Ghostly experiences in Grafton

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Ghostly experiences in Grafton
December 18, 2010
Dominic Zietsch
The Daily Examiner

WHETHER you’re a believer or a stone-cold sceptic, almost everyone enjoys a good ghost story and it looks as though Grafton’s Regional Gallery in Fitzroy Street has inspired quite a few of these around town.

The gallery, at historic Prentice House, recently attracted the interest of a South-East Queensland-based paranormal investigation group whose members want to spend a night in the building to see if they can get to the bottom of unexplained shadows, phantom footsteps and ghostly voices reported by visitors over the years.

The group, called the Queensland Paranormal Research and Analysis Group, has invited Grafton people to share any strange stories or ghostly experiences about the gallery before their investigation early in the new year.

Spokeswoman for the group, Chris, is a former Graftonian who often worked back late at the gallery years ago and said it turned her from a paranormal sceptic into a believer.

“At the gallery, it’s more of a feeling you get, especially in the older sections,” Chris said.

“You’d see shadows moving around, up on the top balcony, so when you’re standing out the front sometimes you’d catch a glimpse of what looked like someone peering out the window.

“The stairs are also a big thing for me there, I’d often hear footsteps coming down the stairs.”

Because of her own personal experiences and ones she’d heard about from others, the gallery was high on Chris’s list of places to investigate when she became involved in the research group.

“We search for explanations for these things, we analyse them. We don’t just jump to the conclusion straight away that it’s paranormal; there are lots of things that go bump in the night as they say, but there are some things that are unexplainable.”

Chris said the overnight investigation would involve a small team of about three researchers, along with one or two gallery staff, who will use various pieces of equipment, including sound recorders and cameras, to gather data.

Grafton Regional Gallery director Jude McBean confessed to being a “bit of a sceptic”, but said there were reports of ghostly happenings from time to time, especially from volunteers who sometimes worked in the building late into the night.

“It’s had a fairly interesting history; it was built as a residence and a doctor’s surgery and there’s been at least three, if not four, doctors and their families live here so there has been quite a big flow of people through here throughout its history,” Ms McBean said.

“Now that it’s a gallery, it’s had even more people come through; it’s a well-visited place.”

Anyone interested in sharing a ghostly experience about either the gallery or anywhere else in the area can contact the research group through the regional gallery on graftongallery@clarence–.nsw.gov.au.