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Australia’s Most Terrifying and Haunted Places: Victoria

Larundel AsylumAustralia, as a settled country, isn’t that old. Sydney and Melbourne are the two largest and oldest cities on the continent, yet we can only look back to the late 1700s for a Western history of the country. With such a short time-frame to work with, Australia has more than its fair share of reputedly-haunted locations. As a result of that, this column, which was to be based around the most terrifying places in Australia, has been narrowed down to a series of articles, one for each state of Australia.

Here are some of the more renowned locations for paranormal activity and alleged hauntings. I’ll give you the facts and the rumours, and you can go on to make up your own mind.

Larundel

Larundel was first imagined in 1938, a way for the state government to replace the outdated Kew Mental Hospital. Two years later, it was under construction when WWII intervened. For the next five years various uses were planned for the buildings, but in 1946 Larundel was given to the Victorian Department of Housing for emergency accommodation. The wards were hastily converted to flats.

It continued as housing until 1949, but over the next four years, Larundel was slowly populated with patients from Beechworth Lunatic Asylum, which experienced fire-damage at the time. In 1953 Larundel was officially declared a hospital for the mentally ill. By that stage, it had 387 patients, a quarter of which were women. Two years later, eight additional wards opened, allowing for another 360 patients (270 of which were female).

It continued to operate through until the 90s when the government moved away from incarcerating such patients and tried to integrate them back into society. The remaining buildings are currently derelict and there is no access to the general public. It sits, the old buildings boarded up, waiting for the government to do something with it.

For the past fifteen or so years, the abandoned buildings have been a playground for those fascinated with thrill-seeking, as well as paranormal investigators. It is said by some that loud banging on the walls can be heard; odd smells and the sound of children crying have also been experienced on occasion.

There is a rumour that a little girl who died on the third floor loved her music box, and to this day, there are claims on the internet that random explorers have heard music playing on some nights, just before or at midnight. There are many accounts of supernatural phenomena occurring at Larundel, and the complex itself is vast and spooky enough to scare the most intrepid explorer, even without phantoms and unexplained occurrences.

Old Geelong Gaol

Geelong GaolThe Geelong Gaol was first occupied in 1853. Its design was based on the English Pentonville Prison, and it was built by convicts who were housed in ship hulks moored in Corio Bay.

The gaol was operated as a high security prison until it was decommissioned in July, 1991. Little has changed at Geelong Gaol since its closure. Some exhibits of its past history have been added, in the style of a museum, but the gaol itself is still an imposing and dread-inspiring building.

Prisoners were held in small, unheated cells, with no sewerage facilities at all, for up to fourteen hours each day.

Past inmates have reported hearing female cries at night, especially in the east wing, the site of the Industrial School for Girls for the late 1860s. Tour guides have reported witnessing several occurrences, including swirling mists, general weird feelings and people being struck.

The site has been visited by various paranormal research teams, who have reported strange mists, sounds, EMF disturbances and orbs. Mediums and other ‘sensitive’ people have been employed by some, and they have reported the presence of various spirits in the gaol. The old infirmary, cell 45, the gallows, and the external shower block are reportedly the sites with the most activity.

The gaol is now operated by the Rotary Club of Geelong, who run guided tours on weekends and holidays. Ghost tours run at night every weekend, and it has become a place that many claim is haunted by its own dark past.

Beechworth Lunatic Asylum

Beechworth asylumOriginally known as Mayday Hills Lunatic Asylum, Beechworth is a decommissioned psychiatric hospital. Mayday Hills Lunatic Asylum was the fourth such hospital to be built in Victoria, and is one of the three largest. Mayday Hills Hospital closed in 1995 after 128 years of operation.

Foreboding is the only way anyone could describe the buildings situated at the top of a hill outside Beechworth in northern Victoria.

Beechworth Lunatic Asylum is currently owned by La Trobe University. Nightly Ghost tours are held at the hospital, allowing public access to the most historic buildings in the complex.

There are plenty of stories told about Mayday Hills Asylum: many have spoken of the figure of a man who appears near the cellar, and then completely vanishes within a second. Matron Sharpe, who spent most of her life there, has been spotted on more than one occasion, a grey, hooded figure in period costume. Doors swing open by themselves, and at other times, mysterious screams are heard. Some say that a glance out of the cottage windows around dusk may reveal an old man in a green jacket, maybe an old ground-keeper, wandering around in the gardens. Also, a woman has been, on occasion, photographed standing at the window from which she was reputedly thrown by other inmates. Whether these tales are true or not, the entire place has a certain eeriness about it that sends chills down the spine.

Willsmere (Kew) Mental Asylum

Kew AsylumWillsmere is a decommissioned psychiatric hospital in Kew, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria. Operational for over a hundred years, Willsmere was one of the largest asylums ever built in Australia. First known as Kew Lunatic Asylum, the complex of buildings was constructed between 1864 and 1872 to house the growing number of ‘lunatics’, ‘unrepentant drunks’, ‘constant masturbators’ and ‘idiots’ in the Colony of Victoria.

Willsmere was the very first asylum built for that purpose in Victoria, and was the largest to exist in the state. It operated in conjunction with the asylums built in Ararat and Beechworth, but housed the less-dangerous and confronting patients. The asylum’s buildings are typical examples of the French Second Empire style which was popular in Victorian Melbourne. The use of low ha-ha walls and extensively landscaped grounds added to the decadent beauty of the complex. Long considered of cultural and historic significance to Melbourne, Kew Asylum and its complex of buildings were registered on the Register of the National Estate in March 1978.

Not as beautiful on the inside as the outside, the asylum was criticised heavily during the first fifty years of operation for issues including overcrowding, mismanagement, lack of resources, poor sanitation and disease.

Kew continued to operate throughout the 20th century as a psychiatric hospital, treating acute, long-term and geriatric patients until it closed in December 1988. The main building and surrounding grounds were sold by the State Government, and were then redeveloped as residential properties, with the stipulation that all redesign must fall within regulations for preservation of the original façade.

Not somewhere I’d want to live, but each to their own. At this point, there are no reports of residents dying from paranormal phenomena, but time will tell.

Aradale Mental Hospital

AradaleAradale is Australia’s largest abandoned lunatic asylum. Comprised of over sixty buildings and placed in over hundred acres on the top of a hill near Ararat, Victoria, Aradale (formerly known as Ararat Lunatic Asylum) is a most-impressive facility.

Opened in 1867, the complex housed, in its approximately 130 year history, tens of thousands of people described as ‘lunatics’, ‘idiots’ and ‘imbeciles’ – some of them described as the worst lunatics in the British Empire. As it was far from the prying eyes of the Melbourne population, the very worst cases were sent to Ararat, where no one cared what became of them.

Completed forty years before Freud, this building saw some of the most controversial psychiatric treatments in Australia. Around 13,000 people died there in its 130 years. As a result, Aradale is considered one of the most haunted locations in Australia.

