Queensland’s haunted places to avoid – or visit – this Friday the 13th
It’s Friday the 13th, and while the superstitious treat the day with trepidation, InDaily has compiled a list of Queensland’s haunted places for those who like a spook.
There are few superstitions as pervasive in Western culture as that of Friday the 13th.
It comes from a deep-rooted superstition that the number 13 brings bad luck, misfortune and, in the most extreme cases, death.
Fear of the number 13 even has its own name — triskaidekaphobia. Fear of Friday the 13th also has its own even more rarely used word — paraskevidekatriaphobia.
But is there any reason to really be scared?
For anyone with grave (wink, wink) concerns, we’ve spoken to Ghost Tours Australia owner Jack Sim and compiled a list of Brisbane’s most haunted spots for you to avoid – or visit.
Toowong Cemetery
Over Brisbane’s sordid history, Toowong Cemetery has built a reputation as one of the river city’s scariest sites.
As the city’s largest final resting place, there’s sure to be a few spooky stories – and the most notorious is that of Edward McGregor, Sim says.
You might like
“In life, he was a businessman from Scotland who apparently requested to have a statue of his likeness installed over his burial plot,” Sim says.
“The statue, which is positioned to watch over his wife’s neighbouring plot, is said by locals to come to life and move.
“Some even say it’s been seen walking down the side streets.”
Creepy.
Spook Hill
While still technically within the Toowong Cemetery grounds, we think Spook Hill warrants its own presence (get it?) on our list.
Otherwise known as Twelfth Ave, Spook Hill is a sloping road with paranormal properties.
“It’s a legendary stretch of road,” Sim says.
“If you park your car on the road and put it in neutral, supernatural forces are said to pull your car up the hill.”
There have been numerous reports of the phenomenon, Sim says. In some cases, cars travel as much as 50m.
Freaky, right?
Stay informed, daily
South Brisbane Cemetery
Are you sensing (boom tish) a theme?
Sim says cemeteries are the city’s spookiest spots, owing to Brisbane’s gory past.
“We began as a convict settlement, and it was a pretty violent and cruel place,” Sim says.
“People did terrible things. Our soil was literally stained with the blood of early convicts.”
So he says Brisbane South Cemetery, often referred to as Dutton Park Cemetery, should be on the list of places you may want to avoid – or visit – tonight.
Stretching down to the Brisbane River, Sim says it’s one of the city’s most eerie places.
Stories circulate of inmates executed at the notorious Boggo Road Gaol – and buried at the site – returning as malicious spirits to haunt their graves.
Charming.
Boggo Road Gaol, Brisbane
Speaking of Boggo Road Goal, it was one of the most notorious and brutal jails in Australia – where dozens of people were executed.
One such inmate was child murderer Ernest Johnson, who Sim says is better known as Ernest Austin.
He was the last man hanged there, in 1922, and rumour has it he still lingers on.
His ghost is said to have roamed the now closed jail-turned-tourist attraction to strangle inmates in their sleep.
Lucky for this reporter, the entire gaol complex closed it’s doors in 2002. Phew.
