Serial killers, baby murderers and arguably Australia’s most infamous outlaw, bushranger Ned Kelly, were among the many criminals held and executed at Old Melbourne Gaol.<\/p>\n
And some say the dimly lit, cold bluestone building, which operated as a prison between 1842 until its closure in 1929, is still “haunted”.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Visit cell 17, and you might walk away with your own spine-chilling story. (ABC News: Iskhandar Razak)<\/p>\n
That’s especially the case for one particular room: cell 17 on the former jail’s middle level.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“We get a lot of reports from people who have been pushed or shoved or even scratched and they show us scratch marks on their neck,” said the National Trust’s Kathleen Toohey, of the cell.<\/p>\n
“Feelings of instant cold, cameras turn off and service dogs refuse to enter. We don’t know why it could be haunted.”<\/p>\n
At least 133 people were hanged and buried at Victoria’s oldest prison, including Ned Kelly, whose remains, along with those of other prisoners, were later transferred to mass graves at Pentridge Prison<\/a> when the Old Melbourne Gaol closed. (Kelly’s remains have since been moved to Greta Cemetery<\/a>, in Victoria’s north-east.<\/p>\n Ned Kelly was among at least 133 criminals who met their maker at the Old Melbourne Gaol. (Charles Nettleton, State Library of Victoria)<\/p>\n Back at the Old Melbourne Gaol, multiple historic tours are held daily for school children and history buffs, along with night-time ghost tours.<\/p>\n “[The ghost tours] have always been incredibly popular,” Ms Toohey said.<\/p>\n “But we have a responsibility as a National Trust in a space such as this, with a dark and hard history, to tell those stories with the utmost of respect.<\/p>\n “Our ghost tours are true stories \u2026 we don’t make anything up, and we don’t do the jump scares.”<\/p>\n But last year the trust steered towards the spooky, holding a Halloween event complete with costumes, sweets and decorations.<\/p>\n The National Trust’s Kathleen Toohey says Old Melbourne Gaol’s Halloween event is a hit with kids. (ABC News: Iskhandar Razak)<\/p>\n It sold out, and like any hit scary movie there is a sequel, which will take place this Friday.<\/p>\n “There will be great lights up, actors in the space telling ghost stories, monster selfie stations, props,” Ms Toohey said.<\/p>\n The National Trust also manages Pentridge Prison in Coburg, which will hold its event, Halloween in Hell Division, inside the prison’s notorious H-Division cell block.<\/p>\n Visitors inside Pentridge Prison’s H-Division, referred to some as “Hell Division”. (Facebook: Pentridge)<\/p>\n And at Labassa Mansion in Caulfield North, there’s a sold-out Halloween event for families, including a garden scavenger hunt for “treats” such as gummy teeth, frogs and eyeballs.<\/p>\n But Halloween is at least a little controversial in Australia, so should historic sites like Old Melbourne Gaol really be getting in on the ghoulish fun?<\/p>\n ‘Not a fan’ of Halloween\u00a0<\/p>\n Visitors at Old Melbourne Gaol are quickly drawn to the death masks of executed prisoners, the hangman’s noose, and Kelly Gang armour on display.<\/p>\n Things get a little spookier at Old Melbourne Gaol when the sun goes down. (ABC News: Iskhandar Razak)<\/p>\n Rachel Keenan is not into Halloween. “I’m not a fan. I feel like it is very American,” she said.<\/p>\n But when told the former jail was holding a Halloween night, she was much more interested in the concept.<\/p>\n “Oh well that looks fantastic \u2014 we would definitely come to that if we could,” she said.<\/p>\n Alex McWatters, who is visiting Melbourne to see UK band Oasis perform, said the gaol seemed ideal for a spooky event.<\/p>\n “I think it is perfect. I think this place is haunted so quite the place.”<\/p>\n Old Melbourne Gaol will be lit up for Halloween this Friday. (Facebook: Old Melbourne Gaol)<\/p>\n The National Trust admits Halloween isn’t embraced by everyone in Australia.<\/p>\n But Kathleen Toohey said embracing a fun, slightly sinister event once a year was the right mix, especially if it introduced a broader range of people to historic sites and Australian history.<\/p>\n “I can understand it a little bit, it is very Americanised,” she said.<\/p>\n “But, why not? We are a multicultural society, and have brought in many other holidays, so why not this one?”<\/p>\n She said children loved the event and enjoyed dressing up. “They really get involved, which is great for us to see.”<\/p>\n But if you, or your kids, don’t fancy an encounter with an apparition this Friday, maybe give cell 17 a wide berth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Serial killers, baby murderers and arguably Australia’s most infamous outlaw, bushranger Ned Kelly, were among the many criminals…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":249356,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64,63,134,147974,54162,130986,147975],"class_list":["post-249355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment","tag-ghost","tag-halloween","tag-ned-kelly","tag-old-melbourne-gaol"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249355"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249355\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n
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