Our Night In a Haunted Orphanage

23rd July, 2011

St John's Orphanage, Goulburn NSW

For my birthday this year I wanted to do something different so on Saturday night, James and I joined a team of paranormal investigators on an overnight investigation at St John's Orphanage in Goulburn. We left home around 4:30pm and after stopping for fuel etc we set off to Goulburn via Oberon.

We had an eventful but good trip down the back road from Oberon to Goulburn. It was raining lightly in the mountains until we descended down the range to Hartley. The sky started clearing as we came into Oberon and as we drove along the mountain ridges we saw a magnificent sunset. The horizon was covered in a thick band of cloud topped by deep crimsons and glorious golds blending into the dusky blues of the night sky.

I really needed to go to the toilet when we got to Oberon but unfortunately the public toilet was closed so had to keep going for another hour until we reached the next town where we found a toilet open in the park.

Along the way we came across two kangaroos on the road, but slowed down as we approached but not too much because the one on the right lane turned and jumped towards the side of our car. After that we then encountered two sheep leading two cute little lambs across the road, once again slowed in time to miss them. Then further on, I saw a pair of glowing eyes crossing the road, when we caught up with them they were attached to a fox disappearing into the bush.

We got to Goulburn at 8pm and after stopping at KFC for some hot chips, we then got to the orphanage and parked nearby under a street light to eat our cold chicken and hot chips for dinner. Afterwards we drove outside the main entrance to the orphanage where we parked. As we were collecting all our gear, one of the staff from the investigation came out to help us.

Just inside the entrance to the grounds was the base camp for the night's investigation. The first thing to greet us was a group of people sitting around a large welcoming wood fire which was kept going all throughout the night. Nearby a marque and a table was set up where we could help ourselves to refreshments during the night. In this regard, we were spoilt for choice, as there was a good range of hot and cold beverages plus hot soup and rolls. We also had plenty of yummy cakes and slices and then late into the night a large bowl chocolates went around to boost our energy supplies.

The night started with Louise the event organiser, taking us on an orientation tour inside the huge two and a half storey complex. The layout inside was very complex and confusing and you could easily get lost. There were lots of long winding corridors with rooms leading off on either side. Plus they had a lot of rooms leading into other rooms as well. The upper levels were accessed by two main staircases at each end and then several smaller staircases as well. Outside the back courtyard we were shown a couple of separate buildings one of which was the hospital.

There was a lot of grafitti and vandalism in the few rooms near the entrance of the building but none going further into the building (vandals have never been a very brave sort of breed).

Once we were back at base came, we were divided into 3 groups and each group was allocated a different section of the complex to investigate. Each group was given a section to explore for a 2 hour period followed by a half hour break to recoup before moving on to a different section.

We had one of the group's volunteer's investigator, Craig, leading our team which consisted of just James, myself and one other guy.

We got to learn how to use some of the equipment and try it out for ourselves. The tuning rods were the coolest and they really creeped James out when they moved a lot when he was holding them.

You can really feel the electrical energy running down the copper rod into your hands when a spirit is moving the rods. There is no way to fake the rods' movement without people noticing.

Some parts of the orphanage were more intense than others, especially the rooms where the children lived.

In particular the boy's bathroom (left) in one of the cubicles I saw a small bright light move across the back wall and disappear through the side wall. I gasped out loud so then I had to explain to those around me what I saw, unfortunately no one else saw it.

 One of the main staircases where a couple of people have claimed to have been pushed down by an unseen force.

 The chapel inside the orphanage with it's beautiful archway and bay windows.

There is a shelf in one of the rooms that has several sets of small child-like fingerprints on it which apparently mysteriously appeared during one of the first investigations. The shelf was clear at the beginning of the night and then someone noticed them appear sometime during the evening.

People have since tried to replicate the prints but without success. The shelf is covered in years of grease and dust and if you try to make a fingerprint it comes out blurry around the edges, whereas you can see that the original prints are distinct and have sharp edges.

The most puzzling occurrance for me was when I was taking photos. Every now and then when I went to take a photo and pushed the button halfway down to set the focus, I saw a black shadow on the LCD view screen and then when I took the photo there was nothing there. This happened several times until I got some other people to take a look and they too saw the shadow. It showed up in different locations and only at certain spots, so I don't think it was my camera. I did finally manage to get the shadow on my photo when the flash wouldn't work. I took lots of photos without the flash but this is the only one which had a shadow. Here it is below, you can form your own opinion as to what you think it represents....

I took this photo when the flash didn't work

Then this photo was taken a few seconds later but this time the flash did work but no shadow...

 I'm not sure I believe that orbs are anything paranormal or just reflected light from dust or water particles but a couple I took look like something different, I just don't know what to think, except it makes for some interesting speculation...

 I took two photos, the first had what looked like a white orb on the far end wall, take a look at the closeup below....

The other strange images I got were outside after the investigation was over. In the first photo below, loot at the far end window, there appears like a black shape looking in the window, the closeup shows a slightly clearer image. Then in the second photo, the shape seems to be disappearing slightly upwards (again the closeup gives a better view). I don't claim it is something paranormal, just something to ponder about....

The next series of shots takes in the area around this same doorway except from the front of the building below the porch. First I thought some blades of long grass were glowing in the dark, then after taking a few more shots I noticed that the glowing grass image had moved across from being directly under the doorway to being slightly right of the doorway and there also appeared, directly under the doorway, what looked like a nun in a black habit bending her head in prayer with tiny lights on her.

 This is the photo without closeup, the doorway is the one facing onto the porch just under where the upper white section of the building ends.

The image is directly under the white beam in front of the bush...

This one was taken seconds later, you can see the first image has moved slightly right and under the beam you can see what looks to be a nun praying with two lights on her left.

Then in the next two photos I caught some mist in one shot and in the second shot the mist had disappeared.

Then in the next photo I caught this white light in front of an upper window, it maybe just a speck of dust or something else...

I have to say that overall the night was great fun, spending time in a haunted building, meeting lots of interesting people and plenty of discussions about different theories about the paranormal and hearing people's different points of view.

I didn't expect to see a ghost but I did experience a few unexplained phenomena during the evening, a couple of which I have already mentioned. A couple of others included seeing a shadow on top of one of the staircases at the same time as one of the other people also saw a shadow.  Feeling sick in the tummy on the same spot as a couple of other people experienced feelings of nausea. Some other people also heard voices and footsteps and one girl had the feeling as if someone was tugging on her coat.

Of course, like any serious investigation, this night's events don't carry any weight towards being recorded as real evidence, it takes collecting a lot of data over a series of investigations and correlating people's shared experiences before any claims can be made that genuine paranormal activity took place.

I am looking forward to going back and taking part in another investigation when the next event is on just to conduct a few experiments of my own.

Well here's to happy ghost hunting.

Regards,

Jim & Marieanne