The walls of Ipswich’s Woodlands of Marburg hold some spooky tales

This old house may be beautiful by day, but it’s seriously spooky by night. Do you dare to venture inside?

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THE walls at Woodlands of Marburg don’t need to talk – they have a crack team of paranormal investigators to do it for them.

Armed with a standard Bunnings-issue infra-red temperature gun, I’m invited to meet the residents of Ipswich’s most haunted house.

It’s a bone-chillingly cold night as our ghost-busting group waits for a tour with Pariah Paranormal, but an evening at Woodlands begins in old-world opulence.

Woodlands of Marburg may be beautiful by day, but it's seriously spooky by night if you embark on a paranormal tour. Picture: Supplied.

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The Sugarmill Restaurant, set up inside the mansion, is a cedar-lined time portal.

It’s easy to imagine life for the home’s original occupants as we gather for drinks in the parlour before being led into the formal dining room to enjoy course after course under its ornate chandeliers.

But the night is still young when we meet our guides, who nudge us up Woodlands’ shadowy stairs and through candlelit hallways.

Whether you’re a believer or need more convincing, the property’s past lives as a sugarmill and a seminary provide plenty of fodder for a good ghost story. Picture: Supplied.

Spirit boxes, EMF readers, sensory objects, pendulum boards and dowsing rods are set up in rooms that have proven particularly “active” in the past.

We’re encouraged to roam between the different stations as investigators attempt to coax a connection with those who’ve passed over.

Whether you’re a believer or need more convincing, the property’s past lives as a sugarmill and a seminary provide plenty of fodder for a good ghost story.

Most of them centre around Tommy “Old Tom” Smith, who built the imposing mansion in 1889-91.

He’s not, we’re told, particularly welcoming.

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Spirit boxes, EMF readers, sensory objects, pendulum boards and dowsing rods are set up in rooms that have proven particularly “active” in the past. Picture: Supplied.

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Old Tom’s wife Mary is regularly seen framed in her bedroom window by guests winding their way up the driveway, and staff report child-sized shadows that flit through the hallways.

While the pioneering sugarmill was persistently plagued with rumours of reluctant labour, it’s a family “secret” that supplies the darkest of twists.

A pregnant maid believed to be Old Tom’s mistress is said to have been pushed to her death down the mansion’s grand staircase.

A jealous Mary seems like the obvious perpetrator, but the investigators believe it was Mary’s mother who took it upon herself to “solve a problem”.

“I’m just glad I’m not staying overnight,” whispers one member of the tour.

Fortunately for those that do, Woodlands Country Inn – made up of 10 deluxe suites and four executive suites – is in a separate building next to the mansion, so guests have a much better chance of resting easy.

For a guaranteed spirit sighting, head a couple of minutes down the road to Imbibis Distillery.

A winemaker from way back, Jason Hannay is channelling his energy into a genuinely artisan range of gin and brandy.

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Imbibis Distillery's Jason Hannay bottles the bush in his uniquely Queensland spirit range

Locked in his shed during Covid when he was getting the business off the ground, Jason would peer over the paddocks for his inspiration.

The result is the Queensland bush in a bottle – crisp, clean tipples blended with bottlebrush flowers and lemon myrtle or tinted blush pink by redfruits.

Imbibis is open for tours and tastings by appointment.

Visit woodlandsofmarburg.com for haunted mansion tour dates.