In the course of my adult life, I have haunted many pubs across inner Melbourne in particular, as well as having visited many more around greater Melbourne and out in the country.
I have never actually seen any ghosts or had any supernatural experiences, and in the bright light of mid afternoon as I write these words, I do feel a little regretful about that, even though I am quite skeptical about those things.
But, as Shakespeare put it in Hamlet: ‘There is more to heaven and earth, Horatio, than is dreamt of in your philosophy’.
Whilst I have never seen any ghosts, several people I know whom I respect as being rational and reliable people, including one pub manager, have had supernatural experiences, and I thought it might be fun to list some of the pubs which are reputed to be haunted.
1. Young and Jacksons
Young and Jacksons is the most famous pub in Melbourne, as just about all five million people living in our city would know. This comes from it being on the prominent corner of Flinders and Swanston, just over from the main railway station, and from the famous nude painting, Chloe, whose presence has graced the pub for over a hundred years.
Obviously a pub this famous and iconic in Australia needs to be haunted, and it is claimed that the ghost of a murdered prostitute can be heard screaming outside late at night.
To me, this is a very disappointing account, as you would hope that a pub this big and so long established would have a few more ghosts elsewhere on the licensed premises.
2. Mitre Tavern
The Mitre is possibly the oldest building in central Melbourne, and one of the only six pre-gold rush buildings left (the others being the Duke of Wellington, St Francis Church, Rutherglen House in Highlander Lane, the small shop on the corner of King and Latrobe, and that big shopping block which holds the Paperback on Bourke Street).
I have not really frequented the Mitre that much until recently, but it has become my favourite city pub in the past two years, with its old local pub charm and its upstairs steakhouse, and its rickety structure.
The Mitre makes a big deal of being haunted by Connie Waugh, whose portrait hangs in the stairway up to the steakhouse. Connie was the mistress of one of the early Clarke baronets (famous for hosting a party where the Ashes were created at their Rupertswood Manor in Sunbury) and who had a townhouse opposite the Mitre (now the Savage Club). She reputedly killed herself inside the Mitre and her ghost haunts it.
This might not be so. When chatting with one of the barmaids last year, I was informed that Connie actually killed herself in Adelaide. HOWEVER, there have been other untimely deaths, such as two brothers who fought a gunfight outside in the dead end (sic) alley that we now call Mitre Lane.
Some entity may indeed haunt the Mitre. That same barmaid told me that a vodka bottle had explicably dropped from above the bar (one spirit being jealous of being unloved compared to the other?), and that one night, a time lapse security camera had recorded that a glass had moved on a table without any persons being present.
3. The Imperial
Of all the pubs in the city, the Imperial is the one for which I would express the most love. I spent a lot of time there in the late 1990s and early 2000s as a regular, and even now that I am retired a month does not go past without me stopping in there at least once.
Back when I was a regular, I was very friendly with the pub management, and would ofttimes drink with them when they were off duty. One of those managers told me that the most famous ghost of Melbourne, the late opera singer Federicci, who is known for haunting the Princess Theatre a few doors up, also haunts the Imperial. It seems that Federicci, like me, had many happy memories of times drinking in the Imperial before his untimely demise, so he likes to visit it when he is not employed in haunting his former place of employment.
This manager told me that the publican in the mid 1990s who used to live upstairs had many unnerving experiences late at night, and that he himself had one odd experience. The manager was, at about 1pm one night, doing the paperwork in the upstairs office when the lid on a flip top bin started flipping violently. He wearily looked at it and said ‘Quit it Fred’ and it stopped.
Barmaids at the time (and the Imperial probably had the best looking barmaids in Melbourne back then) also claimed of feeling a presence when they were changing out of their street clothes upstairs. This would be very much in character with Federici’s reputation.
4. The Maori Chief
The Maori Chief is a very old school type pub in South Melbourne, which, alas is temporarily (I hope) closed for renovations.
I recall reading an article in street magazine The Big Issue back in the late 1990s where the publicans claimed that the pub was haunted by the Maori Chief. At that time, the pub would host strippers on Friday afternoons. Supposedly, the ghost of the Chief would get excited and his portrait would fall off the wall.
That won’t be happening anytime soon. Even if the Maori Chief reopens, we are in a different era and the only pub in the city which might entertain strippers these days is the Royal in Punt Road.
