Sydney Ghost Tours -
Ghouls Night Out Ghost Tour
If you were an optimist, would you build a hospital next to a cemetery?
To this day, Royal North Shore Hospital still captures headlines with real life horror stories.
It has a 125 year plus history....
On this Ghost Tour, you will visit a world where you can laugh, and maybe even start seeing things you have looked at forever - particularly around medicine - in a whole new way. You may hear things that will run chills down your spine – and leave you with the adrenaline rush of a good, fun, scare!
Departing from the centre water feature in the Forum, the main courtyard of the shopping mall, outside the entrance of St Leonards Station in St Leonards, (as per the marker on the map below), this Sydney Ghost Tour focuses on the later 19th Century and early 20th Century, and the "Movers and Shakers" of all religions who built the north shore.
Most people would not realise that the North Shore has an Aboriginal history, and an Early colonial / Convict history. Places like Artarmon, Gore Hill, and Lane Cove, and most of the surrounding suburbs have a story that is fascinating, moving and sometimes tragic. Once you have seen and heard it - is unforgettable!
Like all of our walking tours, this tour is a Historic Ghost tour.
We call ourselves Australia's most authentic ghost tours for a reason. All of our tours have to talk about what happened when people were alive, so that when we talk about what happened after they died, it actually makes sense. Nearly all paranormal activity is usually associated with traumatic events that took place when people were alive. So we have to explain this, within the context of the time in which these events took place. What was normal, and taken for granted then, is are very, very different to today.
As a result, 70% of all of our tours are documented fact, 10% are our "joining the dots" from many years of research, and the " local legends" or Paranormal parts of our tour make up the remaining 20% . However most of what we have to talk about is taken from original documentation, contemporary to the time, not academics passing opinions on other academics opinions. Most of these documents have never been available to Australian historians up until very recently, and most are still not aware of even now. They were only recently found in archives, scanned, and been made available. It is gritty, real, absolutely mind blowing, and completely changes what we thought we knew.
We start our tours explaining the context of the reality of early aboriginal and colonial life - and get darker and darker into the physical and then into the paranormal as the tour progresses.
Our tours are conducted by walking on public property only. A number of the things we talk about happen on government and private property, that having people walk through risks either damaging the site, or poses unacceptable risk to life and limb - for example parts of RNS are currently a building site. So we will show you as much as we can, while we follow the law, preserve the sites, and your life and limbs.
( OUR WET WEATHER POLICY: We do not operate in dangerous or wet weather. This tour visits a Victorian era cemetery at night - a place not built to 21st century safety standards. This location becomes unacceptably risky for falls when wet, and subject to lightning strikes during thunderstorms. In the situation that we have to postpone, rather than issue refunds, we will issue you with a gift certificate valid for 3 years, for twice what you have paid for. This way, you will get to come at a later time, and bring friends with you, on us. For more information on our terms of trade, click here. When you purchase tickets, you are agreeing to these terms )
Moving from premises on Willoughby Road, Crows Nest in the late 19th Century, RNSH was deliberately built next to a cemetery..." for the purposes of good public health" ( not having to move dead bodies very far.) So if you see RNSH in the news - remember, expectations weren't set very high to start with!!!. Sydney Ghost Tours tell the stories of the turn of the late 19th to early 20th century buildings, and the often heroic efforts of staff and patients of yesteryear, some of whom current staff suspect and feel are still doing their rounds, over a century later.
Can you imagine a time when mixing with people of different religions or races in life was practically forbidden - let alone getting buried in the same place?
Gore Hill Memorial Cemetery, where a veritable "Who's Who" were buried alongside the humble, is the first general cemetery on the north shore of Sydney. Ringed by skyscrapers, this place is piece of the 19th century that is now surrounded by the 21st.
Sectarianism used to be a fact of life in Australia in the 18th and 19th centuries. As a very loose rule of thumb, Anglicans tended to run things, Catholics often did the heavy lifting, both sides viewed each other with real and imagined gripes, and other faiths with suspicion, and all tended to discriminate in subtle and not so subtle ways against people of other faiths. As for how different races were treated - by 21st century standards, that was just plain appalling.
Prior to this cemetery being built- people from the different faiths were ONLY buried in a family plot on their property, or next to their church...Here, in an act of being very ecumenical for the time, Catholics, Presbyterians, Anglicans and other faiths are at least in the same graveyard - albeit in separate sections!
This cemetery is famous as the original burial ground of Australia's first Saint, Mother Mary McKillop - and you won't believe why she had to be moved!
Hidden amongst the family crypts and tombstones, are stories that would make a Sidney Sheldon novel look very tame.... and the spirits of those taken before their time, have reportedly made their presence felt....
We have a lot of fun and good belly laughs on Sydney Ghost Tours. Most people just come in comfortable, casual evening clothes. If you decide that you want to really make a night out of it, , and dress up as your favourite spooky figure, or as a doctor or nurse - knock yourself out. Just remember to bring something warm, an umbrella and some good walking shoes..
Tours now run Wednesday and Sunday nights ON PRIOR DEMAND. The new registration time for this tour is 8.15 pm, and the tour starts at 8.30 pm AEDST sharp - with a second tour later in the evening starting at 11.15 pm- (minimum group size of 15 required for this group to run). Our tours depart on time.
If you would like come along, hit the blue "add to cart" button below! It will take you through to a menu that will allow you to choose the number of people you want to buy tickets for.
Once you have done this you will receive an email to confirm your time for your tour!
Ghouls Night out Ghost tour ticket
A$
45.00
Booking date to be confirmed manually by Sydney Ghost Tours by telephone, text and email