I love spooky, spine-tingling stories; but I also try to keep a hold on my imagination, not let it get the best of me. I’m all for science and theorems, but there a more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in Horatio’s philosophy, as Hamlet said.
All this is to say that if my life depended on it and a choice had to be made between sides for the ‘Yes, ghosts (or energies) exist’ or ‘No, they don’t’ debate… well, I would be on the ‘Yes’ side. It’s not clear cut, by any means. Perhaps that’s why I find the subject interesting.
This is why I put a ghost tour on my living list and luckily, this past Saturday night in the city, I got to explore my curiosity along with seven of my girlfriends.
We chose quite the night for it – by 11.30pm, the time the tour ended, the temperature had dipped down to four degrees. Our toes had gone numb and we were breathing in to our cupped hands to keep warm. I even rang ahead to Adam to get my hot water bottle ready for me by the time I got home to defrost.
So, atmosphere? Check.
Before the tour started, my friends and I got into the spirit of the occasion by going out to dinner and telling each other about our close encounters (if any) with ghosts in our past – and surprisingly most of us could speak in the affirmative. My humble story was this one. To this day I really don’t know what to think about it.
By 8.30pm we’d wandered down to The Haunted Bookshop on McKillop St and were ready to walk.
We were expecting fifteen, maybe twenty people. Not the massive group that showed up, equally keen on such a frosty night to be entertained. I noticed once our tour guide, Drew, owner of the bookshop, got out his walkie talkie/ megaphone that many local apartment dwellers came over to their windows to draw the blinds, well versed in the tour that has been running for fifteen years now (or perhaps it was a coincidence..)
Our tour began down at Bank Place, and we walked up it to the Mitre Tavern (where I’ve had a bevvie or five in my past…) There have been reports of a ghost of a singing woman up on the first floor, I think in the room you can see there on the end, where the windows are dark.
We wound our way along the streets, past the Medina Apartments that were once the Australia Post offices, location of the Queen St Massacre. Past the RACV building, a newish building, but can already boast its own ghost. We went down Niagara Lane, one of the oldest existing laneways in Melbourne, complete with its original cobblestones.
We found our way down in Hardware St, where you might say my interest was well and truly piqued. Why? See this photo.
For people who are new readers to this blog, Adam and I lived in the city for a month at the end of 2000 when we first moved to Melbourne. Right here at the ground level of 114 Hardware St. We loved the location, but the weekend noise from Pugg’s was unendurable (for me, anyway). Little did I know that they also – allegedly – have their own ghost in the bar area… not very far from where I slept! Let alone when I drank, as we did go there a lot back at that time! Right around the corner from here is Little Lonsdale St, the red light district of Melbourne’s formative years, with windy, skinny lanes between it and La Trobe St that housed horses and carriages in the Cobb & Co years. Ghostly clip-clops have been reported down such places as Flanigan Lane.
Via Flagstaff Gardens (a former cemetery – do people know as they lounge upon the grass on summer days that underneath are bodies? I certainly didn’t), the tour ends at Queen Victoria Markets, another burial ground. They’re a fascinating place to visit at night, ghost tour or not, to see everything packed up and ready for the next day’s trade.
Was I scared? Not in the slightest. Did I wish I had been? Well… I don’t know about that. I certainly appreciated the historical details and information that I learned in the course of over two and a half hours (which, for $20, was value for money). Additionally, the exercise and a night out with friends made it all-round fun.
For more details about the tour, if you’re curious, you can go here. The bookshop is on Facebook here.
Tick! Next!
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
That sounds like loads of spooky fun.
What a small world though – I moved to Melbourne in 2000 and my first job was working at the Travel Doctor clinic on the corner of Little Bourke and Hardware Lane. Clearly Hardware Lane is where all the cool newcomers end up in one way or another.
Marita recently posted..I love the internet – Cookies for Heidi
Indeed! We might have even crossed paths without realising
My bestie and I had the most amazing experience doing a ghost tour of Edinburgh during the festival back in 2001. I too am a little ambivalent about the existence of ghosts or spirits but the pure adrenalin fueled fear during that tour was brilliant!! We walked through the old cemetery where medical students came to steal bodies for the med school when it was still illegal to cut up cadavers. The tour guide was a drama student and it was worth every penny we spent! We needed a few stiff drinks later that night to calm our nerves!
Super Sarah recently posted..Renovations – Day 4 – Deck and outside the house.
Ooh, that sounds FAB Sarah! I’d need a drink too! I love Edinburgh.
Sounds like fun. I’ve done a couple of ghost tours – one in York, England; one in Rothenburg ob der Tauber in Germany. Didn’t see any ghosts, but I agree, they were interesting experiences – and good exercise!
Maid In Australia recently posted..Moving on … and winners!
LOL We probably crossed paths, too, as my friends and I used to frequent Puggs every weekend.
I’ve been on that tour, very enjoyable, Drew Sinton is a good researcher and tour guide
Jayne recently posted..Joooo-lie 9 with summer rentals in the Ballarat morgue
What, they didn’t take you to the Old Melbourne Jail? that would have to be one of the most haunted places in Melbourne… creepy about Flagstaff Gardens and Queen Victoria Market though… didn’t think they did things like build over cemeteries.
A few years ago a neighbour a couple of doors down died… An Asian family so for the funeral they were all dressed in white. I was trying to figure out who had died but didn’t want to ask in case I crossed some cultural boundary. As I walked past a few days after the funeral I saw the father outside doing some gardening. Weird thing was, a few weeks later I found out that he was the one who died.
Oddly enough, things like that happen to me all the time. But once I know they’re dead I don’t see them again… probably my rational mind saying it’s impossible LOL.
Jack The Ripper walking tour is good as well
Cool, there’s a great ghost tour up our way (Blue Mountains NSW) as well, and the people next door to us claim to have a ghost – dressed in black – in their bathroom!