Ghost stories from Manly Quarantine Station

The Admin Block

The Admin block is inhabited by a ghost of Dr Reid, who was a doctor attending to third class and third class steerage passengers. He was also considered to be a good man and conditions for those passengers improved immensely whilst he was in charge. Unfortunately, Dr Reid came to an untimely end in a ferry disaster when a large cruise ship cut in half a Manly ferry that Dr Reid was onboard. Ever since then he has haunted his old accommodation. He is often seen on the upper balcony staring out to sea.

It was likely to be Dr Reid who we encountered in the Admin Block with the strange smell and EMF readings.

Third Class Dining Quarters

The third class dining quarters is haunted by several different spirits - probably testament to the number of people who passed through. The first story is fairly tame - The Ghosthunters associated came through armed with heaps of equipment and whilst one girl was pacing the main dining room with an EMF meter, several people outside saw a man following her around the room, whereas she was completely unaware of his presence. Another case involved two rangers closing up when they saw that all the lights were on in the dining room and that there was music coming from it. As they approached the building, they realised that it was very old music. Upon reaching the door, all the lights went out and the music stopped (it's worth noting that the bottom windows are frosted so they couldn't see in). They entered the building to find no-one there.

The final stories of the dining quarters involve the cellar kitchen and two little girls. The first is a benevolent spirit that has also been seen following groups about the place asking for her mother. During filming of a reality TV program called Scream Test (which involved contestants being placed in haunted rooms with various equipment, a torch and then locked in) a contestant in this kitchen had all her equipment fail including her torch. She was then aware of all the equipment being picked up out of her bag and examined before being placed back on the ground. When the crew came to get her out, about 45 minutes later they found her calm and she told the crew she felt like the little girl was there to protect her.

The second little girl is a malevolent spirit and has on several occasions tried to strangle people. Visitors often describe being pulled to the floor so she can reach up to their necks.

The cottage

There is a cottage set aside in the corner of the station, which we didn't visit where a convict lived who was assigned as, amongst other things, a grave-digger. We didn't visit this cottage.

The story goes that a group was walking towards the cottage when they saw a mans shape in front of the cottage which they saw move towards the cottage and pass through the walls. They went to the cottage and could continue to see the shape through the windows although when they entered it vanished.

The Asiatic Quarters

We had a fair bit of activity ourselves here but the main presence here has been excised.

The best story about this 'presence' was when a member of a tour group left their lamp at the Asiatic Quarters when it went out. At the end of the tour, the guide realised this and drove down to fetch it. Feeling nervous she pulled the car up right alongside the lamp so she could open the door and grab it without getting out of the car. As she closed the door behind her she looked up to see an Asian gentleman dressed in traditional Asian clothes staring at her. She froze staring at the ghost for what seemed an eternity before recovering and driving through the ghost back up out of the station and resigned on the spot.

The Shower Blocks

The shower blocks don't have any specific ghost stories attached to them - just lots of regular paranormal activity such as all the (heavy metal) doors swinging in unison and showers being switched on.

They also had one instance where the lights were all switched on despite their being no electricity to the building any more?

The Hospital

Two buildings made up the hospital and, unfortunately for us, the second building has burnt down due to an electrical fault, and that was the building where most activity was experienced.

The activity is mainly associated with a character called the Matron and many people have spoken of feeling a presence watching them in there. The best story involves a cynical man who had spent the whole tour looking bored. In the hospital he ran his fingers across a shelf to collect dust, then remarked in a loud voice "Matron isn't doing a good job is she?". Within a minute he was starting to look pale and after a few more he had to run outside and was physically sick.

When the building was burning down, some of the fireman reported seeing a figure standing amongst the flames....