Over the last year, for the first time in its long history, Aradale’s doors have opened for evening explorations. I recently went on a Ghost Tour of this massive place, and believe me, it’s pretty damn scary.

My immediate thoughts on arrival at the front of the facility were, “wow, that’s massive”. Then I realised that the front is just a minute part of the place. Just as it was getting dark, our guide, dressed in top-hat and tails, brought us in through the front doors and armed us with small, battery-operated lanterns. I had a high-lumen head-torch, so I considered myself lucky. Throughout the tour, we heard many stories about the place; of the torturous ‘treatments’ the patients were subjected to, of the long and sometimes sordid history of the place, and, of course, of the hauntings that have allegedly taken place within the facility.

There are many reports of paranormal activity within the boundaries of Aradale: tales of Nurse Kerry, who allegedly haunts the women’s wing and watches the ghost tour groups from one room in particular; the unexplained pains and sense of being touched by people in the old men’s wing surgery; the unexplained cold winds emanating from the old office of the facility director (we felt that one ourselves); and the back area of the men’s wing isolation cells, where banging can be heard on the walls, even though no one else is in the building. Finally, there are tales of Old Margaret, supposedly one of the many patients who were kicked out in the late 90s, when Aradale closed, who still hangs around the facility because it was her home for her entire life.

The best of the rest

The Old Melbourne Gaol is a museum and former prison located in Russell Street, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It consists of a bluestone building and courtyard, and is located next to the old City Police Watch House and City Courts buildings. The three-storey museum displays information and memorabilia of the prisoners and staff, including death masks of the executed criminals. At one time the museum displayed Ned Kelly’s skull, before it was stolen in 1978, as well as the pencil used by wrongly convicted Colin Campbell Ross to protest his innocence in writing, before being executed. Paranormal enthusiasts claim the museum is haunted, with claims of ghostly apparitions and unexplained voices near cells.

Fortuna Villa is a mansion near Bendigo in Victoria, Australia. It was first built in 1855, during the gold rush, and went from being a large but modest house to the mansion that is seen today. In WWII, the house was used by the Australian Army as a mapping survey centre, and after this it was declared the property of the Victorian Parliament and became a listed Commonwealth Heritage site. There are many reported ghosts of Fortuna Villa: the ghost of George Lansell, one of owners and a founder of Bendigo, appears as a bearded figure; the ghost of a teenage girl reportedly appears as a spectre asking people to leave; footsteps can sometimes be heard at night, as well as the tapping of a cane, and in some rooms cold spots can be felt. In 1986, a witness saw a dark shape, a head and torso without legs, passing through the bannister of the main staircase, and finally, some claim to have heard the voice of a woman, supposed to be Bedilia, Lansell’s first wife, who died in uncertain circumstances. Some military personnel, stationed in the mapping survey centre, have reported that previously locked doors are found open, and a boy in a sailor suit appeared to a female soldier, disappearing when she called out for help. Tellingly, members of the Australian Army wrote a letter to their superiors asking for relocation out of the property due to ongoing hauntings. It was, of course, denied.

As you can see, the number of haunted locations in Australia seems to far outweigh our population and relative age, and this article barely touches the tip of the iceberg in that regard. Welcome to Terror Australis.

GEOFF BROWN

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137 comments

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    • chris on November 14, 2013 at 11:48 am
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    i would like to know how many asylums there were in australia and how many they held as i am trying to discover just who was in them and there storys forgoten history

      • Elizabeth on August 10, 2018 at 10:37 am
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      I am wondering how many sexually abused men, women and children were deemed “masturbators”, “idiots”, “lunatics” to silence them. I am also wondering about the prison like surgery where experiments of torture were carried out perhaps for under the radar “research”. Imagine the playing field for predators as medical staff or paying clients.

        • GD on February 27, 2019 at 1:33 am
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        If your wondering about children who were abused and then marked as idiots, look into some of the old school’s in Australia. Box Hill Primary School, City of Whitehorse, Victoria Australia. Which was torn down in the late 80’s or 90’s. This school was a horror story for many of us that went there, especially if we had one male teacher in particular. Mr Macintosh, he was evil

          • Karl on September 21, 2023 at 5:13 am
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          If you were abused at school, or any other institution (like a hospital, church, orphange, etc) you can get compensation through a Australian Government Program called the National Redress Scheme – look it up, there is compensation and counselling, and most of all: an apology. It’s about getting recognition and help for those who were abused in institutions.

    • leah shanaughan on December 22, 2013 at 9:39 am
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    Cant wait to visit some of these places!! Do you know if the old prison in merchison was ever haunted? I know about the history but has anyone ever been in to research the paranormal? Pretty sure it was called Dhurringile prison (prisoners of war were kept there after the place was a homestead)

      • Jodi on August 17, 2014 at 11:08 pm
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      I live near there and the prison is still in use but no stories around our local area about hauntings However in shepparton where we live there are haunting reports about a couple of old original homesteads in the area being haunted. Hope this helps.

      • Dee on January 2, 2015 at 3:20 pm
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      There is an old prisoners of war camp out there. I have not been there myself but have been told it definatly carries a different feel to the place. Pretty sure the Dhurringile prison was the old boys home but not sure. The Rhue cemetery is active with paranormal activity so I’m told 🙂 if that helps

        • Charles Hammer CRN 216 on November 11, 2015 at 12:31 am
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        Dhurringile prison ( still a Low security prison )..The mansion ..many stories abide there. The most telling was when a number of prisoners left their unit ( built behind mansion) saw a man in a German naval officers uniform just standing and looking at the ground. It is said that the mansion housed the officers who sank the HMAS Sydney. Some were placed into the solitary cell under the mansion ( the old meat / cold storage room ) cell door still there. Anyway it is said they started a tunnel under the mansion toward freedom – just off to the left there is a major dip in the land.( where the tunnel supposedly fell in on the diggers. prison officials have been restoring mansion. Land has been getting filled on said spot but the dip remains and no grass seams to grow there to the disappointment of grounds staff…the prison was also a boys home with some nasty stories. But this writer can not tell of them. I only know of the story of the German officer. I was one of the prisoners to see him. There is a museum in a local town that has a big thing on the prisoner of war camp.

  1. i would like to know if you can visit these places and how haunted they are.

      • $ick dude on February 9, 2016 at 10:06 pm
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      #yoloswag jo in da house prett haunted

    1. You can’t as it houses prisoners. Wroo cemetery out of Rushworh, plus old mine shafts in that area lots of bodies thrown down there in the gold mining times

    • Ross Vertigan on January 22, 2014 at 8:46 am
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    With our past, I’m not surprised

    • Jaster Mereel on February 11, 2014 at 5:09 am
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    Larundel is not haunted, i live near it and have studied it, i have heard the supposed music box myself, its only the tune of a local ice cream truck.

