Whangamomona Hotel Investigation:
- Barbara Caisley
- Apr 7
- 9 min read
Updated: Apr 8
Whangamomona is a remote rural township located on the Forgotten World Highway (State Highway 43) between Stratford and Taumarunui. Despite its small population, the settlement has become a nationally recognised heritage and tourism destination, celebrated for its distinctive history, strong community identity, and the symbolic establishment of the Republic of Whangamomona. At the heart of the township is the Whangamomona Hotel, which functions as the primary visitor hub and a significant heritage asset within this rugged region. The hotel holds considerable historical and cultural importance and continues to serve as the focal point for tourism and community activity. The Whangamomona Hotel also served as a makeshift hospital during the 1918–1919 influenza epidemic, with local people with medical knowledge tending to and treating the ill while hotel staff provided meals to the patients.
The township of Whangamomona was established in the late nineteenth century and was formally recognized around 1895. Originally developed as an agricultural service centre supporting local sheep farmers and bush workers, Whangamomona experienced early growth following the arrival of the Stratford–Okahukura railway in the early 1900s, which improved access to markets and services. By 1911, Whangamomona had evolved into a thriving rural village, featuring a hotel, council chambers, a Bank of Australasia, a railway station, butcher, blacksmith, two boarding houses, saddler, hairdresser, two tailors, jeweller, two drapery shops, police station, post office, and plans for two additional banks.
However, the township’s geographic isolation and challenging terrain constrained long-term expansion. A decline in the rural workforce and reduced reliance on rail transport led to significant population loss and the eventual closure of many local businesses. Today, while services and facilities are greatly reduced, a resilient core community continues to preserve Whangamomona’s heritage, identity, and tourism appeal, with the hotel remaining central to both community life and visitor engagement.
In 1989, following regional boundary changes that transferred Whangamomona from Taranaki to Manawatū–Whanganui, residents symbolically declared the “Republic of Whangamomona.” This declaration was a light-hearted yet meaningful expression of local pride and independence. Republic Day is now held biennially and attracts substantial visitor numbers, delivering ongoing economic and promotional benefits to the township and surrounding area. The event features parades, markets, community competitions, and presidential elections, drawing both locals and visitors. Past presidents have included both people and animals, reinforcing the humorous spirit of the republic.
The Whangamomona Hotel plays a central role during these celebrations, selling republic passports and often hosting the sitting president, who signs them for visitors. Built in 1902 after a fire destroyed the Temperance Hotel which was a boarding house on the location. Since then it has functioned as a central hub for farmers, railway workers, bushmen, road workers and travellers. The hotel has hosted countless community meetings, dances, and local events and is an integral part of township life.
Today due to its strategic location on the well known scenic touring route of The Forgotten Highway it is today the primary focal point in the area and offers accommodation, meals, drinks and visitor engagement activities to both tourists and travellers. It functions as an informal visitor information centre as well as being a popular wateringhole, meeting place and social core of the local community.
The building has a strong heritage narrative and a unique identity within the area and maintains its historic character through preserved memorabilia and displays of many historical photos and pictures. Over the years it has seen many publicans and managers and has been “home” to many local characters who frequented the bar. Thousands of travellers and tourists have spent time in the bar and restaurant and many have passed the night there over the years
The Reported Activity:
The Paranormal Researchers team along with independent researcher Natasha Kristoffersen-Tuck and guest Gaylene Menimin travelled to this remote area of New Zealand after hearing reports of some very interesting paranormal activity at the historic hotel. One of the most unusual claims was that the spirit of a bushman was said to come out of a portrait which hangs in the stairwell of the hotel. He then is said to roam around the premises including the bar and dining room downstairs as well as the upstairs accommodation areas. Guests have also reported sightings of a young girl and also a woman, both of whom are only ever seen upstairs in the hallways. Upon speaking to staff and locals we heard of several other possibly paranormal encounters, including an odd story told to us by a cleaner. She recounted that she had finished cleaning one of the accommodation rooms and locked the door when she moved on to clean another room which was down the other end of the hallway. After finishing that second room she noted that there was now a chair in the hallway up against the door of the room she had cleaned earlier. Even stranger was that the chair had been in the room earlier and despite questioning other staff she could not find anyone who had even been upstairs never mind someone who had a key to the room and may have removed a chair to the hallway!
The Investigation:
Was held on Friday 12th and Saturday 13th September 2025.
The investigation group were the only occupants of the hotel on those nights. Once the bar and restaurant had closed for the evening even the staff and owners were off the premises leaving the investigation team as the only people in the building. Static video cameras infra-red cameras, full spectrum cameras and, audio recorders were placed strategically around the hotel. Data loggers recording emf, temperature, vibrations and atmospheric conditions were placed to monitor key areas and investigators carried audio recorders, cameras, video cameras and melmeters from area to area while investigating. We also made use of a REM-Pod and EMF tripwire lights in some areas.
Photos and video were taken to document both the bar and dining room areas as well as all areas upstairs. Initial base line EMF and temperature readings were also taken and were closely monitored throughout the entire investigation period.
