through the screen and start choking them and scream - this would NOT have happened if you just believed! The power of God CAN keep this things away! There is always angels and demons in the air with us even though we do not see them. It's war in the air between them. And if you are a child of God, the angels keep those bad things away from you! If you are not, the bad things WILL come to you!
But ag ja, I love a good ghost story, maar nie evil goeters nie. Dankie vir jou reply my vriendin.
A xx
Fergie (40 stories) (1159 posts)
 
13 years ago (2012-02-09)
Hi Anneke, Jy vra nou vir my iets what baie mooilik is om te antwoord. My jongste dogter, stem saam met jou ma! Aangesien my stories (die meeste van hulle) is nie van my persoonlike ondervindings nie, is dit mooilik om te skat. I suggest that you pray before you sleep, then try not to think about anything disturbing before you sleep. Maybe try leaving the stories for a while and see what happens? I do not consider myself psychic at all, SO, you see my dilema?
Sorry, that I couldn't be of more help. If you want, contact me on my personal e-mail address, it should be on my profile.
anneke8 (10 stories) (274 posts)
+1
13 years ago (2012-02-06)
I could not come up with lot more info.
Buth here it goes:
The house that I told you about, Hugo's rest stood just above a sign that said 'Gawie se water'
(Gawie's water). This sign is still there today, but not the house. The house burned down, and after a couple was killed there (by a escaped convict) it was demolished. The house was called Paradise Valley Estate, but it was later re named "the Ghost house'.
The man was killed upper in the mountain at a place called Junction Pool, but the woman was killed inside the ruins of the house. Many claim to see strange occurences there.
There is a memorial next to the road in rememberence of the convicts who died there during the building of the road 150 years ago. On the memorial it states that the persons were nameless and unknown. It is not true thoug, because there is a list with all their names on. On the pass there is a 1st Toll and a 2nd Toll. 2nd Toll is still a camping site today and it is BEAUTIFUL there! 1st Toll is where Mr Bain had his office 150 years ago. It is (was?) a camping site for scholars (me myself went there on a school camp years ago) This is also the jail where the convicts were kept. There is 23 graves. Only 3 convicts died of accidents while constructing the road, the other died of natural causes. A Const. George Murray fell of a cliff after his own pistol went off, hitting him in the head. A John Williams was crushed by a rock.
In 1888 a Mr Bodendyk (an local officer) was brutally murdered there.
Many people claim that today you can still hear ghostly echoes of creaking wagon wheels and cracking whips... Will see what more I can find.
anneke8 (10 stories) (274 posts)
+1
13 years ago (2012-02-06)
Javelina - LOL about the request from your mates not to mention it to anyone! Must have been quite a scary experience though. I never hiked before, don't know why exactly. I would LOVE to do something like that!
Nordic - O great! You can e mail it to me if you like
General [at] strata.co.za Thank you so much!
Nordic (44 posts)
+2
13 years ago (2012-02-06)
Anneke, I found the book this weekend. I'll see whether I can scan the Bains Kloof section and mail it to you. I wanted to type it up and post it here, but it's about five pages that are dedicated to the Bains Kloof haunts, so perhaps you can then just extract what is relevant to your story and add the additional information people are asking for.
Javelina (4 stories) (3749 posts)
+2
13 years ago (2012-02-06)
anneke8,
Thank you, I think I shall.
What you just said about going hiking there made me recall an incident that happened long ago. There was a road similar to the one in your experience, leading to my home town. Very dangerous, especially in the winter when it got very icy at night. The ice was bad enough, but much of the time you would have to deal with the fog as well. Back then there wasn't a whole lot you could do to reteive the vehicles that went over the side. It was a difficult, and sometimes impossible, enough task just to retrieve the bodies. There were a group of us high schoolers that used to go back packing in the summer time. We had decided to hike from where that road and the dam that marks the city limits meet, down through that deep ravine, to the bottom of the trail that ended at a dry lake near the city of Redlands, Ca. It took two days to make it to the bottom, so we camped near a stream that night. In the middle of the night, one of the other girls in the group starts hollering over at where the guys were sleeping "I don't care who's doing it, but if one more rocks flies this way I'm going to kick someone's a**!"
That woke everybody up! Girls whining, guys protesting the accusations... It was quite a scene.
Then one of the guys yells out that a rock hit him in the back. There was no one behind him. Then I got hit in the back too. No one behind me either. We were too far from the road to have come from there. These rocks were coming from opposite directions and we were in a clearing. It was a good 20 miles to any town and at least ten to fifteen miles to the nearest dirt road. Someone else gets a rock in the back, then another. This went on for an hour or two. Just when you would relax enough to go back to sleep, someone would yell out that they got hit.
We never did figure it out. We looked all over for prints in the surrounding area the next morning to no avail. All we found were deer and jackrabbits, nothing bigger, nothing human.
We still tease each other about that night. But one thing we didn't do was mention that it could have been anything paranormal. Not that night anyway. But the next day when we broke camp, we moved our butts out of there quick. No one said a word for at least 3 miles when one of the guys says "We can't tell anyone about this when we get home you know". We all just kept walking. Five minutes later..."We'll never hear the end of it!" Walk a little futher. Then somebody says "BOO!" And we all started laughing.

