Haunted Weekend in Talbot April 2010

We had yet another great weekend in Talbot with a group of lovely people from all over. A big thank you to everyone who joined us: Mario and Shona, Jenelle and Herb, Michelle and Bec, Victoria and Adele, Judy and Shane, Betty, Ama, Sylvia, Andrew and Kathy.

Friday Night

Was spent eating and touring the house. We were very lucky to have Ama Nazra http://ghosttouring.blogspot.com/ who was able to tune in immediately to some of the spirits of the house and Kathleen Higgins from BHPP Australia who joined us with her paranormal investigation equipment.

Ama and some of the members of group were able to pick up on quite a few spirits including a welcoming gentleman in the dining room from 1836 with the name of Talbot who wanted a glass of port, a young woman called Margaret who was still sitting in her fruit orchid (where the current loungeroom extension is), a dark male spirit who was harrassing Bec, a toddler and Mrs Chesterfield.

We were also able to pick up on a lot of orbs, changes in light and a large, black orb that hurled towards Kathy and me. Kathy also had some interesting EVP recordings of unexplained bangs and whispers.

A few of us could smell strong tobacco smoke wafting around us as if a person was walking around the room smoking an old pipe.

Some of the group also felt cold spots in the rooms and occassionally the cold spots went through us. The digital thermometer wasn't picking up any significant temperature drops.

Kathy and Betty witnessed a dark shadow move across Mrs Chesterfield's old downstairs bedroom three times.

I personally had a terrible night's sleep, I could hear quiet whispering all around me in the new loungeroom extension...was it the ghost of Margaret chatting to her friends?

Saturday Day

Maree, our local tour guide, showed us around Talbot with the usual highlight being the old lockup. Liz kindly gave us a wine tasting from her Amherst Vineyard at the end of the tour. After a short break at London House Cafe and browsing of the local shops, including Slightly Bent Books, we moved on to Ararat.

Marge from J Ward cooked us a delicious meal and we ate amongst the old cells, it was very eerie indeed. We were joined by Helga, Wanda, Julie and Daniel so had a pretty sizeable group. Doug was our guide for the night and showed us around the old cells, the old kitchen, J Ward, the West Wing and the Exercise Yards. We picked up a lot of activity in the old kitchen including some strange EVP recordings, a lot of orbs and a general sensation of being watched.

The main cells were no different, we felt that past prisoners were watching and mocking us. One of them, we think perhaps Vincent, was trying to pull Bec away from the rest of the group. Ama did a great job protecting us and Doug did a great job entertaining us, telling us about all the past inmates and their different personalities.

The West Wing was added later on and also had a lot of activity. A few members of the groups could sense prisoners mingling with us and described their thoughts towards us as being 'like a circus'.

We ended the tour at the old watch tower, well after midnight. Poor Doug was stuck with us for over 3 hours!

Sunday

Betty showed us around Amherst Cemetery where we visited Mrs Chesterfield's grave again. We still can't explain why Mr Chesterfield's inscription has eroded when both Mrs Chesterfield and her first husband's graves are perfectly legible. During the course of the weekend we discovered a few more things about Mrs Chesterfield thanks to the psychics in our group and insights from Betty and also Lee from the Visitor Centre.

*Mrs Chesterfield gave Ama a message to tell 'Chelsea' to put the gladiolus in the front room. Not sure who Chelsea is but we think she thought I was Chelsea. Perhaps she was a past helper?

*William was one of 12 children

*Mrs Chesterfield had 2 girls and a boy

*We think Mrs Chesterfield may also have had a daughter that was actually her daughter's child born out of wedlock.

*During the visit and on previous visits we have sensed the presence of a toddler in the upstairs kids room. We have had confirmation that a toddler died in the room but haven't confirmed the identity.

Please add your comments to the blog to complete the summary of the weekend

Thanks again everyone

Jacqui
www.lanternghosttours.com

Copyright Lantern Ghost Tours 2010

Roslyn and Annabel Haunt Prince of Wales Hotel

*Photo by Roni Price, Ghosts of the Old City Tour. Could the large white orb be Roslyn and the small green one Annabel?

