Possession at Werribee Farm

Werribee Park provided a surreal, yet eerie backdrop for what eventuated as the most entertaining, yet most terrifying ordeal for a first time ghost hunter. What started out as an enjoyable evening of new experiences, concluded with a scene that would challenge the most affrighted scripts of the horror genre. 

So here we were, three females embarking on the Werribee Farm 3-hour tour. Myself, one who has investigated the paranormal for a number of decades, accompanied by two first time ghost tour enthusiasts. On entering the park, we drove down a long and dark dirt track. At the end of the track, we made our way along a path to a small bluestone building, where we were met by the hosts for the night. The soft orange moonlight outlined some of the buildings in the distance. Were those the buildings we were exploring? The Park felt like a million miles away, secluded, almost desolate. 

We began our investigation in the blacksmiths shed; it was rather uneventful, nothing out of the ordinary. A little bit of history, a few noises, cold spots and the occasional "did you see that?"

After a little while, we moved onto the stables. It was in here that our, should I call her the "possessed one" first began to share stories and thoughts from the other side. It was in here that she said that she needed to remove her wedding and engagement rings as they were burning her hands. She took them off and passed them rather mindlessly to the other ghost newbie. Was this her mistake? Was it this action that removed her protection, making her vulnerable, allowing her soul to be taken hostage?

So now the story gets interesting. Possessed one, let's call her "Anne" starts sharing thoughts with the group. There is a small girl in here, called Lizzie. She is in a prairie style dress, boots, skipping between here and the blacksmith. She likes "John", who is the blacksmith. She goes on to share many random thoughts which had the hosts googling for validation. From an experienced paranormal investigator's perspective, Anne was showing signs of mediumship, or at the very least, a high level of intuition. It was interesting and appeared quite genuine, but nothing I had not seen hundreds of times before and did not see any cause for alarm. 

We moved from the stables to the caretaker's cottage. It was in here that Anne became quite loud. She stated that John thought we were not safe in the house and that he had to stay in there with us. Anne said that no one should be in the back room on their own. After ensuring to Anne that we were safe and this was a normal type of activity on ghost hunts, we started a silent portal experiment. We were receiving profanities and statements, like "I will punch you in the face" and "chin up".  The hosts had left us and the guests in the cottage on our own, for about thirty minutes. Once we had finished the portal session, Anne went on to give history of the cottage and stated, rather factually, that Sarah lived in the house and she lived with a man, Robert, who had an aggressive temper. Just as Anne said this, the hosts walked in and asked Anne to repeat her statements, to which the hosts validated the stories. 

Interested, but also a little surprised, sceptical and bewildered, we left the cottage to explore the carriage house. Anne found it difficult to enter the carriage house and kept repeating "bad shit happened in there" and that she couldn't go in. Eventually, Anne entered the shed and was immediately drawn to the far left corner. She walked over and stood next to me and said again how much she didn't like this building and she had to leave. It was at this exact time that my camera became activated, taking random shots of a bright yellow-white light. The male host was watching this over my shoulder, confused and intrigued. The female host stated that she was cold and could feel a negative energy. Anne, visibly rattled by her feelings, stormed out of the building while telling everyone rather abruptly, "a gust of cold air just come in front of me" - this is the exact moment that I believe the possession took hold of Anne, albeit unbeknownst to her, to me and to others. 

We began our walk down to the mansion, Anne talked all the way there, commenting on people working in the fields, sitting on the lawns, dancing at a party and playing with the dogs. She talked of children, of workers and of trees. Talking with her, you could easily believe that she was there, living it, seeing it. It seemed so real! At the mansion, she sat alone on the lawns, as if she was watching an event. She looked content sitting on the grass by a tree in the moonlight, happy, yet ever so distant.  

Anne then slowly walked over to us in the laundry, tears swelled in her eyes. Her emotions pouring out as she shared a story of a maid who gave birth to an illegitimate daughter and then proceeded to drown the baby in the trough. Her precise detail of two women washing a white sheet and asking if it was clean enough (that all the blood was out) was fascinating, yet disturbing. To Anne, this was happening in front of her. You could see that she believed it, as if she was watching it, there, now. Guests sat on the edge of the "drowning trough" only to jump up, one by one, due to being touched on the back of the head or because their hair was pulled. They appeared nerved, uncomfortable, and not one of the guests returned to sit once more. Was this the child calling for help?

