MEGAscene • Issue 17 - 2019
SA Paranormal By Allen Tiller THE TRUTH BEHIND THE INFAMOUS “SCHNEIDER’S ALLEY” Not far from Waterfall Gully sits Schneider’s Alley, a well-known local urban legend about an evil doctor that is alleged to have murdered people and put their bodies into a freezer. Within the urban legend is the story of a blue ghost seen in the area that scares away visitors … but how much of this story is true? Schneider’s Alley is actually a combination of a number of true stories, mixed together with mythology, misinterpreted eye witness accounts and misinformed whispers that turned into Adelaide’s greatest urban legend. The “Alley” itself doesn’t exist, instead a small alleyway called Andrews Walk, which was once the main entrance of the residence of Clifton Manor has been appropriated as the haunted walkway as well as the large park behind it. The good doctor in question, Dr Michael Schneider, was in fact not a GP, nor an experimental doctor. He was in fact an optometrist, an “eye doctor”. Dr Schneider was very well loved in the wider Adelaide community for his charity work and for his animal and plant sanctuary, of which he would open for public usage. Local Adelaidean’s could enjoy the splendour of his estate at open days and events, his sanctuary featured native animals and birds, as well as a vast variety of plants, flowers and foliage. Dr Schneider was a good man, a man who served for his country, the Empire and King George in World War One, and returned a hero. His name and legacy are now stained by the local urban legend that has grown out of hand off the back of curious thrill seekers and social media chat rooms. Dr Michael Schneider acquired Clifton Manor in 1934. He lived in the house with his wife from this point on until his death in the 1970’s. Dr Schneider established a native wildlife and bird sanctuary on the 40 acres of land he owned behind Clifton Manor, which included a Koala enclosure. After enlisting in the Australian Medical Corps in World War 2, Dr Schneider closed the sanctuary and released the koalas back into the wild. His remaining animals were donated to the Adelaide Zoo.
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Clifton Manor
Photo: Allen Tiller
There is no record of murders, rapes or anything sinister ever happening on the grounds of Clifton Manor. It is reported Dr Schneider died at his home in the 1970’s. The house and land were then bought by T&G Mutual Life Society and subdivided into the current format of streets, parks and housing found today. I have spoken to former neighbours of the good doctor, and they themselves cannot believe his name could become so tainted in modern Adelaide. I have investigated the site and surrounds myself on numerous occasions and could not find any evidence of a haunting (this of course does not mean it isn’t haunted). I tried every tactic I could think of, and got nothing, not even one simple EVP … If there is any kind of ghostly goings on here, it does not want to be found nor seen. So where does the story originate from? Well, in my opinion, which is formed from countless hours of research, interviews and investigations locally, is that this story is a bastardisation and union of two other events that happened very nearby, twisted into an urban legend that spread through Adelaide like a wildfire. There was a notable death in the area, only two streets from the allegedly haunted site, where a man had been found, cut into pieces and stuffed into a chest freezer, this was during the early 1990’s, which is just enough time for the story to grow into what it is now. Combine that with the 100-year-old story of the haunting of Waterfall Gully, where the ghost