Sad ruins on a hill with a view

Lindsay Slogrove|Published 1 year ago

Part of the inside of the church. At the top of the stairs are two blue and white walls that shield the entry to rooms used for altar boys, priests and nuns. A Spirit Box app used in the area shot up to red and filled the whole screen with the sound of a scream.

Durban — Back in the ’70s, St Elmo’s Convent sat prominently on its hill in Umzumbe along the old road to Port Shepstone.

For the three Slogrove kids making the weekly trip from eManzimtoti to Uvongo to visit and help their grandparents in their new retirement home, it was a landmark greeted with relief because it meant we were nearly there and would soon escape the confines of the car to run around and play, and be spoilt by said grandparents.

Last year, one of those kids, Russell Slogrove, with his wife Bridget and son Trevor, spent a day roaming the heartbreaking ruins of the convent.

According to a Network report in our sister title, The Mercury, on October 21, 2015, the abandoned monastery was built in stages from 1918 until 1939, as a Roman Catholic convent that had been used as a retreat for the nuns of the Third Order of St Dominic, as well as a school and remedial school for children with learning disabilities. It was forced to close in 1994 because of the cut in government subsidies to institutions of such a nature.

One of its most famous alumni was Archbishop Denis Hurley, who attended the school from the age of 9 in 1924 until he was 13 in 1928.

This week, In2assets Property Specialists marketing director Rainer Stenzhorn said that as far as he knew, the property was still under the same ownership, a private CC.

There’s no stopping nature from reclaiming its space.

“We have punted this property via our marketing channels for the last few years and the sellers have had numerous offers which, however, did not materialise,” said Stenzhorn.

“This property is regulated by Amafa and the state of disrepair is enormous, which has so far been the hurdle for every potential investor,” he said.

“Most potential buyers use an emotional approach towards St Elmo’s but once the calculator comes into play the interest diminishes. The sellers are reasonable regarding price expectations, but the state of disrepair is the actual hurdle.”

But destruction and decay are all that remain of the abandoned sanctuary.

In the Network report, Stenzhorn said the property consisted of 9501m² of various buildings of colonial architectural style, situated on a footprint of about 79.6hectares.

Ceilings have collapsed in many of the buildings.

The property has its own exclusive beach access, with about 400m of beachfront.

“The architecture of the church is typical of a historic floor plan of mediaeval times of the Catholic religion, even though the church was only built in the last century,” he said.

An UNDATED picture of part of St Elmo’s church and convent taken from the Facebook page of St Elmo’s School,Umzumbe, KwaZulu-Natal.

The layout has been based on a cross design, which means it became necessary to increase the space near the chancel, situated at the top end of the cross, with two side wings to accommodate large numbers of clergy, choirs or members of religious orders.

“It was a really awesome experience to visit the place,” said Bridget.

It has been described as a ghost hunter’s paradise by Haunted South Africa (www.ourparanormalworld. com/south-africa/).

The site says it is haunted by a priest and a nun whose apparitions have been seen in the buildings as well as staring out of the windows.

There is also said to be the ghost of a small child who does not appear but makes his presence known with a rapid and steep drop in temperature. Some reports indicate it gets so cold that your breath can be seen.

Other activities reported are unexplained mists; disembodied voices; phantom footsteps; electrical disturbances; light anomalies; objects moving on their own; the phantom sound of someone breathing heavily and loudly; and feelings of not being alone and of being watched.

Bridget said she had downloaded an app called Spirit Box on her phone, which had at least one startling reading: “Behind two walls in the church, there are doorways which lead to rooms that were used by the altar boys, priests and nuns.

The view of the church today. | Trevor Slogrove

“There is a presence in there and when we stood between the two walls on the top step, the Spirit Box shot up to red and filled the whole screen with the sound of a scream.

“Bear in mind that the Spirit Box uses radio waves and that there is no electricity on the property,” she said.

The pictures taken by Trevor and Bridget tell the story of the state of the historic remains.

A tree has taken root in what was once the music room.

The school hall used for concerts and movies. Assemblies were held in the quad outside and not in the hall.

The collapsed remains of a dining area, now too dangerous to enter.

The once-welcoming entry where pupils were dropped off.

Empty, doorless stalls that once housed toilets.

A tree pokes through the floor of what was possibly the cooking room.

One of the rooms in the priest’s house. It has three bedrooms, a toilet and bathroom with dark red tiles on the wall and a garage for a single car. The tennis courts were behind the garage but have been overgrown.

Independent on Saturday