Oranjemund Online

ORANJEMUND DISCUSSIONS! => Oranjemund Bush Telegraph! => Topic started by: Michael Alexander on April 04, 2008, 02:52:26 PM

Title: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Michael Alexander on April 04, 2008, 02:52:26 PM
Ok! This is not fiction, Jim Murray is real, And I was going to post this under the haunting section, but got a bit carried away, thought I was a writer... so this will be an ongoing post....

"Ok, here's that Ghost story that was relayed to me by phone from Jim Murray in Jhb. Before I start,

I think it would help if I told you about Jim Murray briefly.

Jim Murray is a pensioner, who now lives in ALberton, South Africa, and telephoned me one day out

of the blue after hearing about the website . He explained to me that he worked up in the

Spergebiedt in the early 60's but did not work for CDM, but rather for a company that had a

contract with CDM.

He went on to tell me that he was a qualified diver and that he was part of a six man (european)

crew that were involved in a mutltitude of tasks up at Elizabeth Bay. The reason why I stated that

they were European, was that they were the only white people up in that section of the Spergebiedt.

The nearest other white people were in Luderitz. They also had a small contingent of 8 ovambo

workers to help with the more manual work.

Now just to bring a few of you up to speed about Elizabeth Bay. This town is a ghost town. It was

last in operation sometime in the early 1900's and was run by the Colonial Germans. There is a link

on the main site at (http://www.oranjemundonline.com/Elizabethbay and Bogenfels/index.htm) . This

gives you a better idea of the area.

Now Jim and the others, were almost like the original pioneers of that end of the deserted

Spergebiedt. One chap was a geologist, the other a blaster..... they all had various skills and

worked together as a team.They did a lot of survey work, measuring tides, movements of the sands,

prospecting and my favourite, exploring in their free time.

The only place they could live at while up in Elizabeth Bay, was the abandoned General Mangers

house, which had been rigged up with a generator for power. This house, if you look at the photo's

on the main site, looks imposing with a panaromic view over the ghost town and the actual bay of

Elizabeth.
They also had a house allocated to them back in Oranjemund. This house was used for when the team

would finish work on a friday , all jump into the landrovers and head to Oranjemund for the dance

and song, which was the infamous CDM off weekend. One of the Europeans would always have to stay

behind to keep an eye on the Ovambo Workers.The ovambo workers did not reside with the Europeans,

but lived in a small compound which was situated at the bottom of the hill on which the General

Manager's house stood.

It was on one of these off weekends, that our story actually begins......

It was sometime in the early 60's and it had been one of those long dry weeks up at the old

abandoned settlement of Elizabeth Bay, but Friday had arrived and five members of the team were

clambering onto the Landrover, in preparation for the dusty drive south through the Spergebiedts

never ending sand dunes.In a few hours, they would all be sitting in the famous Casey's bar of

Oranjemund, knocking back a few well deserved beers.

This time around, Jim Murray had drawn the short straw, it was his turn to stay alone in the old

double story house. It looked out of place, this German style building of brick and mortar, with

wooden roofing, perched on a desolate rocky outcrop, overlooking the sand covered mining town of

Elizabeth Bay. Jim waved and turned his back, as the Landrover merged into one with the shimmering

afternoon desert. Looking up at the building, he wondered what he would be doing with the rest of

his solitary weekend."


Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: SandyB on April 05, 2008, 09:13:00 AM
next installment ??
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Michael Alexander on April 05, 2008, 09:40:29 AM
"The rest of the late afternoon faded as the sun disappeared behind the rolling Atlantic waves to

the West. The Ovambo helper, Sam, said Good Night to Jim as he picked up his paraffine lantern and

headed down the rocky track to the compound at the foot of the hill. Jim glanced up as the first

crystal clear stars broke through the ever darkening skies. For a change the mist had not rolled in

off the Atlantic. He took another sip of the beer that he had been nursing since his companions had

departed. Nobody to play darts against, too dark to go out and explore.... only thing left would be

to head upstairs to his room, perhaps a good book might do the trick.

The big wooden windows that looked out from Jim's room had one of the best views out towards the

bay to the west, the only downside was the fact that the icy cold prevailing wind would often

hammer against the window, causing many a sleepless night. In order to prevent the incessant

banging of the window, Jim had taken it apon himself to hammer nails throught the aging wooden

window frames, thus securing the windows from opening. As a further good measure, he pushed the

dressing table against the window.

Jim removed his heavy, damp boots and swung his tall heavy frame onto the bed, book in hand, facing

the wall, he removed the bookmark."

Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: SandyB on April 09, 2008, 05:48:46 PM
Next episode ??
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Diana Rudd (Boehme) on April 09, 2008, 06:15:37 PM
Are you writing this Michael or were you given a draft? I did read correctly at the beginning that you putting this to-gether? Did I?          Very Very good my boy.
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Florrie van Zyl (Muir) on April 09, 2008, 06:46:27 PM
Please finish the story Mike, the suspense is killing me!
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Rhona on April 09, 2008, 07:00:04 PM
  pls Mike......we are sitting up and we promise to be good - I'll even organise the return of the bar; just tell us more.......
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: georg ruf jr. on April 09, 2008, 09:12:12 PM
 :emot19:
No serious now. I think Mike is trying to cope with the gout again.  notfair :emot112:
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Michael Alexander on April 10, 2008, 06:13:59 AM
Mike is back, sorry guys, I was off work for a few days, and was not up to typing  or thinking that much, but I am feeling 95% so I will be back online today...... I'll try post the next part of the tale, which remember is true..... well 95% off it.....
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Rhona on April 10, 2008, 08:35:30 PM
When are we getting the next chapter?
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Michael Alexander on April 11, 2008, 06:02:10 PM
Monday, I guess!

idontknow
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: SandyB on April 11, 2008, 06:23:55 PM
The attempted lobotomy must ahve really slowed you down .. nothing that a  bit  of R&R and braai and lots of  beer wont  sort  out hey ? Actually read an article in the papers about  running blog sites .. can draw a paralell to  you  .. it  wears the site holder or in the case of  you  the  moderator out .. so take a break  ,,, relax ...
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Michael Alexander on April 11, 2008, 08:16:43 PM
Thank you Sandy, I will indeed indulge in a good bout of beer consumption and perhaps a few flames whilst the rugger is on.....
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: SandyB on April 14, 2008, 06:06:25 PM
next installment  please ??  pls
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Michael Alexander on April 14, 2008, 06:17:38 PM
Monday is the second busiest day of my week..... tuesday.....
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Rhona on April 14, 2008, 09:37:16 PM
Hey! you're cheating - you can't keep changing the date of the next installment......I'm keeping an eye on you   :emot77: 
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Michael Alexander on April 15, 2008, 12:29:47 PM
"Somewhere up on the roof, a piece of wood had kept up it's constant knocking against a support

beam, the cold wind , in unison with the distant waves addeded to the late night symphony.Jim

lifted his unfocused eyes from the pages,he glanced over his right shoulder,wondering if it had

been the book that had planted the seed of suspicion in his tired mind? He reckoned it must have

been about the fourth time that evening, that he had to avert his eyes from the book, just to

placify his mind, perhaps to ensure himself, that there was indeed, nobody else in that cluttered

room with him.

Slowly sliding the bookmark between the pages, his eyes focused on the window, "This is stupid, I'm

in the middle of the desert, a restricted part of the desert at that, there can't be anyone out

there", he thought to himself.

