Ghost Tours at Cape Otway Lightstation

Many a paranormal sceptic has become a believer after joining a ghostbusting tour at Cape Otway Lightstation.
"We offer these ghost tours on just one day a year, and they have become a key attraction with people in search of a paranormal experience - they travel hundreds of kilometres for a chance of an encounter," Mr Thompson said.

"People who are sensitive to ghosts are rarely disappointed and our hauntings at the lightstation have convinced quite a few sceptics that there are active souls or spirits here," Mr Thompson said.

The stories of 'residual' and 'intelligent' hauntings captured the imaginations of hundreds, leaving many with goosebumps and others convinced they'd had a paranormal experience, he added.

"Although I lived at the Lightstation for years, I never saw an apparition, but there were too many unexplained events such as spontaneous throwing of light switches and unexplained telephones ringing in the middle of the night. The Lady in Grey who is resident in the Lightkeeper's Café can be quite mischievous," Mr Thompson added.

"We've had a lot of reports of the same ghosts being seen doing the same thing - ghostbusters describe these as 'residual hauntings'."

Paranormal investigators who have studied the Lightstation and its hauntings have repeatedly confirmed at least five regular spirits, with one occurring in the lighthouse, another in the Lightkeeper's Café, a traditionally dressed Aboriginal man has often been seen near the Telegraph Station, and the one which seems to have the greatest affect is a little girl who is described as an 'intelligent haunting'.

"It's said that in the late 1880s a little girl who was living in the Telegraph Station died, around the age of four, and they had to keep her body in a cupboard in the coolest room while they waited for a coroner to come on horseback - it was at a time before roads and ships arrived only once or twice a year," Mr Thompson said.

"The paranormal investigators we have worked with describe her as an intelligent haunting because she interacts with people - particularly women. Some psychics have found she responds to the quiet singing of nursery rhymes. Some say she is afraid of men.

"On one of our ghost tours a number of women were moved to tears in a bedroom in the old Telegraph Station after sensing the girl and a deep sadness."

• Daytime entry to Lightstation
• Ghost tour

Cape Otway Lightstation is the oldest, surviving lighthouse in mainland Australia. The light, which has been in continuous operation since 1848, is perched on towering sea cliffs where Bass Strait and the Southern Ocean collide. For thousands of immigrants, after many months at sea, Cape Otway was their first sight of land after leaving Europe.