Jav 😲 😆
anneke8 (10 stories) (274 posts)
+2
13 years ago (2012-02-06)
Fergi wil iets by jou weet. You know quite a couple of things happened to me in the past. For a couple of years now I am left in peace (most of the time).
My mother tells me to leave this stories, etc. Alone because she thinks it could be a sin to delf deeper into the unknown. Suddenly I'm starting to get awfull nightmares of devils and demons that freaks me out!
In my dreams they will harass me and all I can do to keep them off is to say 'in Jesus name be gone!' and they will back away. But I have to do this all the time or they come back... Dink jy dit is oor van die stories what mens hier lees what maak that jy hulle 'in nooi'? Dit pla my regtig!
anneke8 (10 stories) (274 posts)
 
13 years ago (2012-02-06)
Kryodranche - I still looking for more info but it is quite difficult! 😐
MysterPOO- I am interested to post more, still looking 😊
Mreaglesfan - Ya, very haunted.
anneke8 (10 stories) (274 posts)
+1
13 years ago (2012-02-06)
This is my third try, everytime I want to send my comment it gives me time-out! 😭
JAVELINA - you are more than welcome to join us in our conversations, it would be nice to have a friend from California! 😁
NORDIC - I would LOVE to read that book!
FERGIE - Yes, I've read about the graves of the workers that died there. I would love to go for a hike there, there is the most beautiful hiking trials.
Would be a litte little scared to sleep over though...
😨
Nordic (44 posts)
+1
13 years ago (2012-02-01)
Hi Anneke, will get back with more info tomorrow. Since Google books doesn't have a digital version of Margaret Williamson's book Haunted Corners of South Africa, I will have to check at home. I am quite sure there's a chapter dedicated to the various Bains Kloof haunts. You would do well to find that book -- it's considered Africana nowadays. 😁
Javelina (4 stories) (3749 posts)
+2
13 years ago (2012-01-30)
anneke8 and Fergie,
I haven't even read this story yet, but I just wanted to tell you two that I just love reading the exchanges between you two. I wish more people got along as well as you do. ❤
Sorry for the interuption, I'lkl go read now. 😊

Jav 😊
Fergie (40 stories) (1159 posts)
+2
13 years ago (2012-01-30)
Well done Anneke! (clapping) You really did your home-work this time. I am very proud of you! 😁

My husband says that he remembers seeing graves, at the side of the road. Maybe, convict/workers, also haunt this sight?...Who knows? 🤔
anneke8 (10 stories) (274 posts)
+2
13 years ago (2012-01-30)
Kryodranche, yes this is all seen on the Pass.
Wish I could show you pictures of this beautifull place.
Mysterpoo, myself have not seen anything creepier than the woman on the mountain except for the old cars fallen down the cliffs. And I always get that freeked out feeling when I'm there. You can 'feel' the history of that place.
anneke8 (10 stories) (274 posts)
+3
13 years ago (2012-01-30)
It is very difficult do investigate past accidents and murders here in South Africa. The info is nearly impossible to get. I googled at bit and this is all I could get. Bainskloof Pass was build by Andrew Bains in 1848 (fergie's great grandfather).
It's true, slaves could not be used to buid the pass because slavery was abolished in 1834.
Between 300 and 450 convicts were used. Many felons spent time being chained together, six on one chain.
There is still graves of convicts who died there.