It was here in the laundry that the owner of the mansion shot himself - was he the one pulling on them? Making them feel uncomfortable? Was he the father of the drowned baby girl? 

We slowly made our way back to the farm homestead. By the time I arrived with Anne and the ghost newbie, the other guests were already in the homestead playing a music box to entice activity. Slowly Anne's demeanour began to rage, she paced, she stomped and eventually yelled out "Why do they keep playing that music ..... just to annoy me!" Anne then placed her hand on her hip and stormed into the homestead. I watched her, she looked over at me and said "What am I doing? I don't even walk like this!", but on she continued, pushed open the door and began yelling at the guests about the music. 

Anne came out and blasted "I told them!" It was now that I really looked at Anne, her body language, her stance, her eyes! It was not Anne! I began to approach her, only for her to say "you need to stay away from me!" She began to twitch and now it was blatantly obvious we were dealing with an attachment of some sort. I knew it was time to go, to cleanse her of whatever ghost, demon or entity was channelling through her, or worse, possessing her. The longer we waited, the more control this beast would have. 

Without causing concern or raising demon alarm bells, I enticed Anne to walk with us back to base, deviating past a toilet. Eventually, we made it back to base, where Anne kept talking, switching personalities between Anne and whatever had taken possession of her. By this stage the hosts had finished the tour and were ready to leave. Knowing the sage and cleansing kits were in my car, we had to move outside the property before we could commence the cleanse. 

Fortunately we made it to the entrance of the park and began the cleansing ritual. Anne hissed, growled and swore at us, telling us to f.. off numerous times. Her body language was threatening and aggressive. She moved irrationally, staring us down as she kept her distance. She squatted and grunted, yelled and twitched. Eventually after forty-five minutes of cleansing, Anne sighed, exhausted from the dissonance which lay within. It was then that I knew, he was gone. Although he was gone from Anne's body, he didn't go far. Anne let me know, in no uncertain terms, that he was not happy with me. That he was just over there, just inside the gate, watching, waiting ..... waiting for Anne to walk back inside, so her could devour her being. 

Anne's recollection of the night is exact, at all times she had an awareness of what she was doing, but without control or reason. 

Who would have thought that an innocent ghost tour with new enthusiasts could have such an improbable and unbelievable turn of events. We were able to capture some of the night on video and on watching the event, it is my belief that we came very close to (if not had) a demon possession. Was I scared - no, but I am very mindful of how easy this event happened and how fortunate Anne was to have us there to assist and intervene. Ghost hunting is a serious hobby and is not to be taken lightly. This night has reminded me of that. 

Ghosts of the Town Hall, Coburg, Victoria, Australia

Wonderful memories of dancing at our Primary School Ball at the Coburg Town Hall, was what inspired me to book and investigate this amazing building. I could vividly remember dressing in ball gowns, whilst Mrs Wong's band played on the stage. We did about four public tours here before Covid hit, so I will combine all the experiences into the one blog. Who knows, I may again book this venue when the tourism industry opens up once more. 

On entering the building, flashbacks to when I was 8 or so years old started to conjure in my mind, but I was not here this time to dance, but to hopefully experience those that danced before me. There were three of us in our team and we had about 15 guests book the tour. Although parts of the building were strangely familiar, the apparent stillness, desolation and emptiness was apparent and at times melancholic. 

The most significant paranormal event occurred when the group were sitting in the foyer. One experiment I like to do is an EVP introduction, where all the guests sit in reticent silence as we move around the room, introducing themselves before waiting three or so seconds before the next person speaks and so on. This experiment allows us to potentially identify any spirits who may wish to come through, or if any spirits connect with one person in particular. 

As I started the EVP session "Hi, my name is Libby, and we are going to introduce ourselves. We mean you no harm and just want to see if you would like to talk to anyone", darkness descended on the room, the temperature dropped, and an uneasiness was felt.  

We reviewed the EVP recording with no avail until we reached a girl named "Ashley". After she introduced herself, you can hear a very distinct creepy laugh (from 8.40 on the video). It was loud, audible and a distinct EVP capture, as we did not hear it with our naked ear. After we replayed this a number of times, we investigated where Ashley was sitting, which was at the bottom of the stairs which led to the balcony. Besides some K2 hits and some temperature changes, nothing else remarkable happened. 

