Eerie Tales and Fabulous Folklore

The Glowing Cross of Lismore on the road to Nimbin

Remember the Glowing Cross of Lismore on the road to Nimbin? You don’t? Well, sit back and relax because this is a story that caught a nation’s attention back in 1978.

The year is 1907 a young railway worker named William Steenson was severely crushed between two good trains while trying to stop them at the Mullumbimby station. He died later from these horrific injuries. So they buried the poor man in Lismore at the old cemetery outside Lismore. His headstone was made from highly polished pink granite and the cross stood a metre high.

In 1978 a small crowd gathered like curious cattle on the hillside each night for weeks to witness this amazing event. The cross was glowing mysteriously. Why? No one really ever knew. Devotees of religion thought it was a miracle, devotees of the supernatural thought it had something to do with ghosts, while the local hippies thought they took too many magic mushrooms. TV stations all rocked up to record this incredible event. By this stage Lismore was becoming the Australian version of Lourdes. It became a media circus. Still the mystery deepened. What was causing this headstone to glow? Scientists-both professionals and amateurs - were coming with plausible excuses. It might have been a light refracting properties of a certain type of granite.

Things were looking up for Lismore but, unfortunately, disaster reared its’ ugly head. Vandals smashed the cross and toppled it over, the local council (same ones who took the Haunted Swing away?) unceremoniously tried to resurrect it but failed. The vandal’s boots and stubbies ruined the magic for the masses and interest flagged quickly. In 1986, a bunch of local yobbos stole it to use it as a bed head then, after several weeks of nightmares, they tossed it into the river. A replica was put in its’ place but it hasn’t glowed since. Shame isn’t it?

For feedback email me on sirrahnivek@bigpond.com. I would love to hear from you!

Kevein Harris AKA RedDog

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