Halloween SPECIAL
Larnach Castle, Otago
Perched on a hilltop on the Otago Peninsula, Larnach Castle is a one-of-a-kind in New Zealand. It was built in 1871 and legend has it the spectre of its very first owner can still be seen on cold and windy nights, forlornly strolling between the building’s parapets. Ambitious Australian William Larnach arrived in Aotearoa in 1867, determined to become a big kahuna in the business world. He’d already married wealthy heiress Eliza Jane Guise and he used her fortune to build the 25-room, neo-Gothic mansion. With his bumptious ways, William did become a successful businessman and politician, but fate dealt some unbearable body-blows: Eliza died in 1880 and his second wife, Mary, died five years after they tied the knot. His third wife, Constance, is reputed to have had an affair with one of his sons, his favourite daughter Kate died of typhoid and