With a thundering crash, the stack of yellow books that had been sitting on the left hand corner of

the table,tumbled to the wooden floor,causing Jim to sit upright on the bed. Almost as if the

window had burst open, an unseen gust had picked up the remaining diverse articles from the table

and quckly threw them into an all consuming circular motion in the centre of the room.As the vortex

picked up speed,a hairbrush narrowly shot passed Jim's head, smashing against the wall....Jim sat,

staring, motionless in a state of pure shock, his mind unable to comprehend the unexplainable, that

chaotic scene in front of him.....books, papers and clothes tumbling in an uncontrolable flight in

the middle of his dimly lit room......."
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: SandyB on April 15, 2008, 01:31:46 PM
A vortex  .. interesting ....
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Rhona on April 15, 2008, 04:20:30 PM
More more more!!!
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: SandyB on April 16, 2008, 09:17:46 PM
We  want  to  be  released from  the  vortex ..tell  us  more ..
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Dalene Steenkamp (Coetzee) on April 16, 2008, 09:21:17 PM
I could just kick Mike for this anticipation..........  hurry up and tell the rest!
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: georg ruf jr. on April 16, 2008, 09:24:54 PM
 :emot19: :tifo1:

You guys are even more fun than the story...
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Michael Alexander on April 17, 2008, 06:18:50 AM
The peanut gallery......   laughpoint
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Rhona on April 17, 2008, 04:11:48 PM
This is worse than watching a brilliant series on tv..........geez Mike - out with it.....
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Michael Alexander on April 18, 2008, 03:18:13 PM
Ok.. here's the full version up until where I am now, I put it all together in order to make a bit more sense...

"Ok, here's that Ghost story that was relayed to me by phone from Jim Murray in Jhb. Before I start, I think it would help if I told you about Jim Murray briefly.

Jim Murray is a pensioner, who now lives in Alberton, South Africa, and telephoned me one day out of the blue after hearing about the website. He explained to me that he worked up in the Spergebiedt in the early 60's but did not work for CDM, but rather for a company that had a contract with CDM.

He went on to tell me that he was a qualified diver and that he was part of a six man (European) crew that were involved in a multitude of tasks up at Elizabeth Bay. The reason why I stated that they were European was that they were the only white people up in that section of the Spergebiedt. The nearest other white people were in Luderitz. They also had a small contingent of 8 ovambo workers to help with the more manual work.

Now just to bring a few of you up to speed about Elizabeth Bay. This town is a ghost town. It was last in operation sometime in the early 1900's and was run by the Colonial Germans. There is a link on the main site at (http://www.oranjemundonline.com/ElizabethbayandBogenfels/index.htm). This gives you a better idea of the area.

Now Jim and the others were almost like the original pioneers of that end of the deserted Spergebiedt. One chap was a geologist, the other a blaster..... they all had various skills and worked together as a team. They did a lot of survey work, measuring tides, movements of the sands, prospecting and my favourite, exploring in their free time.

The only place they could live at while up in Elizabeth Bay, was the abandoned General Mangers house, which had been rigged up with a generator for power. This house, if you look at the photos on the main site, looks imposing with a panoramic view over the ghost town and the actual bay of Elizabeth.
They also had a house allocated to them back in Oranjemund. This house was used for when the team would finish work on a Friday , all jump into the land rovers and head to Oranjemund for the dance and song, which was the infamous CDM off weekend. One of the Europeans would always have to stay behind to keep an eye on the Ovambo Workers. The Ovambo workers did not reside with the Europeans, but lived in a small compound which was situated at the bottom of the hill on which the General Manager's house stood.

It was on one of these off weekends, that our story actually begins......



It was sometime in the early 60's and it had been one of those long dry weeks up at the old abandoned settlement of Elizabeth Bay, but Friday had arrived and five members of the team were clambering onto the Landover, in preparation for the dusty drive south through the Spergebiedts never ending sand dunes. In a few hours, they would all be sitting in the famous Casey's bar of Oranjemund, knocking back a few well deserved beers.

This time around, Jim Murray had drawn the short straw, it was his turn to stay alone in the old double story house. It looked out of place, this German style building of brick and mortar, with wooden roofing, perched on a desolate rocky outcrop, overlooking the sand covered mining town of Elizabeth Bay. Jim waved and turned his back, as the Landrover merged into one with the shimmering afternoon desert. Looking up at the building, he wondered what he would be doing with the rest of his solitary weekend.

The rest of the late afternoon faded as the sun disappeared behind the rolling Atlantic waves to the West. The Ovambo helper, Sam, said Good Night to Jim as he picked up his paraffine lantern and headed down the rocky track to the compound at the foot of the hill. Jim glanced up as the first crystal clear stars broke through the ever darkening skies. For a change the mist had not rolled in off the Atlantic. He took another sip of the beer that he had been nursing since his companions had departed. Nobody to play darts against, too dark to go out and explore.... only thing left would be to head upstairs to his room, perhaps a good book might do the trick.

The big wooden windows that looked out from Jim's room had one of the best views out towards the bay to the west, the only downside was the fact that the icy cold prevailing wind would often hammer against the window, causing many a sleepless night. In order to prevent the incessant banging of the window, Jim had taken it apon himself to hammer nails throught the aging wooden window frames, thus securing the windows from opening. As a further good measure, he pushed the dressing table against the window.

Jim removed his heavy, damp boots and swung his tall muscular frame onto the bed, book in hand, facing the wall, he removed the bookmark.

Somewhere up on the roof, a piece of wood had kept up it's constant knocking against a support beam, the cold wind , in unison with the distant waves addeded to the late night symphony.Jim lifted his unfocused eyes from the pages,he glanced over his right shoulder,wondering if it had been the book that had planted the seed of suspicion in his tired mind? He reckoned it must have been about the fourth time that evening, that he had to avert his eyes from the book, just to placify his mind, perhaps to ensure himself, that there was indeed, nobody else in that cluttered room with him.

Slowly sliding the bookmark between the pages, his eyes focused on the window, "This is stupid, I'm in the middle of the desert, a restricted part of the desert at that, there can't be anyone out there", he thought to himself.

With a thundering crash, the stack of yellow books that had been sitting on the left hand corner of the table, tumbled to the wooden floor, causing Jim to sit upright on the bed. Almost as if the window had burst open, an unseen gust had picked up the remaining diverse articles from the table and quickly threw them into an all consuming circular motion in the centre of the room. As the vortex picked up speed, a hairbrush narrowly shot passed Jim's head, smashing against the wall....Jim sat, staring, motionless in a state of pure shock, his mind unable to comprehend the unexplainable, that chaotic scene in front of him.....books, papers and clothes tumbling in an uncontrollable flight in the middle of his dimly lit room.......

"This cannot be happening.....It's impossible!", Jim thought to himself, regaining his senses glancing towards the window, as a two hundred page novel managed to extract itself from the ever spinning vortex, slamming itself against the old, unvarnished door.

Deep down, Jim was hoping that the rustic wooden window had somehow managed to be blown open by the desert winds, thus to an extent helping to explain the unnatural events occurring before his widened eyes., Jim's disheartened eyes fell apon the still sealed window, firmly shuttered by the bent nails he had impaled into the aging timber frames when they had first arrived at this abandoned colonial building.

Surrendering the little courage he had left, he spun himself back onto the bed as the book he had just been reading was extracted from his white knuckled fingers and absorbed into the ever widening vortex.

He did the only sensible thing he could think of, a kind of child like mentality, perhaps a memory that had been instantly rekindled, a memory he had forgotten, from when in his childhood, he had reason to feel fear... a time to hide, turn away from the threat and with his hands covering his ears, he turned his back, pressing down onto his creaking bed, he pressed his face and body flat against the bare wall, hoping his exposed and shaking back would protect him from the unexplainable.

No matter how hard he pressed his hands over his ears, no matter how much he endeavored to push his body into the wall, that sound would not subside. It was a sound that he would later describe as that of being attached to the roof of a Skymaster plane, with every wind in the world hurtling around you in an unorganized and extremely dangerous fashion. The only noise that needed to be added, was that of a screeching steam train rushing through the middle of the vortex to compliment the swirling winds.

Almost as sudden as ......"









Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Dalene Steenkamp (Coetzee) on April 18, 2008, 04:12:12 PM
You must have been a Torturer in a previous life  -  I am sure of it now!
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Michael Alexander on April 18, 2008, 04:48:37 PM
And, my dear Orange Aunty.... you may indeed be right....   laughpoint
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: georg ruf jr. on April 18, 2008, 05:18:38 PM
He's making fun of us Dalene.
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: SandyB on April 18, 2008, 06:09:47 PM
next episode ??
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Florrie van Zyl (Muir) on April 19, 2008, 02:34:54 PM
Even though I am mad at you for making us beg for more, I must compliment you on your style of writing. I am sure Jim would not have given the story in so much detail over the phone, and if I'm right and you have elaborated on it, I think you should consider writing a novel.
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Michael Alexander on April 19, 2008, 04:05:57 PM
Actually, when you get to meet Jim, or speak to him one day, you will be caught up in the way that he does tell his tales.Ya, sure I added a bit  of spice.... but when Jim phones me...you're looking at a 45 minute call..easy...and a great guy....... He was  says...."Mike , Listen to me, my boy!"... I just smaak that.......  those are the old ways....

allgood
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Florrie van Zyl (Muir) on April 19, 2008, 04:11:33 PM
Sounds like an interesting character, hope he is coming to the reunion.
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Michael Alexander on April 19, 2008, 05:18:22 PM
His wife and him are talking about it. He misses this end of the world terribly.....   :emot78:
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: SandyB on May 04, 2008, 09:12:34 AM
The  rest  of  the  story  please , or  we  going  to  make  you  read  the  entire  book  of  nostradamus  cover  to  cover ..
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Michael Alexander on May 04, 2008, 09:27:05 AM
hahahaha.... I'm still catching up on bits and pieces.... But rest assured..this week..this week..... I still have about 40 Newsletters from the 70's to upload...., And I;m busy doing Malcolms Pictures.... so it will be in the week....

:emot26:
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Rhona on May 05, 2008, 08:51:55 AM
Tell you what Mike - just give Jim my number cause this is the worst torture ever
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: SandyB on May 05, 2008, 05:50:05 PM
@ Michael  .. got  the  nostradamus book close at  hand  and  waiting  for you ....
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Michael Alexander on May 05, 2008, 05:52:39 PM
I too have a Nostradamus book..paperback..... bought it about 14 years ago.... according to him...the moslems should be ruling Europe by now....... kinda late are'nt they?

Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Rhona on May 05, 2008, 05:56:58 PM
I too have a book on Nostradamus - am I right in saying it was only after things happened that people sat up and said ''Oh yeah; Nostradamus said that'' - I think you can take quite a few meanings out of his predictions and manipulate them to suit yourself...........correct me if I'm wrong.......go on, I dare you!!!   thumper
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Michael Alexander on May 05, 2008, 05:59:15 PM
ONce again...I do not profess to be a supporter Of his, I just find the stuff fascinating and...yes! I also agree, you can twist the words to fit.... eg...9/11

Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Rhona on May 05, 2008, 06:02:54 PM
For example - everything............sure if we could predict what was going to happen; then there would be no fun
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Michael Alexander on May 05, 2008, 06:04:43 PM
...and if we did not all die.... the earth would be packed by now..... SO is Life.... No Future, A Past and you're gonna die......

iknow
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: SandyB on May 05, 2008, 06:05:13 PM
Ok  Mike you  off the  reading  nostradamus hook for  now .. ever  get the  email  one  with  all  the numerology relating to  9/11  interesting  but  then again  you  can  twist things  around to suit  ,, but  then again  intrigueing hey ??  Now  wheres  Jims  story ??
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Rhona on May 05, 2008, 06:08:44 PM
We're all going to die??? First you don't believe in Mickey Mouse and then we're all going to die..........go and sit in your wardrobe and think about what you're saying
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Michael Alexander on May 05, 2008, 06:20:54 PM
Jim's story this week.... I saw that email.... the twins falling and all that... how come they never saw that coming then...

My wardrobe is too small for a big man like me.....  feedme
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Chris Macpherson on May 05, 2008, 06:21:18 PM
@ sandyb,  

did you see the one  of all the 12es?  something about zodiac signs, referring to bible, 12 disiples, 12 tribes of israel . etc,etc
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: SandyB on May 05, 2008, 06:45:43 PM
@ Chris .. I see and get to read a lot .. My  opinion ..  whatever  blows  your  hair  back ... its all interesting  and yes thought provoking .. even old Mickeys visits  to me  and  Rhona late in the night .. and we gonna  have  to  build a bigger  cupboard for Mike ...
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Rhona on May 05, 2008, 06:50:10 PM
The wardrobes I remember were quite big - but maybe that's cause I was only little......... I bought a new saw and set of screwdrivers over the w.end - so I'm game to build a new wardrobe........anyone got a measuring tape?
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: SandyB on May 06, 2008, 11:59:04 AM
Quote from: Michael Alexander on May 05, 2008, 05:52:39 PM
I too have a Nostradamus book..paperback..... bought it about 14 years ago.... according to him...the moslems should be ruling Europe by now....... kinda late are'nt they?



Mikes  quite was  in this  topic  so  I  put  this  in here   ...   the  topic  will of  course  become  more  subject relevant once  Mike  posts  the next chapter if  Jims  story  hey ??
Well  how's  these  disturbing  pics .. not  inciting  any  doom  gloom  hatred or  racism  . but  these  gentle  folk   of  a  certain  religious  persuasion  pictured  here  that  always  accuse the  world  of  declaring  war  on  them  or  victimising  or   whatever  makes  them  get  so  oversentitised  and  climb  on  their  high  horses .. are  in  many  cases  .. guests  in  europe  and  england   australia  and america .. as  the  australian  prime  minister  said  in  a widely  critiscised  speech  he made  .. he  told  them  of the radical  persuasion   basically  . if  you  cant  fit  in f... off ....
I  just  cannot  get  over  how  much  hatred  is  displayed  ..  I  am  no  expert  but  according  to  well  read people  the q'uoran   does  not   condone this  sort  of  behaviour  .. its  again   people  taking out  selected  passages  and  twisting  them  to  suit  their  purpose  pretty much  the  same  way  that  fundamentalist  christians  do  .. no  diff  .. only  problem  is these  gentle  folk  do   really  seem  to  want to  over-run  the world ..
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Patricia Lotte on May 06, 2008, 02:29:00 PM
There's a lot to be said about this religion, but if I spoke openly I would be on their 'most wanted list' ... There are several schools of thought and each one interprets the coran differently. Gosh, I wish I could speak freely  iknow
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Michael Alexander on May 06, 2008, 02:31:32 PM
I get your point Sandy...maybe the prediction is a few decades out...but don't forget the CHinese...the yellow people are coming,.,,

On another point, Jim Murray phoned me again this morning......over an hour on the phone...People the stories that this guy tells ...unbelievable..... he is still trying to come here...anyone from JHB got a lift.....


Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Rhona on May 06, 2008, 08:38:27 PM
The people would believe  the stories this guy tells if you passed the things on to the rest of us............Come on now - out with it
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: SandyB on May 06, 2008, 08:43:33 PM
@ Mike .. not  even refering to the nostradamus .. its just to me a frightening thing to  see ..  so  much hatred and intolerance  and an air of total self righteousness.. If  it  were my  country ( me president ) I would arrest the whole  lot  and  deport them from  whence they came ..I mean  there are laws against hate speech and  slogans in most  countries ??
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: SandyB on May 06, 2008, 08:46:08 PM
Rhona .. bars open again .. I  have an adequate supply  of shiraz .. maybe Mickey Mouse even pops  in  for  a  quick one ?/  we  must tell mike if  he  does  Ok ??
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Rhona on May 06, 2008, 08:50:13 PM
  BierSuip  cheers - that Mike fella always goes to bed before the bar opens......I heard Mickey was bringing his girlfriend with him tonight...
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: SandyB on May 06, 2008, 08:57:16 PM
Minnie .. the mousegirl with  the  outsized shoes ??
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Rhona on May 06, 2008, 08:58:34 PM
But what a wonderfull smile..............course you know what they say about big shoes?
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: bobbysmith on May 06, 2008, 09:00:35 PM
they cost more
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Rhona on May 06, 2008, 09:03:45 PM
Nope - Big shoes; big feet!!!
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: SandyB on May 06, 2008, 09:14:36 PM
Big  feet  Big ??? 
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Rhona on May 06, 2008, 09:15:43 PM
Socks.....
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: SandyB on May 06, 2008, 09:31:29 PM
So  Innocent ??
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Rhona on May 06, 2008, 09:35:11 PM
But of course, innocent and oh so shy......
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Barbara Eia (Brownless) on May 06, 2008, 09:38:54 PM
Butter wouldn't melt in your mouth  Rhona      bighug
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Rhona on May 06, 2008, 09:41:37 PM
For sure Barbara - you tell them....................how have you been; me thinks you've been hiding on us - did some of the bots have you hostage
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Michael Alexander on May 09, 2008, 12:13:52 PM
Ok, here's that Ghost story that was relayed to me by phone from Jim Murray in Jhb. Before I start, I think it would help if I told you about Jim Murray briefly.

Jim Murray is a pensioner, who now lives in Alberton, South Africa, and telephoned me one day out of the blue after hearing about the website. He explained to me that he worked up in the Spergebiedt in the early 60's but did not work for CDM, but rather for a company that had a contract with CDM.

He went on to tell me that he was a qualified diver and that he was part of a six man (European) crew that were involved in a multitude of tasks up at Elizabeth Bay. The reason why I stated that they were European was that they were the only white people up in that section of the Spergebiedt. The nearest other white people were in Luderitz. They also had a small contingent of 8 ovambo workers to help with the more manual work.

Now just to bring a few of you up to speed about Elizabeth Bay. This town is a ghost town. It was last in operation sometime in the early 1900's and was run by the Colonial Germans. There is a link on the main site at (http://www.oranjemundonline.com/ElizabethbayandBogenfels/index.htm). This gives you a better idea of the area.

Now Jim and the others were almost like the original pioneers of that end of the deserted Spergebiedt. One chap was a geologist, the other a blaster..... they all had various skills and worked together as a team. They did a lot of survey work, measuring tides, movements of the sands, prospecting and my favourite, exploring in their free time.

The only place they could live at while up in Elizabeth Bay, was the abandoned General Mangers house, which had been rigged up with a generator for power. This house, if you look at the photos on the main site, looks imposing with a panoramic view over the ghost town and the actual bay of Elizabeth.
They also had a house allocated to them back in Oranjemund. This house was used for when the team would finish work on a Friday , all jump into the land rovers and head to Oranjemund for the dance and song, which was the infamous CDM off weekend. One of the Europeans would always have to stay behind to keep an eye on the Ovambo Workers. The Ovambo workers did not reside with the Europeans, but lived in a small compound which was situated at the bottom of the hill on which the General Manager's house stood.

It was on one of these off weekends, that our story actually begins......



It was sometime in the early 60's and it had been one of those long dry weeks up at the old abandoned settlement of Elizabeth Bay, but Friday had arrived and five members of the team were clambering onto the Landover, in preparation for the dusty drive south through the Spergebiedt's never ending sand dunes. In a few hours, they would all be sitting in the famous Casey's bar of Oranjemund, knocking back a few well deserved beers.

This time around, Jim Murray had drawn the short straw, it was his turn to stay alone in the old double story house. It looked out of place, this German style building of brick and mortar, with wooden roofing, perched on a desolate rocky outcrop, overlooking the sand covered mining town of Elizabeth Bay. Jim waved and turned his back, as the Landrover merged into one with the shimmering afternoon desert. Looking up at the building, he wondered what he would be doing with the rest of his solitary weekend.

The rest of the late afternoon faded as the sun disappeared behind the rolling Atlantic waves to the West. The Ovambo helper, Sam, said Good Night to Jim as he picked up his paraffin lantern and headed down the rocky track to the compound at the foot of the hill. Jim glanced up as the first crystal clear stars broke through the ever darkening skies. For a change the mist had not rolled in off the Atlantic. He took another sip of the beer that he had been nursing since his companions had departed. Nobody to play darts against, too dark to go out and explore.... only thing left would be to head upstairs to his room, perhaps a good book might do the trick.

The big wooden windows that looked out from Jim's room had one of the best views out towards the bay to the west, the only downside was the fact that the icy cold prevailing wind would often hammer against the window, causing many a sleepless night. In order to prevent the incessant banging of the window, Jim had taken it upon himself to hammer nails through the aging wooden window frames, thus securing the windows from opening. As a further good measure, he pushed the dressing table against the window.

Jim removed his heavy, damp boots and swung his tall muscular frame onto the bed, book in hand, facing the wall, he removed the bookmark.

Somewhere up on the roof, a piece of wood had kept up it's constant knocking against a support beam, the cold wind , in unison with the distant waves added to the late night symphony. Jim lifted his unfocused eyes from the pages, he glanced over his right shoulder, wondering if it had been the book that had planted the seed of suspicion in his tired mind? He reckoned it must have been about the fourth time that evening, that he had to avert his eyes from the book, just to pacify his mind, perhaps to ensure himself, that there was indeed, nobody else in that cluttered room with him.

Slowly sliding the bookmark between the pages, his eyes focused on the window, "This is stupid, I'm in the middle of the desert, a restricted part of the desert at that, there can't be anyone out there", he thought to himself.

With a thundering crash, the stack of yellow books that had been sitting on the left hand corner of the table, tumbled to the wooden floor, causing Jim to sit upright on the bed. Almost as if the window had burst open, an unseen gust had picked up the remaining diverse articles from the table and quickly threw them into an all consuming circular motion in the centre of the room. As the vortex picked up speed, a hairbrush narrowly shot passed Jim's head, smashing against the wall....Jim sat, staring, motionless in a state of pure shock, his mind unable to comprehend the unexplainable, that chaotic scene in front of him.....books, papers and clothes tumbling in an uncontrollable flight in the middle of his dimly lit room.......

"This cannot be happening.....It's impossible!", Jim thought to himself, regaining his senses glancing towards the window, as a two hundred page novel managed to extract itself from the ever spinning vortex, slamming itself against the old, unvarnished door.

Deep down, Jim was hoping that the rustic wooden window had somehow managed to be blown open by the desert winds, thus to an extent helping to explain the unnatural events occurring before his widened eyes., Jim's disheartened eyes fell upon the still sealed window, firmly shuttered by the bent nails he had impaled into the aging timber frames when they had first arrived at this abandoned colonial building.

Surrendering the little courage he had left, he spun himself back onto the bed as the book he had just been reading was extracted from his white knuckled fingers and absorbed into the ever widening vortex.

He did the only sensible thing he could think of, a kind of child like mentality, perhaps a memory that had been instantly rekindled, a memory he had forgotten, from when in his childhood, he had reason to feel fear... a time to hide, turn away from the threat and with his hands covering his ears, he turned his back, pressing down onto his creaking bed, he pressed his face and body flat against the bare wall, hoping his exposed and shaking back would protect him from the unexplainable.

No matter how hard he pressed his hands over his ears, no matter how much he endeavored to push his body into the wall, that sound would not subside. It was a sound that he would later describe as that of being attached to the roof of a Skymaster plane, with every wind in the world hurtling around you in an unorganized and extremely dangerous fashion. The only noise that needed to be added, was that of a screeching steam train rushing through the middle of the vortex to compliment the swirling winds.

Almost as suddenly as it had started, as black and white differ, the cacophony of noise ceased, silence returned to the littered room. Jim heard the last book collapse to the wooden floor, but still could not bear to draw up enough courage to turn around to see what scene might greet him.

