Australia has some of the oldest known culture on the planet with the Aboriginal people that have lived here for thousands of years. And with that beautiful – and tragic – history, naturally, comes the haunting of historical buildings and areas.
Having spent my semester in Fremantle, Australia, which was a major city when it was first built in 1829, I learned all about the haunted places around this historic city. Here are three haunted places in Fremantle, Western Australia:
1. Fremantle Prison
I personally took a night tour of this haunted place. Thankfully, nothing too scary happened while I was on my tour, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t stories – especially from the guards. One guard has spoken about the time that a pan lid was thrown across a room by “invisible hands.” Nobody had touched the pan lid. Several other guards talk about times they’ve heard moans and screeching throughout the prison as they walk around. Lights in rooms turn on and off with no explanation. People who have gone on the tour, who are more sensitive to these types of encounters, have explained a cold shiver that follows them as they walk through the prison.
2. Fremantle Arts Centre and Museum
I haven’t been on a tour of this place yet, but I want to! And even my friends and I told our Hall Supervisor that we wanted to go on a night tour of this place, her eyes got big and she asked, “Are you sure?” Staff of the Arts Centre and Museum have talked about strange feelings of being watched, cold spots, and moaning. It’s not surprising, once you hear the story of what the Arts Centre used to be. First, it was a mental asylum, then became a women’s refuge centre. The first floor is known to be the spookiest – where one employee felt someone kiss them on their cheek! There is also a story of a woman who was institutionalized after the disappearance of her baby. She became very depressed and committed suicide. It is rumored that she still walks the hall, crying for her lost child.
3. The Fremantle Roundhouse
This old building was where convicts were first kept when the city was built. It is the oldest building in Western Australia – which already says so much about its history. The reasons for being held there ranged from breaking curfew, being drunk, to murder. Only one man was every hanged outside the Roundhouse. His name was John Gavin, and he was 15 years old. He killed his employer’s 18-year-old son while actually attempting to kill the victim’s mother. Worried that the 18-year-old would get in the way of his plan, he killed him first – giving the mother the chance to get help. John Gavin is believed to haunt the Roundhouse.