Spectrum was a long-running weekly radio documentary series which captured the essence of New Zealand from 1972 to 2016. Alwyn Owen and Jack Perkins produced the series for many years, creating a valuable library of New Zealand oral history.
In this episode, Lindsay Perigo investigates the strange case of the "Brooklyn Dodger". A house in the Wellington suburb of Brooklyn was periodically pelted with rocks and coins. The unknown assailant was claimed by many to be a poltergeist.
(Sound effects to stones being thrown throughout the programme.)
Lindsay Perigo describes 145 Ohiro Road at the top of the Brooklyn Hill, now occupied by a large block of 20 flats and two penthouses. But until 1966 it was the site of Ohiro Lodge, a guest house purchased by Mr and Mrs R. A. Beatty five years before. It was surrounded by a lot of bush, trees, foliage and very old macrocarpa trees that Mrs Beatty said were “getting in the way”. It was decided to remove the trees on Saturday 23rd March 1963 and this is believed to be the cause of the bizarre sequence of events that began the following night.
Interview with Mrs Beatty who tells of stones the size of eggs and pennies being thrown on to the house and windows being broken, from the road above and how searches by her late husband, Bob Beatty (who had recently died), their 15 lodgers and police failed to find the culprit. Police had even tried radar to track the stones but the throwing stopped when the radar was installed and when the radar was removed, started again.
Mrs Beatty said they had a lot of phone calls bout the removal of the trees, mainly from tree lovers. Others said the trouble was because the trees had been cut down completely.
Gabriel David of the Evening Post newspaper, nicknamed the unknown culprit “The Brooklyn Dodger”
A letter to the Evening Post reminded readers of the relevance of old Māori beliefs and whether or not people believe in poltergeists, Māori feared the tree spirits and on no account would they cut down an ancient tree without propitiating them in some way.
Interview with retired journalist Pat Lawlor who speaks about the dodger being the work of a poltergeist not a human.
Interview with Superintendent Bruce McCallum who speaks about having 10 to 12 police officers around the property and the search process.
Lindsay Perigo says that in the evening as many as 800 people would line the roadway waiting for the dodger to put on a good performance.
Interview with Gabriel David, covering the case for the Evening Post with their chief photographer Jack Short. He describes on the fourth day, seeing a young person up a tree with a catapult and advising the police who escorted him from the tree and spoke to him. That day the bombardment of the lodge ceased.
Interview with Chief Inspector Norman Rutherford who interviewed the young lad, talks about the help Gabriel David gave them and finding the lad up the tree.
Interview with Mrs Beatty about a Māori woman and her nephew who visited her, saying she had been sent from Gisborne to lay the ghost at Ohiro Lodge. She blessed each room of the lodge with a piece of potato and a piece of bread and prayed with Mrs Beatty outside. A shower of rain passed and the woman said the Lord has answered and that there was no more evil. She told the Beattys to cut the trees right to the ground.
Interview with Pat Lawlor who talks about the unknown world beyond our perception.