During research for a recent article about the sandstone devils on the walls of the old printing office on George Street, Brisbane, I came across a couple of online reviews of a ghost tour that apparently stops outside that building. The guide (reportedly in a 'prophetic, Lord of the Rings-esque voice') then relays a rather graphic story of blood and horror, as you might expect to hear on such a tour. However, a problem emerged when I looked for further details about this incident...
There are no actual historical records of the gruesome events described in this tour stop.
The basic tour story goes something like this (in the words of the reviewer):
That's all certainly quite spectacular, and is just the kind of tragic event that would have attracted a lot of media coverage when it happened. Or so you might think. Turns out, there is no mention of this accident anywhere else, and it's not like newspapers would have ignored it. A string of 'lesser' incidents at the Printing Office all made the news, such as when William Martin had the top of four fingers cut off in 1895. There was coverage of when Charles Hampson died of heart disease in the printing office in 1911, as there was when James Lytton had his hand crushed in a machine there in 1926. There was also mention of the nightwatchman who collapsed and died on the William Street side of the office in 1931.
There were numerous accidents at other printing presses around Brisbane and Ipswich reported in newspapers. A 17-year-old named James Robertson died at the Watson & Ferguson printery in 1893, after being pulled into the machinery. He was taken three times around the shaft and lost an arm, and suffered several broken ribs and two broken thighs. He also lived long enough to make it to hospital. The notion that printing machinery could reduce a human body to no more than a single finger (as claimed in the tour story) is preposterous.
![19th century printing machine.]( "19th century printing machine.")
The following is another example of a lesser accident being reported:
It is difficult to understand where story this came from. Despite the convenient absence of basic details such as names and dates, some quite specific details are provided, like the finger with the wedding ring(surprising given the very young age of apprentices), and even the patently ridiculous material about the old printing machine that is mysteriously stained an unwashable 'blood red'. (What is being implied here? That this machine was soaked in blood with a somehow supernatural ability to resist removal?) Surely these details must have come from somewhere.
As the guides are not historians, these tours are strictly scripted. Somebody had to sit down and write that script. I have written tour outlines myself and actual facts are always the starting point to build up a story from. And you always double-check the facts. If you are selling History to people, you have an ethical obligation to at least try make it factual.
Given that the events in this story probably never happened, how did they make it into a tour script? Is it from a Oral History source? If so, the story was based on unresearched hearsay that should have been checked somewhere along the way. It is not good enough to simply prefix these claims with 'legend has it' or 'it is believed', without explaining to paying customers that what you just told them probably did not happen in real life.
The only other alternative explanation is that it was a convenient untruth used to spice up a tour. This seems to have happened before, and articles by various authors rebutting Ghost Tours materialinclude claims of an imaginary morgue in a cemetery, non-existent roads in Toowong Cemetery, and the South Brisbane Cemetery 'Woman in Black'. This tour review in the Courier-Mail also questioned the accuracy of information being presented to customers. So far there have been no counter-arguments to these rebuttals.
This case does point to a problem with History tours, in that unlike the printed word their content usually escapes the corrective scrutiny of historians. This particular Printing Office tale is not the kind of data mistake that even real historians can sometimesmake, such as getting a date or a name wrong. This is an entire start-to-finish story that would quickly be torn to shreds if it appeared in print.
If there is any historical evidence somewhere to back this story up, I would welcome the chance to see it, and I will retract this article. If not, then I think that as far as this story goes, the scriptwriter really needs to pull his finger out.
There are no actual historical records of the gruesome events described in this tour stop.
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| Old Printing Office, George Street, Brisbane. (Brismania) |
What is the story?