Since writing about Annabel and Rosyln, our two ladies of the night haunting the old Prince of Wales Hotel, activity has increased. Rosyln has been stroking female guests as they walk down the lane and we smell their lavender perfume on almost every tour now. While living, these lovely ladies used to bath only a handful of times each year then smother themselves with lavendar fragrance to cover any body odour. We have had a few psychics through who have confirmed that Anna's real name is Annabel. Annabel has long, blonde hair and Roslyn is older, with long dark hair. Annabel is believed to have died by being thrown from the upstairs window after an argument with a customer about payment. Roslyn passed away from an STD. Both women are now aware that they have passed away and Roslyn has made it her business to protect those around her. She has followed a group of teenage boys down Nelson Place on our March tour. They felt they were being watched and felt as though they were being touched on their shoulders. I have felt Roslyn's arm around my waist on more than one occasion. Many mediums are able to tune into there lovely spirits who are very curious as to what the fuss is all about. Unlike our other hauntings, I cannot find records of Annabel and Roslyn. Unfortunately there were very few records of burials in Williamstown's unoffical cemetery at Point Gellibrand. We didn't even have grave diggers as they were all searching for gold. As a result, many people simply bought a spade, wrapped their loved ones in cloth and buried them. All the bodies were exhumed and moved to Williamstown Cemetery between 1899 and 1901. The lack of records for Roslyn and Annabel makes us believe they date to the late 19th century. All our clairvoyants and mediums are picking up on the same names and descriptions, our ladies want to be remembered.

*Copyright Lantern Ghost Tours 2010

Mayday Hills Lunatic Asylum Ghost Tour

We decided to have a break last weekend and sit back, relax and be taken on a guided ghost tour to the former Mayday Hills Lunatic Asylum, Beechworth. Mayday Hills was an Australian psychiatric hospital and its two sister asylums at Kew and Ararat were commissioned to accommodate the growing number of 'lunatics' in the colony of Victoria.

Mayday Hills now resembles a village, overlooking Beechworth- the best preserved historical gold town in Victoria.

The grounds are known as LaTrobe at Beechworth and consist of university buildings, self contained and hotel accommodation, a day spa, conference buildings, empty buildings and of course the original pschiatric wards.

The great thing about Latrobe is you can stay onsite. To our surprise, Adam of Beechworth Tours informed us that our hotel room was actually a converted ward.

Adam and Sharon, of Beechworth Ghost Tours, booked us on their midnight ghost tour of the former Mayday Hills Lunatic Asylum. Our guide, Jodie, was fantastically eccentric and took us on a guided tour of the old female and male wards pointing out the old operating theatre, autopsy room, isolation cells, ha ha walls and quick escape passages for the staff. La Trobe definitely has an atmosphere about it. In one of the male wards we heard an unexplained tapping sound behind a door which moved to the ceiling, then across the ceiling. Apparently it happens often.

The ghosts of former patients still linger, and it's no wonder why when many of them checked in and never left. One of the male wards also made a few of us feel naseous, Adam and Jodie explained that on the tours people sometimes have unexplained nose bleeds.

The Beechworth Lunatic Asylum was built during the height of Beechworth's gold rush period in 1867 and operated until it's closure in 1995.

Quite few relics can be seen at the Museum of Victoria, including straight jackets from 1900, pill trolleys and medical implements.

We had a fantastically creepy weekend thanks to Beechworth Ghost Tours and can't wait to visit again.

Happy Haunting

Lantern Ghost Tours

*Copyright Lantern Ghost Tours 2010
*Thank you Beechworth Ghost Tours for the tour and hospitality

Visit http://www.beechworthghosttours.com/ for the Beechworth Ghost Tour

Visit www.lanternghosttours.com for haunted weekends away to Beechworth
Visit www.lanternghosttours.com to visit Mayday Hills sister asylum in Ararat,as part of the haunted Talbot weekend away

Valentines Weekend in Walhalla

The Coach House was built as hostel accommodation for workers rebuilding the railway between Thomson and Walhalla as a tourist line. It was built on the site of an original miner’s cottage mainly from building materials recycled from demolished houses in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs, and was known as Cook’s Cottage. It was built between 1968-72.

The station was rebuilt in the early 1970s, along with the log cabin (built in 1973). The famous narrow gauge railway was eventually reconstructed by the Walhalla Goldfields Railway between 1993-2002.

The Coach House faced demolition by the State Government following departure of the W&TRST, leading to a local campaign to save the building in the late 70’s. It was sold and served as a hostel for overseas travellers, then was later used as housing for miners on the ill fated Walhalla Resources commercial gold mining project in the 1980s when it became known as ‘The Bunkhouse’. It was better known to some of those residents as ‘Heartbreak Hotel’!

