Monte Cristo
The Monte Cristo is an elegant Victorian homestead located in the southern New South Wales country town of Junee. It was built in 1884 by Christopher William Crawley, a local farmer whose fortune changed after he had the foresight to build the Railway Hotel opposite what was soon to become a busy railway station. When the Great Southern Railway Line opened in 1878, the town's growth exploded and Crawley became a wealthy man.
Monte Cristo's interior includes three bedrooms, two box rooms, a sitting room, drawing room, dining room and breakfast room. The exterior boasted stables to house Mr. Crawley's prized race horses, a dairy, and a grand ballroom which stood opposite the original homestead which was converted into servant's quarters.
Christopher Crawley was born in Sydney in 1841; he died at Monte Cristo Homestead on the 14th December, 1910 at the age of 69. The cause of death was heart failure brought on by a gangrenous abscess on his neck caused by the rubbing of his starched collars.
His wife Elizabeth Crawley was often described as a "Queen Victoria" type figure that wore a black lace dress, lace cap and a cape with a stand-up beaded collar. Elizabeth was said to be an extremely hard woman and ruled the house and servants with an iron hand Elizabeth. After her husbands death Elizabeth spent the remaining 23 years of her life in mourning. She converted the upstairs box room into a chapel and immersed herself in the Bible, reportedly only leaving the house on two occasions.
On August 12, 1933, she died at the age of 92 from a ruptured appendix. In 1948, the last of the Crawley family left Monte Cristo. The graves of Mr & Mrs Crawley and their daughter who died in an accident and an early age can be seen at the local Junee cemetery.
Monte Cristo has had its fair share of tragedy: a maid jumped or fell to her death here; in a tragic accident, a stable boy was burnt to death; and a maid dropped a little girl down the stairs after being pushed by a "supernatural forces, the mentally retarded son of a housekeeper had been tied up on a short chain by his mother for more than 30 years and in 1961 the caretaker of Monte Cristo was shot dead by a local inspired by Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho.
Reg and Olive Ryan bought the abandoned and vandalized property on 3rd June, 1963. Reg moved everyone, including his young children and Olive into the run down old house immediately after purchasing it. The conditions at first were terrible there was no running water or electricity most of the doors and windows were missing
Reg believes he has a connection with the house and its ghostly residents. He often recalls how when he first set eyes on the abandoned house that he felt he was somehow being called back to it again and again. This was a calling he could not resist or stop and he knew at the time that he would someday own the property.
Not long after Reg moved into the property in June, 1963, he returned one night to find bright lights streaming out of every doorway and window; despite the fact they had not yet had the electricity connected and owned just the one kerosene lamp.
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