It is a well known fact, that the human mind is more than capable of creating entities, when there is in actual fact nothing there.. As a child we all remember the monster under the bed scenario. At times, when we are uncertain, confused, perhaps in the dark, alone, we conjure up all these images. This was the immediate thought that Jim had been thinking to himself.

He could feel the presence, a something, perhaps another being, standing just behind his shivering back. "Where has my courage gone?", he thought to himself, "For God's sake, I swim with the sharks and killer whales down in the rocky bay, all I have to do is turn around, all I have...". It was then that he realized to himself that he was not shaking because of fear, but the room's temperature had dropped dramatically. "Shit, it felt like I was diving in the Southern Atlantic without my wetsuit." he would recount later to his mates in the bar at Oranjemund.

The chilling coldness felt unnatural, a coldness that seemed threatening, together with the feeling that somebody was standing directly behind him, intensified as the lingering dampness caused his teeth to start chattering......"Just turn around, just do it!", he repeated to himself....

After a brief mental battle with his inner conscience, he eventually brought his courage to the fore, he started to slowly turn his body towards the presence in the room, when like a bullet shooting through his leg, he felt.....








Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Michele Alexander (Voden) on May 09, 2008, 12:50:40 PM
Geez Mike, it's been over a month now and the story's not finished yet!

I guess if you don't  :emot182:  braai or watch  catchball this week-end you might have a chance to finish the story!

e154 from your  poledancing1  boobs wife!
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Michael Alexander on May 09, 2008, 12:53:27 PM
Omelette....thats all I want!

e154
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Michele Alexander (Voden) on May 09, 2008, 03:02:43 PM
Hmmmmmm.....
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Diana Rudd (Boehme) on May 09, 2008, 04:09:53 PM
Omelete....is that whats IT'S called now days.
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Rhona on May 09, 2008, 05:30:47 PM
And the suspense continues........... dammit Michael - get the finger out and finish this story......
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Michele Alexander (Voden) on May 09, 2008, 06:19:06 PM
Diana - what are you talking about??????? I happen to make a mean cheese omelette!!!!!!!!!

Is no topic safe these days?

:sorriso2:

Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Rhona on May 09, 2008, 07:01:20 PM
Nothing is safe from us - ladies, Michelle...........try putting chopped mushrooms; onions and bacon through that cheese omelette........mmm! mmm!
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Michael Alexander on May 09, 2008, 09:12:40 PM
My beloved wife, Michele happens to make the best cheese omelette this side og the equator....

cookin
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: SandyB on May 09, 2008, 10:59:52 PM
Forget  the  omlette boy   its  the  story  we  want !!
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Mike Stenson (RIP) on May 10, 2008, 05:55:11 AM
Quote from: Michael Alexander on May 09, 2008, 09:12:40 PM
My beloved wife, Michele happens to make the best cheese omelette this side og the equator....

cookin
what times breakfast
faceinfood
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Michael Alexander on May 10, 2008, 06:07:26 AM
Michele is having a long overdue lie in this morning, the kids slept over at the neighbours, so she i shaving her once a year late lie in.......

Breakfast ain't omelettes today, Frosty FLakes all the way....
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Koos on May 10, 2008, 06:14:01 AM
frosty flakes ?
oats mike oats
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Michael Alexander on May 10, 2008, 06:17:20 AM
Oats?
Beer Koos Beer!

:emot19:
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Koos on May 10, 2008, 06:20:32 AM
Quote from: Michael Alexander on May 10, 2008, 06:07:26 AM
Michele is having a long overdue lie in this morning, the kids slept over at the neighbours, so she i shaving her once a year late lie in.......

Breakfast ain't omelettes today, Frosty FLakes all the way....
kids sleeping out
michele sleeping late
mmmm!
:emot19:
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Michael Alexander on May 10, 2008, 06:24:58 AM
Yep! Yep!..... concentrate Koos, COncentrate...... I have to catch up in the forum, coz my good wife took over the PC last night for a good two hours...never got my fix.....
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Carl Wrbka on May 10, 2008, 10:16:31 AM
Quote from: Koos on May 10, 2008, 06:20:32 AM
Quote from: Michael Alexander on May 10, 2008, 06:07:26 AM
Michele is having a long overdue lie in this morning, the kids slept over at the neighbours, so she i shaving her once a year late lie in.......

Breakfast ain't omelettes today, Frosty FLakes all the way....
kids sleeping out
michele sleeping late
mmmm!
:emot19:


I like the way you think, Koos. Maybe u'r not so bad as the people say u are...lol
Did u notice there was a mention made of "shaving her" as well? MMMMMM!  Naughty,naughty Michael.  daman
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Michael Alexander on May 10, 2008, 10:34:12 AM
Damn! I will now never hear the end of that...That was a typo......... Sigh!

:emot26:  pls
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Diana Rudd (Boehme) on May 10, 2008, 11:36:55 AM
and I only asked about the omlette and got sh@t out.
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Michael Alexander on May 10, 2008, 12:16:41 PM
.... and I only made a typo...Now Michele is shaving.......
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Carl Wrbka on May 10, 2008, 12:37:44 PM
 :emot19:
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Michael Alexander on May 16, 2008, 03:42:06 PM
Ok, here's that Ghost story that was relayed to me by phone from Jim Murray in Jhb. Before I start, I think it would help if I told you about Jim Murray briefly.

Jim Murray is a pensioner, who now lives in Alberton, South Africa, and telephoned me one day out of the blue after hearing about the website. He explained to me that he worked up in the Spergebiedt in the early 60's but did not work for CDM, but rather for a company that had a contract with CDM.

He went on to tell me that he was a qualified diver and that he was part of a six man (European) crew that were involved in a multitude of tasks up at Elizabeth Bay. The reason why I stated that they were European was that they were the only white people up in that section of the Spergebiedt. The nearest other white people were in Luderitz. They also had a small contingent of 8 ovambo workers to help with the more manual work.

Now just to bring a few of you up to speed about Elizabeth Bay. This town is a ghost town. It was last in operation sometime in the early 1900's and was run by the Colonial Germans. There is a link on the main site at (http://www.oranjemundonline.com/ElizabethbayandBogenfels/index.htm). This gives you a better idea of the area.

Now Jim and the others were almost like the original pioneers of that end of the deserted Spergebiedt. One chap was a geologist, the other a blaster..... they all had various skills and worked together as a team. They did a lot of survey work, measuring tides, movements of the sands, prospecting and my favourite, exploring in their free time.

The only place they could live at while up in Elizabeth Bay, was the abandoned General Mangers house, which had been rigged up with a generator for power. This house, if you look at the photos on the main site, looks imposing with a panoramic view over the ghost town and the actual bay of Elizabeth.
They also had a house allocated to them back in Oranjemund. This house was used for when the team would finish work on a Friday , all jump into the land rovers and head to Oranjemund for the dance and song, which was the infamous CDM off weekend. One of the Europeans would always have to stay behind to keep an eye on the Ovambo Workers. The Ovambo workers did not reside with the Europeans, but lived in a small compound which was situated at the bottom of the hill on which the General Manager's house stood.

It was on one of these off weekends, that our story actually begins......



"It was sometime in the early 60's and it had been one of those long dry weeks up at the old abandoned settlement of Elizabeth Bay, but Friday had arrived and five members of the team were clambering onto the Landover, in preparation for the dusty drive south through the Spergebiedt's never ending sand dunes. In a few hours, they would all be sitting in the famous Casey's bar of Oranjemund, knocking back a few well deserved beers.

This time around, Jim Murray had drawn the short straw, it was his turn to stay alone in the old double story house. It looked out of place, this German style building of brick and mortar, with wooden roofing, perched on a desolate rocky outcrop, overlooking the sand covered mining town of Elizabeth Bay. Jim waved and turned his back, as the Landrover merged into one with the shimmering afternoon desert. Looking up at the building, he wondered what he would be doing with the rest of his solitary weekend.

