International Lighthouse Weekend - 21st/22nd August 2010
Celebrating lighthouses & the people that worked in them

Ghost Tours

MANY a paranormal sceptic has become a believer after joining a ghostbusting tour during Cape Otway Lightstation's International Lighthouse Weekend celebrations.

Lightstation manager Paul Thompson expects the two after dark ghost tours on Saturday, 21st August, will again be a sell-out.

"We offer these ghost tours on just one day a year, and they have become a key attraction with people in search of a paranormal experience - they travel hundreds of kilometres for a chance of an encounter," Mr Thompson said.

"People who are sensitive to ghosts are rarely disappointed and our hauntings at the lightstation have convinced quite a few sceptics that there are active souls or spirits here," Mr Thompson said.

The stories of 'residual' and 'intelligent' hauntings captured the imaginations of hundreds, leaving many with goosebumps and others convinced they'd had a paranormal experience, he added.

"Although I lived at the Lightstation for years, I never saw an apparition, but there were too many unexplained events such as spontaneous throwing of light switches and unexplained telephones ringing in the middle of the night. The Lady in Grey who is resident in the Lightkeeper's Café can be quite mischievous," Mr Thompson added.

"We've had a lot of reports of the same ghosts being seen doing the same thing - ghostbusters describe these as 'residual hauntings'."

Paranormal investigators who have studied the Lightstation and its hauntings have repeatedly confirmed at least five regular spirits, with one occurring in the Lighthouse, another in the Lightkeeper's Café, a traditionally dressed Aboriginal man has often been seen near the Telegraph Station, and the one which seems to have the greatest affect is a little girl who is described as an 'intelligent haunting'.

"It's said that in the late 1880s a little girl who was living in the Telegraph Station died, around the age of four, and they had to keep her body in a cupboard in the coolest room while they waited for a coroner to come on horseback - it was at a time before roads and ships arrived only once or twice a year," Mr Thompson said.

"The paranormal investigators we have worked with describe her as an intelligent haunting because she interacts with people - particularly women. Some psychics have found she responds to the quiet singing of nursery rhymes. Some say she is afraid of men.

"On our ghost tour last year a number of women were moved to tears in a bedroom in the old Telegraph Station after sensing the girl and a deep sadness."

Read more about the Lightstation's ghosts on the Halloween page or find out more about the International Lighthouse Weekend and special accommodation offers.