LOCATION:

Picton Township
Mushroom Tunnel
Wollondilly Shire Hall

AGHS Haunted site: 4 ghosts, very haunted and good chance of seeing/hearing paranormal activity.

Located about 20 minutes from Cambelltown, South-west of Sydney is the quiet and very haunted historic town of Picton.

For further information on Picton Township please visit Liz Vincent's Website.

HAUNTED HISTORY OF PICTON

A woman parked near the graveyard with her husband one night just on dusk noticed two children walking around the graves, holding hands. She thought the boy was maybe 6 years old and the girl was a bit older (eleven or twelve). The woman saw them walking around the graveyard for about 10 minutes and watched them also disappear behind some gravestones. She didn't think much of it until after her and her husband had driven away that the children were dressed in old-fashioned clothing. Since there is two reported deaths of a boy (in 1946) and a girl (1886) the woman wondered if she saw their ghosts or perhaps some children in fancy dress?.

The local hardware store has a rather upset ghost who throws things off the shelves every time the hardware store owner's daughter walks through a certain section.

The library is still haunted by a certain Mr McKinnon who when alive always loved to push the books on the shelves right to the back. Now that he's deceased he still likes to hang around the library and push the books to the back of the shelves.

WOLLONDILLY SHIRE HALL INVESTIGATION

After hearing many stories of the local Town Hall ghosts we took the opportunity to spend the night on Saturday, August 26th, 2000 for an investigation of the paranormal events that had been reported over the years.

INVESTIGATORS:

The Australian Ghost Hunters Society consisting of:

Rowena Gilbert
Leanne Dempsey
Darren Croese
Michael Lambert (Sensitive)
Michael Williams (ALERT)

EQUIPMENT:

Various cameras including SLR & Digital
Video recorders
EMF meter
Micro-cassette recorders

The night started off with us obtaining the key for the Hall and setting up our equipment etc. earlier on in the afternoon. We had to keep everything away as Liz Vincent's tour would need to go through the hall during the night before we could then take over. We took the opportunity to explore the stage and the entire area thoroughly. We checked where draughts would be coming in and hoped that some of the ghostly residents would show up that night. At this stage the place felt slightly eerie but quite comfortable. There was no evidence of paranormal activity at this stage.

The Shire Hall has the original Picton School inside. Built in the early 1800's the old school building certainly has a very strange feel to it. Many people report of the same unusual feeling when entering into this part of the building. The floor seems to vibrate or move when nobody else is standing on it which is very odd. The Old School contains cupboard type doors that are often found opened by staff after being closed and checked. It also has stacked plastic chairs that have been found moved after being neatly stacked up against the wall.

HAUNTINGS

The local theatre group uses the Hall regularly for their drama workshops and plays. Many members of the theatre have reported seeing a black figure with a long coat standing in the back corner of the stage, there are many many reports of specters and spooks inside the Shire Hall. The main ghosts seems to be a small child who appears occasionally on the stage.It has also been heard crying from under the stage. Liz Vincent has stories of members of her family hearing the child crying under the stage, she has also seen the black shadow in the back corner for herself on one night when taking a tour through.

The local Hall Manager caught sight of the ghost child on the stage one time herself. She saw it from the corner of her eye during broad daylight one day. She has never forgotten the incident and was keen to see if we could collect any more evidence of haunting's in the Shire Hall.

Liz, being the local historian, has so far found no history of any children dying in the old school, however records may not be complete and show if any fatal accidents happened.

Liz reports that when she takes her tours through the Hall at night, often the phone will ring (may be a local playing tricks) and when they pick it up no one is there. Members of the tours have also reported seeing small children, strange shadows and figures on and behind the stage as well as various other events. The ghost stories from the Shire Hall are numerous and it would seem that we had a good chance of coming up with some positive results on our Investigation.