The rest of the late afternoon faded as the sun disappeared behind the rolling Atlantic waves to the West. The Ovambo helper, Sam, said Good Night to Jim as he picked up his paraffin lantern and headed down the rocky track to the compound at the foot of the hill. Jim glanced up as the first crystal clear stars broke through the ever darkening skies. For a change the mist had not rolled in off the Atlantic. He took another sip of the beer that he had been nursing since his companions had departed. Nobody to play darts against, too dark to go out and explore.... only thing left would be to head upstairs to his room, perhaps a good book might do the trick.

The big wooden windows that looked out from Jim's room had one of the best views out towards the bay to the west, the only downside was the fact that the icy cold prevailing wind would often hammer against the window, causing many a sleepless night. In order to prevent the incessant banging of the window, Jim had taken it upon himself to hammer nails through the aging wooden window frames, thus securing the windows from opening. As a further good measure, he pushed the dressing table against the window.

Jim removed his heavy, damp boots and swung his tall muscular frame onto the bed, book in hand, facing the wall, he removed the bookmark.

Somewhere up on the roof, a piece of wood had kept up it's constant knocking against a support beam, the cold wind , in unison with the distant waves added to the late night symphony. Jim lifted his unfocused eyes from the pages, he glanced over his right shoulder, wondering if it had been the book that had planted the seed of suspicion in his tired mind? He reckoned it must have been about the fourth time that evening, that he had to avert his eyes from the book, just to pacify his mind, perhaps to ensure himself, that there was indeed, nobody else in that cluttered room with him.

Slowly sliding the bookmark between the pages, his eyes focused on the window, "This is stupid, I'm in the middle of the desert, a restricted part of the desert at that, there can't be anyone out there", he thought to himself.

With a thundering crash, the stack of yellow books that had been sitting on the left hand corner of the table, tumbled to the wooden floor, causing Jim to sit upright on the bed. Almost as if the window had burst open, an unseen gust had picked up the remaining diverse articles from the table and quickly threw them into an all consuming circular motion in the centre of the room. As the vortex picked up speed, a hairbrush narrowly shot passed Jim's head, smashing against the wall....Jim sat, staring, motionless in a state of pure shock, his mind unable to comprehend the unexplainable, that chaotic scene in front of him.....books, papers and clothes tumbling in an uncontrollable flight in the middle of his dimly lit room.......

"This cannot be happening.....It's impossible!", Jim thought to himself, regaining his senses glancing towards the window, as a two hundred page novel managed to extract itself from the ever spinning vortex, slamming itself against the old, unvarnished door.

Deep down, Jim was hoping that the rustic wooden window had somehow managed to be blown open by the desert winds, thus to an extent helping to explain the unnatural events occurring before his widened eyes., Jim's disheartened eyes fell upon the still sealed window, firmly shuttered by the bent nails he had impaled into the aging timber frames when they had first arrived at this abandoned colonial building.

Surrendering the little courage he had left, he spun himself back onto the bed as the book he had just been reading was extracted from his white knuckled fingers and absorbed into the ever widening vortex.

He did the only sensible thing he could think of, a kind of child like mentality, perhaps a memory that had been instantly rekindled, a memory he had forgotten, from when in his childhood, he had reason to feel fear... a time to hide, turn away from the threat and with his hands covering his ears, he turned his back, pressing down onto his creaking bed, he pressed his face and body flat against the bare wall, hoping his exposed and shaking back would protect him from the unexplainable.

No matter how hard he pressed his hands over his ears, no matter how much he endeavored to push his body into the wall, that sound would not subside. It was a sound that he would later describe as that of being attached to the roof of a Skymaster plane, with every wind in the world hurtling around you in an unorganized and extremely dangerous fashion. The only noise that needed to be added, was that of a screeching steam train rushing through the middle of the vortex to compliment the swirling winds.

Almost as suddenly as it had started, as black and white differ, the cacophony of noise ceased, silence returned to the littered room. Jim heard the last book collapse to the wooden floor, but still could not bear to draw up enough courage to turn around to see what scene might greet him.

It is a well known fact, that the human mind is more than capable of creating entities, when there is in actual fact nothing there.. As a child we all remember the monster under the bed scenario. At times, when we are uncertain, confused, perhaps in the dark, alone, we conjure up all these images. This was the immediate thought that Jim had been thinking to himself.

He could feel the presence, a something, perhaps another being, standing just behind his shivering back. "Where has my courage gone?", he thought to himself, "For God's sake, I swim with the sharks and killer whales down in the rocky bay, all I have to do is turn around, all I have...". It was then that he realized to himself that he was not shaking because of fear, but the room's temperature had dropped dramatically. "Shit, it felt like I was diving in the Southern Atlantic without my wetsuit." he would recount later to his mates in the bar at Oranjemund.

The chilling coldness felt unnatural, a coldness that seemed threatening, together with the feeling that somebody was standing directly behind him, intensified as the lingering dampness caused his teeth to start chattering......"Just turn around, just do it!", he repeated to himself....

After a brief mental battle with his inner conscience, he eventually brought his courage to the fore, he started to slowly turn his body towards the presence in the room, when like a bullet shooting through his leg, he felt an ice cold hand grip his left exposed calf. He instinctively turned to look at his leg, at the same time realizing that even though the sensation that his leg was being held, there was nobody there.... The suffocating fear was overwhelming, he never remembered it happening, but every muscle in his sweating body, had enough pure adrenalin saturating through them to catapult his body, headfirst off the damp bed and through the electric air into the direction of the partially opened door.

Like an escaping rabbit trying to burrow into it's warren, he clawed on all trembling fours for the safety of  the wooden door, gasping he squeezed through into the hallway as an ear piercing screech emanated from behind him. He raised himself up and started to descend the rickety staircase. As water would thunder down a wild waterfall, he crashed down onto the ground floor and headed for the front door. Turning the brass doorknob, he opened the creaking door....he exited that disturbed building and entered into the cool desert night,  celestial stars spread out in every direction, the night sky ever absorbing his rancid fear. He stumbled to a stop barely fifteen meters from the luminated house, turning around he looked back..... the bedroom window still sealed closed, radiated a yellowish hue as the generator spluttered and then caught it's breath continuing to play it's familiar diesel tune to the barren silent night."







Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: SandyB on May 16, 2008, 10:13:20 PM
riveting .. more please ..  comment later ...
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Rhona on May 16, 2008, 11:17:42 PM
aaaaaaaaaggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!! I so want more  - but will somebody please hold my hand?
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: SandyB on May 16, 2008, 11:47:38 PM
Come on ..its  not  that  scary ..  ..
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Rhona on May 16, 2008, 11:51:00 PM
I know - I was hoping Mike would try and 'scare' me more and give up the rest of the story..........
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Michael Alexander on May 17, 2008, 08:12:48 AM
oooh! There's more...plenty more ... at least we have almost completed friday night...we have the entire weekend to go until on monday morning...when........
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Rhona on May 17, 2008, 07:44:24 PM
Monday morning??? - is there anything worse than the bloody alarm clock going off on a Monday morning reminding you that the whole 'work thing' is starting all over again.............
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Michael Alexander on May 18, 2008, 12:47:50 PM
Your photo keeps a changing.......   :36_2_35:
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Rhona on May 18, 2008, 05:52:46 PM
A wise man cut a few pictures for me.......... e154
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Carl Wrbka on May 19, 2008, 10:09:30 AM
Not me, the other wise man...lol
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Rhona on May 19, 2008, 06:34:05 PM
THE wisest man....
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Carl Wrbka on May 20, 2008, 05:43:36 AM
Whils't we're on the topic of wise men, have you heard the one about why Jesus wasn't born in Ireland?
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Adriaan Van Rooyen on May 20, 2008, 06:25:24 PM
Mike wassu?come on finish the story man !!! meanpuff omelete,ha bling1
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Chris Macpherson on May 20, 2008, 07:16:11 PM
@ carl........... i know ...... couldt find awise man or a virgin????????
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Carl Wrbka on May 21, 2008, 04:49:17 AM
Quote from: Chris Macpherson on May 20, 2008, 07:16:11 PM
@ carl........... i know ...... couldt find awise man or a virgin????????

