I've always believed that some people when they die, do not 'cross over', they remain earthbound until someone or something releases them and they are free to go. I've never really believed in ghosts though - but it is something I've always been interested in.
A few years ago while touring near a town where Australia's most haunted house lies, I convinced my friend to drive there and go through the house with me. I was dubious at first, as we entered via the giftshop where some information about the various haunted spots of the home were splashed about. I mean, entering THROUGH the giftshop? What sort of mugs did they think we were? The staff serving in the small cafe weren't very friendly - I got the impression that they'd rather be anywhere else but here.
We paid the entry fee and opted for the self-guided tour. In hindsight, I think this was the best option - as we were free to wander and experience any ghosts if there were any to be experienced without a guide informing us which spots were more haunted than others.
I'd learned of this house via a book - The Encyclopedia of Australias Most Haunted Houses, and this one is located in country NSW - in Junee. We hadn't consulted a map before entering the town - I just felt I'd know the place when I saw it and soon enough we did. Far up on the hill - the place just looked ominous - even at a distance of a few kilometres.
So there we were inside the grounds of the house that I'd been so curious about for so many years. We wandered first in to the long disused Ballroom, inside it was dim and gloomy and I didn't get the feeling that this was a place where many parties had taken place, I got the feeling that it was a place that yearned for parties and dancing and fun. But it was exactly as the book had described.
Next on the list - the stables. A place where many hauntings had been reported - but still I was sceptical. We walked through the room where they stored the buggies, nothing untoward. We walked through a doorway and in to the part of the stables where the horses were kept - and I recall walking through a spot where it felt utterly airless, as if all the air had been sucked out of that spot and I remember a feeling of dread washing over me - my impulse to get the hell out of there was very strong.
Standing in the late-winter sunshine I waited for my friend to appear. We looked through a few of the outhouses where the staff had lived and I found one of the rooms particularly disturbing, I think it was the naked plastic doll placed near one of the beds that just seemed sinister.
We then decided to enter the main house together. Walking around the western side of the building I felt like I was walking against a tidal current - I really had to concentrate on walking forwards, I felt like I was being pushed backwards - a very strange sensation to have in the cold light of day. We walked in through the front door and had a quick look around the downstairs dining and sitting rooms - that appeared to have been unchanged since they were first furnished - back in the 1800's.
I walked up the stairs and paused as I heard a stair creak behind me. I assumed it was my friend - and turned to greet him but there was no one there, someone or something then jostled me to one side and I instantly wanted to apologise for being in the way - but to whom? There was no one there.
Soon my friend caught up to me and we had a look through the upstairs bedrooms together - again, not updated since they were first furnished. I felt very much like I was intruding - being overly nosey and wanted to go out on the balcony and check out the sweeping valley views. We opened the door and my friend held it for me whilst I walked outside and the door was wrenched backwards out of his hand and slammed shut. We both assumed it was the wind.
I walked to the western side of the building so I could look back over the pathway where I'd felt the sensation of being pushed backwards - and then I noticed I was standing in front of a small room with an open door. It appeared that the room had been added after the house had been built. I stepped over the threshold and instantly felt that I was trespassing in someones' personal space. This is hard to describe - but I felt or heard someone shouting inside my head 'GET OUT!'.
It was such a forceful experience that I really did want to leave. Again the door slammed shut behind us and again I was jostled on the stairs. We exited the property yet again through the giftshop - and this time I paid closer attention to the photographs and their descriptions hung up through out the giftshop/cafe.
Turns out the spot in the stables where I'd felt like I was walking through an airless spot and felt the feeling of dread washing over me where was where a body had been buried. That sent a chill through me like I'd never before experienced.
I was still puzzled about the shouting I'd heard inside my head. That was hard to find a logical explanation for - I'd actually heard it and felt very much that I was prying in someones' very personal space. I couldn't explain it but I couldn't ignore it either. I had actually heard the words.
We'd both gone in to the house somewhat sceptical, but on leaving we were both firmly convinced that ghosts do exist.
A few years later I was browsing in a bookshop and came across a book written by 'Australias Best Psychic' and when I flipped the book over to read the blurb - she'd mentioned spending a night in Australias Most Haunted House, I leafed through the book until I came across the chapter titled 'The Monte Cristo House'. When I read that she'd also experienced the shouting inside her all the hair on the back of my neck and arms stood up - I now knew that what I'd experienced was very real.
I'd always suspected I had a 'visitor' in my old flat, and it dawned on me that this was true. Things were always falling off shelves and some nights I got the impression that I was being watched - so strongly it was impossible to ignore it. Late at night when everything was dark - small bubbles of light appeared and I'd always assumed they were headlights from the busy road outside my window. However since visiting the haunted house I realised that the 'headlights' didn't move - they remained very much in place.
When I researched the history of my neighbourhood you could have knocked me down with a feather. Across the road where a commercial building now stood - was the site of the first hospital on the north shore. Where our flats had been built in the forties was where the morgue had been located. Indeed.
I've since moved house and have not yet had the same sensations - not once have I had the feeling I'm being watched or have things fallen off shelves in the middle of the night, nor have strange bubbles of light appeared in the dark. If the sensations I'd had at my previous address were nothing more than my mind playing tricks on me - I'd surely be having the same experiences at my current address.
http://www.montecristo.com.au/
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