De Deur Ghost

Boundary Road, home of the
De Deur Ghost

The story of the "De Deur Ghost", sometimes referred to as the "Walkerville Ghost", is well known in our area, and has been around for several decades.  So much so, that the details have become a little blurred and there are now several variations.

It is said that if you drive down Boundary Road, De Deur, on a very dark night and flash your headlights (or a torch light) three times a headless motorbike rider will appear and drive past you at a great speed.  Some people believe that you must be parked on the actual site of the old house before the ghost will appear.

The origins of the story are that a local farmer was very protective of his pretty young daughter and discouraged all suitors.  He became suspicious of her activities at night after he had retired to bed.  He was positive that she was sneaking out of the house to be with a local lad that often zoomed up and down the dusty road on his noisy motorbike.

All that remains of the old farm hous

 

is the small piece of wall pictured

No matter how closely he watched his daughter he was never able to catch them together.  So he decided to set a trap that would teach the young man a lesson, and scare him off for good.  He waited for a moonless night, and strung a piece of wire between two trees at about chest height across the driveway of the farm.  That evening after the farmer had fallen sound asleep his daughter quietly slipped from her bed and flicked her bedroom light three times.  This was the signal to her lover that the coast was clear and he could come and collect her.  The young man sped along the road unaware of the danger.  As he approached the house the wire caught him across the neck and he was instantly decapitated.  Another version of the story claims that the young man did in fact collect the daughter, and that it was on their way back that the wire decapitated them both!

The “De Deur ghost house” has become a regular spot for fans of the ghoulish to try to lure the headless biker into making an appearance by flashing their lights.    It is also rumoured that our local Police Forum and neighbourhood watch members like to play along – particularly if they spot some drunks, or nervous ‘townies’ lurking around the area just waiting to be scared witless.  They reply to the three flicks of a light with a little light display of their own!  Either ways, those that claim to have seen the apparition have never caught sight of the ghost, nor the police reservists – just lights flashing by at great speed.

Unfortunately the abandoned home was destroyed some years ago.  It is thought that a religious youth group decided to “set the spirit free” by demolishing the house, and very little remains of it ...... except for a really cross neighbour who says she is sick and tired of being kept up all hours of the night by those loony ghost-hunters - often parked on the wrong ruin anyway.

We went to check out the site for ourselves.  On the De Deur Road side is a fairly old ruin that can be seen from the road, but this is not the “Ghost House”.  What little remains of the ghost house on Boundary Road is hardly visible.  About 100 metres further back from the road we found the rock foundations of a much older and larger building.  It was hard to tell if this was an older farmhouse or the farm outbuildings.

De Deur Ghost