I was hoping somebody would complete the joke for me. Now I'm not the one in Rhona's dogbox...lol :36_2_35:
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Chris Macpherson on May 21, 2008, 01:23:32 PM
the irish lads invented the toilet seat and the scots perfected it by cutting a whole in the middle........
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Carl Wrbka on May 22, 2008, 06:01:07 AM
 :emot19: And then the Centaurus hostel boys placed cling wrap over the toilet bowl under the seat of the hostel master's toilet... The 4 cuts were worth it! :36_2_35:
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Diana Rudd (Boehme) on May 22, 2008, 12:38:41 PM
Would that be Grobberlaar, Carl, or had he left by then?
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: SandyB on May 22, 2008, 02:32:18 PM
Quote from: Carl Wrbka on May 22, 2008, 06:01:07 AM
:emot19: And then the Centaurus hostel boys placed cling wrap over the toilet bowl under the seat of the hostel master's toilet... The 4 cuts were worth it! :36_2_35:

I CANT  STOP LAUGHING AT THAT ONE ...!!
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Michael Alexander on May 22, 2008, 02:36:27 PM
We stuck a fire hydrant under the toilet door and let it loose, it was the chemical type that eats up the oxygen and blows out a big plume of smoke.....you shoulda seen that boy running down the hallway with kakpaper hanging out his  arse
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Chris Macpherson on May 22, 2008, 04:17:32 PM
mike i know someone who let off a fire extuinguisher in the rec club and was nearly murdered for it.
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Michael Alexander on May 22, 2008, 06:56:44 PM
Yes, I'm sure you do.... and were'nt you lucky that they never caught you....
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Michael Alexander on May 22, 2008, 07:09:49 PM
For those of you who think I am talking tosh about Jim Murray, here is a photo of him from the 60's up at the GM"s house in  EBAY...

Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Chris Macpherson on May 22, 2008, 07:12:15 PM
i had to go practically tee totol for a year though....... anyway the woman involved and me r best mates till this day!!
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Rhona on May 22, 2008, 07:21:13 PM
Mike - is that the 'mad' house?
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Chris Macpherson on May 22, 2008, 07:29:26 PM
hi rhona. that is the gms' house , i have also been there.
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Michael Alexander on May 22, 2008, 07:42:16 PM
That is indeed the GM's house up at Ebay, the one that the story is on about.....

Here's another pic of Jim on one of the Landrovers......


Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Rhona on May 22, 2008, 07:43:46 PM
Doesn't look like he scares easily....
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Michael Alexander on May 22, 2008, 07:46:28 PM
Here's a recent photo of Jim and GLoria ......

Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Bev Coates (Now Walker) on May 23, 2008, 12:07:39 AM
Quote from: Michael Alexander on May 05, 2008, 05:52:39 PM
I too have a Nostradamus book..paperback..... bought it about 14 years ago.... according to him...the moslems should be ruling Europe by now....... kinda late are'nt they?



no mike where you been .....they took over years ago.....them and every other religion.......we dont have our own country anymore.....they do....im not colour predujdice at all i have friends of all colours and races, but it makes my blood boil when were stopped from doing things of our own culture because the asians find it offensive.....well let them go live back in asia.......but no.....our goverment is only to please the non british people...or thats how it seems........

Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Carl Wrbka on May 23, 2008, 07:55:46 AM
Quote from: Diana Rudd (Boehme) on May 22, 2008, 12:38:41 PM
Would that be Grobberlaar, Carl, or had he left by then?

Hi Diana, no it was Kallie Fourie at the time. He was there untill about a year before I left, and was followed up by Mr Crossman, who was also the headmaster of Centaurus then. I can't remember the girls hostel master's name right now, only remember he was the Geography teacher at Centaurus at the time as well.
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Diana Rudd (Boehme) on May 23, 2008, 12:13:58 PM
In my time it was Mr.Genis
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Michael Alexander on June 10, 2008, 10:22:43 AM
Ok, here's that Ghost story that was relayed to me by phone from Jim Murray in Jhb. Before I start, I think it would help if I told you about Jim Murray briefly.

Jim Murray is a pensioner, who now lives in Alberton, South Africa, and telephoned me one day out of the blue after hearing about the website. He explained to me that he worked up in the Spergebiedt in the early 60's but did not work for CDM, but rather for a company that had a contract with CDM.

He went on to tell me that he was a qualified diver and that he was part of a six man (European) crew that were involved in a multitude of tasks up at Elizabeth Bay. The reason why I stated that they were European was that they were the only white people up in that section of the Spergebiedt. The nearest other white people were in Luderitz. They also had a small contingent of 8 ovambo workers to help with the more manual work.

Now just to bring a few of you up to speed about Elizabeth Bay. This town is a ghost town. It was last in operation sometime in the early 1900's and was run by the Colonial Germans. There is a link on the main site at (http://www.oranjemundonline.com/ElizabethbayandBogenfels/index.htm). This gives you a better idea of the area.

Now Jim and the others were almost like the original pioneers of that end of the deserted Spergebiedt. One chap was a geologist, the other a blaster..... they all had various skills and worked together as a team. They did a lot of survey work, measuring tides, movements of the sands, prospecting and my favourite, exploring in their free time.

The only place they could live at while up in Elizabeth Bay, was the abandoned General Mangers house, which had been rigged up with a generator for power. This house, if you look at the photos on the main site, looks imposing with a panoramic view over the ghost town and the actual bay of Elizabeth.
They also had a house allocated to them back in Oranjemund. This house was used for when the team would finish work on a Friday , all jump into the land rovers and head to Oranjemund for the dance and song, which was the infamous CDM off weekend. One of the Europeans would always have to stay behind to keep an eye on the Ovambo Workers. The Ovambo workers did not reside with the Europeans, but lived in a small compound which was situated at the bottom of the hill on which the General Manager's house stood.

It was on one of these off weekends, that our story actually begins......



It was sometime in the early 60's and it had been one of those long dry weeks up at the old abandoned settlement of Elizabeth Bay, but Friday had arrived and five members of the team were clambering onto the Landover, in preparation for the dusty drive south through the Spergebiedt's never ending sand dunes. In a few hours, they would all be sitting in the famous Casey's bar of Oranjemund, knocking back a few well deserved beers.

This time around, Jim Murray had drawn the short straw, it was his turn to stay alone in the old double story house. It looked out of place, this German style building of brick and mortar, with wooden roofing, perched on a desolate rocky outcrop, overlooking the sand covered mining town of Elizabeth Bay. Jim waved and turned his back, as the Landrover merged into one with the shimmering afternoon desert. Looking up at the building, he wondered what he would be doing with the rest of his solitary weekend.

The rest of the late afternoon faded as the sun disappeared behind the rolling Atlantic waves to the West. The Ovambo helper, Sam, said Good Night to Jim as he picked up his paraffin lantern and headed down the rocky track to the compound at the foot of the hill. Jim glanced up as the first crystal clear stars broke through the ever darkening skies. For a change the mist had not rolled in off the Atlantic. He took another sip of the beer that he had been nursing since his companions had departed. Nobody to play darts against, too dark to go out and explore.... only thing left would be to head upstairs to his room, perhaps a good book might do the trick.

The big wooden windows that looked out from Jim's room had one of the best views out towards the bay to the west, the only downside was the fact that the icy cold prevailing wind would often hammer against the window, causing many a sleepless night. In order to prevent the incessant banging of the window, Jim had taken it upon himself to hammer nails through the aging wooden window frames, thus securing the windows from opening. As a further good measure, he pushed the dressing table against the window.