      • Ben Baini on February 18, 2014 at 3:38 am
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      I don’t think it’s haunted either. it was fun exploring the grounds and had a few sounds startle us but really it’s just a run down building victimised by the gangs with spray paint. it’s not safe with all the junkie squatters

        • amy scott on March 1, 2014 at 5:41 pm
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        It is

        1. I believe in ghost its real

            • frank on February 15, 2019 at 2:53 am

            yes ghost is real i saw one

            • frank on February 15, 2019 at 2:59 am

            yes ghost are real

      • ember langford on March 22, 2014 at 7:59 am
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      I went to larundel last night and took alot of photos, i counted over 30 orbs in 5 shots. I heard the music box too and a loud bang from the where we came in. Its deffinantly cold and eerie and its deffinantly haunted

      • The good captain. on March 25, 2014 at 11:48 pm
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      An ice cream truck at midnight?

      • vpi! on April 16, 2014 at 6:27 am
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      i run a paranormal team , and it is haunted! as for the music box, do ya think the ice cream man comes at midnight ay ???? lol ! i have plenty of evidence it is!

        • vpi! on April 16, 2014 at 6:29 am
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        oh n im also a medium ! so that helps alot also 🙂

        • Samantha on July 2, 2014 at 11:47 pm
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        I would love to know more about your team.. I am fansinated by all paranormal stuff 🙂

          • Matt on October 11, 2016 at 7:54 pm
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          I know some stories I have seen and felt them I would love to talk

        • ER on July 21, 2014 at 1:23 am
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        Hi can you share some of what you say you have found, i am very interested and will hope you reply.

        • Mish on December 8, 2014 at 12:16 am
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        We do paranormal tours too and I can definitely tell you that Larundel IS haunted. We’ve heard noises, footsteps etc (and no it’s not the young teenagers). We’ve even had strange things turn up in photos such as human figures, eyes, orbs AND 3 of us even saw a ghost of a young woman and we actually spoke to her and this was actually OUTSIDE. It’s a detailed story but if anyone is interested, I’ll tell you all about it. Cheers Mish

          • gillian on December 18, 2014 at 2:15 am
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          I’m really interested in hearing your story. My friend and I are planning on going tomorrow night. I’m terrified haha

          • lisa on March 5, 2016 at 2:46 pm
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          Can u email me would love to go vist laurandel as i live only 10mins away but ther are alot of satories Iive also heard about trhat place.
          My email iis lisaselim4@gmail.com

            • Matt. on June 3, 2016 at 12:26 am

            Hi Lisa, Larundel is currently under development and not accessible. Google ‘Polaris 3083’ to see the new estate being constructed within and around the old remaining hospital buildings. Workers are there on a daily basis starting on the next two buildings to be renovated (one has already been restored and is currently a community centre). the main hospital building and one other smaller one are yet to be started on as yet but neither are in anyway accessible (I don’t live anywhere near the area but I do pass by once a week and looked for access as recently has Monday just gone to no avail).

        • Brendan on May 15, 2016 at 7:29 am
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        I can tell you with precise accuracy that the music box is the ring tone of the security guards who work at the site to keep the squatters and vandalisers out of the building.

      • Teagan Parker on July 8, 2014 at 12:42 pm
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      I wentthere a few weeks ago, it may not be haunted with Negative energy, but with what went on behind the closed doors back then was shocking, my great uncle worked at larundel and my nans late husbands father was admitted into larundel.
      I have pictures of figures, sprectres and orbs in rooms that show alot of activity

      • ben on October 22, 2014 at 4:14 pm
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      Guys i can definetly say it is haunted i’ve been in there with the Victorian paranormal squad and the stuff we picked up in that place was real! plus i am very attuned to the spirit world and i have spoken to some poor souls who lived in there. For example i spoke to a guy named adam in the smaller hut just outside of the main building which has recently been knocked down and he kept saying how he got to go home on a friday to see his mum and dad and got very excited about it, and from the position where i was standing thats where they walked out from! I’ve also heard the music box for myself at around 4pm on a wednesday and its not the university kids playing pranks!

      • Niel Edgley on May 30, 2015 at 11:31 am
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      Jaster,if you want to be a sceptic, at least be honest, years ago I visited and heard the music, it was inside the building and not from the exterior, I have visited several Haunted buildings also not listed here and have been witnessing paranormal phenomena since 9 yrs old in the UK then during my life in Australia, part of my young teens were spent at Struan Farm School Nr Naracoorte in South Australia, built by a Scottish pioneer the old but pristine massive stone mansion was the scene of some very strange occurrences for a lot of us, including screams from the locked tower where Robinson Hung himself on Valentines night a small no. of years after his wife died after falling from the tower with sealed windows, it was also rumoured that Robinson enslaved aborigines for farm work and kept them chained in a cellar under the northern end of the house,there were still iron rings bolted to the walls in 1963,we used to hear chains jangling along the floor across the lower courtyard in the night.on a visit a few yearsw ago the cleaners of the house from Naracoorte said there was no way they would stay at the house at night.Two Paintings of Robinson and his wife used to adorn either side of the entrance hallway glaring at each other with an area of icy cold inbetween,even during blistering summer.

      • shar on November 7, 2015 at 11:30 am
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      Ash but did you ever work there or walk the halls at night. Bet you didn’t.

      • -someone who can see them - on May 23, 2016 at 7:27 am
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      lol it is haunted.. They (the spirits) are actually stuck there.. They can not leave because he will “punish” them for leaving the building..

      I used to live 15 minute walk up from this building as well as Mont Park (also believed to be haunted). I lived in the old refurbished buildings – smack bang between the two..

    • amy scott on March 1, 2014 at 5:39 pm
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    I heard music when I lived in Victoria and investigated with friend s

  2. also is Larundel demolished now ??? or is it still standing and if you have the guts you can go in.

      • Mikey on March 3, 2014 at 4:47 am
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      Larundel is demolished now. There is a Liquor store where it once was. A friend of mine told me about a severely haunted house in boxhill on a main road. Does anyone have any info about it? Apparently it has sat vacant since the 80’s.

        • Peter on March 18, 2014 at 2:29 pm
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        This is false, the buildings of Laurendel still stand – my girlfriend and i were there tonight…

          • Jdt Phs on May 27, 2014 at 7:29 pm
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          but they did have others that were at the rear of bundoora park… that were much better… but they got destroyed couple 6 so years back… but the main ones that are shown in the pics are !00% still there…& i its even easier vto get to now… you basically can park your car right next to it.. but of course its fenced off… with some home made entrance.. 🙂

          • justin on September 18, 2014 at 10:50 am
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          Can you just walk in there mate?

            • Zoltan on October 25, 2014 at 6:06 am

            I have been to laurundal many times it still stands, a couple of the buildings have been converted into housing and what not but apart from that you can just walk in (if you don’t mind jumping a couple of bad fences)

            • janet on April 25, 2016 at 9:01 pm

            Yep you can…holes in the fences left by teens make it easier…we went to explore at night and during the day…pretty bloody eerie, no ghost sightings but beware of man holes and broken flooring if you go at night just saying, it is falling to pieces….

        • Collette Foreman on March 14, 2017 at 9:33 am
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        Well i guess there’s lots of spirits now!! But they’re all in bottles!!!

