truestory

'Fear is not an option'

Cascade Paranormal
Research

One of my earlier experiences was when in 1992 when I was working at 'Corstophine House' a home for 16 special
needs elderly women that was run by the Presbyterian Church. I absolutely loved Corstophine and the history
behind it. Having only just moved south to Dunedin, I researched the history of the area, and worked family New
Zealand genealogy.

One night I was at work, it was very windy and cold, and all the residents were sleeping. I was just a tad afraid as
the lights were blinking as though we were going to lose power. I had completed most of my work, and was sitting
in the office filling in the residents careplans when I looked up to see the most incredible sight I had ever seen.
There in the hallway, about 10 feet from the office door came a group of twinkling lights, followed by the
appearance of a man dressed in old time workers clothing. Shirt, trousers, old boots with string tied around the
bottom of the trousers (which was used to stop gravel and dirt going into the boots) The man walked down the
hallway towards the office, in through the doorway, and over to the left of the room where he sat down. Please
believe me when I say I have never taken any mind altering drugs, nor drank to excess where I would have
hallucinations! He sat in the room with me for about 30 mins, then just faded away. This had happened not once
or twice, but several times while I worked at Corstophine. I named the man Jack, and can honestly say I never felt
scared of him as he always brought a calming presence with him.
Some time after these occurrences, my husband and I visited the Otago Early Settlers Museum and asked if they
had a picture of John Sidey who had built Corstophine House around 1860's. I was shown a huge portrait of John
Sidey, and right away knew that it was he who had been visiting me at work. It was after this that I decided to join
the spiritualist church.

John Sidey (1823-1915)
The canny Scotsman of Corstorphine

John Sidey was one of the canny 'Early Settlers' who prospered from the 1860s gold rushes without ever panning for
gold. A Scotsman, he had arrived in Dunedin after some years in London as a building contractor. He arrived on the
Blundell, the last immigrant ship to come to Dunedin in 1848. His first rural property was a ten acre section, halfway
between Port Chalmers and Dunedin. He also owned a town section, on the site of the present Southern Cross Hotel,
where he operated a store during the early 1850s. But Sidey's ultimately prosperity came from his extensive
holdings at Corstorphine, where he bought land in 1855. Sidey's cattle farm stretched from the hills above
Caversham to Mount Grand in Kaikorai Valley. He named it Corstorphine after the suburb in Edinburgh where he
was born. In 1861 miners began pouring through Caversham Valley following the only road south on their way to the
inland goldfields. Sidey was ideally placed to supply them with meat and carted supplies to the mining settlements
with such success that his fortune was made. He replaced his small farm cottage on the hill with 'Corstorphine
House', one of Dunedin's finest mansions. From it he watched the rapid development of the Flat below -parts of it
subdivided from his land - until his death in 1915.

The picture to the left is
Corstophine House as it
was before being sold.

To the right is a picture
of John Sidey

As soon as I can get
spare time I will scan the
picture I drew of 'Jack'
after I first met him so
you can see the
resemblance

A True Story as experienced by Lynn Anderson