Over the duration of our time at the hotel we took many recordings (audio and video) of communication sessions which were held in most areas of the hotel. We encouraged any form of interaction by asking any spirit present to make their presence known by speaking to us or into our recorders or cameras, or by making knocks or bangs, or by moving curtains, lights, balls and used other trigger objects to elicit interactions with any possible spirits. We also requested and encouraged any spirit present to show themselves in our pictures and video or directly to ourselves.
Over the course of the weekend we interviewed and videoed management and staff at the hotel as well as talking to local people and listening to and recording their stories.
The Occurrences while Investigating:
Aside from the usual bumps, bangs and taps which are common in old buildings we had a few other occurrences occur during our weekend investigation.
Several times during the investigation women's voices were heard. It sounded as if they were having a conversation. One was particularly odd as the voices were heard while the team was investigating in the early hours on Friday night and they were heard clearly by two investigators. The team checked the premises and the road outside the hotel but were unable to find where the voices had emanated from. There was no one but us on the premises at the time nor was there anyone in the street outside. It is interesting to note that our audio recorders did not pick these voices up however and they are not present in our recordings.
On the Friday night Ian experienced an odd buzzing in his ear. Over the course of a couple of hours, he experienced a buzzing vibration which seemed as if in response to questions that investigators were asking of spirits during a communication session. He had never experienced anything similar nor has he suffered this since.
On the Saturday evening of our investigation, a loud bang echoed through the building at around midnight. It sounded very much like a heavy door slamming somewhere close to where the team was working. At that time, all members of the team were beside the stairwell on the upper floor, and the hotel had already been locked up by staff who had left the building about an hour earlier which meant the team should have been the only people on the premises. Unsure of the source of the bang, several team members immediately headed downstairs to investigate. By closing and slamming various doors in the area to try and replicate the sound which had been heard, it was determined that the most likely source was the heavy fire door located at the bottom of the stairwell between the bar and the accommodation stairs.
While this was happening, Barbara remained upstairs and checked the balcony doors, confirming that they were securely locked. As she returned to the area where the rest of the team had been gathered, she noticed that the light in the attic room upstairs was now on. Upon closer inspection, she also discovered that the window in that room was open. Earlier in the evening, several members of the team had been standing outside the building looking up at the attic room and were confident that both the light had been off and the window closed at that time. Later that night, however, the light was clearly on and the window open, and none of the team had been responsible for it. Although we had not specifically entered that attic room earlier in the evening, it was located very close to the area where we had been investigating. The room could be accessed via a narrow and steep staircase branching off from the top of the main stairwell, and it had no door. Because of this, we would almost certainly have noticed if the light had been on as we repeatedly walked up and down the main stairs and along the corridor leading to the accommodation rooms. Despite conducting a thorough search of the building, we found no sign of an intruder and no clear explanation for the slamming fire door, the attic light being switched on, or the window being open.
When we finally retired for the evening at around 3:00 a.m. on Saturday night, exhaustion set in quickly. We knew we had a long drive ahead of us the next day, so it didn’t take long for everyone to fall asleep once we reached our rooms. As is standard practice during our investigations, we left several pieces of equipment running overnight. Audio recorders and a video camera were positioned in the hallway and on the staircase while each of us headed off to our individual rooms. What we discovered once we were home and reviewing our recordings was extremely unusual. Two of the audio recorders captured nearly two hours of strange activity beginning at around 3:30 a.m. During that period, the recordings picked up numerous unexplained sounds — including multiple voices, screams, whistling, a cat and other odd noises that were clearly audible on the devices. Even more curious was the fact that the recorders placed at either end of the hallway both captured these anomalies, while the recorder positioned on the stairs detected none of them at all.
Perhaps the strangest part of this experience was that the investigators sleeping in their rooms — only metres away from where the recorders were placed — heard absolutely nothing at the time. Given that some of the doors in the building were poorly fitting, which is common in older properties, we would have expected at least some of the louder whistles or shouts to carry through the hallway and wake someone.
The video camera we had set up to monitor the area for movement shut itself off shortly after we went to bed, despite having been working perfectly earlier in the evening. Had it continued recording, it may have provided valuable insight into what was happening in the hallway during those two mysterious hours.
The Paranormal Researchers team were unable to find explanations for many of the listed occurrences. While we are aware there could be rational explanations for some of the activity we experienced, we can state that despite attempting to debunk activity that we knew about at the time we could not find definitive reasons for it. As a result, we must leave our investigation of the Whangamomona Hotel open and hope to return in a few months in order to attempt to capture a repeat of what we experienced and to try to find possible explanations for the recorded occurrences of which we were not aware of until we returned home and were began the review process.
We thank Richard and Vicki Pratt for permission to investigate this quintessential New Zealand hotel. Their hospitality was next to none with the rooms cozy and clean, the meals tasty and plentiful and food and drink served with a smile. We understand that the hotel was recently sold and is now under new ownership. We look forward to return visit to this remote pocket of New Zealand and hope to find some answers to the questions we formed while there.
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