Many people travel to the Hex Valley to relax away from the city and explore the area's incredible mountains. The highest peak is the Matroosberg - a nearly inaccessible peak that towers 2246 metres over the valley.

But surrounding the Matroosberg are many craggy outcrops, dangerous kloofs and overgrown paths. The mountain range is especially striking at night, as the moon rises and bathes the area in a soft light - and this is when the Hex River Valley Witch appears.

Many people have reported seeing her standing on the edge of a cliff, wistfully looking off into the distance. Others claim to have heard her tragic wails carried on the wind. Few have even seen her, standing, wringing her hands as the tears flow down her cheeks.

She is not merely an apparition, but young Eliza Meiring, one of the area's oldest residents.

The year was 1768 and Eliza's family owned one of six farms in the valley - Buffelskraal. They were blessed to be especially prosperous and Eliza especially beautiful. Their Cape-Dutch farm house was always bustling with would-be suitors trying to win Eliza's hand.

But Eliza was one of those girls who knew she was beautiful and grew bored easily. She decided that her potential husband would have to earn her heart - and offer her a little entertainment along the way.

She proposed that all her suitors attempt to bring her a disa from the treacherous precipices of the Matroosberg. The disa is a particularly beautiful and valuable flower as it grows only in shady ravines or on mossy cliffs - dangerously inaccessible places.

For all of Eliza's vanity, there was one man that she truly loved. And he truly loved her back - he was the only suitor brave enough to take up the challenge.

Eliza's suitor would have to brave the Grootkloof pass to find her the Disa flower she craved

His journey was long and arduous, but was all worth it as he spotted the red disas decorating the cliff-face. In his excitement he reached over to grab the first flower he saw and slipped on the wet moss, plunging to his death.

Upon hearing the news, Eliza fell ill with grief and remorse, realising that it was her selfishness had caused the death of her one true love.

This remorse grew into madness and soon Eliza had to be locked up in her own bedroom so that she could be watched and cared for.

Eliza attempted to escape many times, and one moonlit night, she was successful.

Her long, white nightgown flowing behind her, Eliza ran barefoot through the foothills, searching for her one true love. She searched through the night to no avail and eventually collapsed on a rocky outcrop.

Here she sat and sobbed, her cries carrying on the wind. Her family heard her angst and ran to her, only to watch the outcrop crumble beneath her as she fell to her death.

Centuries later, legend has it that she is still searching the mountains for her love, barefooted, her nightgown flowing behind her with the moonlight illuminating her path.

Locals refer to her as ‘die heks van Exevallei' and her story has become a common warning against vanity. The area is now known as the Hex River Valley in her honour, and those passing through are often regaled with different versions of Eliza's story.

Some argue that she never made it to the mountains that night, but fell to her death from her own bedroom window while trying to escape. Other's claim she committed suicide out of grief. But everyone agrees that she is a real part of the community.

Do you believe in the Hex River Valley Witch? Some call it a myth or a fairy tale. But one thing is true - until recent renovations, Eliza's initials, ‘EM' adorned the windowsill of her room, perhaps as her final statement before leaping from her window that moonlit light...