Australia: Haunted Picton

Picton, New South Wales

Picton is a small historic town located 50 miles southwest of Sydney in Wollondilly Shire.

This town is considered to be “crawling with ghosts.”

Picton was established in 1821, when construction on the new Great South Road was complete. With the arrival of the railroad, Picton became an important stop along this road, which eventually became Hume Highway.

It wasn’t until the 1980s the town was bypassed with new construction.

When the locals are asked about the town’s ghostly inhabitants a variety of stories are offered.

These include: a jukebox at the Imperial Hotel that plays mysteriously even when it is unplugged, an old maternity hospital where ghostly babies are heard crying, and an unpleasant matron known to wrap her hands around people’s throats.

At the local Stone quarry, Viaduct, the sounds of people who drowned in the creek can be heard swimming, and at the local cemetery the ghosts of a young girl and boy wearing old-fashioned clothes are heard and seen. Several have claimed to capture these two apparitions in photos.

These two children are believed to be Blanche Moon who was crushed to death in an accident in 1886, and David Shaw, the son of a minister who died in 1946 of Polio.

A family, who claimed there were no children in St. Marks Cemetery, at the time they visited, took one controversial photo in January of 2010. It supposedly shows these two ghosts who died 60 years apart.

Many felt the photo was faked—photoshopped. It appeared in newspapers throughout Australia.

Hotly debated photo of ghost children.

A shopkeeper who owns Emmett Cottages, states a woman is seen looking out of one of the windows in the building and her displays are moved around overnight.

The list goes on—but by far the most famous ghost story told is about a young woman by the name of Emily Bollard.

Mushroom Tunnel

Her haunting is connected to the Picton Tunnel. The railroad built this tunnel in 1867, and during World War ll it was used to store mustard gas spray tanks. Later it was used as a mushroom farm. Since this time, the locals call this tunnel “Mushroom Tunnel.”

It was in this tunnel, during the time it was still in use, that Emily Bollard met her fate. An oncoming locomotive struck and killed her as she walked through it in the dark.

In one grisly account, it was said her mangled body was caught in the train’s cowcatcher and was carried all the way into town.

It is not known if Bollard committed suicide or if it was an accident, but since her death her ghost has been seen in this tunnel.

Several witnesses have reported seeing a white flowing figure that has no face. Sudden drops in temperature have been observed, and electrical equipment tends to malfunction.

Shadow figures are also spotted along the Mushroom Tunnel’s walls, and white lights are often seen hovering over people’s heads. Occasionally 3-dimensional dark figures are seen walking around.

Whimsical mural on display in Piston.