The Haunted Black Rock House

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Activity in the room is hit and miss which is like anything in the paranormal. We often try to do what we can to stir things up. Another thing we like to do is to try and use the ‘Singapore theory’ to see if we can get things to happen. This is the theory where it is thought by recreating an environment the spirits can resonate with, it could stir up activity.

A common thing investigators do is play music. There is a beautiful piano in the room over 100 years old. They recently had it re tuned. We have tried on many occasions to play a tune to see if anyone wanted to come in and sit down and listen to the music. While nothing has really happened when we did this, hearing the sounds of the piano fill the halls of Black Rock House is an amazing experience.

We are also amazed how many times someone new makes themselves known to us.

Who will be next?

Perhaps it is Larry. This is a name we have been receiving frequently in the Drawing Room through different pieces of equipment. We do not know who he is and what his story is.


Next - The death room



To be continued…..

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THE DEATH ROOM

Quite often when roaming around Black Rock House, people seem to be drawn to one particular room. In fact if we say to people have a walk around and see where you end up, you can bet they will end up in the main bedroom, a room affectionately known by the volunteers of Black Rock House as 'The Death Room'

Why would such a beautifully decorated room be associated with such a dark name?



To be continued…..

[Headless2]

When I took my first tour of Black Rock House, the volunteers were the ones who actually brought this to my attention. For some reason, people seemed to have a reaction to this room. This was well before we started doing investigations here.

The people having these experiences were people doing a normal historical walk through. Some could not enter the room at all. To some there was some sort of invisible wall blocking them or they did not like the feeling of the room and would stand in the hall. Others would walk in and start to feel sea sick and swaying like they were rocking on a boat and some said that the room just smelt like death. This was such a regular occurrence that the nickname 'The Death Room' was coined.



To be continued…..

[Headless2]

Investigating this room is equally as interesting. People experience all of the above and more. I often ask for a volunteer to lie on the bed. Sensitive people always seem to get a pain in the side of their head and quite a few have asked if someone has died in the bed. To this I do not know the answer as the bed is not original to the house. It was purchased from a dealer and carries it own story. Perhaps someone did die in the bed.

What is also strange is that one of the bed posts of this 4 poster bed emits EMF. Not all the time and it is only one particular post. Maybe there is some sort of metal or something in that one specific post or could it be a sign that something has attached itself to the bed? Maybe the bed is carrying the energy of a traumatic death and this is what people are picking up on when the enter the room?



To be continued…..

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On one occasion, I myself have smelt this horrible smell associated with the room and I was with a couple of other people who did as well. It was to the point that we searched every corner of the room to see if there was some sort of dead animal like a mouse of possum hiding somewhere. The smell itself seemed to move around the room and completely disappeared and in the 2 years I have been there, I have never smelt it again.

On another occasion, a group of us were standing in the room about to do a spirit box session. I remember I was sitting on the bed. We heard the door latch and the gentleman standing nearest to the door stood to the side as if to let whoever it was come in. Another investigator was out in the hallway at the other end of house so we assumed it was him coming in. When no one walked in I got up to look outside. There was no one at the door and he was at the other end of the house. We reviewed video footage and we were able to confirm that the people nearest to the door were not touching it and definitely did not turn the knob to open the door. The door itself is not hard to open so of course it is possible that it opened on it's own by some sort of natural cause, but it is something that had never happened before and has not happened again.

Was someone trying to come inside?



To be continued…..

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It is one of the more active rooms at Black Rock House, but we can't seem to pinpoint a certain person or event.
I have done countless EVP sessions and never received a voice. We have done a lot of Spirit Box work and get the word Hello here and there but that is it. Lots of different words come up on the Ovilus but I am skeptical of this device and nothing comes up that seems to be of significance.

The EMF coming off the bed post is strange and we have been unable to properly debunk it. There also seems to be EMF activity in one corner of the room, but only when someone lies on the bed, and usually this person needs to be a female. REM Pod activity seems to indicate that something or someone perhaps hides under the bed.

Whatever is there and trying to communicate with us, I do not feel is nasty or evil. The energy is different to other areas and can make people feel ill, but I don't think it is evil and definitely not 'demonic' which a couple of people have asked. Whatever or whoever it is, still remains one of those mysteries that I intend to solve.


Next - the nursery



To be continued…..

[Headless2]

THE NURSERY

Considered to be one of the more 'quieter' rooms at Black Rock House the Nursery makes people feel uneasy for variety of reasons. It may not be one of the more active rooms at Black Rock House, but it is not without its quirks, and even the odd experience or two. The Nursery is decorated to reflect what nursery would look like back in the 1800's complete with a small collection of aged porcelain dolls.

The dolls often leave guests feeling uneasy with some unable to enter the room. It is important to point out that we don't believe any of these dolls are haunted of course, some people just have a thing about creepy looking dolls - especially when walking around in the dark. It also doesn't take away from the fact that people often feel sick and dizzy when in this room. 

On many occasions over the past few years, guests have said they have felt what they can only describe as a child either holding their leg or holding their hand. What is interesting is that people report this sensation from the same spot in the room every time (even when they have never been before and we have not mentioned anything of the sort to them). It is the right hand side of the bed behind the door. 

Is someone there hiding scared to come out?



To be continued…..

