Australia's most haunted house

All right, my fourth stop out of ten on this whole Ghost Poetry adventure is Monte Cristo Homestead in Junee, just North of Wagga Wagga.

Reportedly Australia’s most haunted house, this is my classic ‘Scooby Doo’ scary mansion stay. Built by the Crawleys (that’s right! a spooky name in itself) the homestead was not a very happy place. There was the tragic death of an infant that fell (or was pushed) down the stairwell. There was the man kept chained to the wall like an animal for forty years, and in 1961 there was the terrible murder of the caretaker who was shot by a local teenager.

Check out the website below for more tragic stories and for all of the weird activity associated with this place. The current owners, Reg & Olive, run tours and B&Bs if you’re looking to pass through.

Also check out their link to the stuntman Lawrence Legend. This is their son who grew up in the house and now lives next door. Being a death-defying stuntman he once jumped over the Monte Cristo on his motorbike.

http://www.montecristo.com.au/

wish me luck now... I will be packing lots of Scooby Snacks. And stay tune.. I will have news on my next six haunted visits. there are good ones still on the cards.

Home from Picton

Home from spending a couple of days at Picton. Met up with Liz Vincent who was a terrific host. I did two of her tours, along with around 40 others each night. But the highlight of the tours was of course Picton Tunnel. A disused railway tunnel since 1919 this foreboding structure was used for weapons storage during WW2 and as a mushroom farm for 20 years. But in 1916 it trapped Emily Bollard who was walking through to visit her brother on the other side. Struck by the train from Thirlmere her body was carried all the way out to the road. Others claim her body had to be collected piece by piece.

Standing in the middle of the tunnel with 40 other strangers can be a pretty nervewracking experience. I’ve never felt so much nervous energy, just waiting in the dark for something to happen. At times it was like a slumber party: all excited about being together.

Each entrance was 300 feet away, we were smack bang in the middle of it. There was no escaping whatever was about to happen.

Then we all began to see flashes of light. Small pin-prick bursts, like raw electricity, as if a fuse was blowing. I saw a blue one, then red. It’s hard to say what they were… I’m finding the only way to explain these experiences is through inadequate similes. Ah, the challenge of poetry.

Some people by then were sitting down on the dirt floor. We were all gathered across the full width of the tunnel. Then suddenly, out of nowhere, four orange lights appeared to be moving towards us and everyone dove for the walls. It seemed a truck or a train was coming for us, about to mow us all down. Everybody screamed and hit their torches and I found a youg teenage girl virtually on my feet, cowering up against the wall. Of course whatever it was had disappeared as quickly as it had come.

I walked out of there totally amazed at what had occurred and was dying to visit again. As it happens the following night threw most of that into question and I came away from Picton more confused than ever.

What I am sure of though was that I saw two bursts of light… one blue, one red, which were very strange.
Oh, and a big thankyou to Ali Jane Smith for putting me up in Wollongong... check out her site in my links section. She has a book out titled Gala.
Will post pics of Picton Tunnel soon... and stay tune for details on my next ghost visit.

Picton

Hi
I am heading off to the town of Picton this week... next stop on my Ghost Poetry Project.
For those who came late, I have been funded by the Australia Council to stay at ten haunted sites around the country and write a new collection of poetry based on my experiences.

Picton is my third stop so far. It is one hour from Sydney and said to be the most haunted town in Australia. It boasts over 20 haunted sites. These include the picton tunnel, the cemetery and various hotels/cottages which I will be visiting. I am also staying in room 11 at a local inn which is said to have a glowing crucifix inexplicably appear upon the wall.

For more info on haunted Picton check out these links:

www.lizvincenttours.com.au

http://www.paranormalaustralia.com/hauntings/picton.html

I will let you know how the visit goes, but if you've visited Picton in the past feel free to post comments on your impressions.

OAG

Just home from my overnight stay at Old Adelaide Gaol. Turns out I was the only one booked in to stay the night. So lucky me, I got to stay alone in a cold oven of a cell in the Remand Wing… just one other person acting as Caretaker… but he was on the other side of the gaol in the dorm building.

I booked in at 5pm and my ghost tour got underway at 7.30pm. Jeff and I had the whole place to ourselves, so as the place sank deeper into darkness he told me the many spooky stories of the place. Jeff is part of a team of paranormal investigators PFI (paranormal field investigators)… check out their site if you like… it’s not a bad one.

www.paranormalfieldinvestigators.org

The night wore on… Yard 1, 2, 3 ,4, the Hanging Tower, the graves of the executed, the tunnel, the New Building (built in 1879). By this stage it was 11.30pm and Jeff and I had been at it a while. We were standing on the staircase in the western wing of the New Building… completely in the dark. I wasn’t freaked out… nor was he. He’d been recounting stuff for a while and in quite a matter-of-fact way.

