Kuala Lumpur Coffin Exhibition

This is the first coffin exhibition I have attended and it was well worth the trip to Malaysia. Nestled in the National Museum the exhibition displayed over 39 'coffins' from Malaysia, Thailand, Borneo, India and the Philippines. There were also displays on burial traditions and rituals.

Any burial box can be referred to as a coffin, which means 'basket'. However many refer to a casket(coined from a the term used for a jewlery box) as having four sides and a coffin as having six sides.

Highlights of the coffin exhibition included a 14-karat gold plated Chinese coffin valued at $AUD 200,000 on loan from the Nirvana Memorial Park. The coffin was not dissimilar to the Carl Williams coffin posted over front pages of Australian newspapers in April.

Other highlights included a series of animal shaped coffins from Borneo. Shapes included full scale buffaloes and crocodiles. The buffalo head is symbolic of bearing burdens of the dead, assisting with the passage to the afterlife. Animal shaped coffins house the body of a man, if the cover has no particular shape, then the coffin houses the body of a woman.

Log coffins from Thailand and parts of Malaysia were also on display and typically stood in cliffs such as Coffin Cave.

Jar coffins and tree coffins were on display from indigenous tribes in Peninsular and East Malaysia.

The Rattan Chair coffin was also interesting, bodies would be seated on the chair and exposed to the elements until they rotted and then could easily be shoved into pottery urns.

Malaysia and surrounding regions are rich in archaelogical finds with the earliest evidence of human occupation in Sarawak an 38,000-year-old skull from the Niah Caves.

Friday 13th, the luckiest day of the year???

Do you suffer from friggatriskaidekaphobia, or fear of Friday 13th? The Chinese believe it to be a lucky number, considered to bring good fortune but airlines such as Continental, Air France and KLM don’t share in this belief, often jumping rows from 12 to 14. Hotels and hospitals are superstitious, too. Around the world entire floors and wards skip 13 and many also don’t have a 4th floor. Some have removed room numbers like 666.

In numerology 12 is considered a complete number as reflected by 12 months of the year, Jesus’ 12 apostles, 12 hours of the clock, 12 gods of Olympus, 12 tribes of Israel but the number thirteen has always had superstitious connotations due to its irregularity.

13 has often had negative connotations. Judas was the 13th apostle and in ancient Rome, witches gathered in groups of 12. The 13th was believed to be the devil.

Why Friday?

Friday has been considered an unlucky day since the 14th century's The Canterbury Tales, Jesus was crucified on a Friday and there was a mass arrest of all the Knights Templar in France on Friday, October 13, 1307. Some believe Eve tempted Adam with the forbidden fruit on Friday while others believe Abel was slain by Cain on Friday the 13th.

It’s not all negative press for the number 13 though

In Hinduism a feast is organised on the thirteenth day of death for the peace of the departed soul. In Judaism, 13 signifies the age at which a boy matures and there are 13 players in a rugby league team. But in Formula One, no driver has had the number 13 on his car since 1976.

Living in a Williamstown ghost town

BY GOYA BENNETT
21 Jul, 2010 12:00 AM
AFTER dark, a whole other world emerges in Williamstown. Fresh from visiting a coffin exhibition in Kuala Lumpur, Jacqueline Travaglia of Lantern Ghost Tours is back at her favourite haunts.

Last week, the 'ghost host' gave the Williamstown Advertiser a personal tour of the town's most paranormal places. We met outside the Visitor Information Centre at Commonwealth Reserve.

Ms Travaglia said the lush parkland was a far cry from what it was in the 1850s. Back then, it was swampland filled with trash, mud, rotting meat and offcuts ... sometimes rumoured to be of the human variety.

Ms Travaglia reveals that keepers of the morgue, which still stands today, would also drain blood and empty bodies into the swamp.

We head to Blunt's Boat Builders in Nelson Place which has been in the Blunt family for 150 years. Immediately, strange phenomena start to occur. The Advertiser's photographic equipment is seemingly gripped by an unseen force and tossed into the sea. Could it be the blustery wind or the ghost of founder Arthur Blunt?

Next door, the Australian Navy cadets are convinced they had an encounter with Mr Blunt.

"The sea cadets contacted us to say they had a seance about a year ago," Ms Travaglia said.


"Apparently, they had the glass jar upside down. They were contacting the spirits and all of a sudden the jar went flying across the table.

"They saw a dark silhouette move across the wall and they all screamed and got on their i-Phones and Blackberries and Blueberries and all that and called their parents to pick them up."

She believes it was Mr Blunt telling them to go to bed and behave themselves.


Across the road lies a building that was once a notorious doctor's surgery. Dr Edward Garland Figg was the health officer and port doctor in Williamstown and employed an early form of anaesthetic known as chloroform.


