Looking for a haunted house on October 31? Will a haunted motel room do? Room 17 at the Malanda Lodge Motel in Atherton has been fully booked by a ghost since the motel opened 13 years ago.
Staff tell of footprints belonging to no-one living and weird noises in the room when it is empty. The motel was apparently built over an old slaughter house which was the site of an horrific death back in the day – a man fell into a tank of boiling oil.
There haven’t been any signs of the spectre lately in Room 17 but if want to test your nerves…
Or try a visit to the Yungaburra Pub. This beautiful century old alehouse is the second largest timber hotel in the southern hemisphere. Besides famed Federation architecture and cool surrounds it’s known for its hauntings with apparitions and strange footsteps reported. You can no longer stay at the hotel but you can enjoy a drink and a meal – and chill out.
You couldn’t find a more ghostly place than the Historic Village Herberton – there are resident ghosts in Ada’s Frock Salon, the Bakerville Tearooms and Jail. The tearooms ghost is thought to be Albertina, who died in the room where the pantry is. She wears a long, old fashioned white dress and is often seen by staff walking through their pantry door. Ada’s Frock Salon and the Jail are also often nominated as places where people feel a ghostly presence.
Ghost hunters Nomad paranormal Investigations set up in the village several years ago and recorded readings of their EMF detecting machines and saw spooky white opaque smoke in the Tearooms as well as recording strange temperature changes in several locations.
If that isn’t enough, the Herberton Lions are scaring up some new life in the town’s cemetery with some dead good tales of old on November 10. Bring a coat, torch and walking shares to hear stories of the people who shaped Herberton’ past and are buried in the 132-year-old cemetery. Gates open 5.30 pm, stories start an hour later. $5 entry, $10 for a family and there will also be hot food and a sausage sizzle – all profits go to local Lions’ projects.