  3. i would love to know where this haunted house is in box hill. can you find out where it it is ??

    • David on March 23, 2014 at 12:32 pm
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    Melbourne one of two oldest cities on the continent??
    Brisbane is much older than Melbourne, and has WAY more haunted places.

      • Jenni on July 29, 2014 at 10:51 am
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      You’ll usually find that inland country towns, such as Bathurst and Junee are full of haunted histories. ( look up monte christo historic homestead).

  4. So far I’ve seen a list of Victorian locations as well as a list for South Australia. I’m wondering where the WESTERN Australia list is…??

    1. Maya, I’ve done Vic, NSW, Tassie, and SA so far. I’m getting to the rest.

    • Hayley on March 28, 2014 at 4:03 pm
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    I’ve been on a tour of the Old geelong Goal. At one point I was sitting on a bed in one of the cells and I stuck my fingers through the spring, and I swear to god something pushed them back up, just as this happened my friend kind of fell forward a bit. I asked her about it later that night and she said she felt like something jabbed her back…

    • rachel on April 26, 2014 at 4:08 am
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    Hi im interested in paranormal, i would love to experience paranormal with a team, please if u could msg me, that would be fantastic 🙂 thank you

    1. Love to talk about paranormal activity with everybody.

      Let’s connect.

      Msg me @DonHaromunthe

  5. Uhh, we just stayed in George Kerferd Hotel in Beechworth, the old rehabilitation house for inmates. We didn’t know until the same afternoon, that we were going to sleep 50 m. from the old Mayday Hills Lunatic Asylum. I did NOT have a good nights sleep.
    I walked around there on my own, in the fog, rain and not a person in sight. If only I had known it was a mental hospital, I would never have dared.

  6. Larundel is still standing – partially.
    There is now a shopping center at the front of it, but there are still buildings out the back.
    But it is now patrolled by security and you face a hefty fine if you’re caught there now.

    Apparently the main building of the sanatorium is to be made into a community center.
    When I was there last, there was a sign out the front of it, explaining the upcoming transformation.

    I’ve personally been there multiple times, but haven’t heard the alleged music box.
    Rumors went about that the ‘music’ was actually played by near by residents of the university as a type of prank, but none was played while I was ‘exploring’, you might say.

      • nsomi on November 14, 2014 at 1:06 pm
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      Hi have heard music box both times visited and recorded it as well also in court yard music played and little girl was with music box it plays loud and clear but a lovely old tune scary place

    • Alice on May 23, 2014 at 4:10 pm
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    ok this is scary and I am home alone;\

    • Matthew on June 15, 2014 at 2:28 pm
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    Beechworth is a place worth visiting!
    I live about 20mins away…
    Although I’ve not been on the Ghost tour, I’ve been on the grounds
    Walking around the buildings, took some photos, many times!
    With my own creepy experiences!
    Lights being on in parts of the building that no longer have electricity connected…
    Seeing women in some of the windows.
    And this young lady who kept staring at me with a look like she knew me, then my friend spotted her, and she vanished.
    But the whole town of beechworth is just amazing!
    Go during the Easter long weekend, they have a lovely Easter festival.

    • Sharon on June 17, 2014 at 3:43 am
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    Hi All, I live in one of the towers at ‘Willsmere’ in Kew, Australia. It is the most peaceful, gorgeous place to live! After reading several stories about the buildings being ‘the most haunted in Australia’ (AFTER buying the place)! I spent the first few weeks wide awake at night, waiting for ghosties to emerge from shadows, creepy footsteps, icy hand on the shoulder etc….not a sausage, sorry to disappoint the ghost busters amongst you!

      • Ronnie on February 21, 2015 at 7:44 am
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      Hi Sharon, I have just moved to Willsmere too, it’s so lovely! Only a couple of weird happenings so far…..Why are there so many kids here though?! I was hoping for some peace and quiet! Ron.

        • Marcus on March 4, 2015 at 1:55 am
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        I live in Willsmere too. It’s a beautiful place. It’s actually very peaceful and calming, since it was built for that purpose. I’ve also done the Aradale Ghost tour. I loved that, but it’s not too scary when it’s almost the same as walking around your own home (Willsmere) at night time.

          • shar on November 7, 2015 at 11:38 am
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          I know for a fact that when Wills mere was decommissioned they found shackles and the like in the basement that were ordered destroyed by the health department. If any where is haunted it should be. People these days forget about the sadness of those committed to these places and the cruelness many suffered many because they were simply different not.insane

    • Silvi on June 17, 2014 at 10:47 am
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    All I can say is you must protect yourself before entering such places, and ask yourself why you are doing this? Just because you can’t see something doesn’t mean it’s not there.

    • Donna on June 18, 2014 at 11:52 pm
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    Such beautiful old building they are , um .. I’m wondering if we needed hospitals ( Asylums ) of this size to house … oops I mean detain , so many thousands of people ( lunatics ) when these places closed down , where did all the strange people go ? ….now that’s a creepy thought

      • ER on July 21, 2014 at 1:26 am
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      Lol, there are still mentally ill and they are placed in very modern facilities like Monash medical center….

      • shar on November 7, 2015 at 11:44 am
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      The creepy people are walking down the street or sitting next to you or maybe even the reflection in your mirror. You ignorance sickens me. Mental illness is just an illness like diabetes or any other except it affects the mind like so many accepted illnesses. We still need institutions not to protect the community from those with mental illness nut to protect them from the likes of you.

        • Niel Edgley on June 26, 2016 at 10:20 am
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        You’ve hit the nail on the head Shar

    • Lachlan on July 2, 2014 at 11:59 am
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    I have witnessed myself through the paranormal investigation at Aradale a scratch and a push.
    I shat myself

