Nothing quite makes you feel alive like a good old-fashioned haunted house.
And there’s no better time for a frightening experience than on or around Halloween. There’s just that little something extra in the air, a lingering feeling like the sensation we’re never really alone, alone that makes everyone on edge and ripe for the supernatural to occur.
First, there’s that chill, that shiver, the prickle on the back of your neck that makes all your hairs stand on end for no apparent reason other than a breeze, a shadow, a black cat lurking. And then comes the scare, the jump, the shriek. Are you the type to run or stand your ground, and face your fears?
To test your mettle, how about a quick little visit to one of these haunted sites around the Gold Coast? Do you have what it takes? Or, better yet, how about taking along a friend you know would jump at the sound of a twig snapping—or is that too mean?
1. Jimboomba Anglican Church
When graves are involved, you just know that someone has seen a ghost. The strange thing at Jimboomba Anglican Church, though, is that although there are supposedly the graves of four women buried in the church’s cemetery, only the mother of the group has even been seen to be haunting the church grounds.
According to Richard Davis, author of Great Australian Ghost Stories, the four women who died on December 14, 1913, were at the local dam when one of them fell in. The others, trying to help, also fell in and in a matter of moments all of them drowned.
It is said that the mother has been seen circling her grave and pointing a long bony finger at the church’s bell tower. Make of that what you will.
2. Terranora Lakes Country Club
Okay, this place isn’t so much a haunted house as it just gives me the damn heebie-jeebies when the sun is setting and long shadows are cast over the building and surrounds.
Back in the day, the Terranora Lakes Country Club boasted an 18-hole golf course, three bowling greens, a pool, and five tennis courts for its members before closing down in 1996 and falling into a state of disrepair. If you ask me, then something shady had to have gone down for this once vibrant and private country club to fall so far from glory.
Although we don’t recommend going due to the inherent danger of broken glass, corrugated iron, and god-knows-what-else, this place is spooky at night. Instead, take a look at this video shot by a local keen to see what was on the inside.
3. Dreamworld
You wouldn’t think it at first, but if you give it a moment you soon realise that dreams are much closer to nightmares.
One such nightmare would be to get on a roller coaster only to be screaming for your life because a ghost has taken a seat next to you and you can’t get off. Well, this is what apparently goes on at Dreamworld’s BuzzSaw attraction.
The story is that over 100 years ago, a man named Jack Darke was killed by a buzz saw at Gold Rush’s sawmill. Whether he stumbled into it or was pushed in is where the accounts diverge but the legend goes that the town covered up the death and now Jack haunts the area, which is exactly where the ride is located. True or not, is does make for a much more frightening ride.
What’s more, though, is that this isn’t the only ghost story to come out of Dreamworld. When shooting commenced of Big Brother in 2001, numerous reports of hauntings began to circulate. Production staff have spoken of seeing a young girl walking the hallways and sometimes appears in mirrors with an accompanying whisper heard throughout the building.