As my sister Sarah can attest – I don’t do scary. I don’t like scary movies, and I’m really not a fan of horror books (I read Pet Cemetery and it haunted me for weeks). So it really didn’t make a lot of sense for me to sign up for the Battery Point Ghost tour in Hobart, but in my quest to step outside my box, I signed up – promising myself that I’d keep an open mind (and telling myself that if it got to scary, I could always leave). And besides, it’s not like I really believe in ghosts.
I met my group in the evening down in the Salamanca Square at the Salamanca Bakery. I had been a little pessimistic about the entire evening as it had poured rain for the entire day, but just as I was getting to the bakery, the clouds broke, and a rainbow lit up the sky. I took it as a good sign.
Let me just say that it was probably one of the best tours I’ve ever been on. It was a wonderful way to walk about a neighbourhood, and learn the history of the area – particularly the seedy history of an area. From housemaids impregnated by clergy, to the poltergeist house, to the church tower where a convict was hidden by a cleaning girl, each site that we stopped at had multiple stories to be told. I don’t want to say too much, because if anyone ever goes, I don’t want to ruin the experience.
Does it look like the church tower is leaning? Because it isn't.
It's apparently haunted by a poltergeist.
You'd never know it from looking at it, but apparently this used to be a whorehouse with quite a reputation.
Probably the most terrifying part of the evening was the entrance to the tunnels that run under the Princes Park. These tunnels were dug when Hobart was settled, and used as the storage areas for the ammunition for the cannons used to protect Hobart from invasion. Hanging out in a small dark area – not my most favourite thing to do, but it was incredibly interesting to hear about how the soldiers spent their time, and the resident ghost who likes to make his presence known to young girls. Two of the girls on our tour say they felt something while in the tunnels. Me, I kept taking pictures of the walls, trying to get some of the centuries old graffiti.
The entrance to the tunnels.
They tell me that the spots are "orbs" or spirit energy. Hmmm.
While I had a great time on the tour, and I didn’t get that scared at all (basically because I was too interested in the history of the area and the stories that could be told), afterwards, on my walk back to the hostel, by myself, with nothing to distract my mind from what I’d heard, I started to get a little nervous. And then, as I was making my way through my rambling centuries old hostel back to my room, I started to spook myself. So maybe, just maybe, I do believe in ghosts after all?
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