Tumbulgum Ghost Hunt
After a few day trips out to explore North Tumbulgum's Historic Cemetery we also made a few trips out at night to check out if there was any interesting or difficult to explain activity. Nestled away in the peace and quiet, and shrouded in shade and natural wonder is this cemetery which has been thankfully restored in recent decades. Although restored and cleared in areas, the solitude that comes from taking a walk through this place has it's own eeriness. Whether it be because we enter such places from a world now high in transport, activity and usual immediate company or that it's own charm is specific to the final resting place of the bodies that lay therein, the eeriness was reassuring but I guess that's because that's what I wanted to find.
I visited twice during the day before our night visits, one of these times I was all alone. There's something about being alone in the bush and alone in a cemetery that can be deemed quite unwise. Snakes, wild dogs or unknown others are not something I am equipped to deal with. Although unlikely to encounter these on such a trip, they are not completely impossible or unheard of and as I ventured further in, the ideals of having someone with me and the idea of having a creepy encounter opposed each other in my mind. Go anywhere alone or fearful and you can guarantee that if thats the experience you are looking for you can never feel let down. You will either be relieved upon a safe uneventful return or amazed and with a great story if your encounters are incredible and hard to believe. Mine have been a mix of both when reviewing all four visits, as a reflection as a whole. Perhaps some will experience nothing. Maybe others will experience more. I do not know but here I am today to tell my story. Take it any way that you will.
There's leaf litter all over the stairs that lead you up into this bush cemetery. As I begin to climb I immediately start imagining a young child talking to me. I use the word imagining because thats what it feels like. Halfway up the climb I feel like I should not go any further. It's a weird feeling. Knowing that I had not much time to spare and would need to go soon anyway, I chose to press on. I had kinda just been cruising the area and reading up about the Chinderah Golf Course and had been on my way home but I just wanted to catch even a mere glimpse of the cemetery. It would kill me to come this far and not even know what it looked like. As I pressed on, the eerie feeling of being watched crept in my mind. The paranoia (or company) is astounding and I begin to be utterly convinced that I can hear footsteps in the leaf litter immediately behind me, as I continue further. The car park seems like a long way below as I look back. By now I'm both excited and sick at the idea that someone is there. I stop many times before I reach the top, looking back, both relieved and disappointed that I can't see anything there. When I finally sight the cemetery I feel welcome, almost beckoned and I decide that I have had enough. At his point I whisper to the forest 'I gotta go' and that 'I'll come back and bring some friends'. I walk the return path back to the car much faster than the very physical upward journey, hearing footsteps on the way back down behind me as well. Almost at the car I imagine a child waving to me from the track. I look up and wave back back at the nothing and empty bush, a little shaky. I was nervous and I should probably exercise a bit more. The body of a recently deceased bush turkey lays in the forest near my car with flies buzzing, reminding me how uneasy I feel. I leave now very interested in the grounds and sure I had selected somewhere creepy enough to come back and visit, determined to spend a bit more time there.
Trip 2 was during the day, several hours before our night investigation. Lisa, who came with me was very supportive. If you are going to be blind and lead the blind it's still good to know where the hazards are. We could see a bit more clearly how easy it might be to trip over in the dark later as there are so many tree roots and unmarked or worn down graves. The ground and track wasn't so bad. I got an up close look of a fallen tree that was still laying in the path that I had seen from a distance last time and right at the edge of the boundary there was a bit of a drop off point and some loose fencing to invite, or lead up to a terrible accident. I took a few photographs, too many to bombard on a single blog post. We did an amateur video for our Facebook supporters and headed back to civilisation.
Trip 3 I came back that night with Lisa again as well as Nic and Raine. Nic is a very haunted young man who has a story of his own that I cant share right here right now and he is an excellent addition to an investigation. Excited about going at night, on the way I tell the others about the woman who was found not far away, her body dumped and burned. I tell them about car and truck crashes, people that had drowned and other stories that I had read in online news articles as well as the urban legend I had heard that the local pub was perhaps very haunted. On our way up Raine was not able to physically move her legs to continue forward at a certain point, no matter how much she tried. Raine and Lisa then waited in the car in the dark and Nic and I returned to the forest and darkness. Raine watched from the car, later saying she saw us do things in the dark that we didn't actually do, as curious as that sounds, like playing with our torches, shining them in our faces and staring down at her. Nic and I explored the cemetery and Nic learnt first hand and for the first time a bit more history as he read the helpful signs we passed. By the time we reached the top time had flown by quite quickly and in a bizarre fashion. How did we lose half an hour during a five minute walk? It does not take so long to read the signs. At the top and at the graves it was a windy night and the tall trees practically screamed in protest with the wind as they swayed, with their huge branches and trunk towering above us far beyond the reach of the torch. Nic thought he heard a voice at a nearby grave we visited saying 'Hi honey'. He then conducted some audio recordings of his own. With not much else experienced other than a few movements in the corner of my eyes, more imagination, we headed home. As we drove off afterwards, Nic also casually mentions he saw the dark man-like shadow at the car as we began our walk back down, when we could see the car by the road.
Trip 4 was the last of my recent visits and was the following night. This time it was Nic again and Nix with me. The three of us headed straight to the top and we explored together, as well as independently at times. The EMF flickered in some places but not others. Nic did a few more audio recordings. After we returned I asked him why he behaved the way he did when I could see him from across the cemetery. I had been about 10m away and he was talking and moving his arms. Nic tells me something was touching him on the arms. Another time (as pictured above) Nic paused and looked into the darkness for some period of time. Nic said he could see a girl hiding behind a tree.
The Cemetery has a few marked and unmarked graves. We looked at the ones we could identify, some of them took our interests more than others. The young, the old, the related or the alone. Here they lay buried, a long time ago.
Nix, exploring the area with the EMF then became curious of the grave of a dearly departed child. She then wondered out loud how we could communicate with a baby. Next thing you know, lullabies were sung into the night and the EMF reader showed ongoing consistent readings while both held in place or left alone untouched on the grave. I sang with my back to Nix with my torch pointing into the looming darkness ahead. I had moments ago heard what sounded like a gentlemen clearing his throat in the darkness ('ar herm'), I felt vulnerable and I wanted to focus on finishing these songs. Why were we picking up readings on an old bush grave? Was mummy visiting the baby? Was it difficult for her to leave the grave of her baby? How could a baby be possibly anchored to the earth, if any of us could be? Still pretty amazing.
With photos, sound recordings and our experiences the hour grew late and we got ready to leave. On the way back Nic was in the rear as we left single file. Nic claims he was pinched a few times on the way out, much to my delight and entertainment.
After I got home I looked through many photos. Nothing really exceptional there. In the dark when you're there everything looks spooky. Before closer inspection photos can too. The leaves have faces or the faces have leaves, things out of place don't seem right and ...well.. it's a cemetery.
Anyways, I'm glad I went. I few hours in silence during any visit might go a long way. Maybe next time nothing will happen. Maybe there's another explanation for EMF readings in the middle of nowhere. Who knows? How could we? This is what an investigation and a hunt is like.... we might not ever know, no matter what we see, hear or feel... it is what it is.
I hope you enjoyed your read. I may get a few more posts up this month. Thanks for stopping by anyway.
Until Next time....
-Mez