So fifteen minutes in, we hear a knocking. Like someone tapping the end of a wooden cane onto a ballroom floor.

It was to the left of the staircase on the second landing… locked off by an iron cage gate. We checked the wind level outside, but there was barely a gentle breeze. We revisited to the spot twice more and the sound came back, louder, within a minute of each arrival. And by then we could hear a softer noise in between the knocking.

Now… I don’t know what it was, neither does Jeff, but when you’re standing in (arguably) South Australia’s most haunted building at 11.30pm, and are interrupted by a strange noise… and when you read later that most ghost sightings have been said to occur on the landing to the left of the staircase… it kinda trips you out.

Jeff then took me back to the supper room and showed me footage he’s taken over the last few years. Much of it in the gaol. The best one was a cell door opening and closing by itself in the Remand Wing. MY wing for the evening!!!!!

After this we said goodnight and went our separate ways. I spent most of the night after that waiting for my cell door to open on me.

Okay… so there you go... Old Adelaide Gaol… pretty damn freaky.
My next stop in January is the most haunted town in Australia, Picton NSW. In the meantime I’ll be writing this up for my next book of poetry... Ghost Poetry... oh and check out the OAG phots in the gallery, they'll give you some small idea... the first shots there are of past plays of mine.

wishing you all a Merry Xmas and Happy New Year.

Old Adelaide Gaol

Well... i've been working hard on my canberra poems and think i have a little collection close enough to complete. Now I have a stay in Old Adelaide Gaol coming up. There are many spooky stories associated with this place... but you can read all about it at the sites below...
ie. the story of Squizzy Taylor's necklace, Liz Woolcock, the only woman to be hanged at OAG or the terrible thing that occurred at Sundown Station.

www.adelaidegaol.org.au/

http://www.paranormalaustralia.com/tours/unicorn.html

Also check out Divan 6 if you are looking for some new poetry online. Some top Australian voices there. I have a poem titled... Young Ballerinas.

www.bhtafe.edu.au/divan

Room 214

Okay
So what went down at the Hotel Kurrajong in room 214?

Firstly a bit of background. Ben Chifley, as Prime Minister, never lived at The Lodge, he worked twelve hours days and returned each night to the Hotel Kurrajong, to his room at the top of the stairs at the end of the hall.

On June 13, 1951, he skipped the Golden Jubilee Ball and went back to room 214 where he suffered the massive heart attack that killed him. Since then there have been many stories in regards to the appearance of an apparition.

So I booked myself in and stayed a night, setting up the video camera to capture anything that might occur. I talked with staff over the course of my stay and heard tales of people being tripped up on the stairs, of a cleaner that refuses to enter the room after being tapped on the back and of a figure appearing at the window, pointing towards Parliament House.

I cannot corroborate these stories, but have yet to view the video footage of my stay. I can tell you that the movie, The Shining, was at the forefront of my mind. I had turned the handle like Danny and entered the room despite the warnings. But for the rest of the story you will have to wait until my book of Ghost Poetry is published.

What I can confirm is that Canberra is some weird kinda town. I was just happy to get out of there and back to Melbourne. Everything looks like an office, the cafe's, schools and playgrounds... or a photocopier inisde an office.

Next month I am staying in a cell next to the Hanging Tower at Old Adelaide gaol... will post info on that soon. It is arguably up there among the top three haunted sites in Australia.
Now… if you feel ripped off because you wanted more goss, then take a stand and leave a comment. Or perhaps you have a spooky story to share.

Canberra and the Cable Car

Am just home from my first Ghost Poetry stay. I flew back in to Melbourne from Canberra and went to Crash Test Drama where my short play CABLE CAR OF DEATH was being read.
News is we won the night. Gareth Ellis picked up Best Actor and Best Director, Suzie Stapleton won a prize, and CABLE CAR won both the judges and audience vote, which means we’re in the final next year.

So I’m feeling chuffed with myself and the whole crew. Seems audiences want ‘zany’ comedy at the mo, so for now that’s what I’ll do (although I’ll be working on poetry for a while … so the next one might have to wait).

Other news is that i was recently shortlisted for the Wannabee Poetry Prize. One of 30 from 630... but was pipped at the post. Losing is made easier however when I lose in good company... with Kevin Brophy and Gita Mammen among the list.

Stay tune for the post on my night at the Kurrajong Hotel in Canberra. I stayed in Ben Chifely’s room where he suffered his fatal heart attack. I’m head-down now working hard on the poems , but promise to have a spiel for you soon.