I have been running ghost tours around Williamstown for almost a year now and I can't believe how many Williamstown residents have been coming forward with their own ghostly encounters and just how many experiences we are having on the tours.
*The Titanic Theater Restaurant (Old Prince of Wales Hotel) Williamstown
The surgeon John Wilkins owned the origial 15 room hotel from 1858 until 1873. As with many of the hotels in the 1800s, it's hotel cellar was also used as a makeshift morgue and the bar was frequently used for coroners inquests. William Wilkins, presumably his son, acquired the hotel in the 1870s, then it was owned for a short time (1877-1880) by George Stanway. Between 1880 and 1902 the owner was S. Abraham until 1890. Some of the longest serving publicans were Henry Trump (1858, 1869- 1872), Patrick Brodie (c1883-1889) and Henry and Amelia Fonseca (c1873-1882)
I have recieved numerous sightings of a "short, round, balding man who looks Maltese or Italian in descent". He looks shrewd and busy, running around the outside and downstairs section of the old Prince of Wales hotel. We believe he is the ghost of Henry Fonseca. He is believed to be of Portugese Jewish descent and was s shrewd businessman who used to plan 'power outages' so he could pickpocket partons. The Prince of Wales for sometime was the most popular pub in Williamstown but at the end of Henry's management, numbers dwindled due to power outages.
The laneway next to the building is also haunted by two prostitutes circa early 1900s, believed to be called Ann (several indepedent reports of this name) and Roslyn (only one report of his name). Several people have reported they feel the ladies were pushed to their death from the windows and are still wearing white night dresses, makeup and lavendar perfume. On almost every tour we experience the smell of lavendar perfum waft by us, as though someone is wearing the perfume and walking past. We have also had many unusual photos of orbs and strange shadows down this lane. One group flet they were followed all the way to Thompson Street by one of the ladies.
**Copyright Lantern Ghost Tours 2010**
References
http://vhd.heritage.vic.gov.au/places/heritage/15143
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On Sunday 23 May Jacqui organised a special ghost night for her friends in Williamstown at some of her favourite 'haunts'. I went along to see if Spirit wanted to talk with us. We started at the Customs House Hotel, scene of many sightings but apart from odd temperature changes (e.g. warmth near a door emitting a cool draft of air) I didnt experience anything unusual. Staff have spoken of a 'presence' in the kitchen area but I didnt feel anything. Maybe the Spirit was out visiting friends that night. From here we went to a laneway where Kathy and Jacqui heard a man's footseps and the word 'Bye' on Kathy's recording devices. The old morgue was next. Some of the others 'saw' a man bending over Jacqui while I had a sense of a 'presence' in a corner where a little girl has been seen. The Stags Head Hotel was next. The staff kindly allowed us to explore an upstairs area where upon entering a room which I sensed belonged to a young girl (corroborated by hotel staff) I suddenly felt nauseous, forcing me to leave the room. I did return after asking for help and 'sensed' a person in the room, frustrated and feeling powerless about their life. Was informed by Jacqui a man had thrown his daughter, his wife and himself from an upstairs room many years ago (the numbers 1853 came to mind but I dont know if they refer to the year this happened). Appears the man had financial problems). Kathy was picking up signs of spirit activity in other rooms and I 'sensed' spirit activity in the corridor. Others felt sudden temperature drops. At this point I called it a night as it was late. I didnt get the spirit activity I thought we might encounter - various reasons for this but I dont think the use of electronic recording devices helped. Also, group members must be respectful of Spirits - its their domain so members must not raise their voices, yell, harangue, or command Spirit to come, etc. This is disrespectful. It also upsets the sereness other group members need to communicate with Spirit.
ReplyDeleteIf this event is done in future I suggest no electronic recording deevices be used, talk softly, no yelling or raising voices unnecessarily, and treat Spirits as you would like to be treated. That way you'll have the respect of the organiser (and hopefully be invited back), your fellow ghost hunters and others. Thanks Jacqui and also your friends for an interesting night! Cheers, Kim Fawkes
we did the tour last night.
ReplyDeleteAnne, was excellent.
i must say i am a HUGE sceptic, but the most peculiar thing that has ever happened to me occurred in the lane.
Given that there is a lot of building material in there at the moment, Anne took us in in 2 groups, i was furthest in in the south west corner with no one behind me and my wife in front who i was holding over her shoulder with my left arm.
When the lantern was turned off within about 30 seconds i felt as if a finger was being seductively dragged down my chest and over my right nipple!!! i could tell it wasn't my wife as she'd not moved at all which i would have been able to feel with my arm around her. I shuddered and then in my peripheral vision i briefly saw what i can only describe as a red cloudish looking image about 600mm tall at my face height and the red was denser towards the middle and whispy around the edges much like an image of a nebular. This was very fleeting and i thought at first it was a flash of light coming through a crack or hole in the building above on the fine drizzle that was precipitating at that time.
turning back towards the others i then felt the finger down my chest AGAIN and then the same sinking shuddering feeling!!!!! I couldn't believe it! I thought it may have been a crease straightening out in my jacket but try as i may i couldn't replicate the feeling even when i tried dragging my own finger down my chest. Not until i did it under my jacket but over my T-shirt. It was as if i was being touched from inside my jacket!
I can't explain it any better than that and my wife says she has never seen my face look so shocked. It was scary, just a startling surprise as it was very very real.
Once again, thanks to Anne for the great tour, had this incident not happened we would still have had a wonderful tour, but this just made it...
all the best
Cris