      • Mish on December 8, 2014 at 1:42 am
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      Hey Lachlan, yes me too! Aradale is the BEST place to go if you want paranormal activity. We had loads and loads of stuff going on when our paranormal team went there. I was wearing night vision goggles all night and twice, this massive orb about the size of a grapefruit would come flying REALLY fast up the corridor and would come to a halt right in front of my goggles and then would shoot upwards and then just disappear, it didn’t scare me but startled me big time and I nearly fell backwards. We then went into the forensic dept and I could see this mist coming up through the concrete floor, so I said to one of the guys “what do you make of this” and gave him my night vision goggles, and he said ” yer it does look like mist” and right at that point he says “WHOA” and nearly fell backwards and I said “What??” and he said “oh my god, this massive orb just came flying at me and stopped right in front of the goggles and took off”, I said YES that’s whats been happening to me all night! Anyway, we go into a small room where one of the nurses resided, there were 8 of us and it was a little bit crowded, so my husband had to stand in the doorway and I was right in the corner at the back of the room (still wearing my night vision, which meant I could see everyone and EVERYTHING), we were communicating with a nurse through the voice box, I think she said her name was Rosemary, next thing it felt like someone or something ran their finger or fingernail or something really hard and deep, right across the top of my right thigh, so I looked down at my thigh and all around but there was nothing there! and then straight after, my husband who was standing in the doorway, said “oh shit, something just grabbed me on the shoulder”, so i quickly looked up with my night vision but there was nothing there! One of the girls was wearing the sound recording equipment and had a headset on, she went into some room (which was pitch black) by herself and shut the door, she was only in there for a couple of minutes when she came bursting out saying (excitedly not scared) OMG!! Michelle you’ve got to come in here, I want to see if it happens to you too! I said What? and she said she was trying to communicate through the sound equipment when something went bang bang bang on the right side of her head set, so we swapped our equipment, I now had the headset on and she had the night vision goggles. To begin with all I could hear was static coming through the headset, then all of a sudden something tapped 3 times really hard on the right side of the headset (my friend was standing over on my left), I shat myself and we went bolting out of the room!! Other weird stuff was happening that night as well, such as seeing a light go on in a window (looking from outside the building, we got an awesome clear photo of a male ghost that looked like he was disappearing into the bricks (and this was taken outside the building), we heard doors opening and closing, footsteps down the corridors (mind you, we were the only people there)! Oh yer, we even got (though the voice box, a very angry) Fuck off! Get out!! apparently (when he was alive) he was an absolute crazy, nasty piece of work inmate, who hated women)! So me and my girlfriend went into his room to stir him up a bit and told him to touch one of us on the arse (which he didn’t) but then really clearly on the voice box Fuck off!!! Get out!! so we did, as fast as we could LOL. If you are really into the paranormal, I highly recommend Aradale! We just did J Ward (where the criminally insane were kept, which is just up the road from Aradale) on Friday night 5th Dec, it was an alnighter and we slept there. There’s definitely a presence there but we didn’t really capture much, My mate just got touched on the head and we just communicated with a little girl and a male spirit through the ghost meter. We took loads of pics but nothing showed up, just a moving orb. We even used the Ouija board but got nothing. We’ve even done Larundel, and I can tell you now, that place IS haunted but that’s another long story.
      Cheers for now Mish

      • AEgamez on May 4, 2016 at 9:01 am
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      well yes, i live in the same town as aradale i once went on a ghost tour there and i honestly kept feeling like something was behind me whenever i drive past that old place i just feel cold

    • Kasey on July 16, 2014 at 10:36 am
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    you need the old Mooroopna Hospital its been burnt down but still stand it is Haunted bye many ghost a nurse grey nurse seen lots and dead patients also been seen not to long ago by the towns people. and you can feel them at the hospital and former hospital museum. should cheek it out look for. very spooky at night even in day time
    http://WWW.whattimeforgot

    • Doc on August 13, 2014 at 10:54 am
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    Many years ago l worked in the Botanic gardens near the old observatory Melbourne at the rear of Government house there was a large building where we stored things, this building had about 20 cells of various types was very old some were padded with heavy horse hair type walls and heavy doors. There were offices kitchens etc it was single story with a central passage.
    It wasn’t used as anything at the time l was working there only storage but must have housed some patients or prisoners at some time l have not been able to find any reference to it, and l can tell you it definitely was there….I’m trying to find out what it was and who they kept there…

    • Shaun on August 17, 2014 at 6:48 am
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    I’m interested to find out if there are any books on the history of aradale n beechworth n also the J Wardin Ararat

    • Jason C on September 2, 2014 at 8:04 am
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    I really want to visit some haunted houses and these sound good so I shal visit them 🙂

    • Katie on September 6, 2014 at 12:07 am
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    I am an aged care worker who looks after a man who was housed in Larundel for many years. He has told me stories of the very harsh treatments and what he was subject to. Many of the patients, including himself were forced to trial LSD and they were pretty much off their faces for the entire duration of their stay.
    I can’t go into it too much due to privacy policies, but he told me the leader of a very famous Victorian cult had ALOT to do with Larundel and the LSD trials. I know this because the man I look after has told me he was a part of this cult, and when he tried to leave she had him placed in there.
    He claims the doctors who were treating patients were also members of this cult and did anything the leader told them to do.
    He told me the place is most definitely haunted by the souls that were tourtured there. He has many accounts of paranormal activity that he has witnessed.
    He is still haunted today from what he went through at Larundel and he is a very messed up old man who lost his entire family and friendship network due to being admitted there.
    What a sad place it must of been.

      • shar on November 7, 2015 at 11:55 am
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      There was no cult but yes there were numerous drug trials and yes it wad a terribly sad place full of often forgotten people who were stigmatised by an ignorant society. This stigmatisation is being carried on by the insensitive motions who post on here that have no compassion for what these involuntary patients had to live through

        • rowie on April 14, 2016 at 1:38 pm
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        AMEN to that!!!

    • Penny on November 5, 2014 at 9:14 pm
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    Just a couple more suggestions. J Ward in Ararat is worth a look, as well the old hotels and buildings in Williamstown and there’s a homestead in Point Cook. All run ghost tours and are a lot of fun

    • nsomi on November 14, 2014 at 1:02 pm
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    My daughter and son went to lurundel each time they heard music box playing daughter said it was like following them around then at 12 and before 12 both times music heard in court yard and the loud sounds that’s expected my daughter seen a face with white mask but up on roof that scared her they left

      • Gen on November 18, 2014 at 8:11 am
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      Can you get in there, or is it illegal? (are there guards and whatnot)

        • Mandy on January 2, 2015 at 8:10 pm
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        You can take a wander, my son does regularly and he is extremely obsessed with the place. Be careful of squatters and it’s overrun with graffiti – it’s such a shame that some of the general public have no respect for Australian history. I am also extremely interested and consumed with these types of places, my main interest is Ned Kelly, so I headed to Beechworth…. I did some research and came across “Mayday Hills Lunatic Asylum”. I booked the ghost tour – 30th December 2014. Reports are that it’s haunted and the historical information is amazing. The stories were horrific and intriguing at the same time. Near the end – I think it was the cellar, I dont remember much but I remember going down stairs into a room with a bed a half window with bars its all very vauge, except for… in this room the guide was talking but I didn’t hear it. I had a terrible feeling my head started to spin and I just had to sit down before I dropped down. I don’t remember anything exvept a fellow tourist asking me if I was ok, she asked me 3-5 times and she was right in my face (curious and eagerly was her tone), like she wanted to know something, as if she knew something. I don’t remember anything elee until we got back to the reception area for a chat before the tour finished. I was looking for that lady to give her my appreciation for caring – I couldn’t find her, couldn’t see her, no one had left as the guide was only starting to wrap up. Im going to call the tour, as they are passionate about this building and it’s history, I need to know. This was the greatest tour I’ve been on and that’s thanks to the guide and the history of Mayday Hills. Please share any stories/experience from any of our old prisons, institutions, gold rush era, places where people docked and lived after arriving in Australia. Even paranormal groups share info and everyone check out Beechworth’s history its awesome

    • helen on December 2, 2014 at 4:41 am
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    The only time I have seen a ghost was in the middle of lunch hour at The old Whitehorse Plaza Boxhill outside a health food sandwich bar. As I watched the thronging crowd move towards and past me, one person, a very tall thin man stood out. He was wearing clothes that were not of this era and at first I thought he was an actor but his eyes stared fixedly ahead and he had another world feel to him. Two young men also noticed him and nudged each other. It was such an unexpected and breath taking sight and to this day I strongly suspect had I reached out to touch his clothes I would have felt air even though he appeared solid. This happened in the early 1990’s before they renovated the northern side shopping centre.

