Willow Court, night tour
Oct. 31st, 2007 06:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
xenithThe dinner was a lot of fun, much eating, drinking and African dancing went on. Right at the end, when discussion about the best way of returning to the motel had started, two of the locals came in and rounded up a group to go on a ghost tour.
I do wonder about the wisdom of taking a dozen rather drunk adults for a walk through dark, abandoned buildings late at night. I also have to wonder at any of them adults who thought it was a good idea. No one fell down any holes though.
We looked through two buildings
This is Ward C where, we were told, they put the difficult patients. As far as I can tell it's the one described in the Australian Heritage Database as Carlton House, built 1908. "A high security building, built to accommodate male 'refractory' patients. It fronts on to a large exercise yard enclosed by a high concrete wall and is a two-storey red brick building with institutional 'Gothic' characteristics. It contains a corrugated iron, hipped roof and small steel framed windows. Vegetation in the yard is limited to one large tree (species unknown) and a small Prunus tree."
Just behind the two-storey section, there's a low door in the wall, which must open onto the large walled area at the top of the aerial photo. It didn't look that big when we were huddled up against the wall, because it was too dark to see out that far. Note the dark form of a tree just behind the building.
There's apparently a door that won't stay open, or shut. I wasn't as interested in the door as the guide was. I was more interested in getting inside.
Once we were in, we went up the stairs to the top storey, which is the 'cell' area. For all it's supposedly a hospital, it felt as much like a gaol as any I've been to.
At the end of the building, we went into one of the room that had a barred window in the opposite wall, which was dark. Then as you go up to it, you see something moving. The bloody tree outside.
We stopped in various other places and the guides told us some stories about weird happenings. Nothing that I remember. For all it was a creepy, dark building, that's all it was.
If you ever get down to Port Arthur and do the ghost tour (and I recommend it), you visit the church, a couple of cottages, the morgue and, at the end, the solitary prison. During the day, this is a creepy, nasty place. At night, at the end of a ghost tour when you're psyched up, it's the same, just darker and quieter. I assume this is because you can only go so far with creepiness in an empty building, and so with Ward C.
Then we went downstairs to what was the admin and doctors' rooms. This was a very unpleasant place, with cold spots and odd spells. No weird stories from this bit that I can recall (although the door must be down here), but it didn't need odd stories. Icky place.
The second building was just across the road.
I'm sure the guides told us it was the older of the two buildings but the only thing that seems to match in the Database entry is Bronte House, built 1940. "Built originally to house female 'imbeciles' and later used as a hospital. A single storey red brick building designed with federation influences. It contains sandstone lintels, expressed gable ends, a corrugated iron roof and a porch, which was a later addition." It does look like the older building, probably because of the "federation influences" which were in fashion between 1890-1915.
Whatever building it is, it was a hospital building with wards and a? nurse's station, laundries, bathrooms and rec rooms. We walked through a garden at one point too. We weren't quite as silly by the time we got there, colder & tireder though. In one of the rec rooms we stopped while the guides put out the lamps and did some demonstration that was supposed to be scary, but was more annoying. Too tired, too cold I guess. Not that interesting. Just a dark, silent building, except for the constant sound of a tap running. Rusted open, I guess, because no one could turn it off.
And that was it. We had some discussion on the way back to the restaurant about visiting the morgue the next day, but that didn’t eventuate.
I would love to back there though, with a working camera -- day or night.
I do wonder about the wisdom of taking a dozen rather drunk adults for a walk through dark, abandoned buildings late at night. I also have to wonder at any of them adults who thought it was a good idea. No one fell down any holes though.
We looked through two buildings
This is Ward C where, we were told, they put the difficult patients. As far as I can tell it's the one described in the Australian Heritage Database as Carlton House, built 1908. "A high security building, built to accommodate male 'refractory' patients. It fronts on to a large exercise yard enclosed by a high concrete wall and is a two-storey red brick building with institutional 'Gothic' characteristics. It contains a corrugated iron, hipped roof and small steel framed windows. Vegetation in the yard is limited to one large tree (species unknown) and a small Prunus tree."
Just behind the two-storey section, there's a low door in the wall, which must open onto the large walled area at the top of the aerial photo. It didn't look that big when we were huddled up against the wall, because it was too dark to see out that far. Note the dark form of a tree just behind the building.
There's apparently a door that won't stay open, or shut. I wasn't as interested in the door as the guide was. I was more interested in getting inside.
Once we were in, we went up the stairs to the top storey, which is the 'cell' area. For all it's supposedly a hospital, it felt as much like a gaol as any I've been to.
At the end of the building, we went into one of the room that had a barred window in the opposite wall, which was dark. Then as you go up to it, you see something moving. The bloody tree outside.
We stopped in various other places and the guides told us some stories about weird happenings. Nothing that I remember. For all it was a creepy, dark building, that's all it was.
If you ever get down to Port Arthur and do the ghost tour (and I recommend it), you visit the church, a couple of cottages, the morgue and, at the end, the solitary prison. During the day, this is a creepy, nasty place. At night, at the end of a ghost tour when you're psyched up, it's the same, just darker and quieter. I assume this is because you can only go so far with creepiness in an empty building, and so with Ward C.
Then we went downstairs to what was the admin and doctors' rooms. This was a very unpleasant place, with cold spots and odd spells. No weird stories from this bit that I can recall (although the door must be down here), but it didn't need odd stories. Icky place.
The second building was just across the road.
I'm sure the guides told us it was the older of the two buildings but the only thing that seems to match in the Database entry is Bronte House, built 1940. "Built originally to house female 'imbeciles' and later used as a hospital. A single storey red brick building designed with federation influences. It contains sandstone lintels, expressed gable ends, a corrugated iron roof and a porch, which was a later addition." It does look like the older building, probably because of the "federation influences" which were in fashion between 1890-1915.
Whatever building it is, it was a hospital building with wards and a? nurse's station, laundries, bathrooms and rec rooms. We walked through a garden at one point too. We weren't quite as silly by the time we got there, colder & tireder though. In one of the rec rooms we stopped while the guides put out the lamps and did some demonstration that was supposed to be scary, but was more annoying. Too tired, too cold I guess. Not that interesting. Just a dark, silent building, except for the constant sound of a tap running. Rusted open, I guess, because no one could turn it off.
And that was it. We had some discussion on the way back to the restaurant about visiting the morgue the next day, but that didn’t eventuate.
I would love to back there though, with a working camera -- day or night.
Cool Pics
Date: 2008-08-27 03:38 am (UTC)Isn't Royal Derwent Facinating, so much history so many stories, even the paranormal!
Cool Journal by the way, I have my own similar journal on Royal Derwent you can view it here: http://royal-derwent.livejournal.com/