Ghostly aspirations, dramatic cold shifts and spooky sounds are common occurrences at Sydney’s most haunted places. If you really want to scare yourself silly this Halloween, we recommend paying a visit to some of the locations below, all of which are noted for their sinister pasts and feared for their present poltergeists.
A woman in white walks a lonely road on Sydney’s Northern Beaches. A friendly Campbelltown local stalks his murderer’s former lands. Children run around a heritage mansion that sits in the middle of a golf course. These people may no longer have Earthly bodies, but they reportedly all remain at Sydney’s most haunted sites, recalling tragic histories and serving as conduits between the world of the living and the domain of the dead.
Whatever brings about the mood for a good little scare should guide you to the most haunted places in Sydney, listed below so you’ve got a terrifying check-list to work through.
Sydney’s most haunted locations
1. Wakehurst Parkway
Wakehurst Parkway on Sydney’s Northern Beaches is apparently the most haunted road in Australia. Hop behind the wheel at midnight and make the trek between Narrabeen and Seaforth in the hopes to catch a glimpse of the road’s most infamous ghosts: a nun wearing all white and a ghostly woman named Kelly. The supernatural occurrences on this devilishly dark strip are apparently so common that local filmmaker Bianca Biasi once shot a documentary there; it’s reported that many of the crew vowed to never return.
The 14.5-kilometre road curves around next to Deep Creek Reserve, which was once the site of a grizzly murder and is ostensibly a notorious body dumping site. Whether or not this explains the supernatural occurrences is anyones guess, but there has to be something to the reports of cars locking themselves, windscreen wipers going crazy, and ghostly apparitions appearing in back seats.
2. Gladesville Mental Hospital
While it’s now closed to the public, the Gladesville Mental Hospital still stands just a short walk from the picturesque Bedlam Point. And the gorgeous grounds are also still accessible, getting you up close to the imposing building, which initially operated as Tarban Creek Lunatic Asylum from 1830 to 1868. It became the Gladesville Hospital for the Insane in 1868 and simply Gladesville Hospital in 1915. Despite the name changes, a consistent undercurrent of abuse, death and grim happenings plagued the hospital, from a depressed woman who received so much shock therapy that her head was left burned to patients murdering each other.
Perhaps most disturbing was the fact that over 1200 patients were buried in mass graves underneath the asylum, hundreds of whom are still yet to be identified by any official Health Department records. The presence of these bodies means the expected ghost sightings every now and then, with most claims based on photographs of ghostly figures lurking in the hospital’s windows and doorways.
3. Cockatoo Island
It’d take hours to hear about all the many ghost stories that run around the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Cockatoo Island. This former convict penal colony has collected souls across its many lives as everything from a 18th and 19th century colonial prison to a reformatory school for misbehaving girls. Haunted history night tours are offered regularly, revealing the sinister secrets that rust away in the dark tunnels, decrepit buildings and soaring industrial spaces of this floating relic—Sydney Harbour’s largest island.
Nowadays, Cockatoo Island is one of Sydney’s most bankable event spaces and is regularly used during art festivals like the Biennale, as well as annual parties like Mode Festival. But you can head along any time you want and book in for one of the island’s $47pp ghost tours.
4. Quarantine Station
Climb on up to the stunning Manly’s North Head to find Quarantine Station, where luxury accommodation and an on-site restaurant paper over some of the most macabre and disturbing stories in the harbour city’s history. As per the name, from 1832 to 1984, this building was used to isolate people suspected of carrying infectious diseases into Australia. Reportedly over 500 people perished on the site during that time, leading to many wild and varied reports on ghostly happenings, particularly in the historic buildings where these patients used to sleep.
Those who are feeling brave should book in to spend the night in the on-site accommodations. You can’t anymore, but you used to be able to spend the night in the actual quarters where patients used to sleep, resulting in frequent reports of people feeling like they were being held down in bed during the night.
All ghost tours of Quarantine Station typically focus on the area’s oldest building, the ominous Gravedigger’s Cottage, where people have reportedly had the strongest reactions from panic attacks to warped perception.
5. Darlinghurst Gaol
Darlinghurst Goal is most feared for its history of public hangings, with the majority of ghostly sightings occurring where the gallows were once location. The former prison has served as the prestigious National Art School for over 80 years now, but there’s no covering up the precinct’s sinister past, flecked with suicides, hangings, murders and mistreatment.
While it operated as a prison, around 76 people were hanged with some refusing to pass into the afterlife and sticking around to terrorise poor art students at night. The security officers apparently get the worst of it, with some reporting lights flickering for no good reason and other sights and sounds indicating paranormal activity.
6. Old Government House
Tucked away in the heart of Parramatta Park, Old Government House gets its spooky reputation from several spectres who still call one of Australia’s oldest colonial buildings home. Visitors have reported feeling like they’re being strangled while inside, while others recall seeing a lady in blue and her dog in the upstairs window. The house is typically off-limits to visitors so they only way to go inside is to jump on an organised tour.
7. Callan Park
Long before it was home to the Sydney College of Arts, the 60-hectare Callan Park was the site of Callan Park Hospitality for the Insane. The 19th century asylum was notorious for neglect, abuse and death, and multiple reports tell of mass graves that sit below the grounds with dozens of bodies. While explicit hauntings are rare for Callan Park, visitors have reported feeling dramatic cold shifts when walking through the park, and some amateur photographers have caught hints of ghostly figures on their photos.
8. Campbelltown Town Hall Theatre
Every year, Campbelltown hosts the Festival of Fisher’s Ghost in ode to the suburb’s most famous ghost. As the story goes, Frederick Fisher went missing on the evening of June 17, 1826 and was never seen again, until his ghostly apparition appeared to a local farmer and successfully pointed out the whereabouts of his body. The Campbelltown Town Hall Theatre is built on the former land of George Worrell, Fisher’s murderer.
Theatre group members report many instances of flickering lights, ghostly figures and cold shifts. Although Fisher’s ghost is apparently super friendly, so there’s very little reason to be scared of the ol’ codger if he pops up during your visit.
9. The Street With No Name
Multiple child killings were uncovered along this dark and desolate location in Annandale, which is referred to as “the street with no name.” Running behind the light rail viaduct near Jubilee Park, the nameless street is largely inaccessible, protected by a padlocked gate crowned with barbed wire. What are they trying to protect? Well, apparently this is a very active spectral site where dogs behave strangely, ghostly footsteps are frequent and cold snaps are a given.
10. Studley Park House
Sitting on Camden Golf Course, the 1889 Studley Park House gets its haunted reputation from two ill-fated children who died on the property’s expansive grounds. The two boys have been seen playing together at the mansion while an unnamed woman has also been spotted in the tower, assumedly awaiting the return of her husband. Although perhaps most disturbing is the hangman’s noose found dangling from a steeple roof in 2010 during some renovations.
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