Jim removed his heavy, damp boots and swung his tall muscular frame onto the bed, book in hand, facing the wall, he removed the bookmark.

Somewhere up on the roof, a piece of wood had kept up it's constant knocking against a support beam, the cold wind , in unison with the distant waves added to the late night symphony. Jim lifted his unfocused eyes from the pages, he glanced over his right shoulder, wondering if it had been the book that had planted the seed of suspicion in his tired mind? He reckoned it must have been about the fourth time that evening, that he had to avert his eyes from the book, just to pacify his mind, perhaps to ensure himself, that there was indeed, nobody else in that cluttered room with him.

Slowly sliding the bookmark between the pages, his eyes focused on the window, "This is stupid, I'm in the middle of the desert, a restricted part of the desert at that, there can't be anyone out there", he thought to himself.

With a thundering crash, the stack of yellow books that had been sitting on the left hand corner of the table, tumbled to the wooden floor, causing Jim to sit upright on the bed. Almost as if the window had burst open, an unseen gust had picked up the remaining diverse articles from the table and quickly threw them into an all consuming circular motion in the centre of the room. As the vortex picked up speed, a hairbrush narrowly shot passed Jim's head, smashing against the wall....Jim sat, staring, motionless in a state of pure shock, his mind unable to comprehend the unexplainable, that chaotic scene in front of him.....books, papers and clothes tumbling in an uncontrollable flight in the middle of his dimly lit room.......

"This cannot be happening.....It's impossible!", Jim thought to himself, regaining his senses glancing towards the window, as a two hundred page novel managed to extract itself from the ever spinning vortex, slamming itself against the old, unvarnished door.

Deep down, Jim was hoping that the rustic wooden window had somehow managed to be blown open by the desert winds, thus to an extent helping to explain the unnatural events occurring before his widened eyes., Jim's disheartened eyes fell upon the still sealed window, firmly shuttered by the bent nails he had impaled into the aging timber frames when they had first arrived at this abandoned colonial building.

Surrendering the little courage he had left, he spun himself back onto the bed as the book he had just been reading was extracted from his white knuckled fingers and absorbed into the ever widening vortex.

He did the only sensible thing he could think of, a kind of child like mentality, perhaps a memory that had been instantly rekindled, a memory he had forgotten, from when in his childhood, he had reason to feel fear... a time to hide, turn away from the threat and with his hands covering his ears, he turned his back, pressing down onto his creaking bed, he pressed his face and body flat against the bare wall, hoping his exposed and shaking back would protect him from the unexplainable.

No matter how hard he pressed his hands over his ears, no matter how much he endeavored to push his body into the wall, that sound would not subside. It was a sound that he would later describe as that of being attached to the roof of a Skymaster plane, with every wind in the world hurtling around you in an unorganized and extremely dangerous fashion. The only noise that needed to be added, was that of a screeching steam train rushing through the middle of the vortex to compliment the swirling winds.

Almost as suddenly as it had started, as black and white differ, the cacophony of noise ceased, silence returned to the littered room. Jim heard the last book collapse to the wooden floor, but still could not bear to draw up enough courage to turn around to see what scene might greet him.

It is a well known fact, that the human mind is more than capable of creating entities, when there is in actual fact nothing there.. As a child we all remember the monster under the bed scenario. At times, when we are uncertain, confused, perhaps in the dark, alone, we conjure up all these images. This was the immediate thought that Jim had been thinking to himself.

He could feel the presence, a something, perhaps another being, standing just behind his shivering back. "Where has my courage gone?", he thought to himself, "For God's sake, I swim with the sharks and killer whales down in the rocky bay, all I have to do is turn around, all I have...". It was then that he realized to himself that he was not shaking because of fear, but the room's temperature had dropped dramatically. "sh*t, it felt like I was diving in the Southern Atlantic without my wetsuit." he would recount later to his mates in the bar at Oranjemund.

The chilling coldness felt unnatural, a coldness that seemed threatening, together with the feeling that somebody was standing directly behind him, intensified as the lingering dampness caused his teeth to start chattering......"Just turn around, just do it!", he repeated to himself....

After a brief mental battle with his inner conscience, he eventually brought his courage to the fore, he started to slowly turn his body towards the presence in the room, when like a bullet shooting through his leg, he felt an ice cold hand grip his left exposed calf. He instinctively turned to look at his leg, at the same time realizing that even though the sensation that his leg was being held, there was nobody there.... The suffocating fear was overwhelming, he never remembered it happening, but every muscle in his sweating body, had enough pure adrenalin saturating through them to catapult his body, headfirst off the damp bed and through the electric air into the direction of the partially opened door.

Like an escaping rabbit trying to burrow into it's warren, he clawed on all trembling fours for the safety of  the wooden door, gasping he squeezed through into the hallway as an ear piercing screech emanated from behind him. He raised himself up and started to descend the rickety staircase. As water would thunder down a wild waterfall, he crashed down onto the ground floor and headed for the front door. Turning the brass doorknob, he opened the creaking door....he exited that disturbed building and entered into the cool desert night,  celestial stars spread out in every direction, the night sky ever absorbing his rancid fear. He stumbled to a stop barely fifteen meters from the luminated house, turning around he looked back..... the bedroom window still sealed closed, radiated a yellowish hue as the generator spluttered and then caught it's breath, continuing to play it's familiar diesel tune to the barren silent night
(http://i295.photobucket.com/albums/mm148/mortymoose/JimMurrayatEbayinthe60s.jpg)
The heat that had smothered the barren desert during the day had by now evaporated into the darkened heavens. Cold Atlantic sea air rapidly moved in from the west. Jim shivered, down towards the beach a lone strandwolf let out a menacing howl. "I can't stay out here the whole night!" , he thought to himself... The building seemed at peace with itself once again. Nothing appeared to be moving inside.

It was a good two hours later and with the motivation of  the strandwolf, that had now appeared within view of Jim, that he eventually decided to enter the warm, illuminated building. Slowly he stepped through the wooden front door. Glancing up at the staircase, he knew that there was no way that he would be heading upstairs that weekend. He would just have to wait until the rest of the crew returned from their party weekend down in Oranjemund. He felt tired, very tired and to an extent nausea's too. He went cautiously through to the tidy kitchen  and proceeded to boil some water on the gas stove. He good cup of hot coffee with a generous drop of highland whisky would warm him up and to an extent help calm his racing mind.
The coffee was stronger than normal, but this was understandable. As he sipped each sweet drop, he kept glancing towards the ceiling, reassuring himself that there was no noise upstairs. The solitary light in the centre of the kitchen dimmed as the the generator, out in the yard sounded it's familiar splutter and then continued to reverberate in it's normal manner.

The whisky in the coffee started to numb Jim's exhausted body, his thoughts began to cloud over as he poured another triple tot of whisky into the next cup of coffee. He added a spoonful of milk powder, stirred the alcoholic beverage and slouched through to the lounge.








Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: georg ruf jr. on June 10, 2008, 10:31:05 AM
 swim
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Rhona on June 10, 2008, 06:42:16 PM
Whoa!!!
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: SandyB on June 11, 2008, 08:51:52 PM
Well done ..  oh eloquent storyteller .. continue ...  indeed interesting ..
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Rhona on June 12, 2008, 07:51:28 PM
Do you think we'll get some more.........after all, he didn't write - 'THE END'
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Michael Alexander on June 13, 2008, 06:08:38 AM
For those of you who are coming to the reunion, I am hoping to get Jim and Gloria here...then you can hear for yourself how this "old" timer can spin the yarn!
Title: Re: The Tales of Jim Murray, The Last Cowboy of the Spergebiedt!
Post by: Michael Alexander on October 14, 2008, 06:13:48 AM
...and thanks to the generosity of Tom Parkhill...Jim and GLoria will now be attending the reunion.....SO you can hear all the tales straight from the horse's mouth!

msn emoticon (9)