Port Arthur Ghost Tour

[Christine]

Some of you will know I went to Tasmania in October. While I was there my son and Aunt and I visited Port Arthur. I have had many experiences there in past years but was very eager to take my son and get his impressions and feedback.
We stayed on site at the motel attached to the site and checked in. We then went down to the site. Having just had knee surgery I was struggling with walking so we kept the walking to a minimum so I could still walk for the ghost tour that night. After having seena few places on the site we were walking back up to the Visitor Centre past the Government Gardens. I was walking next to my son with my aunt approximately 300 metres behind us. There was no-one else between her and us, nor anyone in the near vicinity of where we were. My son turned around and asked me what I wanted. I replied nothing why? He asked why I had tapped him on the shoulder to which I replied I hadn't. He then asked if a bird had pooped on him. No. Did a leaf fall on him? No. He was a little disturbed that he had had this experience in broad daylight. My aunt can attest to the fact there was no physical presence behind us and nothing fell on him. I explained he was fine and nothing would hurt him or I would have felt it if he were in danger. He was happy with this. We went back to the motel to meet up later that night for the ghost tour.
The ghost tour leader was a pain in the butt. He spent half the time trying to scare us and the other half mocking the events that had occurred at Port Arthur as far as peoples experiences went. So I knew we were in for an interesting evening. We stood outside the first building at the beginning of the tour and immediately a tall old man unseeingly joined our group. He stood up on the verandah. He was dressed in a morning suit and was quite staunch and distinguished in appearance. I got the impression he was a legal or law person. Not a Dr etc. He did not try to communicate with me. He simply watched over the group and he followed us for the entire tour. We eventually progressed to the surgeons quarters. We went into a small sandstone room under the house. My son and I immediately smelt a strange smell. Almost like a chemically vinegar smell. We mentioned it to the guide who said they used to use formaldehyde in this room as this was where the autopsies were conducted. That would account for the smell. That is certain. We moved on to the separate prison. We were standing down one end of the cell blocks when I could feel an unnatural pressure in my throat. It was at the base of my throat. It became stronger. I tuned in to what was happened. I could feel a strangulation that had been experienced there. Only it was no mere strangulation. It was a hanging. It seemed like quite a bizarre hanging. I remembered exactly where I was when I experienced this and made a mental note to ask one of the other guides about this later.
The tour concluded we walked off towards the Visitor Centre where we had parked our car. As we left the area of the Separate prison the man who had been following us left our company. All he did was watch. Nothing more.
We got to exactly the same place in the road where my son had been tapped on the shoulder in the daylight. You guessed it ti happened again. Not one but three more times. At this point he was pretty accepting of whatever it was.
When we returned to the centre I spoke with one of the guides who had been featured on George Negus about Port Arthurs ghosts.
He told us the following- I had been standing outside a cell in the separate prison where an inmate had hung himself with a belt from a height of about a couple of feet. He somehow hung the belt on his bed and hung himself.
There was a young guard who had to make good for himself in the colony to support his family back home. His job was to patrol the area between the prison part of the settlement and the free settlers. Each day there would be a password. He would stop people to ask for the password. This was designed to keep the convicts where they should be. He would tap them on the shoulder and ask for the password. I believe he was tapping my son on the shoulder to ask for the password. Perhaps my son looked like a convict person who should have had a password?
This account has been documented for the investigators at the Port Arthur Visitors Centre.
I will investigate this further on my next visit.
When I get some time I will also record our night at The Penitentiary Chapel in Hobart. Now that was an experience!!
Happy hunting

[Salt Breeze]

Hubby and I loved this tour.  Our guide was a really sensible person and didn't go on with much mischief of trying to scare people.  Of course there was a little, because the majority of people expect to get a scare on a ghost tour.

We were all given lanterns to carry, and we walked all over the site.  When we got to the old church, we had a few moments to explore where ever we liked. 

Hubby and I were chatting to another couple inside the ruins near there, when the guide called everyone together so we could move on to the next location of the tour.  We called back to him to wait, because we could hear footsteps running on the old stone spiral stairs that climbed up the tower.   We thought it was someone from the group, running down the stairs to catch up.  So the group waited....and waited. 

It turned out that no one had actually gone up the stairs.  These ghostly footsteps are apparently often heard by people on the tour - but the guide didn't tell us that fact until AFTER we heard them.  He got the group to wait in case a real person had actually gone up there, because there's no way to be sure until you wait and see whether someone turns up at the bottom of the stairs or not.   

[dazza]

It was last tour of the nite & I was on it!
I very much enjoyed this tour,i found it very informative but the tour guide had to rush it since they was many areas to cover.Since we had move along at fast pace,some members of the group did get very annoyed at him for not being able to do more photography of the haunted areas.I kept my cool & snapped whatever I could (hey every tour that you may find yourself on....go with the flow & respect the flow!)
Yes I did enjoy this tour & would definitely go on it again

[abby]

Dazza it's a good tour isnt it...

We went at the end of October 2004.. We arrived at our Motel late in the afternoon (the one on the hill overlooking port arthur) and were going to do the touristy thing the next morning..

When we woke the next morning I openend the curtains and I was sure there had been a mountain outside, lol it was sooooooo foggy it wasnt visible...

When we set off for our look it was 7 degrees..BBBBRRRRR

We did the ghost tour that night...Because it was raining and cold Hubby (blacknight) had bought one of those plastic rain cover thingys and it was WHITE...

As we were walking down to meet everyone we could hear people behind us saying.."What the hell is that White thing" LMAO it was pretty funny,he must have looked like a ghost floating through the air...

Loved the ghost tour....

[Awake_ning]

lol.lol.lol...

That would have been funny Abby.....

I can just imagine him flitting along and people pointing him out quite terrified.....lol.lol.lol.....