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One of the more memorable experiences in this room occurred during the first year of conducting tours. With a small group of people inside the room, we all sat and watched as a clothes rack seemingly lunged forward and fell to floor with a loud thud. While there was someone nearby, video footage revealed they did not touch it and were not close enough to knock it over. We have also tried stomping around to see if vibrations in the floor would topple it over. In the last few years we have tried to 'recreate' this instance with no success. 

What caused the clothes rack to lunge forward?

One of the more interesting facts to this room is that is a trap door on the floor that leads to the underground cellar. 

Is this a clue to the use of the underground cellars? 

Many have speculated that there are underground tunnels leading to the beach.

Why would you need a trap door? 

So much remains unanswered at Black Rock House.


Next - the children’s bedroom



To be continued…..

[Headless2]

THE CHILDREN’S BEDROOM

Wandering down the hall of Black Rock House, on the end to the right is a Children's Bedroom. One of the things you will notice straight away when you enter this room is it's intriguing wallpaper. Quite odd in general and even more bizarre was it for a Children's Bedroom.

During the restoration of the house, workers stripped back the layers of paint and wallpaper on the wall. They were shocked to find parts of the very original wallpaper used for the holiday house Charles Ebden intended. What was even more shocking, was it's content. The wallpaper was pictures from the story 'Uncle Tom's Cabin'.

This was a book published in 1852 and is considered to be an anti-slavery novel. Looking at the time period and the fact that Ebden has paid homage to the book as a wallpaper in his house, says a lot about his character. The dark tones and morbid pictures help to set the scene of creepiness.

A creepy looking rocking horse, a broken little piano and old toys help to decorate this room. Anyone who walks into the room instantly gets a little bit creeped out. Surprisingly though, it is one of the most quietest rooms in the house in terms of paranormal activity.

Apart from that one night where we caught something interesting.



To be continued…..

[Headless2]

Data logging is something we are big on when we are investigating amongst ourselves. Sure personal experiences are great and flashing lights are entertaining, but they aren't really telling us if anything is really going on. Data loggers help to either validate or give a bit of an insight into the conditions in the room. Any changes that match up to claims or a personal experience could add some weight to the claim.

In this room, the volunteer staff had told us that people experience cold spots. It is thought amongst investigators that a cold spot could be an indication that a spirit is trying to manifest. Our first thought of course was to check the window and fireplace for any signs of a breeze that could cause this. The fireplace chimney is closed up so there is no draft coming through. The window is also sealed shut and again there is no trace of a breeze coming through. (It actually gets pretty stuffy in there so we know for a fact the window does not open). We put 2 data loggers in the room which every 10 seconds would take a reading of the temperature in the immediate area. One was put on the fireplace and one was put on the dressing table beside the bed, where the cold spots are reported.



To be continued…..

[Headless2]

There was no noticeable activity in this particular room during the night, but the data loggers ran all night. Data logger 1 was reading a temp of around 20 degrees all night.

Except for the part where the temp seemed to drop to -4.9 degrees and then jump back to normal. Of course upon review this caught our eye.

In terms of temperature drops, you want it to be at least a drop of 10 degrees instantly to get your attention. This most certainly got our attention. We have never been able to recreate this. For weeks, we ran the data loggers in the same spots and no changes. We didn't record any sort of fluctuation even close to this.

Could it have been a fault in the data logger?

Yes it could, we have to acknowledge that, or was it something else?


Next - the dining room



To be continued…..

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THE DINING ROOM

One of the most aesthetically beautiful rooms in Black Rock House is the immaculately decorated Dining Room. From day one we felt this was one of the most active rooms in the house. In hindsight, it is not true, but people are drawn to this room. There have been many experiences within this room.

The main question everyone asks is “What is up with that mirror?”



To be continued…..

[Headless2]

The Dining room is usually one of the last rooms we end up in. While we generally save this room to do ITC work there are many different experiences had in this room. One of them happened years before we even started investigating the place. We are told by many of the volunteers that one day there was a council worker sitting at the dining table finishing off some paperwork.

He looked up and saw in the doorway a woman standing there in period clothing. He initially thought it was a staff member as they often dress up in costume to host historical tours. When he glanced up again she was gone. It wasn’t until he later spoke to someone to ask why a lady was standing in the doorway and disappeared that he found out that no one else had been there and they most definitely were not dressed in period clothing.



To be continued…..

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The beautiful table setting and red velvet tablecloth (which itself is over 100 years old), would make the perfect setting for some sort of séance. That is exactly what happened back in the early 2000s, again well before we started doing tours at Black Rock House.

A group of mediums was hired to do a reading on the house to help build a script for Ghost Tours they were planning to run. They felt that there were 13 spirits in Black Rock House and apparently during this séance used the large mirror over the fireplace as a portal which they did not close.

Does this explain all the weird things that happen with the mirror?

Is this why people get 'creeped out' by it?



To be continued…..

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It is also interesting to point out that in this room, we seem to get a lot of people coming through that are not from Black Rock House.

Did they come from the mirror or are they just responding because we are putting the call out?

I don’t know how much truth there is to this story and if the mirror is a portal or not, but I cannot deny how freaked out people get over this mirror. Some will not sit with their backs to it. Some are mesmerized by it and just stare into it.



To be continued…..