Haunted Williamstown: The Woman in White

Williamstown did not have the best reputation in the 1850s, it was jam packed with young men searching fame and fortune, convicts, bushrangers and ladies of the night. However, the gold money did bring considerable wealth to the area and in the 1880s Williamstown became very fashionable. ‘The Front’, Nelson Place, was the center of commerce and fashion. Craigantina’s building, corner of Nelson Place and Thomson Street was home to Williamstown Coffee Palace where Fred Woods, proudly prepareds his pastries for afternoon tea and gand balls.

'Craigantina', comprises three shops and residences designed by WE Wells and constructed in 1886 for John Harker Craig, a prominent citizen and Councilor of the city.

These buildings are home to numerous ghost sightings, believed to be Tina, the beloved wife of Craig for whom he built a beautiful castle for the couple to live in. Tina is often see peering out from the top floor windows to passerbys. She has a sad, forlorn look on her face. She has also been seen inside the upstairs residences by many occupants. One young lady remembers living there as a little girl in the 1980s and often being visited be a beautiful lady in white who would sit on the end of her bed and just as qucikly vanish. Some of the residents have seen the woman in white sitting in the loungeroom, when approached, she vanishes. On a recent ghost tour one of the guest's watches suddenly fell in front of the Craigantina's building. The strange thing was it hadn't been working earlier in the afternoon but it lay on the ground displaying the correct time and working perfectly. It was lying in several pieces but wasn't broken. A young woman on another tour saw a hand against the window on the top floor. Some people feel sorrow as they walk past the premises. We all feel that a woman in white, Tina Craig, is keeping an eye on us.

**Copyright Lantern Ghost Tours 2010**