The old church spires poked up above the trees, its shelled out sandstone windows lit up by glowing lanterns.
Above the full moon glowed, offering us more light than I would have hoped, but a tad more eeriness.
Port Arthur, a historic former convict settlement in Tasmania, looked like a scene out of a horror movie. The perfect place for a Ghost Tour.
We were about to embark on a journey to explore the hidden side of the convict settlement, led by an expert guide who will reveal the most harrowing stories of Port Arthur’s history.
If you’ve ever fancied exploring the dark recesses of our heritage buildings, here is our experience of the 90-minute Port Arthur Ghost Tour…
Our small group set off on a lantern-lit ghost tour, walking across the paddock to the first crumbling ruins for our first ghostly tale in the most haunted place in Australia.
In case you are unaware of Port Arthur, this was the place where the criminals were placed during the colonisation of European settlement. Although many think of it as a prison, it was more of a settlement, as prisoners were able to build a small community there, but many tragic and horrific things happened, and it was no place you would want to be today.
Tell me more. I want more stories, I want a ghostly encounter.
I regretted not putting my hand up when visitors were asked to be a lantern bearer, when the lead lantern bearer was sent to open cottage doors, warn the ghosts that we were coming and meant no harm, and be the first to enter the pitch dark, haunted buildings.
The first stop was the parsonage house, which is known to be in the top 5 haunted houses in Australia. It’s not a convict prison as you might expect, but a cute pumpkin cottage that belonged to the Reverend George Eastman.
His death wasn’t so traumatic that he’d have cause to haunt, but it was for his wife and 10 children who were no longer looked after by church or government and so lived a life of struggle.
Is it the wife and children that haunt the property or the reverend himself?
No one knows for sure, but the figure of a man has been seen outside the window with arm raised in stabbing strike motion, and a builder involved in the restoration awoke one evening to a heavy weight on his chest and the sensation of hands gripping his throat to strangle him.
His two colleagues heard a commotion and walked in to see their friend in a convulsive state holding his neck and rocking back and forth. They used all their strength to try and drag him out of the house but could not move him…until the ghost let up.
This is just a fraction of the complex history that Port Arthur alludes.
Our guide, Marc, has a gift for rich storytelling, and who had us so engrossed in the tales that we felt a part of them.
He stood behind doors after he opened causing each person to jump as they walked through the door jambs after spying a dark figure in a trench coat leaning against the wall. Every time we came to the next door we thought we expected it, but it still made us jump!
He enhanced the details of his story with loud bangs on walls and piercing screams of victims. We’d all jump and scream in return followed by fits of giggles.
Each of us huddling just that little bit closer to our partners as we moved forward to the next haunted place to hear more ghostly tales and uncover the mystery of the place.
We ended our tour in the separate prison. This was the place where a new form of punishment was put on the convicts – an attempt to control the mind through isolation, solitary confinement and the removal of sensory awareness through sound-proof, light-proof cells.
I felt the anguish and pain of the vivid stories seeping out from the walls. What the living can do is far scarier than what ghosts can.
Things to Know About A Port Arthur Ghost Tour
The Port Arthur ghost tour operates daily from 6.00pm and 8.00pm (April – September) and 7.00pm, 8.30pm and 9.00pm (October – March). Tours run for about 90 minutes and bookings are essential.
Children are welcome on the tour but it’s not generally appropriate for kids who are prone to nightmares or are very young.
You should wear practical walking shoes as the ground is uneven in many of the rooms and walking between places. Likewise, it’s probably not the best tour for people with mobility issues or need a wheelchair as there is about 2km of walking in total.