Under a new owner it became known as ‘The Dolls House’, probably due to its quaint style and wooden shutters. When power arrived in Walhalla in 1998, the Coach House was left off the grid. It was then bought and sold twice in rapid succession, and we purchased it in 2005. After efforts failed to get power connected, we went solar in 2008. The building’s present incarnation takes its name from the nearby railway station and coaches. Happy Go Lucky Rd is also known as the Old Coach Rd from stagecoach days, so the new name reflects those times.

We have stayed in the Coachhouse a few times and had activity. On the Valentine's weekend our group all felt a cold chill on Friday night while we were sitting around the table, it felt like icy cold breath and happened to one of us at a time. A few group members also smelt the strong smell of antiseptic move across the room. Interestingly one of the grop members was a medium who felt the presence of Dr Simmons, born in 1825 in America. He also felt a presence lie on top of him in the bunk room and woke us up when he shouted 'Begone'.

The last time we stayed a lady slept in Stringers Cottage with her 2 daughters and had no sleep, she said that she kept hearing footsteps in the room, felt a presence and heard scratching on the window. We also saw a lot of orbs and strange light reflections in the loungeroom. The photos were fantastic.

We don't think there is anything negative in the house there but it certainly has a presence. I could also see and sense a biker who died very suddenly on the dirt track next to the house. I would guess he has only be gone 10-15 years and he is large, with a handle bar moustache, bald head and large, protruding eyes.

Quite a few miners died on the track adjoining the coach house, there bodies were known to simply be left on the side of the road until a visitor or loved one gave them a burial or they simply fadesd into the ground over time.

*Copyright Lantern Ghost Tours 2010
*Thank you to Anne Krohn, owner of the Coach House, for the historical information.

Haunted Williamstown: The Woman in White

Williamstown did not have the best reputation in the 1850s, it was jam packed with young men searching fame and fortune, convicts, bushrangers and ladies of the night. However, the gold money did bring considerable wealth to the area and in the 1880s Williamstown became very fashionable. ‘The Front’, Nelson Place, was the center of commerce and fashion. Craigantina’s building, corner of Nelson Place and Thomson Street was home to Williamstown Coffee Palace where Fred Woods, proudly prepareds his pastries for afternoon tea and gand balls.

'Craigantina', comprises three shops and residences designed by WE Wells and constructed in 1886 for John Harker Craig, a prominent citizen and Councilor of the city.

These buildings are home to numerous ghost sightings, believed to be Tina, the beloved wife of Craig for whom he built a beautiful castle for the couple to live in. Tina is often see peering out from the top floor windows to passerbys. She has a sad, forlorn look on her face. She has also been seen inside the upstairs residences by many occupants. One young lady remembers living there as a little girl in the 1980s and often being visited be a beautiful lady in white who would sit on the end of her bed and just as qucikly vanish. Some of the residents have seen the woman in white sitting in the loungeroom, when approached, she vanishes. On a recent ghost tour one of the guest's watches suddenly fell in front of the Craigantina's building. The strange thing was it hadn't been working earlier in the afternoon but it lay on the ground displaying the correct time and working perfectly. It was lying in several pieces but wasn't broken. A young woman on another tour saw a hand against the window on the top floor. Some people feel sorrow as they walk past the premises. We all feel that a woman in white, Tina Craig, is keeping an eye on us.

**Copyright Lantern Ghost Tours 2010**

Haunted Williamstown: The Oldest House

Dating back to pre 1842, the house at 43 Aitken Street is one of Melbourne's oldest houses and represents the first settlement in Melbourne. It would have been one of the first houses built, with many dwellings of the period being temporary tents. It is believe to be pre fabricated. During the 1850s goldrush there was a shortage of builders and many people brought their homes from Europe.

The land was first documented in 1837. James Cain bought it in 1841 and then sold it to William Pope in 1842. William and Clara Pope lived here, during which time Clara became a widow and moved out in 1867. In 1878 it passed into the hands of Thomas Pope. By 1890 the house was owned by William Stone. In more recent history the property has been with the Page family since 1964. The current owner, Mr Page has applied for a demolition permit.

I have received many reports of sightings of a woman in white. She is small, frail and elderly and is seen hanging washing on the line (which no longer exists) in the garden and sitting by the fireplace inside. She keeps to herself and seems to be performing her daily routines. We believe her to be Clara Pope, who was one of the first people to reside in the house. Many people have expressed their concern to me over what will happen to poor Clara when the house is demolished. She seems to be very attached to the fireplace so I feel she will follow the fireplace to its new location.

**Copyright Lantern Ghost Tours 2010**

Haunted Williamstown: The Prince of Wales

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