DIARY OF A GHOST HUNTER

  The name of the town is thought to have come from the Gundungurra/Ngunnawal people indigenous to that region. ‘Collector’ is said to have been derived from the word ‘colegdar’, the Gundungurra word for the area (aussietowns.com.au). Collector was first occupied by Europeans in 1829 when Terence Aubrey Murray and his family were granted the farming and grazing lands alongside Lake George, NSW. The property went on to be called Winderradeen (Australian Dictionary of Biography). Murray later acquired other lands including Yarralumla sheep station, which would evolve over time to become the home of the Governor General.  He later became a politician and was appointed to the Legislative Council of NSW Parliament (Australian Dictionary of Biography). The post office in Collector first opened in 1848, and the first hotel opened in 1841. The only hotel remaining today, originally titled the Commercial Hotel (now the Bushranger Hotel, see below), opened in 1861. The Bushranger Hotel ...

 The Charles Bridge connects one side of the city of Prague in the Czech republic, to the other, and has stood through floods, war, religious upheavals and the metamorphosis of the city. It is a walk that is taken by thousands of tourists every year and it is a walk I will be doing later this year with my travel buddy, Anne Rzechowicz , when we head on an escorted ghost tour hosted by Dave Schrader. I am looking forward to this, even though I had no plans on going at all, but after seeing the itinerary Anne booked the tour with her husband, and told me that I have to come. We are going to an Ossuary, which is a church decorated with bleached and carved human bones!  Those crazy Europeans! Oh, girlfriend you had to twist my arm! As the bridge sees a constant stream of people on it from dawn till late at night I really don't know how I will go sensing anything at all. Way too crowded! But, I still I await the experience of rubbing one special statue for good luck. It's traditio...

 The Ghost Of Ghost Creek Story sourced from Forgotten Illawarra Blog The Ghost of Ghost Creek This tale is Wollongong’s claim to fame, in the same fasion of Fisher’s Ghost in Campbelltown. Ghost Creek is located on the Western end of Crown street near the Mount Keira junction, and used to be home to a beautiful wooden and stone bridge. Our story begins in 1836, when convicts were rife in Sydney. There was a regiment guarding the convicts who were working in a chain gang excavating Belmore Basin. The convicts were often intoxicated, due to be allowed a reasonable quantity of “Old Jamaican Rum” by the Lieutenants who supervised them, and oftentimes the Lieutenants were highly intoxicated too. One fateful night, the Lieutenant in charge of the Stockade at the Crossroads had far too much to drink. On a whim, he rushed the sentry and tried to diasrm him. The sentry, being a bigger, stronger and less intoxicated man, quickly overpowered him and threw him into the guard room. As th...

  Have you seen Fisher's Ghost? 180 years of the Fisher's Ghost Legend The following articles appeared in the Campbelltown-Macarthur Advertiser, Wednesday 21 June 2006. (p. 2, p. 135, p.136.) When things go bad, blame Fred. It's the anniversary of Frederick Fisher's murder and the start of Campbelltown's most enduring legend. And yes, 180 years on, 'Fred' is still as active as ever, long time ghost writer Jeff McGill reports. Does the ghost of Fred Fisher really walk among us today? Certainly. And I say that not only as a proud Campbelltonian, but someone who has seen and heard too many weird things. It started during my childhood when I recall sitting on the banks of Fishers Ghost Creek as dad and mum recited colourful tales of the wily spectre. They, like me, are true believers. And we're not alone. True believers cross all barriers and professions in Campbelltown. Most of our stories follow a similar theme: whenever our mysterious ectoplasm is happy e...

 Well this weekend saw me get back in the saddle and run my first tour after my Covid episode and I'm really very surprised at how tired I am. Seems that the illness did sap my energy more than I had anticipated! Tonight it was raining and we had a full house at the Gaol. We had a great group of lovely people who had a wonderful time. There was a delightful gentleman who stayed behind to tell me that he had lived in a haunted house many years ago, somewhere in outback NSW. He told me where but I had never heard of that place so I cannot remember. He told me that once a year his house would become very overcome by high strangeness with lights turning on and off that would not work at any other time of the year. Cupboards would open and close and things would go flying and footsteps would be heard walking around. This was the day the old guy world return to the house where he had killed his wife. This day. very year, was not the day he committed the murder - it was the day the Police...

The title of my post comes from the words whispered into the ear of one of our participants from last night's ghost tour at MAITLAND GAOL. We had a private tour last night at the Gaol and because everyone was part of a big group of family and friends they had a great blend of energy and were very open to each other. It was easy to put them into groups and easy to have the interaction BETWEEN THEM already vibing nice and high even before we started to take them into the Wings of the Gaol. It is ALL about the energy! This group was such fun last night. They were ready to get into it in a big way and they all took part in all of the experiments we set up with some awesome results. The shower block was a place were lots of shadow figures were seen. C Wing had a lot of connections in SATAN'S CELL and within the area that is known as MAXIMUM SECURITY. I was with Anne in A wing (which I so rarely get to do) and some of the brave souls were really getting into the Estes Method using th...

Today we both got stuck into social media for most of the day in amongst the normal things of life that we had to do. We do have a volunteer PA named Emmie ( Hi Emmie) and she has put a fire up our backsides and boy oh boy I am feeling very overwhelmed at the moment. We are trying to systemise things and it is just a horror carnival ride from hell. But we are learning, and in the end, we will be more organised. I had some news from Maitland Gaol today about something that we have been trying to organise for the last month or two. The news came through that the 'thing' has been approved by Council.  So stage two is a huge amount of planning. This 'thing' is very exciting - just saying. ( more to come once we are allowed to tease you). Anne found out she has an issue with plumbing that is going to cost her a few thousand dollars to fix, that's after she had to spend a LOT of money to fix the side of her house that was exposed when the new neighbours decided to renovat...