The basic tour story goes something like this (in the words of the reviewer): 'And in one particular incident here, an apprentice printer (it’s believed) attempted to fix the gut-wrenching noises of a printer against the wishes of his seniors. He stopped the machine, went inside and after a few minutes it started again, as did his harrowing screams. Legend has it, it took three days to clean out the machine and all that was left was his wedding ring finger, ring still intact. Lily [the guide] tells us the printer still exists in Brisbane’s archives, and unlike other printers - which contain black ink stains - this one is still stained blood red.'The tour story was also mentioned by another reviewer, who wrote that the customers were told about'...a gruesome workplace accident involving a printing apprentice (spoiler - all that was left was a flayed skull and a finger, still wearing its wedding ring).'
That's all certainly quite spectacular, and is just the kind of tragic event that would have attracted a lot of media coverage when it happened. Or so you might think. Turns out, there is no mention of this accident anywhere else, and it's not like newspapers would have ignored it. A string of 'lesser' incidents at the Printing Office all made the news, such as when William Martin had the top of four fingers cut off in 1895. There was coverage of when Charles Hampson died of heart disease in the printing office in 1911, as there was when James Lytton had his hand crushed in a machine there in 1926. There was also mention of the nightwatchman who collapsed and died on the William Street side of the office in 1931.
There were numerous accidents at other printing presses around Brisbane and Ipswich reported in newspapers. A 17-year-old named James Robertson died at the Watson & Ferguson printery in 1893, after being pulled into the machinery. He was taken three times around the shaft and lost an arm, and suffered several broken ribs and two broken thighs. He also lived long enough to make it to hospital. The notion that printing machinery could reduce a human body to no more than a single finger (as claimed in the tour story) is preposterous.
The following is another example of a lesser accident being reported:
'Sensational Accident. At a Printing Office. Caretaker Falls into Flywheel.
On Friday, William Booth, the caretaker of Messrs. W.H. Wendt and Co., printers and stationers, Elizabeth street, when starting tho gas engine, slipped and fell between the spokes of the flywheel. He was quickly extricated by the other employees, but not before his head was severely cut and crushed. When the ambulance was sent for it was thought that Booth was dead. He was, however, after first aid had been rendered, quickly conveyed to the General Hospital, and after treatment was enabled to proceed to his home. Mr. Booth, who is about 55 years of age, is considered to have had a miraculousescape from being killed.' (The Telegraph, 20 May 1905)
Even the story of a printing worker suffering nothing more than a bruised hand made the news in 1926. There are several more examples of these accidents in newspapers, which makes the total absence of news about the death described during the ghost tour very, very strange.
In fact, I'm prepared to state my belief that this apprentice-mincing accident never happened at all.
So why does the story even exist?
As the guides are not historians, these tours are strictly scripted. Somebody had to sit down and write that script. I have written tour outlines myself and actual facts are always the starting point to build up a story from. And you always double-check the facts. If you are selling History to people, you have an ethical obligation to at least try make it factual.
Given that the events in this story probably never happened, how did they make it into a tour script? Is it from a Oral History source? If so, the story was based on unresearched hearsay that should have been checked somewhere along the way. It is not good enough to simply prefix these claims with 'legend has it' or 'it is believed', without explaining to paying customers that what you just told them probably did not happen in real life.
The only other alternative explanation is that it was a convenient untruth used to spice up a tour. This seems to have happened before, and articles by various authors rebutting Ghost Tours materialinclude claims of an imaginary morgue in a cemetery, non-existent roads in Toowong Cemetery, and the South Brisbane Cemetery 'Woman in Black'. This tour review in the Courier-Mail also questioned the accuracy of information being presented to customers. So far there have been no counter-arguments to these rebuttals.
This case does point to a problem with History tours, in that unlike the printed word their content usually escapes the corrective scrutiny of historians. This particular Printing Office tale is not the kind of data mistake that even real historians can sometimesmake, such as getting a date or a name wrong. This is an entire start-to-finish story that would quickly be torn to shreds if it appeared in print.
If there is any historical evidence somewhere to back this story up, I would welcome the chance to see it, and I will retract this article. If not, then I think that as far as this story goes, the scriptwriter really needs to pull his finger out.