We will be posting any new ghost stories we come across on this noticeboard so please visit regularly to hear the town’s latest chilling, thrilling tales.
GEELONG has a sensation in the shape of a “ghost,” which an adventurous resident of the town has “shot at.” Belfast has a sensation in the shape of a ghost, which is “invisible!” For some time past the residents of Gipps street have not been at all easy in their minds in consequence of the nocturnal visits of a certain perturbed spirit, which is said to frequent the vicinity of the stone building adjoining the wharf, known as “the woolshed.” Almost every night the credulous people who pass that way assert that they hear a variety of strange noises close to their very ears. The noises invariably are loud and thrilling; they strike terror into the hearts of the hearers, who become almost petrified with fear, for they cannot tell the source from whence the sounds proceed unless they be of supernatural origin. Numbers of people state that they have heard the noises, and all agree that the ghost or goblin “flutters round” every night after nine o’clock, when a sulphurous odour pervades the street. To the peaceable residents of the locality the affair is a terrible mystery, and children are so affrighted that they cannot be induced to pass the “haunted shed” after nightfall. It is supposed by those who believe in the supernatural, that some years ago, probably before the buildings were erected, the site of the woolshed was the scene of a “foul and brutal murder,” the perpetrator of which, up to the present time, has escaped punishment, hence the uneasiness of the departed spirit! Some plucky fellows the other night, after fortifying themselves with “spirits of the other sort,” ventured to watch for the appearance of the ghost. It came in due course, and they, as quietly, beat a retreat, being quite satisfied that “the ghost was about, and no mistake.” What creates the noises, no one in our sublunary sphere can divine, but we understand, to allay the fears of the people, it is proposed to summon a convocation of the clergy and best all-round praying men about to “lay the spirit” and drive away the terrors of the place. This was the custom in the days of our great grandmothers, and, doubtless, it would prove effectual in this instance.
Banner of Belfast, 2nd February 1876