DIARY OF A GHOST HUNTER

Quality Row where most of the official houses stand, has its eerie tales. Soldiers in coloful uniforms of old and Empire gowned and crinolined ladies are said to have revisited their old homes and the clanking of chain gangs is held to re-echo at times. Beyond Quality Row lies the graveyard and if you walk there after dark you must whistle to send wandering spirits back to their resting places. Western Satr ans Roma Advertisier - Saturday 23 September 1939                                        One of the house on Quality Row - Norfolk Island That comes from a newspaper article written in 1939. I have just returned from my second visit to Norfolk Island. I spent 3 days there with another 13 gorgeous people and we were all out to explore the island and it's ghostly stories.                             ...

We live in landscapes filled with ghosts.The scenes we pass through each day are inhabited, possessed by spirits we cannot see but whose presence we nevertheless experience. What I am describing  is a common feature of human experience of place for both modern and traditional peoples. The meaning of a place, its genius loci,depends upon the geniuses we locate there. Ghosts of the living and the dead alike,of both individual and collective spirits of both ourselves and our own selves, haunt the places of our lives. Places are in a way 'personed' - even when there is no one there. by Michael Mayerfeld Bell Theory and Society Vol. 26, No. 6 (Dec., 1997) As anyone who has been on a haunted site and has felt the presence of someone there you will agree with the words of Mayefeld Bell. Bell goes on to say that it isn't always about memories and that sometimes these ghosts are alive and playful and are rooted to their space - immovable. This is someth...

We have a magnificent theatre here in Newcastle. It's called the CIVIC THEATRE. The heritage listed Civic Theatre was designed by prominent architect Henry Eli White and opened in 1929 . Regarded as one of the finest architects of the period, Henry White specialised in cinemas or 'picture palaces' as they were then called. Although designed as a live theatre, the Civic was immediately leased as a cinema to Northern Amusements (in association with Newcastle Theatres Pty Ltd and Greater Union).  In 1941 Hoyts gained control and the Civic continued under this management until 1973.  Newcastle City Council then decided to move towards more live productions and phase out cinema operations completely. This adaption was undertaken over 1974-76. (info: http://www.civictheatrenewcastle.com.au/About/History) With little maintenance having been done on the building over the years, the Civic was in much need of renovation.  In June 1992, the Civic...