Dogs ‘eating’ soil at haunted Crows Nest graveyard

GHOST tour guide Daniel Phillips claims dogs are eating the soil at a haunted Sydney graveyard after sniffing out graves underneath.

Paranormal expert Daniel Phillips with Hera in St Thomas’ Rest Park. Picture: David Swift

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THERE is something strange in the neighbourhood. A spooky graveyard in the heart of Crows Nest is apparently attracting the attention of dogs for unsavoury reasons.

Ghost tour guide Daniel Phillips says he has noticed pet pooches digging and eating the soil at St Thomas’ Rest Park after sniffing out old graves underneath.

“They’ve still got part of the DNA in the back of their brains that says that smell is associated with food,” he said. “They dig and they eat the soil.”

This ghost is one of many that apparently haunt the park. Picture: Daniel Phillips

Almost 11,000 people were buried in the graveyard over more than a century, he said. The last burial was in the 1950s and the majority of the plots have more than one body.

Mr Phillips has noticed the dog behaviour in a grassy part of the park that has graves underneath but no headstones.

After rain, he explained, the dogs could smell what was in the water as it evaporated, which he described as “the by-products of decomposition”.

“It’s completely normal dog behaviour and, of course, most of the owners don’t really want to think too much about what’s going on under their feet,” he said.

“The reality is always weirder than fiction.”

Can dogs sniff out old graves? Picture: Richard Polden

However, Mosman Vet’s Dr Lisa Bennett dismissed the claims, insisting that it was a common behaviour in parks throughout the area.

“If the last bodies were buried in the 1950s, it is highly unlikely the dogs are able to smell any part of body decomposition,” she said.

“Very commonly, we see dogs in all different parks digging in the surface soil, eating the rabbit and possum poo that’s left there on a daily basis.”

The grave-sniffing capabilities of dogs have hit the headlines before. National Geographic reported on an “archeology” dog that was able to find a 600-year-old Aboriginal burial ground in South Australia.

Thousands of people were buried in the old graveyard. Picture: George Doyle

Dark Matter

THE reputedly haunted Crows Nest graveyard was left a little bit darker at night after three light poles fell over.

“Sadly, there’s nothing mysterious about what has happened to the lights — it’s just a case of old age,” a North Sydney Council spokeswoman said.

The three poles were corroded at the base and the council will replace all 19 light poles in the park.

Mr Phillips hosts ghost tours in the cemetery. More details are available at ghosttoursydney.com.au.

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