After visiting the Shire hall a few times previously myself I must admit that the place did indeed feel haunted. One one occasion we had a sensitive with us who found a human shaped cold spot in behind the stage. I felt this cold spot with my own hands. Two sensitive's at the time reported sensing a young or possibly middle-aged man. The cold spot soon dissipated after we found it. Another sensitive who was on the main floor at the time also reported of an entity walking around. We agreed at the time that it felt like something was there. Everyone who was in the group at that time (including myself) could feel something walk past them and out a nearby hallway/exit only to do the same thing over and over again repeatedly.

THE INVESTIGATION

Most of us participated in Liz Vincent's Ghost Tour for the first half of the night before we returned back to the Shire Hall for the rest of the evening. We felt that it would be a good way of getting the feel for the area and relaxing a bit before the night really started. We all enjoyed the tour immensely and did not have any paranormal experiences to report of this time round.

Upon returning to the hall the first thing we did was turn on the heat and set up our equipment. The town itself is fairly quiet at night. The Shire hall is surrounded by a large car park out the back and a main road that has little or no traffic at night. We did not expect any unexpected outside human intruders to bother us but kept the front doors locked just in case.

The main area for investigation was the stage. It was a typical stage with very heavy red velvet drapes at the front. The back and entire stage area was very dark. Those who had video cameras set them up pointing at the stage hoping that some activity would be captured. The rest of us took EMF readings, temperature readings along with photographs of the area.

The night wore on as we discussed other paranormal events and kept light to a minimum. The night was freezing cold and the majority of us found ourselves quickly rugged up on our temporary beds trying to keep warm in the early hours of the morning.

Mike Lambert, who was the sensitive of the group, could feel absolutely no spirits or energies. He had also been inside the Shire Hall on other occasions and felt presences but it appeared as if our ghostly friends were not going to come out to play on this night.

We continued to film, take photographs and watch the stage and surrounding areas for anything at all unusual. The only thing we did notice was a very strange puddle of water that appeared in the old school building which was in a room adjacent to the main hall that we were camped in. Mike L took a look at the old school and we all at various times during the night went in for investigation (we could not camp out in the old school as there was no heat in there and it was far too cold). The puddle of water spread slightly overnight but it was a mystery where it came from. I was to find out later that it could not have come from anywhere. At the time we thought it to be a leak in the floor as we could see no water dripping from the roof. We mopped it up when we left the next morning and I later discussed it with the Shire Hall Manager who had once before seen the ghost of a small child on the stage. To this day she is convinced the water was paranormal as there is apparently nowhere for it to come from. I know that none of my group put the water there and there was certainly no liquid within that area that could have been accidentally spilled. The puddle of water is still a mystery to this day. Unfortunately at the time I did not find it significant enough to photograph it.

The night got colder and colder and we continued to film and investigate, watch and wait. Dawn soon arrived and most of use fell asleep with the video cameras still running. Unfortunately sometimes there is no paranormal activity and this was one of those occasions. Although at times we thought we had strange cold spots in certain areas, upon further investigation they turned out to be breezes coming from under the stage or somewhere else.

Upon developing photos afterwards we caught nothing on film or audio. Nobody caught anything on video and the night did not produce any evidence of paranormal activity unfortunately. This is not to say that the Wollondilly Shire Hall is not haunted. There are far too many reliable reports of ghosts and strange events. It is the very nature of Ghost Hunting that sometimes you come up with results and sometimes you don't, it all takes a lot of time and patience and ghosts don't turn up on a regular basis.

The night was valuable for research and experience purposes and most of us enjoyed our stay and the opportunity to investigate the paranormal.

BETTER LUCK NEXT TIME!

The tunnel is currently closed for restoration as at August, 2007

This tunnel would win "spookiest spot of the year award" easily. This tunnel was the Grande finale of the tour. Located off the main road and up a dirt road in the middle of the bush the mushroom tunnel looms in blackness as you approach it. It was used as a railway tunnel from 1867 to 1919, used to store ammunition during world war II then used later to grow mushrooms. In it's mushroom growing day's the tunnel was sealed off at both ends, some brave workers would spend all day in there picking mushrooms - no doubt they had a few ghostly tales to tell. Some of the most spookiest experiences involve apparitions appearing in front of tour members whilst being inside this tunnel (read the "Ghost in the Tunnel" story by Liz Vincent).

