Ancient ghost tales, spooky encounters, and old wives tales; Brisbane is brimming with stories that will send shivers down your spine. Read on (if you think you're brave enough) for hair-raising, down right spooky encounters at some of Brisbane's most iconic lcations.
#1 Schonell Theatre at UQ
For any students of UQ, or avid theatre-goers, you’ve probably heard of the spirit who lingers backstage at Schonell Theatre. A ghost nick-named Sophia appears as a real ‘flesh and blood’ human in a long old-fashioned white gown–creepy much?! Her presence has been felt by cleaners, maintenance workers, and even the manager of the theatre, who apparently saw Sophia walk past him into a dressing room. The room only had one exit, and she never came out! But don’t worry, Sophia’s pretty shy so sightings of her or the sound of her footsteps backstage only happen after shows.
#2 Toowong Cemetery
This 150-year-old cemetery is bound to have been the source of some spooky stories. There is an old tale of two young sisters who died in a car accident and were buried at the top of ‘spook hill’. Legend has it if you sit in your car at the bottom of the hill you will roll forwards instead of backwards, as the two girls drag your car up the hill to your inevitable death – too scary! There are also stories of a fox at the cemetery which stares at you and tries to lead you down a dark hill. The young adventurers who spotted this tried to take a photo of the fox but every picture showed the same dark, blurred image in place of the fox!
#3 Breakfast Creek Hotel
This Renaissance-style pub is famous for more than just a decent steak and beer. Many of the Breaky Creek staff have felt the ghost of William McNaughton Galloway, founder of the hotel and former lord mayor of Brisbane. Apparently he was prone to the drink and fell from an upstairs window late one night and died. Staff say his ghost haunts his old room and sometimes they will feel a cold chill late at night from something out of this world.
#4 Whepstead Manor, Wellington Point
This huge manor was originally the home of a family of sugar cane farmers and has had various roles to play since then, from housing sick people in the 1930s to now being used as a restaurant and function centre. It is rumoured that the wife of owner Gilbert Burnett, Martha Ann Burnett, can be felt in the home with her scent of lavender perfume that she was known to wear before her death. Other strange occurrences are reported by guests to the manor, such as lights switching on and off and objects moving around.
#5 Goodna Cemetery
Warning: never go to Goodna Cemetery! This place is seriously scary. A terrified visitor reported trying to leave the cemetery in his car but couldn’t get his car moving, even though it was turned on. Once the sun rose he was finally able to get going and later found deep scratches on either side of his car, as if something large had been holding his car in place all night! Other people have been known to leave this spooky graveyard covered in bruises and scratches. The old part of the cemetery was previously used by Woogaroo Asylum to burry the criminally insane.
#6 Mt Gravatt-Capalaba Road
Several people say they have seen a ghostly presence at this spot! Drivers coming around the corner have seen a motorbike crash scene with a woman lying on the road and a man kneeling over her. If you spot this and pull over to check if they need help, you will not find any sign of them or the motorbike! So peculiar.
#7 Space Real Estate, New Farm
In 1949 Nell Brennan died from suffocation under suspicious circumstances at the Space real estate building, which was then used as a shop with a flat upstairs. Since then there have been a few spooky reports of people seeing a ghost there. A worker at Space says she saw a luminous dark shadow, a person, at the top of the stairs!
Not feeling spooked yet? Check out our picks of the best scary movies on netflix!
Image credit: Breakfast Creek Hotel