DARK HAUNTING'S OF COBURG TOWN HALL! - YouTube

The video is courtesy of Yvette and is publicly available on her YouTube Channel. Although she did not capture the whole evening, you get a clear sense that the venue is haunted and well worth investigating. 

There was a fair bit of movement on the stage, where guests claimed to see shadow figures darting through the laser grid; we could hear footsteps .... footsteps, yet no one was there. Some loud, some shuffling, some distant. Sitting high in the balcony watching an empty stage, you could see and hear the movement, the REM Pod activating, motion sensors being triggered and shadows darting in and out of view. 

For those that were game enough to climb the ladder to the roof of the stage, they felt like they were being watched, were cold and felt nauseous. With nearly all of the guests experiencing the same phenomena, we set up a Ouija Session on the stage - with some responses. 

Another unexplained event was a lady captured what she believed was a full body apparition of a young girl near the orchestra pit. 

Although, this cannot be confirmed, it was apparent that the Coburg Town Hall is haunted with those that continue to roam the stage and dance amongst the living. 

Until next time .....

Ghost Doors of Kilmore

Having investigated Old Kilmore Gaol for quite a while now, one rule that the team have established is, you always close the doors. Why? Well it stems back to one of our early investigations, where we were certain we had closed a door and when we returned it was open. 

So the theory is, if you (and everyone) always close doors, then if you return and the door is open, then you can ask why or how?

The Kilmore spirits are obsessed with doors. Not a night goes by where they have mischievously opened at least three doors. Why the obsession? My theory is, it is a gaol and in gaols, doors are always locked. Prisoners are locked in their cells, in the wards, in the gaol. Many locked doors block them from the outside world. So, if an opportunity arises to open a door and escape - then why not?

I am going to share with you four of our most haunted doors and stories which have been witnessed by at least four people and up to seven. We have been fortunate to capture some on camera and others with the eyes of multiple witnesses. 

Door 1 - The Hospital

There are two doors to the hospital. One which is at the front and one at the side. The side door originally was the entrance to the men's ward and opened to the yard just in front of the cell block. Often we would hear noises near the door, but last month, we were leading an investigation with a group of seven people. We were sitting in the dark and heard a noise and bang from that corner of the hospital. We shone a torch to see the door was open. We then proceeded to close the door, secure latch it and test it. It was locked! We sat down and continued with the nurse experiment. We called for nurses to assist our trigger item (a guest lying on the floor). Within seconds of us calling for assistance, we heard banging in the direction of the door and heard the latch. We clickly shone the torch to see the door swing fully open to be followed by our K2 metres spiking near our "patient". 

This is not the first time the door has opened, many guests claim that the door opens or they hear the latch. 

Is this a nurse spirit coming to the aid of ill and sick prisoners? I think so!

Door 2 - The Wash House 

This door is in the corner of the gaol. It leads from the main courtyard into the original wash house or laundry. It is in this area that I believe the gaol's demonic spirit resides. When you enter the door you are almost always confronted with a wall of dense air. You are overcome with the stench of sulphur and it is in this area that many artefacts are stored. 

One night at the end of a public investigation, the team of four returned to the wash house to do a lock up. We walked in the room to find the chairs overturned. Not surprised by this phenomenon, as this room often has poltergeist activity, the four of us turned the chairs upright and took a seat to debrief on the night's activities. We talked casually amongst ourselves, only to be interrupted by the sound of the door latch. Thinking, who would be coming in as we were all in here, we thought maybe a guest was coming back as they had forgotten something. We looked over at the door which then opened, to reveal ..... noone! Shocked, we got up and looked out to the courtyard, shone the torch up and down and into the yard. NOONE!

Who had come in, or who had left?

The following month, I was sharing the story with a group of guests. I demonstrated how the door latch moved and the door opened. I then went to shut the door to have it jam. The jam you feel when someone puts their foot in the door to stop you from closing it. A guest standing less than a metre away who had been watching me the entire time said "Did someone just stick their foot in the door?". I replied "It sure did feel that way!" 

A spirit definitely didn't want me shutting the door!

Door 3 - The Store Room

Our most infamous door, this door has been caught on video and poltergeist activity has been witnessed by over twenty guests. It is so active, that we now have a slide bolt, as well as the latch on the door. This door has unbolted and opened at least a dozen times that I have witnessed and countless times with guests investigating the kitchen and store room. It was in this room that a prisoner escaped from the cell through the store and out the kitchen. It is also the door which leads to the store that holds many of the gaol artefacts. 