High on the mountain there was a beautiful house called 'Hugo's dream', build on a hill by Piet Hugo.
It was his dream to live there. The magnificent house was never inhabitated because he died and was buried near his dream house. In 1949 picnickers failed to extinguish their fire, and in minutes the house were only blackened walls. For many years the ruins of the lonely old house stood like ghostly fingers pointing heavenwards. In 1978 a escaped convict murdered two hikers there. The ruins were demolished because of this and only the foundatons remain today. This area is claimed to be haunted by the souls of the hikers who was murdered there. Anyone with more info?
Fergie (40 stories) (1159 posts)
+1
13 years ago (2012-01-30)
Hi Anneke, the last time I came through Bain's Pass, was in Dec.'95. Our car was too full to pick up any 'hitch-hikers'. Our eldest daughter; her friend from Canada, and our youngest daughter, were all in the back seat. We never encountered anything strange.
😐
The woman on the back seat with the helmet, that does sound very much like it could be from a motor-bike accident!
Back in the days when my husband and I used to go on motor-bike tours, we learned, never leave your helmet behind.
anneke8 (10 stories) (274 posts)
+2
13 years ago (2012-01-30)
No Fergi, please keep writing more! I am very interested in Bains Kloof's past! It is true, it was convicts that help him build the Pass. I will Google and look what more I can find in interest for you people who'd like to know more. There were so many different claims of ghost sightings in the past, and when my friend saw this girl in her backseat, I thought I must share. This girl would not lie about something like this, I know her too well, for or of you who wondered. I will share more about this, let me jugt get more info first.
Fergie (40 stories) (1159 posts)
+3
13 years ago (2012-01-29)
Hi Anneke, Dankie vir nog 'n interesante storie! Lol
You have touched on a very sensitive note this time, and I feel compelled to correct you. Bain's Kloof Pass was not built with slave labour - but with convict labour! You see, Andrew Geddes Bain was/is my 4x great grandfather. I know his history pretty well, as it is listed in my geneoligy. (I still have a few very old books with the name Bain, written on the fly leaf.)
You are correct in saying that the road is dangerous, and has been the scene of many an accident. It was the main road between the Cape and the inland before the new highways were built. I travelled it many times in my youth, from Kimberley to Cape Town and back. We always stopped the car (my Gran's 1938 Ford) in Bain's Kloof to take in the beautiful scenery, and marvel at the engineering, (no mortar was used in the original construction); and to pay tribute to our ancester.
Sorry about the history lesson. Lol. I will refrain from writing more, it can be googled.
😊
Mreaglesfan127 (3 stories) (34 posts)
+1
13 years ago (2012-01-28)
Very interesting story. Sounds like a dangerous and very haunted place!
mysterPOO (63 posts)
 
13 years ago (2012-01-28)
Ya, I too have the same doubt. Maybe you could investigate but the place is really very dangerous as many brutal murders have tooken place. Have you experience anything weird or more creepier than seeing the woman on the mountain?Well,I really want to know further about this place. The information that you gave was not satisfying as there were many unexplainable things had happen. Hope you are interested to post more of it. THNK YOU. I will be looking forward for your feedback soon!

Respectfully,
MysterPOO... 😁 😊
Kryodrache (3 stories) (108 posts)
+3
13 years ago (2012-01-28)
I find it interesting how it's always a couple that keeps reporting the incidents/keep getting killed... I wonder if that could be a connection of any kind. And this is all seen on the Pass?

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