Halloween: 7 spooky ghosts that haunt Victoria

EVER heard of the Hosier Lane Strangler? The Carlton cinema spectre? Or the ghouls that haunt the former insane asylum in Kew? These are Victoria’s scariest stories and our most haunted spots.

IT’S the time of year when Victorians prepare to begrudgingly shove lollies in the hands of trick-or-treaters.

So in celebration of Halloween, let’s explore some of the state’s most haunted locations and the stories of their restless spirits.

MONSTERS THAT ARE YOUR WORST HALLOWEEN NIGHTMARES

HALLOWEEN SALES SOARING IN MELBOURNE

The ghost of Frederick Deeming is said to haunt Hosier Lane.

THE HOSIER LANE STRANGLER

Dark hooded figures who are there one moment and gone the next are to be expected in a place such as Hosier Lane, where artists, some law-abiding and others not, enjoy their craft.

Fred Deeming.

But the story of a vanishing figure with a particular hate for urinating men has been told by ghost guides.

Fellas who find a quiet spot in the alley to relieve themselves after a night of drinking have reported the sensation of cold hands wrapping around their necks.

Some believe the angry spirit is that of Frederick Deeming, a serial killer who murdered six people, four of them children, and was hanged in Melbourne in 1892.

THE CINEMA NOVA SPECTRE

According to some former staff of Cinema Nova in Carlton, theatre four is definitely haunted.

Reports of a young girl running through the cinema and feelings of dread have been reported by movie-goers.

Another story involves a staff member walking into theatre 13 at night and seeing a person hanging by their neck in the back corner, only to vanish after a moment.

But a sober explanation put forward by a cinema manager is that ghost stories are invented by staff as a convenient excuse to not the clean cinemas at the end of movies.

A burnt spectre of a kitchen worker lingers in the Blackwood Hotel.

GHOSTS OF THE BLACKWOOD HOTEL

Northwest of Melbourne at the old mining town of Blackwood stands a hotel with a reputation for ghosts.

When new owners took the place over two years ago they heard doors opening in the night which, when checked, where found to be locked.

The hotel is formerly the town’s morgue and carries a few sinister stories conducive to ghost tales.

One is that of Laura Dalton who worked at the hotel’s kitchen in 1848.

A petrol iron exploded while she was using it, causing horrific burns, and she later died at Ballarat Base Hospital.

Her ghost is said to linger in the hotel.

Spooky. The Old Treasury Building.

OLD TREASURY BUILDING

Staff experiences dating back decades were aired by an employee in 2007, leading to paranormal investigators descending on the Old Treasury Building on Spring St in 2007.

Male staff members experienced the sensation of somebody following them down the stairs, with many reporting footsteps behind them when they decided to bolt.

But some female staff described pleasant encounters with a gentle spirit who passed doorways and, in one instance, opened a lift door just before employees reached it.

The investigations a decade ago, surprise surprise, turned up no concrete evidence.

THE FORTUNA VILLA APPARITION

Built in the 1850s, Bendigo’s grand Fortuna Villa estate was used during WWII by the Department of Defence.

Officers on watch were required to note any disturbances in a log book and, so the story goes, unexplained phenomena were so common they started a new log just for the spooky stuff.

A later story from the 1970s describes how an officer doing night rounds saw a ghostly orb floating through walls close to the kitchen area.

It was later discovered a soldier had committed suicide in a lodging at the same spot.

The sad ghost of a little girl is said to have left people in tears at the Cape Otway Lightstation.

THE LIGHTSTATION SPIRIT

Like an episode of Round the Twist, a number of ghosts have been reported in the Cape Otway Lightstation, including that of an aboriginal man in traditional dress and a lady in grey in the cafe area.

But the story of a four-year-old girl who died in the lighthouse in the 1880s is perhaps the most chilling.

The girl’s body was kept in a cupboard in the telegraph room - the coolest area of the building - until the coroner arrived.

Visitors to that room have reported feelings of sorrow and some have burst into tears.

Some claim psychics have been able to communicate with the ghost of the little girl, who responds to women’s voices.

The former Larundel mental hospital is believed to house the ghost of a girl who plays a music box.

GHOULS OF LARUNDEL

The former Larundel mental asylum in Kew stood abandoned for years, falling victim to graffiti artists and vandals as ghost stories spread.

One story claimed a little girl who died on the third floor used to love her music box.

The ghostly music could still be heard at night, according to the story.

There were also reports of loud crashes and strange voices coming from the empty building.

But the site was more likely to be infested with the living as police warned last year that ghost hunters were risking life and limb climbing through the abandoned site at night in search of supernatural inhabitants.

Since the site has been the subject of a real estate redevelopment, stories of ghosts are fewer.

SPECIAL PRESENTATION: YOUR WORST HALLOWEEN NIGHTMARES