Hallowe'en - Wailing and Writhing at the Cemetery

Image from Dark Cycle Magazine 1988

Way back on October 31st in 1988 it was just another mundane Monday evening in the Ball household at Bronte, a beachside suburb in Sydney's Eastern Suburbs. At that time, before Halloween became commercialised and Americanised, we may not have even realised that it was Halloween.

The kids were likely doing their homework, I may have been studying or ironing and my husband, Robert, would have been catching up on the work he had brought home.

Our activities were interrupted when Robert got a call from the local constabulary who were seeking his assistance. The Police were dealing with an incident at Waverley Cemetery but needed my husband's help to stop the activities that were taking place there.

At that time Robert was the Town Clerk of Waverley, a local government area in which Waverley Cemetery was located. As the Town Clerk Robert was invested with the authority to direct trespassers to leave the cemetery's grounds. 

Although it was less than a kilometre from our home, by the time Robert arrived at the cemetery there were press as well as Police in attendance. The Police armed Robert with a loud-hailer and requested that he stand near a police vehicle that was situated near those persons who were partying in the cemetery. He said in a loud voice words to the effect "My name is Robert Ball, I am the Town Clerk of Waverley and you are directed to leave the cemetery." A police officer in charge took the loud-hailer and gave further directions to the trespassers before directing his officers to arrest people who did not comply.

Somehow over the years, and with two intervening house moves, we have lost the video recordings that were shown on the next day's television news (the person who borrowed it failed to return it). Luckily after the "performance" we were given a copy of the invitation asking followers to join the event at the cemetery. This was described in Dark Cycle Magazine as a Hallowe'en celebration in the spirit of "The Mass of the Black Flame".

The Invitation to Nightmare Chaotica

Thankfully among Robert's many newspaper clippings was a copy of the Daily Mirror article from November 1st 1988 that describes the events of the previous evening.

Daily Mirror - November 1 1988

Page 1 article text

Page 2 Article Text

Most people would think that life as a Council Officer would be dull and boring. Robert's collection of newspaper clippings relates stories of armed holdups, corruption, bomb threats and brawls that he had to deal with as part of his 49 year career in local government.