Mysterious and spooky phenomena across the country
While it can be tempting to write off tales of ghosts, cursed shipwrecks and mysterious natural phenomena as silly superstition, there are some places across Australia where it’s not quite so easy to be so dismissive. So, for a holiday with a difference, why not delve into the unexplained?
The Quarantine Station
Where? North Head, Sydney Harbour National Park
Sydney’s quarantine station has over a century’s worth of murky history. It began receiving ships full of migrants in the 1830s, and only properly closed down in 1984. The basic principle was that any passengers with suspected infectious diseases could be kept well away from the city until they either recovered, proved that they hadn’t got any nasty exotic syndrome in the first place or died. Not the nicest of holiday camps then.
Understandably, there’s thought to be the odd anguished soul still hanging around, and the station runs popular ghost tours exploring the stories, and searching for paranormal activity. Unfortunately the spookier adult tour is ending in June, but there is still a two hour family tour available for those wanting slightly less chilling tales of spectres and ghouls.
Old Fremantle Prison
Where: Fremantle, WA
Another spot with a grizzly history is the Old Fremantle Prison. The tours of the complex show visitors what prison life used to be like in all its grim, beating-in-the-showers glory.
But it’s the torchlight tour, which takes place over 90 minutes at sunset every Wednesday and Friday, that adds the eerie factor to the prison.
Taking in the whipping post, gallows, solitary confinement area and other such cheery spots, the torchlight tour is chilling enough without the ghost stories. But when the inexplicable tales of paranormal happenings – many of which are still reported today – are thrown in, it’s a whole different ball game.
The Alkimos Shipwreck
Where: 40km north of Perth, WA.
Once known as the unluckiest vessel afloat, the woes of the Alkimos began in the construction phase, where numerous workers suffered bizarre accidents.
Then, during World War II, it became renowned for breaking down in the middle of the Atlantic, and rumours of a curse began to circulate. Many officers refuse to serve aboard her.
The Alkimos then ran aground off Western Australia in 1963, and was immediately hurled onto a reef by monstrous waves after being repaired.
Salvage efforts have been hampered by death and bankruptcy, while divers have reported unusually high rates of broken equipment when going to photograph the wreck.
Those willing to risk the curse can dive around the wreck, but are warned not to try and enter it as it is breaking up. Mindarie Diving can organise diving trips to the Alkimos to see the wildlife and hear more about the supposed curse.
The Mystery Craters
Where: Near Bundaberg, Queensland
When a farmer decided to clear some land at South Kolan for growing zucchinis back in 1971, he stumbled across a mystery that has baffled science.
Despite over 200 internationally renowned geologists showing up to investigate over the years, none can explain the presence of over 30 craters that are over 25 million years old. The rock there is completely unique, and when it rains heavily, water seems to flow into the upper craters rather than the lower ones.
Many explanations have been offered over the years, the most interesting of which is that they’re footprints. But the footprints of what? An ancient prehistoric animal, or some kind of hitherto undiscovered supernatural monster?
The Min Min Lights
Where: Eastern Australia.
Another phenomenon that has the finest scientific minds completely baffled is the Min Min Lights. These mysterious balls of glowing light, which hover on the horizon and have no plausible local source, have been reported in pre-European Aboriginal accounts.
Witnesses have claimed that the lights are fuzzy discs, usually white but sometimes changing colour, and they appear to approach humans several times before retreating.
There have been attempts to explain the lights in terms of geophysics, but frankly none are convincing. So are they spirits? Visitors from outer space? Remnants from another dimension? Who knows?
The lights have been reported in remote New South Wales and Queensland, but the most frequent sightings have been in the Channel Country of South-West Queensland.
Black Mountain
Where: South of Cooktown, Queensland.
Another eerie place that has its place in Aboriginal tales is Black Mountain. A granite outcrop in the middle of thick bush, the mountain has long been a taboo place for the local tribes – members are forbidden from growing there as it is feared to be the home to a supernatural being that devours human souls.
Backing the story up is a series of strange disappearances. Farmers searching for bullocks, bushmen and gold prospectors have all vanished without a trace after trying to climb or explore the mountain. Their bodies have never been found, and rumours about the site have multiplied over the years.
Other stories connected to the site involve the ghosts of massacre victims, giant goannas and a Queensland tiger unknown to science.
The mountain is in the Black Trevathen Range, and whether the stories are nonsense or not, it’s rough terrain and full precautions should be taken before deciding to venture there.
This article was originally written for Ninemsn.
Copyright David Whitley