    • nat on December 6, 2014 at 9:51 am
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    I would liKe to know what happened to the mental asylum in toorak which is now being knocked down

    • Rodger on January 16, 2015 at 11:12 pm
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    I grew up near Aradale and I’ve been through long before the showmanship events of the ‘Ghost Tours’ it’s a creepy place but more so out of knowing what went on there.
    Truly the scariest thing about Aradale isn’t even the cliche and rather out of place costume of the tour guide, it’s not even the ‘ghost’ stories, it’s the athspestos risk lead paint risk and spiders.
    I’ve heard 100s of stories about Jward but none about Aradale. Having seen both first hand Jward is without a doubt the only site I’ve visited that feels constantly ‘haunted’

    This said I’ve heard the tour operators at Aradale do a great tour, just don’t go there and come home disappointed that you never saw a ghost

      • AEgamez on May 4, 2016 at 8:58 am
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      i can agree, i live in the same town as Aradale and its one creepy place when i went for the tour the tour guide just gave me the creeps i went with a huge group but still something felt strange about it i would keep looking behind me because i constantly felt like something was behind me i never saw any type of ghost but that place still does give me the creeps whenever i drive passed it it just seems something odd about it

  7. I’m affected by mental illness and in one of my hospital admissions someone suggested that all the various closed asylums should be restored so that they can use them again because beds in mental hospitals are hard to come by. I didn’t know if I should laugh at the suggestion or be afraid that someone might decide it’s a good idea.
    Could you imagine emotionally sensitive and/or damaged people force to stay in a haunted hospital? Mental hospitals can be creepy enough at night because people wake up screaming for nightmares (PTSD sufferers) and many people with schizophrenia seemed to be more affected at night. Add in that most haunted places can cause an emotionally healthy person to feel paranoid and unsafe and you have a recipe for further damaging already fragile people. Plus who would believe “crazy” people have seen ghosts?
    I’ve been on ghost tours around Melbourne CBD and while we saw two sight which where haunted by nice ghosts most of the spots we visited had awful atmospheres. In one site several people heard a woman scream, I felt like someone had jumped from a window near the entrance onto me (I’m assuming the man comitted suicide). One particular sight was the worst, it was the place where a mother and baby had been killed by a man who was investigated as a possible suspect for Jack the Ripper (it was later decided his MO was too different). Most men on the tour felt threatened and I felt someone watching me, I believe it was the mother who was both angry and deeply depressed. I think she identified with me because I’d been in an abusive relationship. The sight is near a pub and apparent there’s been men who’ve stumbled out of the pub, had a wee behind the bins and have been hit. The suspicious absence of graffiti was really strange given the large majority of ally ways in Melbourne CBD do have some. The last place we visited was a ceremonial burial ground for Indigenous Australians, before we got there and before we were told what was there I had already known it was a special place.

  8. I’ve heard the music box at larundel. At around 9 pm and again at 10 pm. Someone claimed they were an ice cream truck in the area, but at 10 pm on a winter’s night, I doubt it. I first put it down to a clock in the area, as it was just on the hour when I have heard it, but then when there at other times did not hear it, so a clock chiming sometimes and not others doesn’t really fit, and a clock big enough for its chime that sounds like a music box is creepier than the story of it being a ghost, lol. Residual energy from a time bygone? I have no idea.

    • FatherJon on April 24, 2015 at 6:42 am
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    I worked at Kew for a year in 1963 until I was sacked for ‘insubordination’ which amounted to me telling one of the psychiatrists that she was wasting her time trying to get the gerries (geriatrics) interested in gardening. There were many funny things happened there, all of which tended to lighten the moment for the staff who were a jolly bunch of multi-ethnics from all over Europe and the Middle East. Good working hours too, 12 hour days, two at a time, with all meals served, pay was good especially if we young guys swapped for weekends with the family men thus gaining the extra penalty rates. Still, not the sort of place that you’d want to make a career out of. I gather it was burned down due to patients smoking in bed. That was never a good idea to allow smoking in bed, I knew that at the time but the psychiatrist wouldn’t have listened to me anyway!

    • Niel Edgley on May 30, 2015 at 12:13 pm
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    Buildings dont have to be haunted,my ex wife and myself, my brother Frank and his ex wife Glenys shared a 12 yr old house in North Plympton Adelaide SA, we used to hear foosteps in the roof as if it was a timber floor, we sprinkled plaster powder on the upper surface to find after the foosteps there were large boot type footprints,the two lge bat wing doors between the Kitchen and lounge room would swing open suddenly even after we applied the latch which could not just unlatch itself. I lived in a haunted bldng in Kiama NSW,then a Haunted house in Balgownie NSW, and now in Fairy Meadow NSW where we and friends have often briefly seen an old man and get this, a medium sized raggy looking dog, he does us no harm and we are comfortable with it although sometimes his sudden but usually brief appearance can be startling. Our Beagle dog appears to know when they are around as he stares at nothingness.
    .

      • Nicole on April 2, 2016 at 8:49 am
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      What street is this house on in Balgownir? Because we went to an open house today in Balgownie and I was so creeped out I just wanted to leave.

        • Niel Edgley on June 26, 2016 at 10:45 am
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        The House was no.3 John St, it had a miners cottage in between the front and rear of the house(as the centre of the house)it was demolished and redeveloped into Townhouses in 2003, apparently someone has heard the little girl there.

  9. I have visited Larundel, yes its freaky and yes both my friend and myself experienced the music box sounds…… we experienced other paranormal encounters too……..

      • Jessica on June 26, 2015 at 5:34 am
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      when did you go? can I still go now?

    • Col on June 24, 2015 at 10:50 am
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    Great post, enjoyed reading the comments.
    We live close to Larundel and keen to attend a tour.
    Keen on hearing about any experiences from Kapunda in SA also the the Adelaide Mall makes for an interesting visit.
    Been to the ghost tour in Launceston Tasmania worth the time when visiting.

    • Morag on July 27, 2015 at 8:13 am
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    Melbourne is not one of the oldest cities in Australia it is one of the youngest. It was settled via Launceston. Hobart the second oldest city in Australia. Many towns are older than Melbourne.