Liz Vincent informed me that some nights (especially when she gets a troupe of believers) the happenings in the tunnel go "right off".

The tunnel is 592ft long - it has a history of suicides and at least one railway accident of a woman named Emily. It lies in waiting up a dark dirt road in the middle of the bushland. There are no signs pointing the way. If you know where to go you can find this extremely spooky and dark old tunnel and explore it for yourself. When I went and paid it a little visit on my own at dusk I must admit; the place was unnerving and overly spooky. I was immediately on edge just standing at the entrance and looking down into the depths of it's darkness as the sun slowly sank behind the nearby hills. You couldn't help but feel as though something was looming there in the shadows, daring you to enter.

More than a few skeptics have had an encounter inside this tunnel that has completely changed their view on ghosts and the paranormal. People have collapsed and had to be carried out when faced with something from the supernatural in the darkness of the tunnel.

people walk into the darkness and seem to disappear before your very eyes as the shadows envelop them inside the tunnel.

The tunnel has a resident ghost by the name of "Emily". It is believed that Emily was the unfortunate lady that was killed many years ago by a train as she was walking through the tunnel when used by the railways. It's not certain if she intended on killing herself or if it was just an accident. She died at the very center of the tunnel and quite a few investigations have produced strange readings and some people have experienced the apparition of Emily in this area.

Emily is harmless, she is out to hurt no one and has given quite a few people a good scare, but she's not the only thing to be seen inside the tunnel. On occasion black shadows have been viewed rapidly moving up the entire length of the tunnel towards the tour group. Strange flashing lights are constantly viewed throughout the tunnel, some of which are produced by far away cars passing by on local roads out the far end of the tunnel, but some are not. People have reported of white lights hovering above peoples heads, figures appearing in front and behind in the blackness, ghostly children, strange electrical appearances traveling down the tunnel. Some people have gone in there late at night with a group of friends and still refuse to speak about what happened to them in there.......................

On one occasion when we participated in one of Liz Vincent's popular Tunnel Watch's we experienced this large glowing light flashing directly behind us, there is nothing out this end of the tunnel and nothing at all that could cause this (it's on the opposite end to the car lights). It is not usually seen at this end and we were all quite surprised when it made a guest appearance behind our row of seats and lit us all up like Christmas trees!.

If you would like a clearer picture of this photograph click here

On the night that we sat in the tunnel I managed to capture this photograph showing strange white lights - however on further investigation we soon discovered that the dust in the tunnel appears to glow brightly when a flash is set off - we believe this is merely dust........but who knows?.
The apparition of Emily the ghost has been seen on quite a few separate occasions, Liz Vincent knows that if someone on the tour has Psychic or Clairvoyant talents that the ghost is more than likely to appear to the tour group. She appears usually as a white flowing figure of a woman with no face. She (or another ghost) has also appeared as a black shadow (that is regularly seen on the walls and throughout the tunnel) and has appeared once again in front of a tour member whilst standing in the dark of the tunnel.

Tunnel Watch 2000 - a popular event with Liz Vincent Tours

On the last tunnel watch that we did we didn't see the apparition of Emily the ghost, but some of the ghost hunters on this occasion reported seeing black shadows and white shadows moving along the walls. We all experienced a human type figure at the exit of the tunnel (directly in front of us) which had a dirty green appearance. It appeared to be moving in a rapid motion and waving it's arms about madly. Was the ghost teasing us? A person's shape cannot be viewed in the exit of the tunnel from where we were sitting. This was an unusual sighting indeed.

As I stated before we were all taken by complete surprise when the light flashed directly behind our chairs and lit up our small band of ghost hunters.