Happy Halloween

Halloween is not the big deal over here as it is in the states.  I do miss getting dressed up and seeing the kids in their costumes. I also miss the way the neighborhood goes all out on Phantom Way.  So, I decided to keep some Halloween spirit and do something spooky.

I have never done this before and I've never really wanted to, but I know my son likes scary movies, so I thought he might enjoy this.  I decided to take a ghost tour of one of the most haunted places in Sydney, Quarantine Station, or Q Station here in Manly.

I was dreading this all day. My stomach was queasy.  I didn't even buy the tickets until the very last minute, just in case I wanted to chicken out and scrap the whole thing.  But I did it, and here I am at midnight writing about it, partly because I'm too scared to turn off the lights and go to sleep and also because the adrenaline from the night is still running through my veins.

They say you should do something every day that scares you. I think I've met my quota for the next few weeks!

Q Station is the place where they kept sick immigrants just getting off the ships before they were allowed in Sydney.  Of course not all of them survived, many died of their illnesses: small pox, flu, scarlet fever, plague.  So you can imagine that many unfortunate souls might still be "living" there.

If you haven't figured it out yet, I hate being scared.  Ah, the things I do for my son.  We were early for our 8:30 PM tour, so Trenton and I walked around the outside of the restaurant where it was dark and quiet with a great view of the harbor.  Trenton pointed out into the water and asked, "Is that a boat?"

I stared for a few seconds and turned around to say yes, but Trenton was gone and I was all by myself, in the dark in Q Station! Grrrr, Trenton! Already, he was freaking me out.  He jumped out from behind a table laughing.  Ugh, is this how this night is going to be?

But everything turned out just fine.  I actually enjoyed the tour.  Yes, it was scary, but I loved the history and the ghost stories! Our guide, Amy was great.

The tour was done by lantern light, but as we entered each building, she made us leave them outside.  Each room had no lights except for Amy's red flashlight, but she hardly kept that on either. In one room, she actually just left us in there in the pitch black to ask us if we "felt" anything.  Umm..how about cold, spine-tingling fear? Is that a feeling? Later, she gave us these EMF sensors that detect Electromagnetic frequencies and are supposed to light up when they detect paranormal activity.

Trenton was holding the EMF sensor while walking around the grave diggers quarters which houses some of the not-so-nice ghosts. He wanted me to go with him into one of the bedrooms and I told him "No Way." I did not like the feeling of that room. Just then he had the EMF pointed at me and it lit up! Ack! Was there a ghost right next to me?

As much as I couldn't stand being scared the whole time, I actually had fun.  Something super scary happened in the morgue, but our whole group ended up laughing so much about it.  She also had stories of friendly ghosts that made me feel a little better.

Anyway, I didn't take too many pictures because I didn't want to capture anything creepy on film, but here are a couple.

The First picture is of the shower stalls in the decontamination station.  Walking around here was super scary, so I held Trenton's arm the whole way.

The second is of the hospital.  There are three original hospital beds behind some stanchions.  Amy said that we could sit on any of the other beds except for those three.  After looking at the photo, it looks like some bodies were, or are already sitting there.

If you really must see more images of Quarantine Station, you'll find plenty on Google.

Happy Halloween, everyone!  Don't be afraid to do something different! You might actually enjoy it and create a new Halloween tradition!