5. The Steam Packet
The Steam Packet is, as befits its name, a pub in Williamstown.
There is a story about an opera singer who was staying there and who lost his voice. As a result he killed himself and now haunts the hotel.
As I have friends who live in Williamstown and regularly dine in the Packet, I might investigate this story further myself sometime soon.
6. Rob Roy (now The Workers Club)
The Rob Roy is in Fitzroy and would be one of the older pubs in Melbourne. It is rumoured that a cleansing took place when it was converted into a Backpacker hostel several years ago to remove the ghosts.
It had a sinister atmosphere, where a bathroom mirror would often fall onto the floor and where a locked storage area was constantly messed up. My informant told me that a barmaid claimed that a dark cloud would float around the ceiling of the bar area late at night.
A medium supposedly communicated with the dead and found that there were many spirits there, but that they welcomed the company.
7. The Middle Hotel Ferntree Gully
Let me preface this bit with the admission that I get very confused about places like Ferntree Gully as it is far from my home in the western suburbs. There are several pubs, and I am not sure that the Ferntree Gully Hotel is the one which is sometimes known as the Middle Hotel.
In any event, there were offices in the upstairs at the Middle Hotel which were abandoned because of supernatural activity, and that something had scratched a woman who worked there.
8. The Palace Hotel
The Palace Hotel is in Burke Road Camberwell, and is currently one of those giant venues where many people frequent. About a decade ago, I would go there fairly regularly to hang out with a friend who was living in Ashburton.
I feel that all the people and poker machines etc would scare away any spirits which were not drinkable, but I might be wrong. My informant has told me that there was a locked office upstairs which was inexplicably trashed overnight.
9. Railway Hotel, Brunswick
Like most of the old pubs in Melbourne, the Railway doubled as a morgue in its early days. It has recently reopened after years of being derelict, and the new owners are making the most of promoting its chequered history, including all the characters who used to frequent it.
Unsurprisingly, it is being claimed as being haunted. People say that they have heard things moving when they are alone, and when they turn, they do not see anyone. Two former publicans died on the premise.
I’m not sure as to whether this is just positive publicity on the part of the owners, or whether there is depth to these rumours.
10. Prince of Wales, Seymour
The Prince of Wales in Seymour is reputed to be haunted, but I do not have more details.
11. The Royal Hotel, Seymour
The Royal in Seymour has an abundance of public information about being haunted. It was used as a morgue, back in the olden days, and the head of Mad Dan Morgan, one of the most vicious bushrangers, hung in the bar after he was finally hunted down.
Or so I learned this morning when browsing a book about haunted places in Australia in the QBD bookshop.
According to some casual searching on Google, there are ghost tours who visit it in the hope of experiencing ghosts.
12. Toolleen Hotel
The Toolleen Hotel has a creepy atmosphere at night and when my informant lived there, her dog refused to go inside. A baby died in there and that perhaps is the reputed ghost.
13. The Plough Hotel, Myrniong
The Plough is another pub reputed to be haunted, although I do not have details.
14. St Andrews Hotel
When I was told that the St Andrews Hotel was haunted, I had to double check, as I initially hoped that it was the pub in Fitzroy which was known as the Pumphouse for several decades, and which I visited several times each year.
Alas, it was not so – it is the pub in the town of St Andrews (which is most well known for suffering terribly during the Black Saturday bushfires) which has the ghosts. It was used as a morgue.
15. Blackwood Hotel
Back around 2007-8 I was a member of a pub crawl group (the Great Intercontinental Pub Crawl) which would take a bus out into the Macedon Ranges for the day. Hence I am pretty sure that I have visited the Blackwood Hotel.
The owners claim that it is the ‘best haunted pub’ in Blackwood although that is not why I visited. Apparently it has a rich history of ghost stories and paranormal investigators frequently visit with their gadgets to suss out supernatural activity.
16. The Kangaroo Hotel, Maldon
I did visit Maldon once, and I have been to the Kangaroo Hotel there, the only pub named after our national emblem. The pub was used as a morgue, which seems (from what I have read in researching this posting) a common reason as to why a pub will be haunted.
Aside from that, a stable fire in 1870 killed ten horses who haunt it, and in 1907 the publican threw himself down the well.
