Hello Friends,
With Halloween drawing near, I thought it was time to get out the spooky stories.
Let’s start in Western Australia, my home state.
This week we’re off to the Fremantle Prison which opened in 1855.
1859 watercolor painting of the Main Cell Block, by Henry Wray
The old jail is located in the port city of Fremantle which is 11 km south of the state capital of Perth. It was built for British convicts/criminals that were sent to Australia by sailing ship.
It started as a home where
the first convicts lived. These people had done minor crimes in England and
were punished with short sentences in jail, in another country. They
were used as laborers to construct the city’s buildings, roads, and infrastructure.
Over time, violent and
dangerous convicts with long jail sentences were sent there. Laboring work
outside the prison was no longer allowed. There were various gruesome
punishments for bad behavior. In 1888, they built a way to give the ultimate
punishment to prisoners.
The Gallows.
Death by hanging.
During the life of the
prison, 43 men and 1 woman were executed.
Another unpleasant part
of the prison’s record was a Governor who was tyrannical and harsh.
The newly restored prison gatehouse in 2005
Today, Fremantle Prison is one of the most haunted places in Australia. The hard life of the criminals and their executions didn’t rest easy with history.
Strange, ghostly happenings experienced inside the jail include rattling sounds, footsteps and voices. People have taken photos inside the Gallows room and discovered they appear headless in the images.
Once I tried to visit the Fremantle Prison
myself. When my car got close, I felt the unhappy vibes still locked in the
colonial buildings. I couldn’t make myself get any closer and drove away.
Over the years, I’ve
spoken to people in my town who’ve visited the old jail. Most of them said they
got a reaction in the Gallow’s room. They felt uneasy in the stomach, or
turned cold, or wanted to leave the room straight away. Some have been touched
by an invisible presence or even been pushed against the wall.
For spooky tourists, the
Fremantle Prison has a nigh time, torchlight tour to explore the darker side of
history. There is also a Tunnel Tour where you can climb down ladders to
beneath the old jail and visit the labyrinth of tunnels built by prisoners.
Ghostly, if you dare.
Take care,
Photo Credits: Diego Sanchez & Zane Lee on Unsplash.com
Henry Wray Watercolour, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons
Ghostieguide 2005, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons Licence
No comments:
Post a Comment