  10. WOW!!!!
    But not the creepiest thing I’ve read but can’t wait to see my fans

    • ray on September 6, 2015 at 7:28 pm
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    A I was the security officer who worked there for 3yrs an 6months
    sunbury mental hospital, otherwise known as kaloola pines training centre,the jail there was turned into a recital hall at a cost of a few million dollars
    but was eventually close down only after 12 moths, due to unexplain occurrences
    also one building use to house orderly’s has been known to have a cold
    spot on the second floor. half way down the passage,An the Cemetery that was Part
    of the old grounds was seen with a light flashing amongst the headstones .
    which was investigated by security. an police from sunbury.found
    no one around this went on for about a week ,. there was a fire in unit 4 which some Patients
    were burnt to death ,caused by a patient smoking ,

      • FatherJon on September 9, 2015 at 10:32 pm
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      On a slightly different tangent I worked as an orderly at the old Kew Mental Asylum years ago when patients were freely allowed to smoke. One of the annexes was burned down, as I understand from a burning cigarette dropped in bedclothes.
      My wife awoke after an operation at Sydney’s Prince Alfred Hospital back in the 70s in a fug of ciggy smoke from a patient in the next bed. Despite complaints the patient was still allowed to smoke. We moved my wife out of the hospital immediately.
      Thankfully nobody’s allowed to smoke in hospitals anymore.

      1. Hi I read in your second comment you worked there in 1962. My aunt, Adele (Del) Tyzack worked there at the time of the fire – do you remember her? If so, I would love to talk with you about her. Cheers, Helen Tyzack tyzackh@gmail.com

      • barbara on May 29, 2016 at 3:06 am
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      Why do you all think hauntings only go on in mental institutions etc.? As a spiritualist I have had many uinbelievable experiences. Such an example was when researching I went to births deaths and marriages and words in a foreign language appeared. When relating to my daughter I laughingly said I couldn’t read a word of it. When I tried again the message came in English telling me I would be wise to leave the site – I did! This is only one example of the fact the spirits know exactly what we are doing.

  11. I would like to know about the one in liberty Missouri? Location?7

  12. I’m amazed at the number of Asylums in Victoria,such a young country ,why i wonder?Makes me think about it’s society as a whole?Inbreeding?Violence in the home?Pedophilia?

  13. It amazes why there are so many asylums in Victoria,begs the question why in such a new vibrant land why?Life must of been hard back then ,not so glamorous as history has us believe!

    • josh on October 5, 2015 at 7:06 am
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    um i explore “haunted places” and asylums etc and i was wondering are there any near werribee

      • Rosie on June 27, 2016 at 1:10 pm
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      Werribee Mansion would be my first thought.

    • michele j edwards on November 10, 2015 at 2:15 pm
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    Lunatic asylums mostly housed the misfits in society…..Including disabilities….The only ghosts that live within these walls are the Silent Cries of untold Stories…RIP…Roy…’Beechworth Lunatic Asylum’…

    • SarahC on November 23, 2015 at 11:11 am
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    Just booked second holiday to Beechworth Lunatic Asylum (Mayday Hills) couldn’t visit just once. I am once again staying in the Linaker Nurses Quarters on site. Very creepy, and eerily silent at night (in the hotel and grounds) apart from footsteps we heard down the corridors of the empty hotel, the sliding doors at the entrance had a mind of their own and on more than one occasion we awoke to find our door open. Went on the ghost tour and plan to do it again, the guide had all the modern ghost hunting equipment and took us to the most haunted locations, lots of EMF activity. During the day we just wandered the grounds and took lots of photos. Best ghost holiday ever!

    • Dave on December 24, 2015 at 6:04 am
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    The worst thing about these places is that they’ve been bought by fucks who want to make money from people. They’re not open for anyone to go in whenever they want which is disgusting

    • Bryn on February 25, 2016 at 11:47 pm
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    Are there any asylums in the Gippsland area

  14. I want hamilton Victoria 3300 hunted places

    • rowie on April 14, 2016 at 1:54 pm
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    What worries me about Larundel is the ignorance that most have about the place and ok, there is some truth to some of the folklaw surrounding the place it’s all based on hearsay now not actual events . The kids that roam the halls at night for a thrill these days or go in to destroy the place have no idea what the place was really like back in the 50’s and even as late as the 70’s back before they sealed up the tunnels that used to connect Larundel to Mont Park, both were mental hospitals, both were pretty spooky but the Mont Park original buildings (laundry, “Shower” rooms, Immersion rooms ect ) really took the cake when it came to scaring the pants of a young bloke! I doubt that anyone knew that there was actually a graveyard on the hill too, it’s under some of the big new houses now but its there and the bones were never moved 🙂

      • barbara on May 29, 2016 at 3:11 am
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      regarding Mont Park. My father worked there and had the unenviable job of selecting patients to be taken for the then experimental process of electric shocks to the brain. The patients knew what happened and pleaded with him not to ;pick them. This upset him greatly and he was a hard man having been to Gallipoli.

        • Niel Edgley on June 26, 2016 at 10:54 am
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        If he wasnt a psychiatrist, what the hell was he doing selecting the patients FFS

        • Shar on November 6, 2016 at 12:38 am
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        Such a stupid comment. My grandfather, wounded at Gallipoli, also worked at Mount Park and was the kindest most gentle man you could ever meet. The fact that he chose to pick out those that underwent ECT says more about him than the fact that he was an ANZAC. Having worked at both Larundel and Mont Park and stayed at the Nurses quarters I honestly have to say that what should be haunting you is that people like your father willingly took part in the practices that took place instead of speaking up for these disenfranchised people. My grandfather would collect one every Sunday and bring them home for a Sunday roast. What kindness did your father show to these sad forgotten souls.

    • Chook on April 26, 2016 at 12:09 pm
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    I worked at Larundel, lived at the nurses home near Mont Park. I never saw any paranormal activity, but had a bad feeling about some large conifer trees in the adjacent paddock to Larundel. There were crows circling too. Then they found the body of one of the patients there, suicide. Kids found it. It was tragic he was a lovely young man , I went to the funeral. There were suicides sometimes, if a patient went missing, the male staff went looking, they expected to see a body anywhere. so sad. these were real human beings like you and i, and deserve our respect, as do their grieving families.
    Use of pot was common among patients in the grounds, at the time we thought the mental illness caused the habit, now studies show pot can cause psychosis. There was s@x in the bushes between patients too.

    As for the nurses home at Mont Park, I remember hearing gun shots in Burundoora Park sometimes at night. It’s a large native park. No paranormal activity.

    I have felt or seen ghosts in a couple of places, I’m sure I would have known if Larundel was haunted. As for crows, there do seem to be deaths in the streets where I sight them…

    • AEgamez on May 4, 2016 at 8:45 am
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    im surprised hearing all these haunted places honestly is creepy knowing i live in Victoria

    • AEgamez on May 4, 2016 at 8:52 am
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    i live in the same town as Aradale knowing it was put on here gives me the creeps

  15. any1 holding tours of Arundel? I’m keen!