Nowadays, ghost tours like to visit it.
17. Argyle Hotel (Irish Murphy), Geelong West
The Irish Murphy in Geelong was nicknamed The Strangler’s Arms in the 1950s after a woman was killed there. Personally, I prefer that sort of nickname for a pub rather than transforming it into a Plastic Paddy.
News reports claim that glasses are hurled across rooms (without the prerequisite accompanying drunkards who usually perform such actions), urns get moved, doors slammed shut and terrifying voices hissing into the ears of staff and patrons. The poltergeist is affectionally named Mary.
18. The Coach and Horses Inn, Clarkefield
The Coach and Horses Inn was built by the Clarke family, whom I have already mentioned above in connection with the Mitre Tavern. It is claimed to be the most haunted pub in Australia, with at least three ghosts. Those are an autistic girl who was thrown down a well by her father, an Irish seaman who was robbed and killed, and a Chinese miner who was hanged in the stables.
I’m pretty sure that this was the pub which was mentioned in some paranormal special on TV in the mid 1980s. One of my year 12 maths teachers (I did double maths plus physics and chemistry for HSC) told us that he had been in there and the atmosphere was sinister.
19. Elephant Bridge Hotel
The delightfully named Elephant Bridge Hotel is the main attraction if you want to visit the village of Darlington in the west of Victoria. It has four ghosts, including a young woman, a man in his thirties, and a child who drowned there.
The fourth ghost is Adeline Eliza Satchwell, the longest serving publican, who died in 1943.
Reports of these ghosts make me rather curious about visiting this pub.
20. Craig’s Hotel, Ballarat
Walter Craig, the owner of the eponymous Craig’s Hotel, reportedly had a dream in 1870 that his horse was going to win the Melbourne Cup ridden by a jockey wearing a black armband.
He died soon after this dream of gout and pneumonia and his horse Nimblefoot did indeed win the Cup, ridden by a jockey (John Day) who wore a black armband in respect of the owner.
Apparently this story is a fabrication, but as the old saying goes, never let the truth get in the way of a good story, and it does make the rounds, lending some supernatural appeal to Craig’s Hotel.
21. Criterion Hotel, Rushworth
People have reported cold spots, strange noises and footsteps, and even worse, inexplicably warm beer at this pub.
Paranormal investigators have identified a ghost named Kevin in one room of the pub, although a businessman named Ted Read committed suicide in the pub in 1912 with the help of a shotgun and could also be a candidate for long term occupant.
Sadly, whilst there is a Kevin, there are no Karens haunting the pub. On second thought, this could be a good thing.
22. Cosmopolitan Hotel, Trentham
This pub has apparently been haunted by the ghost of a young girl with dark hair for over a century.
23. Nelson Hotel, Nelson
Not to be confused with the Lord Nelson in Sydney, which has its own rather famous ghost. The Nelson is in far south-western Victoria. It is believed to be haunted by the ghost of a young woman who had been kept locked in the pub’s cellar.
24. Dinner Plain Hotel, Dinner Plain
The person who informed me about the Dinner Plain Hotel advised that several people they knew have worked there and all heard voices of young women and presences within the pub. A few shadowy figures have been spotted, especially when heading upstairs.
25. Customs House Hotel, WIlliamstown
On a recent visit to Williamstown to watch a friend’s band play at the Customs House Hotel, I asked the bar staff if the pub had any stories about being haunted. They advised in the affirmative.
As the pub was opposite the old Customs House, there was a tunnel from the cellar to the Customs House. When ships docked in Williamstown, the bodies of people who had died in transit would be transferred through that tunnel to the pub cellar which served as a makeshift morgue (as indeed have many pubs in Greater Melbourne). Ghosts include that of a girl.
Concluding Comments
This blog post was not possible without a couple of weeks of casual research, including getting input from some people on an Australian Pubs page on Facebook.
I have excluded places like the Windsor Hotel because whilst it is claimed to be haunted it is a major hotel rather than a pub, and similarly I have excluded bars and night clubs. I have also excluded private clubs (like the Kelvin Club which I regularly frequent) because they are private clubs, not public houses, and I have yet to hear stories about ghosts in those.
I am really curious to collect more ghost stories about pubs, so would welcome much feedback and input.
Lost For Words! 