I am looking forward to next month where I will place a door alarm and a camera on the door for the entirety of the night!

Door 4 - The Back Door

Now this door has us stumped. We will be placing a camera on the door to see if we can capture what is happening. 

Let me provide you with context. This door is the back door which leads out of the gaol to the church. Above this door was the original sentry tower. When packing up at the end of the night, we bolt closed the door. Now this door is an original maximum security door - MAXIMUM SECURITY!

We go into the gaol, bolt the door shut and then proceed through the gaol and exit through a different door. It was after this, that the owner contacted us to ask if we had left the door opened. Definitely not!

The following month - we bolted the door closed once again, only to be contacted by the owner on the Sunday, the door was open once again! We had been locking this door for years, YEARS! Stumped by the door opening, the following month, we bolted the door shut and placed a huge piece of stone up against the door. The door remained closed. 

First investigation back this year, we bolted the door shut, but did not place the stone up against the door. You guessed it! The owner contacted us on Sunday at 8.00 am, the door was open! We had only left there at 7.30 am. 

Are these spirits attempting to escape the gaol? Is this a guard exiting out through the men's yard?

Who knows, but we will be placing a camera on the door to record from when we leave to see who, what or how this door continues to open. 

Night of the Dead at Old Kilmore Gaol, Kilmore

Old Kilmore Gaol is active, very active! Many of my experiences from the Gaol are noteworthy and exciting, but they are usually similar to those that I have already experienced and hence I am rather familiar with them and do not tend to recount them as often as I would like. But last night was different. The energy was different, the feel was different and subsequently some of the activity was different. 

Let's start with the Ouija activity. Ouija, yes that contentious topic of Ouija. For me, I have engaged in many a thousand sessions, and fortunately I can only recall one seriously negative experience. Most sessions are interesting, inspiring and emotionally, but relatively uneventful. But last night's session requires some serious research and investigation. Let me share with you some background information, which is totally related to the events of this recount and may in fact be a key piece of evidence moving forward. You see, Old Kilmore Gaol has a significant number of Pentridge artifacts, including prison doors, cell doors, shanks, razors, documentation of prison records and duty rolls. This particular night, last night, I had spent a considerable amount of time touching, reading the information and flicking through the documentation related to Pentridge, more so than I normally do. Why? No idea! I just did. But on review, was there actually a reason? A force that wanted to connect with me? Who knows?

So let's recount one of last night's Ouija Board Sessions. I will try to be as detailed as possible.

Ouija with Gavin Edwards

Three of us, and two onlookers began a Ouija Session just after 2 am in St Andrew's Presbyterian Church, which is at the back of the Gaol. It wasn't long before our spirit made himself known as Gavin. Gavin went onto share that his father worked in Kilmore and that he (Gavin) had actually been in Gaol. Not the Kilmore Gaol, but Pentridge Gaol! You can see why the information above may in fact be relevant. He went on to say a few things, including that he was 29 years of age when he passed. 

Now this is where the story gets interesting. 

Gavin went on to say that his name was Gavin Edwards and that he had a friend at Pentridge named Eddie. Eddie was 24 years old when he died and that Eddie died at the Gaol, Pentridge Gaol. We asked who Eddie was and he replied "killer". Yes, KILLER!

We asked did Gavin kill Eddie "No".

Did Eddie kill Gavin "No". 

Did Eddie kill other people "Yes". So now we were on to something!

How many people did Eddie kill "3 or 4". 

At this point we still had no idea where this was heading, until one of our onlookers, not on the Ouija, said that he believed he knew who the Eddie was that Gavin was referring to. This was exciting ..... had we actually made contact with a real inmate, one in which we could validate responses. At this point, another guest, a guest on the Ouija, recalled the stories told by tour guides on an investigation of Pentridge. 

Realising that we may be talking with a spirit to whom we can validate responses, I quickly asked a guest to record the Ouija Session as we continued the questioning and our investigation. 

Did Eddie kill women "Yes".

Can you spell out how he killed them. Do you know how he killed the women? "AIR". Air?? We were confused, what an odd response! But was it? The person we believed we were communicating with was a mate of Eddie's and did he know that Eddie killed his victims by strangling them to death and sucking from them their last breath of .... you guessed it AIR! 

So we asked Gavin, is it Eddie Leonski, was his surname Leonski, do you know? "Yes".

