Spirits drawn to light: Ghost tours a rare chance for paranormal experience

Spirits drawn to light: Ghost tours a rare chance for paranormal experience
August 18, 2010
SHANE FOWLES
The Standard

VISITORS exploring the rich paranormal activity at the Cape Otway Lightstation are often greatly affected by the experience.
One of five confirmed regular spirits at the lighthouse is a little girl, who has prompted emotional outbursts from those who undertake the annual after-dark ghost tour of the site.

"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," lighthouse manager Paul 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."

The girl is believed to be a ghost of a four-year-old who died in the late 1880s and whose body was kept in the coldest room awaiting the arrival of a coroner on horseback.

Paranormal investigators have confirmed regular spirits in the lighthouse, the cafe and a traditionally-dressed Aboriginal man who has been seen near the telegraph station.

Mr Thompson has never seen an apparition at the lighthouse, but said there were too many unexplained events such as throwing of light switches and telephones ringing in the middle of the night to discount their existence.

"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," he said.

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

To help celebrate International Lighthouse Weekend, two ghost tours will be held at the lighthouse on Saturday.

"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.

Visitors can also tour a recreated 1850s camp of the Victorian Colonial Infantry, send Morse code messages to friends and family around the globe and learn about the lives of the early lightkeepers and their families.

Children can pit their texting skills on their mobiles against those of the veteran Morse Codian Fraternity to see who can get a message out fastest.

Both the Infantry Association and Characters of the Cape will perform heritage re-enactments of the life and times of early pioneers at the lightstation.

Ghost tour bookings can be made at 5237 9240 or keeper@lightstation.com