SA’s ghost hunter’s search for new spirits in old pubs: Alison Oborn’s ghostly bid to boost state tourism
A top Adelaide paranormal investigator is hunting for the ghosts and spirits haunting some of SA’s tourist spots and pubs – and she’s livestreaming it all.
SA News
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An Adelaide ghost hunter is hitting the road in search of the lesser-known spirits who inhabit some of the state’s most iconic and historic buildings.
Along the way, Alison Oborn of Adelaide Haunted Horizons hopes to showcase South Australia’s tourism treasures to a 22,500-strong national and international fan base, to provide a boost for local operators struggling in the wake of bushfires and COVID-19.
“While we spend the time searching and listening for paranormal activity, we’re also shining a light – admittedly a green, night-vision light – into the nooks and crannies of the awesome places we’ll be visiting,” the 57-year-old said.
Adelaide Gaol’s official paranormal investigator for the past 10 years, Mrs Oborn will livestream her investigations into the resident apparitions using high-tech equipment to capture sounds, vision and any temperature fluctuations or changes in electromagnetic fields.
“We want to find the stories, then go in with our equipment and see what we have happen – we may have nothing happen but we are doing it live and that is the beauty of it,” she said.
“It is the watching in the moment, because you don’t know what is going to come out.”
She said her team hit the ghostly jackpot when they visited the Gungellan Hotel – which featured in the McLeod’s Daughters drama series – earlier this month with the pub’s poker machines, which were unattended and cordoned off, mysteriously starting up.
“I had heard stories that the McLeod’s Daughters’ actors had experienced strange things at the hotel but hadn’t previously visited it myself,” Mrs Oborn said.
During the visit, publican Helen Hatch shared on camera some of the happenings she had experienced at the Freeling watering hole, including having beer cans roll out of the fridge and stop at her feet as if someone wanted her to, “open it, I need a beer”.
“To be honest, it was a feel-good investigation, normally we get told to leave and stuff like that if we are dealing with the paranormal but this just felt really different and really nice,” Mrs Oborn said.
The next stop for the ghost hunters is the Gumeracha Hotel this Tuesday where they hope to capture evidence of a ghost called Aggie, a former landlady who reportedly wanders the veranda and raps on windows.
Mrs Oborn wants to hear from any SA tourism operators who can share “dark histories or haunted stories” about their establishments.
“Given the curiosity that drives our viewers, we think there’s a strong chance of building up interest in new visitors to these places in the future,” she said.
“(We are hoping that by) sharing our livestream audiences with other tourist operators, it might help lure back visitors who’ve been spooked by closures and social distancing.”