| Travel
Memories : |
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Ghosts
of Port Arthur
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by
Wendy Choo
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Then,
the photographs taken at the site revealed extraordinary phenomena such
as ghostly apparitions, a misty substance termed Ectoplasm by parapsychologists,
and shafts of light that seem to be traveling at a great speed. These
photographs and their negatives have been proven genuine, as in not digitally
tampered with in any way. Such photographs were also taken at other structures
within the ruins. I remembered going out to the site to take my own photographs
in hopes of capturing some of these phenomena. However, I did not succeed
and ended up with lots of dark and gloomy photographs of the Church.
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Church
at Night |
There
was also a specific and very interesting photograph that is posted on
the notice board at the tour office where we started and ended our night
tour. I clearly remembered the photo having a transparent face of a lady
filling up the whole picture. It was as though she put her face right
in front of the camera. At that time, I thought the face was staring straight
at me; she didn't look quite happy but rather hostile. Perhaps the atmosphere
and general excitement had affected my judgement…
Okay,
let us proceed. The first house built in Port Arthur was The Commandant's
House. Inside sits a rocking chair, which is known as the 'Nanny's Chair'
(if I'm not mistaken). This chair is believed to be haunted as it was
seen rocking on its own on many occasions even when the air is as still
as a statue. Many people who sat on it felt strange and some even said
that they felt someone touch them! I recalled the tour guide telling us
that there have been many instances where tourists tried to take photographs
but their cameras would somehow not work at that particular moment. Once
they left the house, however, their camera would work perfectly well again.
Mine worked just fine though. Still, this is something for you to judge
but it did sound unusual to me as this had happened many times before
and to different people. The following are some photos from the Port Arthur
Historic Site link: http://www.portarthur.org.au
web site with some of the strange light phenomena that I mentioned along
with one that I took myself.
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The
Commandant's House |
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Haunted
Rocking Chair |
Another
house, The Parsonage, is also known to be very disturbed. Just walking
pass it at night gave me the creeps but that was because I was actually
thinking of the house in Amityville Horror. But back to The Parsonage;
there's this tale about a mother who saw her little girl talking and playing
with some unseen person on a night tour at The Parsonage. When asked what
she was doing, the little girl said that she was playing with another
child. There are also reports of frequent sightings of a 'lady in blue'
wandering in period dress near this house. At one point, The Parsonage
was converted into a restaurant but it eventually closed down due to violent
and hostile incidents such as flying cutlery, the switching on and off
of lights by unseen efforts, and the shifting of furniture! These strange
events even happened in front of customers!
This
following story is actually not documented but I shall tell you anyway.
It involves The Hospital, which was built in 1842 with four wards of 18
beds each. The basement housed the kitchen with its own oven, and a morgue
or the 'dead room'.
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The
Supernatural Phenomenon of Photos Took Near the Chair |
I
have gone through the ghost tour at Port Arthur (and received a certificate
for bravery) and heard all the ghosts stories about it. Yet one night,
four of my friends and I decided that we should go out and explore the
place ourselves. The first place we went was The Commandant's House but
it was locked at night. We took our photographs and proceeded to The Church.
Again, we took our photographs, looked around a little and nothing seemed
abnormal. We went on to see The Hospital. As we were about to enter what
was once the main entrance, one of my friends suddenly stood still at
the entrance. We asked what was wrong and she said she heard a man coughing.
We all thought she was pulling some one-liner and promptly dismissed her.
We continued our walk through the ruins taking pictures and scaring one
other. We even bumped into other tourists who were doing the same thing.
As we were about to leave, I heard a man coughing and it was a very sick
man's cough. I still thought it was someone else's prank; but when I turned
to look at my friends and saw their expressions, I believed they had heard
it too. We searched that spot for other people and came to the conclusion
that we were the only ones around. I still think it's a prank but since
the event took place in Port Arthur, I believe in the possibilities of
anything otherwise.
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Remains
of The Hospital |
With
the end of this tale, I have told all I could remember for the time being.
Port Arthur gave me an enduring mental album of photographs. And what
was that they say about photographs?… "A frozen moment of a time in life".
Yeah, something like that. I think I must have thousands of these frozen
moments from Port Arthur. I must say that bringing these frozen moments
to life in my mind is equally as fun as living through it three years
ago. I hope it will be the same for those reading it.
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