Bizarre In The News - Bid to raise a ghost tour

Camden Advertiser

WOLLONDILLY Council wants businessman John Vincent to bring Picton Ghost tours back from the dead and has offered to help him prepare a development application that could ensure its survival.

After months of wrangling with the council over operating conditions to be placed on his 13-year-old business, Mr Vincent "gave up the ghost" in December and stopped the tours.

Mr Vincent was initially critical of council's treatment of his business but was "feeling better" after a meeting with the council on Thursday and indicated the closure might not be permanent.

Wollondilly Council has asked the business to submit a development application seeking formal permission for tour groups to visit three sites owned by the council in Picton.

Read more here

Bizarre In The News - Funny smell just may be a ghost

Mackay News

DO you ever hear children playing when you’re all alone?

Do you detect sour smells you can’t explain or do your doors keep slamming?

If so, you might benefit from the free services of Kade Jones and Lara Jeffcoat, of Haunted Australia.

Mr Jones, who has researched ghosts in Tasmania, recently moved to Mackay and is looking for potentially haunted locations to explore.

“It’s an obsession, basically,” Mr Jones said. “We research potentially haunted locations. It’s not a fact of just saying ‘hey, there’s ghosts’. You’ve got to delve into the history and find out what has happened there.

“It is amazing what you find out.”

Mr Jones said people who believed they knew of haunted sites could contact him for assistance.

He also investigates places on his own, and claims he has photographed some orbs, which indicate ghost-like activity, in Mackay, including at the Sydney Street Markets, where the Mater Hospital used to stand.

Mr Jones said he was very cautious of orbs in photographs, as they could be caused by dust or water.

“What we look for in an orb is concentric circles inside one another.

“If it’s just a normal haze or a blob we discard it there and then.”

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Bizarre In The News - Vintage Spirit: Ghost watch at Magill

Eastern Courier

VIDEO surveillance equipment has been installed in a historic cottage at Penfold’s Magill Estate Winery in an attempt to explain strange happenings, which many believe are the work of a resident ghost.

The sensors and video equipment were installed in the 1840s Grange Cottage late last year after a series of alarms in the cottage were mysteriously triggered.

Cellar Door manager John Miller believes the cellar is haunted by Mary Penfold, whose husband Dr Christopher Penfold founded the winery 167 years ago.

He says staff recall many eerie events over the years, including a tea cup with Mary Penfold’s intials on it inexplicably moving around the cottage and a female voice being heard across the vineyards.

The strange activity ceased about 20 years ago, however the mystery was reignited last October when alarms started sounding without explanation.

Magill Estate site services co-ordinator Shane Carter says the alarms sound after dark and sometimes up to three times a night.

“Initially we put it down to the new (security) system and a few technical issues ... but that all got sorted out and we were still getting strange activity,” Mr Carter says.

“It’s different down there at night, it has a very strange feeling and it’s very isolated.”

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Picton ghost tours forced to shut down

HeraldSun

PICTON is world famous for being a hive of supernatural activity, but it is now in mortal danger of becoming a different type of ghost town.

Business leaders in the rural community, southwest of Sydney, are mourning the death of the town's ghost tours after the local shire council forced the closure of the popular attraction.

The business was forced to shut its doors after residents complained the tours attracted hooligans who trespassed, threw eggs at houses, screamed late at night and did burnouts in their cars.

Seven people lost their jobs and the Picton Chamber of Commerce fears more could be at risk with petrol stations, restaurants and motels directly affected.

"It's an absolute farce, I am bewildered that any minority group can force a business out," chamber president Karl Klein said.

"The [problems] have nothing to do with people who go on the tours, it's other galahs out there."

Read more here

Have you ever been on this tour? What are your thoughts on it getting shut down? Share your thoughts in the comments below...

Is the NT a UFO hotspot?

I've noticed a lot of news stories of UFO's coming from Darwin, NT.

Here is the latest:

NT News

A UFO said to look like a secret Area 51 government plane shown on YouTube was seen last week by a Darwin man.

The man, who wanted only to be known as Brian, said he was having a beer and a smoke outside his unit in Sunset Drv about 9.30pm on Thursday when he saw a large, black flying triangle with lights on the side.

"I thought it was a plane but all it made was humming sounds," he said.

"It was maybe at the third level of my unit block just hovering and gliding.

"I wish I had my phone, my iPhone to record it."

Read more here

So, what are your thoughts on why so many UFO's are spotted in the Northern Territory? 

Bizarre News - Paranormal Investigator wants to help

Cairns.com.au

SOMETHING strange?, here's who you got to call. A ghostbuster he is not, but if you've got a bad case of things going bump in the night then Kade Jones may be able to help.

A full-time researcher with Haunted Australia, Mr Jones is planning a trip to Cairns in search of haunted sites in the area and is asking locals to report any spooky events they have experienced.

Mr Jones said paranormal activity could happen at homes, tourism areas, old hospital grounds, historic cane cottages, or any other places where people have died.

Against popular belief, Mr Jones said it doesn’t have to be a violent death for a haunting to occur.

"It could be a location where someone has enjoyed living and they don’t want to leave because it was a happy place for them," he said.

People should look out for objects moving on their own, unusual presences, orbs and out-of-focus patches in photographs, unexplained sounds or even a strange sour or floral smell.

Mr Jones will visit the sites to take photographs, films, and readings which might indicate paranormal activity.

He said it was important to have an open mind, and would always look for the most logical explanation first.

To read more click on the link above.