Case file · Apparition · Road, bridge or woods
Fisher’s Ghost
Also known as The ghost of Frederick Fisher, Fisher’s Ghost Creek
Australia’s oldest famous ghost story: in 1826 a farmer said a murdered ex-convict sat on a Campbelltown bridge rail and pointed to where his body lay.
Frederick Fisher, born in 1792, was convicted of forgery in England in 1815 and transported to New South Wales for fourteen years. Like many convicts he did well in the colony: by the early 1820s he held a ticket of leave, worked as a clerk and owned farms, including one at Campbelltown, south-west of Sydney. His neighbour there was another former convict, William George Worrall.
In 1825 Fisher pulled a knife on a carpenter, William Brooker, in a dispute over building work, and while he served a short sentence he gave Worrall power of attorney over his affairs. On the evening of 17 June 1826 Fisher vanished. Worrall told people he had sailed for England – unlikely for a man still under sentence – and began selling Fisher’s horse and belongings. Suspicious townspeople had him arrested in September, before any body had been found.
On 25 October 1826 local boys found bloodstains on a fence at Fisher’s farm, and searchers turned up a lock of hair and a tooth. An Aboriginal tracker from Liverpool, recorded as Gilbert and remembered locally as a Darug man, worked along the marshy creek and led police to a shallow grave on Worrall’s land. Worrall was tried on 2 February 1827, found guilty and hanged on 5 February; on the scaffold he confessed. Fisher was buried at St Peter’s in Campbelltown, with no headstone.
Nothing about a ghost appears in the court record – supernatural evidence would not have been admitted – but in 1832 an anonymous poem, “The Sprite of the Creek”, appeared in the Sydney paper Hill’s Life in New South Wales, describing a spirit that points out a hidden body. In the version that became famous, a respected farmer, John Farley, staggered into a Campbelltown inn one night, badly shaken, saying he had seen Fisher sitting on the rail of the bridge over the creek. The figure pointed down the creek towards a paddock and faded away – and it was there, the legend says, that the body was found.
The barrister and novelist John Lang carried the tale to Britain as “Fisher’s Ghost” in Charles Dickens’s magazine Household Words in 1853, and it has been retold ever since – in verse, a 1924 silent film by Raymond Longford, a 1960 operetta and plays. The creek where Fisher was buried is now Fisher’s Ghost Creek, and since 1960 Campbelltown has held an annual Festival of Fisher’s Ghost.
What people report
The legend describes a single apparition: Fisher seated on a bridge or fence rail, raising an arm to point down the creek before fading away. Some locals today say he lingers around the creek and the Campbelltown Town Hall.
Where and when
The old bridge over Fisher’s Ghost Creek on Queen Street, Campbelltown, and the creek parkland where his body was found. The festival takes place in November.
Timeline of the haunting
- 17 June 1826Frederick Fisher disappears Campbelltown, New South Wales
Fisher leaves his home in the evening and is never seen alive again. His neighbour William Worrall starts selling his property.
- 25 October 1826Fisher’s grave is found Campbelltown, New South Wales
After local boys find blood on a fence, an Aboriginal tracker named Gilbert leads police to Fisher’s body buried near the creek on Worrall’s land.
- 5 February 1827Worrall is hanged New South Wales
Convicted three days earlier, Worrall confesses on the scaffold. The ghost plays no part in the trial.
- 1832“The Sprite of the Creek” Sydney, New South Wales
An anonymous poem in Hill’s Life in New South Wales is the first printed telling of a ghost that reveals the grave. A revised version appears in Bell’s Life in Sydney in 1846.
- 1853Dickens publishes “Fisher’s Ghost” London, England
John Lang’s retelling in Household Words introduces the Campbelltown ghost to British readers.
- 1960The first Festival of Fisher’s Ghost Campbelltown, New South Wales
Campbelltown begins celebrating its most famous resident with an annual festival, held every year since.
What could explain it?
- The ghost explains a discovery that the record already explains: Worrall was under arrest weeks before the body was found, and bloodstains, physical traces and an expert Aboriginal tracker located the grave.
- Legends of a murdered person’s ghost revealing their killer were common in British folk tradition; the Campbelltown story may have borrowed that shape after the fact.
- Many details, including Farley’s first name, the inn and the exact wording of the tale, differ between versions, which is typical of a story grown in the retelling.
- The earliest printed version is a poem subtitled “founded on facts”, written six years after the murder; the ghost seems to have entered the story as literature before it became local tradition.
Ghost tours, books and screen
Fisher’s Ghost is one of the defining stories of colonial Australia. It inspired Raymond Longford’s 1924 film Fisher’s Ghost, John Gordon’s 1960 operetta (broadcast by the ABC in 1963 as the first Australian-history television opera) and a play by Douglas Stewart. Campbelltown’s Festival of Fisher’s Ghost, with its parade and art award, is one of the oldest community festivals in Sydney.
Places to visit
Campbelltown City Council’s annual festival, with the street parade and the history of the legend.
Where it’s reported
Fisher’s Ghost in the news
Sources
First published · Updated
