The Glowing Cross South Lismore, New South Wales, Australia
By
MattyRx on 09-Dec-20. Waypoint GA16210
Cache Details
| Difficulty: | |
| Terrain: | |
| Type: | Multi-cache |
| Container: | Small |
| Coordinates: | S28° 48.075' E153° 15.731' (WGS 84) |
| 56J 525585E 6814005N (UTM) | |
| Elevation: | 17 m |
| Local Government Area: | Lismore City |
/153.262183,-28.80125,14/400x200?access_token=pk.eyJ1IjoiY2F1Z2h0YXR3b3JrIiwiYSI6ImNqa2l4ZzNzMDE5bjgzdm1sZGpuODF1Mm0ifQ.q8YMzVyzDJJlJHHV8EMjwQ)
Description
The Glowing Cross
Glowing Cross Photo from the
|
In 1907, a young railway worker named William Steenson died while trying to stop a runaway train at Mullumbimby. His gravestone was a stone cross, made of Scottish Balmoral Granite. 11 years after he was buried, people noticed that the grave stone was ‘glowing’ – intermittently at first, then reports say that it start shining so brightly, that it filled the surrounding area and graves in an arc of white light. Over the years, the cemetery fell into disrepair, and the glowing cross became local folklore. After dark, some local children would dare each other to run up to the gravestone and read the name on the inscription. In 1978, a woman who witnessed the glowing cross described her experience to a local reporter, and it was published in the Northern Star newspaper. The article was noticed by the papers in Sydney, and a media frenzy was in the making! Photographers, Reporters and TV Crews rolled into Lismore and the story of the Glowing Cross was told worldwide. This gathered the attention of the experts, who tried in vain to discover why the cross glowed. There are theories that the stone was radioactive, or polished in such a way that it caught and amplified light. One theory even suggested that there were petrified glow worms in the stone! None of the theories held up to the phenomena, the cross would glow on dark nights, when there were no other light sources or any moonlight. The media frenzy died down - until 1986, when there was a sudden renewed interest in the cross. This second wave of media interest didn’t last long before the cross disappeared. The cache is hidden at: S28° 48.((n x 3) - 2)' E153° 15.(n^2 + 309) |
Logs
We are visiting family for Xmas and needed a cache for today in the cacheopoly game .
We acquired the gz quickly and found the container out in the open with no log sheet ,so left a card with our name and details when found ,sorry we had no replacement log sheets with us TFTC
We acquired the gz quickly and found the container out in the open with no log sheet ,so left a card with our name and details when found ,sorry we had no replacement log sheets with us TFTC
Let me just start with saying, "Oh look! It is the 22nd today!" I may or may not have signed a bunch of your caches today with "Today" as the find date. 
I'd heard part of this story before from your own lips, I think back when I was trying to find the GC cache here (which I didn't even bother attempting again today). I remember last time I was here I found someone or thing's cremated remains dumped in a heap at the top of the cemetery - one of two times I've found just such whilst geocaching. [Note to my children - when I say I want what's left of my ashes (after some is put aside to go to space and become a shooting star) to be sprinkled on one or a few mountain tops, don't leave it dumped in a way people can see what it is, bone bits and all.]
Back onto the subject I came here for - logging this cache. WELL... I was silly enough to forget a certain couple of clues in the description and got to looking high and low, over and over for the correct headstone. THERE ARE SO MANY WILLIAMS HERE! There is even a William Williams, I kid you not! Photo evidence attached. Rereading the description I then easily found the correct Bill and got the info from him. I did the calculations on my arm whilst sitting with Bill, popped the corrected coords in my phone, and immediately saw what I was looking for. My log in the logbook says what I thought at this point, and you've seen that. haha. I'd spent too much time here considering I was actually out here to seek Peace
so I scrawled my log hastily and messily and moved on... a few meters up the road.
Thanks for the cache and reminding me of this story and giving more info than I recall hearing. I think it's pretty cool. I wonder if I can haunt a rock on a mountaintop making it glow when I die? Ohhhhh, I just had a thought - If you were to haunt some rocks a future generation of geocachers could make a multi about you there and call it "Matty Rocks On". [NT drops the mic].
I'd heard part of this story before from your own lips, I think back when I was trying to find the GC cache here (which I didn't even bother attempting again today). I remember last time I was here I found someone or thing's cremated remains dumped in a heap at the top of the cemetery - one of two times I've found just such whilst geocaching. [Note to my children - when I say I want what's left of my ashes (after some is put aside to go to space and become a shooting star) to be sprinkled on one or a few mountain tops, don't leave it dumped in a way people can see what it is, bone bits and all.]
Back onto the subject I came here for - logging this cache. WELL... I was silly enough to forget a certain couple of clues in the description and got to looking high and low, over and over for the correct headstone. THERE ARE SO MANY WILLIAMS HERE! There is even a William Williams, I kid you not! Photo evidence attached. Rereading the description I then easily found the correct Bill and got the info from him. I did the calculations on my arm whilst sitting with Bill, popped the corrected coords in my phone, and immediately saw what I was looking for. My log in the logbook says what I thought at this point, and you've seen that. haha. I'd spent too much time here considering I was actually out here to seek Peace
so I scrawled my log hastily and messily and moved on... a few meters up the road.Thanks for the cache and reminding me of this story and giving more info than I recall hearing. I think it's pretty cool. I wonder if I can haunt a rock on a mountaintop making it glow when I die? Ohhhhh, I just had a thought - If you were to haunt some rocks a future generation of geocachers could make a multi about you there and call it "Matty Rocks On". [NT drops the mic].
Rated: for Overall Experience
This was a very enjoyable challenge, it took a bit of thinking to find it! Thanks for the cache : )
I liked the two part challenge to finding this cache. As a newbie geocacher I was helped by family members. Between a few brains we puzzled it out. Second to find cache after GazaC on 19/12/20. I remember the original glowing cross and media interest.
I had a spare hour in Lismore so fired up the gca app to see if anything was about. as it turned out there was a brand spanking new multi at this interesting old graveyard that I had visited for another cache in the past .
with recent rains I needed to dodge massive mozzies but that was the worst of it.
found the required info with no dramas and did the mental gymnastics required to attain GZ.
easy find soon thereafter, and a ftf for my troubles. good stuff. my first gca multi I think, as well as my first gca multi ftf. handy dandy.
cheers to mattyrx for the placement of this cache and the very interesting local history provided.
with recent rains I needed to dodge massive mozzies but that was the worst of it.
found the required info with no dramas and did the mental gymnastics required to attain GZ.
easy find soon thereafter, and a ftf for my troubles. good stuff. my first gca multi I think, as well as my first gca multi ftf. handy dandy.
cheers to mattyrx for the placement of this cache and the very interesting local history provided.
