Compile a list with any theme you like that’s related to Campbelltown and I bet there will be a ghost somewhere in there.
Not just any ghost, but Fred’s ghost. That’s Fred Fisher, who was murdered by his neighbour George Worrall.
But it isn’t just the ghost legend that lives on in wonderful Campbelltown.
Plenty of people swear they have been in the presence of ghosts in and around the spot where Fisher’s ghost was spotted by John Farley, the man who finished building the historic homestead Denfield along Appin Road at St Helen’s Park.
Current Denfield owner and resident Patrick Duffy, born and bred in Campbelltown, swears Farley’s ghost drops in now and again to make sure everything is OK.
In its wisdom in 1956, Campbelltown decided to hold an annual festival dedicated to the supernatural aspect of Fred Fisher’s murder, and it’s still going strong in 2024.
This year’s festival starts on the first weekend of November with plenty of events, but no parade, the one event where Fred Fisher’s ghost was really immortalised over the years.
By the way, the murderer of Fred Fisher, George Worrall, ended up buried under the southern pylons of the Sydney Harbor bridge, which is quite ironic considering his problem with Fisher centred around a property dispute.
Here’s our Top 5 events that should be considered for inclusion every year in the Festival of Fisher’s Ghost:
Number 1. A re-enactment of John Farley seeing Fisher’s ghost pointing to the spot where the body was.
Number 2. A competition for the best design for a festival ghost mascot.
Number 3. A parade exclusively devoted to various scenes related to Fisher, Worrall and Farley – their ghosts that is.
Number 4. Local schools essay competition on Fred Fisher’s Ghost.
Number 5. A ghost party in Koshigaya Park, near the creek where Fisher’s body was found, behind the current Campbelltown Town Hall.
