Dark history of Sydney’s ‘haunted castle’
It’s known as one of Sydney’s spookiest homes, an age-old castle with a dark history featured on film and TV, that makes a name for itself on Halloween.
You could be eating out, attending a wedding or even living in a house with a haunted past and not even know it.
Yet these dark histories and eerie sightings make it hard to ignore and turns out there have been plenty of them across NSW.
But even ghosts can’t scare buyers and guests away from these haunted properties.
Ray White Group senior analyst Atom Go Tian uncovered almost 300 reportedly haunted locations across Australia.
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Regional NSW had the second most locations across the country, with Sydney having the most in a major city.
Mr Go Tian said how haunted a place is will change the tune of prospective buyers.
“There’s a scale of how notoriously haunted a certain place is,” he said. “If there’s a movie about a particular house or there’s a place that has had multiple sightings, it will really depend how haunted something is and how dark the history.”
Here are some of the most notorious haunted properties and how the public have responded to them:
MONTE CRISTO HOMESTEAD – JUNEE
Claiming to be Australia’s most haunted house, the Monte Cristo Homestead has a deep history.
According to local folklore, among the tragic incidents that occurred at the property close to 100 years ago to be a maid falling off the balcony, a stable boy set on fire, a baby tragically dropped and died and the fatal shooting of the caretaker. There is said to be at least 10 ghosts in the property.
The Ryan family who purchased the home in 1963 and restored the property however have reported a number of strange occurrence after they moved in, including lights appearing on from the outside, but when they got in the house all the lights were off.
Rumours are the ghosts don’t like animals with the Ryan’s finding their chickens and parrot choked to death and a litter of kittens they had raised all brutally murdered.
Today guests who dare walk through the property still report whispers, unexplained mists, fainting and are overcome with sadness in the eerie home.
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Q STATION (QUARANTINE STATION) – MANLY
The allegedly haunted quarantine station on the northern beaches has operated ghost tours on site since 1990 with its stories of paranormal occurrences entwined in its history.
Passengers would arrive off boat and be quarantine for illnesses like the plague, typhus, small box, cholera and Spanish influenza.
One area of the station was the shower room, where they would treat arrivals with showers filled with disinfectant and carbolic acid, which would shed the entire top layer of a persons skin. There was also dining areas and the hospital wing where The station which was opened 1883 remained operational until 1984
Voices of the ill and diseased are said to still be haunting parts of the station, with stories of sightings of ghosts crying, a figure that looked like a station attendant, as well as seeing imprints on the old hospital beds.
Staff and guests have also reported feeling like they had been touched or shoved by something that wasn’t there. A film was made about the site and now, Q Station as it has been affectionately renamed, includes boutique hotels, weddings locations and dining options. The property sold in 2021 to hotelier Glenn Piper for somewhere shy of $20m.
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APPLEGARTH – MILTON
Built for John Cambage by master builder James Poole in 1868 “Applegarth” is one of Milton’s original homes.
Reports show James Poole came to work on the stone pier at Ulladulla in 1865, but stayed to design and build a number of private and public buildings.
The dwelling is supposedly haunted by Cambage’s son Henry who lived in the home.
However that didn't scare off buyers, as the home sold in 2021 for $2.4m.
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ZEAL COTTAGE – WINGHAM
Like stepping back in time, Zeal Cottage in Wingham spooky history is well documented.
It is reportedly haunted by its first owner Adelaide Hill. Her two-year-old grandson fell into a tub of boiling water and died the next day.
Adelaide soon after moved to Wingham and built and lived in Zeal Cottage. She died in the cottage in 1922 and locals believe that the tragic loss of her grandson could be what keeps Adelaide’s spirit earth bound to this day.
However the legend isn’t scaring off homeowners. The home last sold in 2019 for $545,000, which is above the current median for the area.
GLEDSWOOD HOMESTEAD – CAMDEN
Children’s giggles and phantom voices are said to drift across Gledswood Homestead.
Reports say staff have felt like someone was standing behind them when no one else was around and lights would flicker on and off. The television show ‘Haunted Australia’ even came through to verify the Gledswood heritage-listed former vineyard, colonial farm and homestead.
The original building on the property was the convict lockup, built in 1810 by the first owner, Gabriel Louis Marie Huon de Kerilleau, according to the now event spaces website.
The main homestead was built from 1827 to 1855 by James Chisholm and three generations
were to live on the property.
Isabelle Emily, one of James Chisolm’s daughters to have passed away in the home from scarlet fever at five years old as well as a worker who was crushed under a tree on the property, according to reports. Both are rumoured to still haunt the property.
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CAMELOT CASTLE – KIRKHAM
The iconic Camelot Castle in Kirkham in southwest Sydney has been used for many film and television series including ‘A Place To Call Home,’ yet it also has a dark history.
The original owner James White only lived in the house for two years before he passed away in the home in 1890. His wife stayed in the home until she too died there.
It was then purchased by William Anderson and his wife Frances, yet tragedy struck the pair too. William killed himself at the property in 1912 while Frances died there in 1948. Their daughter who never married or had children passed away at the site in 1979.
The home now hosts historic tours. Rumours that the eerie mansion is haunted have spread for many years.
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Originally published as Dark history of Sydney’s ‘haunted castle’