The Story of Jenny Dixon

The ghost that haunts the Coast


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This week Bree & Gawndy have been searching the Coast for the ghost of Jenny Dixon.

Like all good ghost stories, the story of Jenny Dixon is one part historic truth, one part local legend.

It's understood to b a combination of events that occurred between Magenta and Norahville, over a century.

There's the story of the Ghost of Jenny Dixon Beach, and then there's the sightings of the Ghostly Hitchhiker.

The Janet Dickson Voyage

In 1870, a coal schooner named 'Janet Dickson' became stuck in a storm just off the coast of Norahville. The Norahville Lighthouse did not yet exist, and so, without guidance the ship became wrecked on the shoreline. Over time, the name of the ship was erroneously changed to 'Jenny Dixon', in the community memory. And so it's stayed.

All of the occupants onboard the Janet Dickson survived, but were severely shaken. 

Over the centuries, many ships were lost along the Norah Head coastline, and all together, it's believed fifteen deaths occurred along the beach. One of the deaths was the young son of a woman who managed to survive the shipwreck. She is said to be the ghost of Jenny Dixon.

The Jenny Dixon Beach ghost is said to appear with arms outstretched, beckoning for help.

The Norah Head Lighthouse, which was built in 1901, is now said to be haunted with the memory of those lost on the beach.

Hitchhiking Ghost of Wilfred Barrett Drive

Residents have often talked of seeing a young girl with long brunette hair, dressed in a long white dress, walking along Wilfred Barrett Drive.

It's said that if a passing motorist gives her a lift, the girl insists on sitting in the backseat. By the time the driver has reached the Norahville Cemetery, the girl has disappeared. 

There have been over 300 police reports about a hitchhiking ghost along Wilfred Barrett Drive.

The original story goes, in the 1970s, a teenage girl was walking home from work late at night. She was pulled into a car by five young men, where she was brutally attacked. She was found barely alive at Jenny Dixon Beach, but later died of her injuries.

No arrests or charges were made in connection to her death - but a series of unexplained events befell the five youths suspected of the attack.

Kathleen & Grace Holmes

Psychic medium Phillipa Lee believes the ghost of Jenny Dixon may be connected to the story of two sisters who went missing in 1950.

The bodies were found, but it took more than sixty years to piece together a version of events that led to the discovery. They were found in the swampy area that once populated the Tuggerah Lakes area.

At the time of their death, Grace was 18-years-old, and her sisteen Kathleen just eight-years-old. They were last seen alive on August 29, 1950, walking towards the Norah Head Lighthouse.

A 25-year-old fisherman from Toukley was originally charged but later acquitted. 

The Holmes family, having recently immigrated from England at the time, could not afford headstones, so it's said the girls were buried in unmarked graves.

Some residences have told of seeing the apparition of a young woman, protecting a child in connection with the other young woman said to roam Wilfred Barrett Drive. 

26 May 2017




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