‘If you hear banjos, run’: Ambo’s real-life B-grade horror movie

A Queensland paramedic who claims she was locked in a remote house at night with a rotting corpse in a scene straight out of a B-grade horror movie is suing the state for $1.3m.

Naomi O'Callaghan is suing the state government for $1.3m.

A Queensland paramedic who claims she was locked in a remote house at night with a rotting corpse in a scene straight out of a B-grade horror movie and was later told, “If you hear banjos, run” – in a reference the film Deliverance – has sued for negligence.

Naomi O’Callaghan’s description of her terrifying experience at a farm near Giru in North Queensland is contained in her $1.3m claim seeking damages from the state government, filed in Townsville Supreme Court on Monday.

The 43-year old claims she was called out to a remote rundown house in a rural area 10km north of Giru at 11pm on May 29, 2011, to help an 80-year-old dead man.

She alleges she was met at the property by a man holding a shovel who was surrounded by a pack of dogs, who led her to the corpse lying in an unlit home, and locked the door behind her.

She claims she felt her safety was threatened while alone with the man, who escorted her the corpse and told her that his dogs would attack her if she made any sudden moves.

She said was scared by aggressive dogs and other wild animals at the farm late at night, and also by the “unlawful tendencies” of “third persons” at the farm and trip or fall hazards in the rundown shack, the claim states.

The body appeared to have been dead for some time, she said.

The woman ran to her ambulance and hit the duress alarm, telling the radio operator: “This has got a B-grade horror movie written all over it.”

In the claim she alleged the “life-threatening situation” caused her to suffer PTSD.

She drove to the Bruce Highway and met police then returned to the home with police to confirm the man had died.

She alleged Queensland Ambulance Service decided not to send backup paramedics from Townsville to help her because it knew the 80-year-old was “obviously deceased”.

Two months later, in July, she again answered a late-night call to return to the Giru area to confirm the death of a 36-year-old man who had committed suicide.

She alleges that her post-traumatic stress disorder from the first incident was aggravated as she felt unsafe when she found the corpse hanging from his neck in the shed on a remote property 30km west of Giru.

Surrounding the body were two gas bottles, lighters, a bowl of white powder and cigarettes, and she felt more uneasy believing the triple-0 caller had concealed themselves on the property and was failing to answer when she called out.

Ms O’Callaghan said in her claim she was scared and tried to flee the remote farm, but the engine of her ambulance would not start.

When she contacted the radio control room for help they allegedly told her, “If you hear banjo music get the hell out of Dodge,” a reference to a notoriously brutal scene accompanied by banjo music at the start of the 1972 American thriller film Deliverance.

She has sued the state government, which runs the Queensland Ambulance Service.

She worked there from September 2007 as a “single ambulance officer” in rural and remote areas of North Queensland.

She alleges the QAS should have told her to wait until police officers arrived to declare the properties were safe before she was dispatched to confirm the deaths.

Ms O’Callaghan alleged she lost the capacity for employment with the QAS in any capacity from June 28, 2019.

She alleged that in both cases there was no urgency.

She alleged that when QAS staff told her on the radio, “If you hear banjo music, get the hell out of Dodge,” this amounted to an admission they saw the risk to her health and safety at the farm.

The claim alleged the radio officer then told others, “Our single officer is out there by herself... there’s nobody around and now her car won’t start.”

She is seeking $1.3m in damages.

No defence has been filed and no date has been set for hearing.

Originally published as ‘If you hear banjos, run’: Ambo’s real-life B-grade horror movie