Casula Powerhouse once known as Casula Pleasure Ground, where people learned to swim

CASULA Pleasure Ground was a place where people learned to swim in the early 1900s. With that came drownings. Ghost tours, at the now Casula Powerhouse site, meet the spirits who remain.

GHOST tours are back at Casula Powerhouse and tickets are selling fast.

Whether you’re interested in the paranormal aspects of the site, or learning about the area’s history, the Australian Paranormal Phenomenon Investigators (APPI) has the perfect tour to capture everyone’s imaginations.

The night visit to the art centre, allows participants a look at the site in a different light.

They get to explore areas that aren’t normally open to the public, including the dressing room and back stage, by moonlight.

Are you game enough to take the tour? CHECK OUT THIS VIDEO, THEN DECIDE

Australian Paranormal Phenomenon Investigator’s Peta Banks.

APPI’s Peta Banks said the great thing about the site is that it’s got more history than just the building.

“Before the powerhouse, it was a picnic ground known as Casula Pleasure Ground,” she said.

“Before radio, people would have picnics with their family from the 1900s to the 1950s.

“They would go swimming. A lot of people learned to swim here, and with that comes a lot of drownings.”

Ms Banks said she attributes a lot of the spirits to those people.

“The spirits that are here, don’t make sense for being in a powerhouse,” she said.

Over the years, a few mediums who have been part of the tour have picked up on a young girl, aged about eight, called Alma, who drowned in the river back in 1902.

“And we’ve found a newspaper report that corroborates that story,” she said.

Inside the Casula Powerhouse.

A workman was crushed at this Casula Powerhouse stairway.

Back in 2011, the APPI started investigating at the Casula Powerhouse site, and with every investigation comes a lot of research.

“I went through all the old newspapers, found bucketloads of death and even trawled through the land titles to find out the owners of the land over the years.

Maybe you’ll see Gladys Stockton. She was 11 when she crossed the Casula railway line in January 1923. She was run down by the Melbourne express. Her ghost has been seen there ever since.

Or maybe you want to know more about the spirits who still linger within the walls of the powerhouse and how they disrupt those who work there, who perform, and who visit.

Groups of 40 people take the ghost tour at Casula Powerhouse.

FORMER FBI INVESTIGATOR AT HAUNTED LIVERPOOL TAFE

In the theatre, where a spirit nicknamed ‘Crispy’ hangs out. At the top left in this photo, APPI’s Peta Banks said they’re unable to explain the white blob. Do you know what it is?

They tour inside and outside the centre by torchlight and go into areas that are normally out of bounds to the public — behind the stage, in the dressing room and up to the top floor of the art centre.

Ms Banks said she’d heard an urban legend about the powerhouse but has been unable to confirm it with more concrete evidence, even after countless hours of research on the site.

“Apparently people were drowned underneath (the Powerhouse) ... they were workers and the banks of the Georges River flooded. But we can’t find any documented proof of that.”

Do you know anything about the supposed drownings underneath? Email [e-mail]

And in the theatre there is a spirit the tour organisers say they have encountered and who they have nicknamed him ‘Crispy’.

“He’s not very pleasant, he is a burns victim and likes young, blonde ladies,” Ms Banks said.

Are you game?

WHAT Ghost tour of the Casula Powerhouse

WHO Australian Paranormal Phenomenon Investigators run the tours

WHEN Saturday, July 18 at 8pm

WHERE 1 Powerhouse Rd, Casula

COST Adults $45, concession $35 and groups of 10 or more are $40.50 each. It includes coffee, tea and biscuits

TICKETS 9824 1121 or visit their website

A recent group at Casula Powerhouse with tour guide Peta Banks.