Was it related to singing or voices "Yes".

We asked Gavin if he knew how old Eddie Leonski was when he passed away and after a bit of a think on the board, Gavin told us 2 and then moved to the 8 and then back to the 4 "24". We quickly googled, and Eddie was in fact 24 years of age! We went on to confirm the age of Eddie was 24. 

We asked Gavin to spell out the name of the Gaol that Eddie was in .... he went on the spell out P E N .... we confirmed it was Pentridge. We asked Gavin if he was in Pentridge Gaol with Eddie "Yes".

It was at this time I made a question blunder and asked Eddie for his second name (I thought I had asked for Gavin's second name), the board went on to spell DEVIL IS HE. I thought I had asked Gavin's surname, but on listening to the video, I had asked for Eddie's name!!

The guest then asked "Does Eddie go by any other name, or did Eddie have a nickname?

Our spirit began to spell out "Brown  ....", it then was clear, he was referring to Eddie Leonski, the Brownout Strangler who was convicted and sentenced to death on July 17, 1942. He went on to be incarcerated at Pentridge Gaol and executed by hanging for murdering the three woman on November 9, the same year. 

Then my phone died ..... we continued the investigation without recording and asked Gavin if he and Eddie shared a cell "No".

Were you friends "Yes".

But then Gavin would call Eddie the "Devil" and "Dog".

I went on to to ask Gavin why he was friends with Eddie if he was the devil and such a dog and he replied "Life".

I asked Gavin did he fear for his life if he was not friends with Eddie "Yes".

Our spirit was polite and cooperative and he expressed interest in talking with us again at a later date. Here's hoping we can pick this conversation up in a month when we are next in Kilmore. 

As an investigator you are always questioning and for me, I am asking ...... have we made contact with Gavin, a gaol inmate and friend of the serial killer, Eddie Leonski, or, and I believe this is a very strong and very valid or ..... did we make contact with the actual Eddie, who has masqueraded as Gavin EDWARDS? Coincidental - maybe, maybe not?

We will never know, but maybe, just maybe, our gaol inmate will pay us a visit again and elaborate more on the stories he shared with us last night. You can watch the small snippet we were able to capture before my phone died. 

Malevolent Storeroom Ghost

We also had a memorable experience in the Old Kitchen where, when trying to communicate with what we believe is a malevolent spirit, one of our investigators, Alle, had her necklace yanked from around her neck which broke the chain and sent the charms to the floor. 

To set the scene, the room is about 4 metres square. Left top wall has a door to the laundry / wash room. The laundry then leads to outside. Alle was standing about a metre in from this doorway. Then opposite mid way on the right wall is a door to the store room. Previous investigations have seen this door open when closed and considerable noises and movements can be heard and seen from within the room. The room has many guests feeling uneasy and threatened. So with that knowledge, we have a heavy slide bolt and we bolt the room locked and only allow guests to investigate in there on our long tours. The store room had been bolted twice already due to being unlocked twice. 

Seven of us came into the space to see the storeroom door unlocked and open once again. Alle went up to the door and bolted it, once again. She pushed, banged and tested the door. We all watched her do this. She then retreated across the room to her space near the door on the opposite side of the room. 

About five minutes after Alle had bolted the door closed is when she had her necklace pulled from her neck. It was forceful and aggressive. We all heard her gasp and saw her neck and face pull forward. Everyone was asking if she was ok and Alle responded with "someone just grabbed my necklace and pulled it, like they yanked it down hard. It's broken". She was visibly in shock with the 'what the hell just happened face".  This was shortly followed by a cold breeze, a gust of air that moved across in front of her and others from the left hand side to the right hand side of the room. This coincided with a distinct urine, sulphur and rotten egg odour which filled the room and then a demonic loud growl could be heard emanating near the store room door. We all turned to the door on the right side of the room, which was bolted shut to the store, to see it unbolt and open half way. This happened before seven witnesses, all of which, smelt the stench, heard the growl and saw the door open! Amazing! We all just sat there speechless. What had we just witnessed? It was obvious he was not happy with Alle bolting the door shut once again!

Interestingly, this is the room that has the Pentridge artefacts and cell doors and also includes an original, authentic executioner's jacket and pants (which are placed on a mannequin in the bottom left corner). Could this jacket actually be the jacket worn by the warden responsible for hanging Eddie Leonski? 

Now that just blew my mind!