    • Anne on June 10, 2016 at 10:21 am
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    We did Ghost tour of Aradale here in Victoria it is huge place and is very creepy well worth a tour of since we did I’d they have opened other parts of it for you to see

    • Rosie on June 27, 2016 at 1:06 pm
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    I work in the hospital across from the Geelong Gaol. Just walking past it to get home is creepy as hell, you know that feeling you get when someone is watching you , times that by 100.
    I’ve been to the Beechworth asylum as well , quite scary and the history is both horrifying as it is sad.

    I think the main place that was missed in this list is Junee in NSW. The most terrifying place I’ve personally ever been. Being in the upstairs of the house actually makes you feel like vomiting. Google Junee mansion if you’re interested. Worth a look!

      • Rosie on June 27, 2016 at 1:15 pm
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      Maybe if I had read the title of the article I would know why Junee isn’t on the list!
      Still worth a loo though

    • Kiri on July 23, 2016 at 2:33 pm
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    I was at an extended family members house a quiet a few years ago “my in laws” and my brother in laws wife had her parents over from America. When I arrived at the house I was overwhelmed when I saw her father who I noticed had an Ora around his body, I was also surprised that all the kids in the house were climbing all over him swinging off him and running around him as if he was the jungle gym at the local park. I pointed at him and I asked my brother in law ‘what’s with him?’ And he just shrugged it off and said the kids must think he’s Santa Clause or something, probably because he looked like Santa without the beard. I was so gob smacked at the glow around his body especially when I noticed that nobody else could see what I could see so I kept it to myself. I had only spoken to the guy a few times in the short time I knew him but each time I did I felt some kind of an emotional connection that I couldn’t explain like a anxious sad kind of feeling. I felt he was a very humble sweet man.
    Not long after this incident happened after he had returned to America he took his own life. I was so sad and devistaded when I found out but I instantly felt that it was his time to leave this earth and whatever glow surrounded him that day was something very special waiting to take him to a beautiful special place. I have told my husband and kids about my experience that day but it’s something you can only really believe if you experience it yourself I guess, not that they didn’t believe me but I know they never really understood the impact it had on me. My daughter has had a few unexplained experiences herself, some when she was to young to remember but started again after she turned 18.
    As I’ve got older I have learned to trust my gut so to speak, my instincts. I can tell if someone’s a good person or a bad person most of the time and know when to put my guards up and when to keep them down, but I have never experienced anything else like the sweet man with the special Ora.

    • Jay on August 21, 2016 at 12:14 pm
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    I would highly recommend a day tour of Aradale. Not quite as horror filled and haunted as the ghost tour, but much more factual. Aradale has an amazing history.

    • Ellisha Derhun on September 14, 2016 at 11:50 am
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    My grandma was a patient at larundel in the 1970s
    Can anyone point me in the right direction to contacr old staff or patients?

  16. I worked inside Fortuna in the 90s for 5 years and I am far from a believer but I saw things and I heard things that are hard for me to justify in my head other than ghosts. And it says soldiers were not posted out. I saw two soldiers posted out. One an officer after his duty and that man was as pale as a ghost himself for what he had seen. Doors that are closed would open and then the door on the other side of the room that was closed would open and shut. I saw a figure in a window once leaning on a cane and ran out there and there was nothing. Wasn’t until months later I saw photos and the guy with the cane in it. So it was interesting in this article that people heard a cane tapping as I had not heard that from anyone else before.

  17. what are the best abandoned places to visit in Brisbane?

    • Janelle on April 25, 2017 at 1:23 pm
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    Pentridge prison is another one that’s definitely haunted

  18. My guess is Fortuna in Bendigo is haunted, but to what level I’m unsure. George Lansell was obsessed with money and Fortuna so good chance of that haunting. One of the son’s hanged himself inside the house using a heavy roof beam.

    • wayne jessup on December 22, 2018 at 1:40 am
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    Previously I remarked on unexplained happenings regarding myself. It has been noted that others claim to experience an unseen presence or feel that the atmosphere in their immediate vicinity turns cold when a “paranormal event” takes place. Every event that happened to myself is the total truth. At no time did I notice an unseen presence or a sudden drop in temperature around me. At this time I have no explanation for past happenings. Maybe at a future time the unexplained will become the explained?

    • deborah knight on February 8, 2019 at 5:53 am
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    l’m wondering if anyone can help me l’m turning 60 this year and l want to celebrate with my friends my way l’m trying to find a genuine haunted house in the melbourne area to spend the night iv always been interested in the other side of things l am a scorpio we are curious beings . l need to rent a place overnight to celebrate well and do some evps and ouija board 2 of my loves in life can someone suggest somewhere with contact details thanks xo

      • frank on February 15, 2019 at 3:06 am
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      deborah knight the other side is real umust now what u are doing with a ouija board it can work it do not have to be night i saw a ghost and i shot a photo and got it

        • Matt on February 15, 2019 at 1:11 pm
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        That sounds good Frank iv got some stories you can ring me if you like 042581107

    • frank on February 15, 2019 at 2:56 am
    • Reply

    deborah i saw a ghost

    • wayne jessup on February 16, 2019 at 2:38 am
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    I have never seen a ghost in physical form ever. I have experienced many strange events to which I have no answer at this time. These events started occurring after a friend died in 2007. There has never been another person present to witness the actual happenings taking place. If possible I would like someone to share what I have seen and experienced. Sadly I can’t see this taking place any time soon. Some who I have shared my experiences with claim that either I need to see a psychic or a psychiatrist. My answer can only be what happened did happen, a fact is a fact and you can’t beat a fact

    • moonbase1 on February 18, 2019 at 10:20 pm
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    hi any ghost photo u got

    • moonbase1 on February 18, 2019 at 10:22 pm
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    hi can u hear me
    anyone

    • wayne jessup on March 1, 2019 at 10:56 pm
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    Over the years I have experienced many unexplained happenings. Since the beginning of this time I’ve been trying to find a logical answer to each event, with very little success. This next event, I hope, may have a logical explanation, Can any one tell me If they check the calendar on their computer does a message appear saying “HAPPY BIRTHDAY” on the actual date of their birthday. This is printed in the colour red.At this stage I have no idea how it came to be on the calendar of my PC. Maybe computers are more capable of moving information around internally then some of us can imagine. Then again, maybe not???

    • Jane on June 4, 2023 at 5:29 am
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    I worked in the Geelong Goal buildings in the 1990s after it was de-commissioned. Some of the buildings there were used by an organisation running services artists with a disability. Myself and other staff often experienced strange phenomena from noises, doors, sightings. It was not fun being the last to leave at night having to lock up several layers of ancient doors & gates behind me in the dark! Worst night was when I found myself, one night accidentally (?!) locked in behind all of those layers of ancient, heavy doors, gates & locks!

    My most recent experience of ghosts was at The Shrine of Remembrance on Anzac Day evening 2023. I was sitting with my family at the top of the stairs looking out towards the city of Melbourne when appeared in the forecourt before me, a depleted platoon of dark figures standing quiet and still, soldier like in the dark. I can only find record of one other ghost being regularly sighted at the Shrine. Does anyone know of any other sightings or have they experienced them, themselves?

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