TALES of the supernatural are all around us, reports SARAH WARNE
When the owner of the old Coach and Horses Inn at Clarkefield near Sunbury bought the historic building two years ago he didn't believe in ghosts.
"I didn't think much of the strange stories people told about the place," Paul Lerey says.
"But as I watched in horror as a card slid right across a restaurant table all by itself I started to wonder."
"And ever since then, with all the mysteries around this place, I have definitely become more of a believer."
With Halloween on Friday, supernatural enthusiasts will be on the prowl for a good ghost tale.
They don't have to travel far to experience the supernatural.
The blink-or-you'll-miss-it town of Clarkefield boasts the most haunted pub in the state.
Built in 1857, the Coach and Horses Inn was the first Cobb and Co coach stop on the trip from Melbourne to the goldfields.
The history of the bluestone structure is filled with tales of murder, robbery and shootings.
Hotel owners Paul and Michelle Lerey say many mysterious things have happened at the hotel during their two years as owners.
"It's been cited as the most haunted hotel in Victoria," Paul says.
"The ghosts of the three people who died on the property haunt the premises to this day," he says.
"A Chinese man was supposedly murdered in the stables and an Irishman was killed in the hotel for his gold.
"But the most commonly sighted ghost is of a girl who was murdered here by her parents because she was autistic."
Paul admits that he was a definite sceptic of all things supernatural, but ever since that one significant encounter at the hotel he was forced to question his beliefs.
"We often get hot and cold spots around the hotel like someone has switched on air-conditioning," Paul says.
"But one day I was in the dining room and a place card slid from one side of the table right across to the other.
"There was no window open and I couldn't find a reason for how it had happened."
Paul says that visitors have had the spookiest encounters.
"They will come back from the toilets and swear they saw a young girl in the bathroom, crying," Paul says.
"There have also been sightings of her on the stairs."
The mining town of Blackwood, north of Bacchus Marsh, has its own haunted pub.
On a warm night at the Blackwood Hotel last year, the temperature in unit 3 dropped 10C in 11 minutes.
Since buying the hotel three years ago, owners Peter and Lynne Olivieri have learned they have ghosts.
"We've had little things like alarms going off and gas taps changed on beer kegs," Peter says.
"But visitors often see an old miner sitting out on the wooden firebox."
Locals say the hotel is still patrolled by an old employee.
Most common though is the inexplicable smell of candle wax.
"People often say they smell candle wax, particularly in the kitchen area," Peter says. "I didn't believe it until I smelled it myself.
"Local legend says it's the ghost of Laura Dalton who burned to death in the hotel, during its early years."
When Pieter and Susan Siebel took up the lease of the historic Kilmore Town Hall six years ago, it was deserted.
Built in 1894, it was the stage for Kilmore community performances for almost a century.
The Siebels restored the hall back to its former glory, opening up a restaurant and cafe.
Ghost sceptics at first, they were not convinced of the hall's spooky past until strange things started happening.
"One night I was on the stairs and a hand appeared on the railings," Pieter says.
"I was sure I had locked the door, so I took a closer look.
"There was a lady standing there, but when I looked again she was gone."
Pieter says staff often feel uneasy working alone at night in the old hall.
"We had a plumber and a dishwasher who both said they wouldn't work here by themselves because freaky things were happening."
The history of the lady who supposedly haunts the town hall has never been uncovered.
"I tried to get in contact with an old Kilmore reporter who knew the hall's link to the ghost, but he had since moved on," Pieter says.
Regarded as Victoria's most haunted town, Walhalla, in Gippsland's Baw Baw Ranges, literally became a ghost town when half the town washed away in the 1891 floods, drowning four people and sweeping away numerous buildings.
One grave in Walhalla's cemetery is said to be cursed.
Walhalla museum manager Lynda George says a family from Melbourne visited the cemetery in 2004 and the father lay down on the grave.
"That night he had a heart attack and died," Lynda says.
"Luckily he was revived and taken to hospital with a heart condition.
"During the day the family took photos but when the film was developed the photos of the grave were black."
There have been reports of visitors being burnt by the wrought iron fence that brigades the grave.
The oldest cottage in Walhalla was built in 1871 and Lynda says it's haunted by its former owner Rhona Spetts.
"She died a spinster having been stood up at the altar by the love of her life," Lynda says. "Her ghost has been seen by many people over the years, often in a wedding dress."
For more details:
Blackwood Hotel, Martin St, Blackwood. Ph: (03) 5368 6501
Coach and Horses Inn, 50 Station St, Clarkefield. Ph: (03) 5428 5391
Kilmore Town Hall, 16 Sydney St, Kilmore. Ph: (03) 5782 1991
Walhalla Ghost Tours. Ph: (03) 5165 6250
