Newtown Wandering Ghost

I've lived in an old worker's semi-detached cottage in Newtown since 1993. The house is over a 100 years old, and in a historic inner-city suburb. I bought the house because it had such good and positive energy and there have never been any paranormal issues while living here.

In late 2003, when my eldest son was 16 he got into the habit of ringing me before he arrived home requesting that I switch the light on at the front of the house and have the front door and gate open for him. He did this over a period of several months and so many times it got really annoying. He eventually told me after months of this that the reason for the calls was there was a ghost outside the front of our house. As he was a bit of a smart arse and like playing practical jokes, I initially thought he was pulling my leg. I teased him a fair bit over this. I soon realised he was very anxious and frightened, and would be quite pale when he came rushing in, usually with a big door slam. I told him if there was something in or around the house I would be the first person to know about it.

I did start to notice when I went to water the front garden in the evening that the hair would rise on my arms - though at this stage it was just an uncomfortable feeling of being watched. One Friday night I was home alone, but could hear my neighbour who shared the common wall opening and closing his kitchen cupboards and the sounds of activity in his kitchen. My son made the usual phone call and came home, this time saying the ghost was on the next door neighbour's property. I told him to cut it out, that our neighbour was home, and I'd heard him earlier in his kitchen. At this my son made me go out the front of the house and see if I could see any lights on in his house. It was completely dark. He then literally dragged me out the back of the house and showed me there were no lights on at the back of the house either. There was clearly no one at home.

About two or three weeks after this I was coming home with my younger son, who was about 8 months old. It was early May - late autumn - and the sun was just beginning to set though it was still light. As I fumbled about in my handbag for my keys inside my own front gate, out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of a male figure in a grey hat and long grey coat gliding into the property next door. I say gliding, as that is exactly what it looked like, completely soundless, there was no noise from the wrought iron gate opening (usually quite noisy). What was really noticeable was the extremely white skin on what could be seen on the side of the exposed face. My neighbour was quite a chatty fellow and would always say hello, so this was odd and unusual. I stopped and waited, listening to hear the sound of a key in a lock. When I failed to hear anything I nervously peered over the low wall and there was no one there. I realised that my son was telling the truth and there was something odd happening. I didn't tell him because he was so freaked out I didn't want to increase his anxiety.

About two weeks later my eldest and I went to see an early movie together. Afterwards we walked down to our street and were walking on the opposite side of the road and about to cross when we must have seen it at the same time - standing outside the front of my neighbour's house. This time it was very theatrically attired in a grim reaper type outfit - the white face glowing in the dark cape-like garment. My son gripped my arm and hysterically said 'do you see it?, do you see it?' I said calmly 'Yes I do, but it's nothing to be afraid of. Come on just look straight ahead, ignore it, we are going home'. With that we crossed the street right past it and went inside. This was the last time my son reported seeing it, and I never saw it again but for awhile there was a feeling of being watched when I was watering the front garden at night. I mentally told him that he was dead and he needed to move on into the light.

Several months later I went for a tarot reading with a very accurate psychic reader I had been going to for years. At the end of my personal reading I hesitated but I asked her about our visitor. She actually started laughing and said this is kind of funny - he's dressed just like the grim reaper, and he really gets a charge out of scaring your son. She said he was quite young and had met a very violent and sudden end and had been roaming around the area, and chanced upon my son, who could see him, so started following him around. She also reassured me that some decorative quartz crystal sun-catchers in my son's bedroom windows and a crystal in a wind chime were preventing this spirit from entering our property, which was why he was always standing outside our property.

Her description of a young man, a violent, sudden death and no grave closely matched the details of a highly publicised inquest that was occurring around the time. The young man in question had been a prime witness due to give evidence in the case of a paedophile ring, and had been murdered, with the body dumped under a piece of concrete on an industrial estate down near the Alexandra canal in St. Peters. The body had been found about a year before this started to happen. It was pretty sad once I worked it out.