Born in London during the early 1840's, Charlotte was the fourth of six children. She moved to Ballarat, Victoria, Australia in 1853 with her family.
A fairly well off man, Charlotte's father, James, didn't see the wisdom of panning or mining for gold. Instead, he invested the families life savings into running a pub for the prospectors and soldiers.
At first business for James was booming, and the family was able to afford a small too room house to live in, instead of living in a tent amongst the prospectors. This was an improvement for Charlotte who was a sickly child and had been constantly sick since the family moved to Ballarat. Although Charlotte's health never fully recovered, she was no longer bed ridden and able to join the rest of the family when they went for trips around Ballarat.
After almost a year living in Ballarat, things took a turn for the worse for Charlotte's family; during a brawl at his pub, James was brutally murdered, leaving his wife, Emily, to look after the family alone. She had no way of going back to her family in London.
For a couple of months after James' death, Emily was able to live off the money that James had saved from the pub. But once this money ran out, Emily was forced to find employment. As were the older children. Too sick to get paid work, Charlotte was left to look after the younger children while everyone else went out to work.
In this vein the family was able to eke out a mean existance for a few months until Emily was arrested for prostitution. Now completely alone, the rest of the children were also forced to find paid employment.
Because of her poor health, Charlotte was unable to find paid employment, and in an effort to do her share of work resorted to begging on the streets. Many of the soldiers took great pleasure in making her sing before throwing a shilling on the ground for her to chase after.
It was during one of these ordeals that a rich local merchant heard her singing and realized that she had a lovely voice. He immediately took her under his wing and set her up to become a star.
For a short time, Charlotte enjoyed an easy life, her benefactor seeing to her every need, making sure that she never wanted for anything. However, there was a dark motive behind his generosity; he wanted Charlotte for himself. One night he made an advance towards her, which she refused. Angry that she would dare to be so ungrateful after all of his generosity, he raped and murdered Charlotte. He buried her body in an unmarked grave on his estate just outside of Ballarat.
But that wasn't the end of Charlotte. She wanted justice for being murdered, and upon seeing that the authorities weren't going to punish the merchant for murdering her, her spirit rose from the grave and began to haunt his estate.
She took great pleasure in throwing things around the house and smashing any mirrors and glasses that she could see. She would even write messages on his walls, demanding that he hand himself over to the authorities.
Driven mad by the hauntings, the merchant killed himself.
But this didn't appease Charlotte's spirit. Still wanting revenge for her murder, Charlotte still haunts the place where the merchant's estate once stood.
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