How a ghost story from 200 years ago inspired a Sydney tradition

The local legend starts like all good ghost stories do: with a mysterious disappearance, suspicious townspeople and the unnerving appearance of an apparition with a message.

However, it’s how the ghost story is remembered and celebrated 200 years later that sets Campbelltown in south-west Sydney apart from any other Halloween tradition in Sydney.

The Festival of Fisher’s Ghost, an event that runs for two weeks until November 8 and features a range of ghost-themed community celebrations, is held in honour of Frederick Fisher and the story of his death.

Colourful floats and performers took over the town centre on Saturday in a “ghost parade” – an event residents have been wanting to return for six years.

Campbelltown City Council Mayor Darcy Lound said there was still great interest in the ghost of Fred Fisher.

“There’s still people who say today [that] you can still hear noises in our historic Campbelltown Theatre because that’s where his house basically used to sit, where the old Town Hall Theatre is now,” he said.

“There’s a thing there when they lock up, they say ‘goodnight, Fred’, and it’s a tradition that still goes today.”

Campbelltown City Council’s record of Fisher shows he was a farmer who mysteriously disappeared in 1826 after giving his neighbour, George Worrall, power of attorney over his farm while he served a short prison sentence.

Despite Worrall saying Fisher had sailed for England after being released from jail, the townspeople were suspicious, especially after he sold Fisher’s horse and belongings. Fisher’s disappearance remained unsolved for a few months, the case reopening only after new information appeared in an unexpected way: through a ghost sighting.

“A bloke by the name of John Farley was in the pub having a couple of beers, and … he was walking home and came across the bridge, and says he’d seen this ghostly figure sitting on the bridge, pointing to an area of the paddock,” Lound said.

“So John Farley, in a panic, ran back into the pub and said he’s seen a ghost, it’s pointing to the paddock. It could be where a body is.”

As the story goes, Farley was right and Fisher’s body was found in the paddock. Worrall was arrested and found guilty of his murder, and later hanged.

It’s a tale Lound says residents are still fascinated by, describing it as Campbelltown “through and through”, and the reason why the tradition of the Fisher’s Ghost Festival has continued for 70 years.

For the believers, the ghost of Fisher is set to make an appearance throughout the festival – although this version is depicted as a smiling costumed ghost wearing sneakers.