Unfortunately, the good doctor didn't always get the dosage right. "One of his first patients to use it was a young woman. She went in and said, 'I need some stitches in my hand'," Ms Travaglia said. "Edward said, 'No problem, would you like some opium, alcohol or chloroform?' And she said, 'I'll have the chloroform, thank you very much'.

"So she sniffed the handkerchief, fell asleep and he repaired her hand. Problem was, she never woke up."

Part entertainment, part history lesson, the tours attract the sceptics, the curious, believers and even other professional ghost seekers with their electromagnetic field detectors.

One place where the EGMs went wild was The Steampacket Hotel in Cole Street. It's said to be haunted by opera singer John De Haga, who shot himself with a horse pistol after losing his voice.

Other tour sites include the Yacht Club Hotel, Old Royal Hotel, Oriental Hotel, former Prince of Wales hotel and laneways where cheaper 'ladies of the night' sold their trade.

Ms Travaglia believes the most haunted spot in Williamstown is Point Gellibrand where, offshore, prison hulks held more than 6000 convicts and where, on land, a cemetery stood.

http://www.themail.com.au/news/local/news/general/living-in-a-williamstown-ghost-town/1890945.aspx?storypage=2

MAY Haunted Weekend in Talbot

Summary of J Ward Activity: By Kathleen Higgins Australia Boyle heights paranormal project.

On arrival we were met with Ange and her boyfriend Trevor, who both agree to help me for the night, we didn't do the tour, they went to tea and we went to investigate, first place we did was west wing, using the franks box we got names quiet a few, and remembering what Ama said last time about them playing with us I asked do you want to play, and I got a clear ÿes" so I put the K2 meter down and a torch and said if they want they can play with these, and the next word we heard on the K2 meter was "trap", we reassured them it wasn't, but I don't think it worked as they didn't go near it. At one stage I thought I saw a face in one of the doors, but because I wasn't 100percent I brushed it aside.

We than went to the main ward and was told to go to Garry Web cell, in the cell next to this we got a name Tom Linsey oh and the K2 meter went off in his room too, we than went to Garys room, I couldnt get him to say his name so I asked did you commit the crimes they charged you with and got a clear yes with the franks box, we also got please dont, war, and police, now I didnt know this too later but apparently he wanted a war with the police or anyone of aurthory (sp).

We went up stairs where the hanging rope was and the other rooms and only got 1 name and that was Seth. Very quiet up there.

We than had a break and told Doug and jackie what we had found out, Doug was surprised to hear that Gary was in that room.

Now we went down to the cellar to the governors room, first words we got was Gday nice and clear, I asked if the spirit that was there last time was there and got yeah, and I got no 6 people, wow :O I was shocked so was Ange, later I told Doug and he said that corresponds with that white witch ages ago and we were told last time but I thought it was 5, we didn't get much more so we went into the kitchen down there.

In the kitchen we had some orb activity with the night vision and got a name, name was stuart and I asked his age he said either 19 or 10 we asked to say it again and we got 20 or 21, I asked are you the little boy spirit and got a yes, so what we think it was 10 and each patient there had a number and we think his was either 20 or 21 doug is going to check this out.

We went back to the west wing and thought we might sit there and be quiet and see what we got, again we got a whole heap of names and a temp drop, so we left and I set up the dvd recorder.

We went into the main hall and again asked question to see if anyone was there, Ange went to the door going to the west wing and looked in and she said she saw a shadow and than the door open by itself it all made us jump, also the perspex (sp) window behind me was rattled a lot like someone was banging on it, this happen a few times. Ange at one stage said to us did you hear that (she thought these words came over the franks box, we worked out later it was whispered into her ears) she hear, "you little slut", followed by, "I am going to f*** you". This frighten her so I went and got a few other people to come in, and said you cant harm us as we are many. We didn't hear back from this nasty spirit.

We went outside to the exercise yard, and we got a spirits name of Cletis, I ask how old are you he said either 12 or 21, I said is this right and he said Yes, I asked are you mentally retarded again got a yes, I asked are you still alive and got a yes again, I asked if my torch light was bothering him and he said Funny. and follow by Help me. We got 2 more names in the exercise yard, John roberts 32, and Hamish.
We joined the tour group at this stage and the spirits must of got bored as they went quiet, we did get one more name after this and that was Hamish.

I got a few photos out of the night too, nothing on dvd apart from what we got on franks box's.

Names we got were -: these first lot were in the west wing
Phillip
Cottees
Gilligan
Ben
Bill Morgan
Out in the main hall we got
Tom Lindsay
Adam
stewart
John
Stan
Gavin
John Roberts
Aiden
Hamish
other names were Stuart in the kitchen

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