A Skeptics Haunting

A short train ride to the west of Melbourne is the city of Geelong.  Strangely enough, it is the second most populated city in the state of Victoria.  The city experienced a brief boom during the gold rush but then shifted directions and became one of the largest manufacturing centers with its wool and paper mills.  Chris and I found the city quaint but also a bit quiet for our liking.  Restaurants don't open until 6pm and the streets were silent by 8pm.  The city was much larger than the small town of Ararat, but eerily similar.   In fairness, we were only in town for one night, so who knows what we might have missed.  Our trip was all about the Geelong Prison Ghost Hunt so it I guess it didn't matter much.  

The Geelong Prison was a maximum security facility built in 1849 and used until the early nineties.  I found it strange that the building sat right in the middle of the city.  The structure looks sinister, just as one might expect, and people claim that its former residents still walk the hallways and lurk in their cells in spirit form.  Chris and I were determined to find out if it was true and at 10pm we joined a group of six others to begin our 2 1/2 hour investigation.  

Our group of investigators was a mixed bag of personalities.  There was a younger couple, maybe early twenties, and the female was a bit “special”.  She was a self-proclaimed sensitive and she wanted the world to know it.  From the beginning of the investigation, and all the way through to the end, this gal had a gazillion comments, questions, and observations that did nothing but prove that she probably needed professional psychiatric care.  Yes, she was that bad, and no I am not being rude.  In fact, I am putting it nicely.  A middle-aged woman accompanied loony tunes and her husband to the investigation.  Apparently they had just met that very afternoon.  To be honest, I felt a bit sorry for this woman since she was already visibly scared and the company she kept was "special".  The rest of our group was actually quite normal (excluding myself).

Geelong Gaol Ghost Tours operated our investigation, and the guide was an outstanding lady with the patience of a saint.  She was professional, articulate, knowledgeable, and dealt with loony tunes better than most would.  Our group was outfitted with high-tech equipment, which included night vision cameras, infrared googles, laser grids, EMF detectors, laser thermometers, parabolic microphones, spirit boxes, and motion sensors.  Every ghost investigation has a skeptic, and Chris was ours!

Most people would think that I am a skeptic, or at least those people who don't know me that well.  Chris is the true skeptic though.  He tends to explain away anything using scientific theories and the like.  It's only fitting that he was the first person to experience something ghoulish and unexplainable!

Soon after our equipment was passed out to our group, and before we even entered the main prison, Chris began to turn pasty white.  Yes, whiter than his usual self!  BAHAHAHA!  Oops, moving on… So anyway, Chris started turning white as a ghost and complained that he didn't feel well.  Chris not feeling well isn't anything new, however Chris not having an explanation for it is something new!  He complained of dizziness, nausea, and unsteady legs.  It progressed quickly and to the point that he had to sit down for 10-15 minutes.  At one point he actually almost went home!  While Chris sat and recuperated, the rest of the team explored the first jail cell.

The investigation lasted more than two hours, and I was given permission to set up my GoPro on a table in the prison center.  I couldn't film throughout the tour because of privacy issues.  Several inmate names still remain behind on the cell doors.  My camera filmed the entire time that we investigated though.   I only watched the first 15 minutes of the film (since it is so long), but the intention was to catch something unexplainable.  Feel free to peruse the videos, BUT be sure to let me know if you see or hear anything interesting since it will probably be a while before I view the videos in their entirety.  Keep in mind that on occasion you will see our group pass the camera, or you may see periodic flashes.  The flashes are likely the result of cameras snapping photos.  Since the footage spanned the entire investigation, I had to break it up into three parts.  Links to all the videos are  below.

Ghost Investigation Video #1

Ghost Investigation Video #2

Ghost Investigation Video #3

This was my second "ghost investigation" in OZ, and I will admit that I enjoyed them both!  If nothing else, both tours offered a unique ghoulish glimpse of history.  Who knows where my adventure will lead to next!

You can get a quick glimpse of Geelong in the video below.  Chris and I visited the pier and one of the old gothic churches.  It was a quaint little city! :)

Video of Geelong

Until next time....