"I would like, if I may, to take you on a strange journey"
As the second oldest European settlement in Australia, Newcastle's history is filled with rough tales of unrest, incarceration and injustice. Infamous history is secreted in the dark corners of the city's east end in the cobbled streets, underground tunnels and behind the walls of the lunatic asylum. These are the haunts of convicts, soldiers and spirits of the past. Regardless of whether you believe in ghosts and ghouls, these 8 spooky sites in Newcastle's oldest precinct are a haunting reminder of Newcastle's past.
Newcastle Train Station
Watt & Scott Streets
Busy but innocuous, train stations are a favoured haunt of spirits and Newcastle's former terminus is no exception. In fact, it is not the only train or tramway station reputedly haunted in the area. Morriset and Wallsend also get a mention as being visited by ghost trains as well as spirits of people who have been injured or died on the tracks. Built in 1878, Newcastle's former train station is said to be the haunt of a gentleman who wanders up Watt Street to the Royal Hospital, which, as it happens, is also said to be haunted. We're not entirely sure what his ailment is, but it's said he can later be seen returning, presumably to catch his train home.
The Newcastle Lock-Up
90 Hunter St
With its stone dungeon cells and even a padded room, this former jail is definitely on the spooky side. A few years ago, paranormal investigators believed they caught one of the Lock-Up's resident spirits, Mary, on film. But the place is full of cold spots and grimness. Sitting opposite the former courthouse, the building was used from 1861-1982 as the local police station and for the short term incarceration of men and women. Today, the LockUp houses art exhibitions in the former cells and charge room.
The Old Court House
9 Church Street
The former Newcastle Court House on Church Street has had numerous paranormal experiences going on. Cold spots and rattling doors were commonly noticed throughout the building, but it was the experiences in the courtroom that really unsettled jurors. They recounted a feeling of being watched from the public gallery with one juror describing a female dressed in pillbox hat and gloves. The heritage-listed building was completed in 1892, replacing the former inadequate Hunter Street courthouse. Since being superseded by a new courthouse in 2015, the building has been sold to Japan's Nihon University who plan to open it as an education facility.
Christ Church Cathedral
Church Street
Unsettling stories from the bell tower and murders at the on the steps. From its origins as a slab hut in 1812 to the Cathedral we see today the building has a checkered history. In 1927, Mary Buckley, who lived next door to the Cathedral, was murdered with a tomahawk by her husband as she lay sleeping beside her daughter. 10 years later, Dorothy Everett was found naked and strangled by pair of stockings in the grounds of the Anglican school opposite the Cathedral. While inside the church, more than one person has died of natural causes during services. If this wasn't enough the Cathedral parkland was the former cemetery and the site of over 3000 graves. During the clearance works, relatives were allowed to remove the headstones but removal of remains required the permission of the Director-General of Public Health so most still remain.
The Asylum
Watt & Church St
James Fletcher Hospital started life as an elaborate military barracks in 1841. Within a decade it had been reassigned to an institution for 'at risk' teenage girls before becoming an asylum in 1871. The James Fletcher Hospital is still a psychiatric facility but it's actually the sites earliest residents that are claimed to haunt the halls. From the days it was the girls' institution, residents complained about red coats under the beds and soldiers inside the women-only facility. The matron brushed it off as the girls just trying to cause mischief but even today people still claim to see colonial marines in the buildings and grounds.
Royal Newcastle Hospital
Pacific & Ocean Streets
Built by convicts in 1817 and operating continuously for 190 years, all that is left of the hospital today is its north wing. Despite its bright panoramic view over Newcastle Beach, the hospital has a long history of sightings that are a little more unsettling. The ghosts of former patients, ghost nurses, and ominous auras above recently deceased patients are some of the phenomena reportedly witnessed. Although most of the hospital was torn down and turned into apartments the jury is still out on whether the eerie residents remain.
Old Gaol Hill & Gallows Yard
Tramway Reserve, Shortland Esplanade
If any place should be haunted it would be the grounds of the penal settlement's first gaol and execution area. Located on a peaceful hill facing the ocean baths, the reserve wasn't just the end of the line for Newcastle's trams. Several criminals were hanged on the gallows here, with their last view cast over the vast pacific ocean. The Georgian building's pretty facade belied the punishment and overcrowding inside. This was the place for escapees and those convicts, already the worst of the worst, charged with additional offences while in the colony. The gaolers and scourgers were not much better, often drawn from the ranks of former convicts and, in some cases, returning to the chain gang for their crimes committed in the prison. In 1848, 30 years after it was built, the gaol was closed and prisoners sent to Maitland instead. During the 1890s, as the Old Gaol site was excavated to make way for the tram terminus, a former inmate watched with interest claiming to know where several bodies were buried.
Fort Scratchley
Fort Drive
Flagstaff Hill was used by Rifle and Artillery Corps as a strategic defence post since the early 1800s. However, it wasn't until Lieutenant Colonel Peter Scratchley was sent out by the British Government that the tunnelled fortress was completed in 1882. For the next 90 years, the fort would face off threats of war with the Russians, French and Japanese. Although the only shots fired in anger where during World War II, with no serious casualties, this old relic still has the ghosts of soldiers past roaming its tunnels. The site is no longer a military base. The guns were decommissioned in the 1960s and the fort closed in 1972. After restoration works were completed in 2008, the site was opened to the public and today visitors can enjoy the views above ground as well as tour the tunnels below - if they dare.
HH For a bit of fun this Halloween, follow the haunted history trail https://www.mapcustomizer.com/map/Hunter's%20Haunted%20History%20-%20East%20End%20Walk
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