My eyes shot open and I felt my heart pounding in my chest.
What’s happening?
I tried to roll over to turn on the bedside lamp but I couldn’t move.
Then the room went cold and even in the dark, I could see a giant black shadow form over my body.
Every part of me wanted to scream but no sound would come.
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I squeezed shut my eyes, hoping the ordeal would be over quickly.
Next thing I knew it was morning but the terror from the night before lingered in me. Surely it was just a nightmare.
Over the next few years, more strange things happened.
I had a vivid dream that one of my friends got divorced. A few months later, he and his wife split.
I put it down to coincidence, but then the same thing happened with another mate.
Only having had a couple of girlfriends, I didn’t have to worry about being the next divorcee or having to confess the strange things going on in my head.
I’d always been a sceptic, sure that everything had a logical explanation, but I couldn’t work out where the black shadow had come from or why my dreams were coming true.
In a quest for answers or to at least feel less spooked about it all, I decided to find out more about the afterlife, if it even existed.
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I joined a ghost tour, a group that explored old buildings in search of spirits or paranormal activity.
One place we visited was the Old Geelong Gaol.
The group leader told us about its history and how the cells were once full of murderers and rapists who eventually died there.
It was believed their evil spirits still wandered the halls.
During the tours, the leaders used special equipment that detected sounds and movement that otherwise couldn’t be explained.
In the jail one night, a woman shrieked and ran from an empty cell she’d been exploring.
“Something just pulled my hair,” she said breathlessly.
Some people shivered when certain parts of the jail turned icy cold, while others reported feeling violently ill in particular spots.
I was still a bit sceptical. After all, I’d never seen anything spooky with my own eyes.
Whenever I’d had a girlfriend, I held off on telling them what I did because even I knew it was a bit strange.
But one night, I went into the old Barwon Park Mansion in Victoria with a team of psychic investigators.
We’d heard spirits were roaming about there.
The mansion had been built by an English settler Thomas Austin who lived there with his wife and children from 1871.
It wasn’t known if anyone died there but apparently there had been sightings of the ghost of a little girl.
The stairs creaked beneath our feet as we wandered up to a child’s bedroom.
Shining my flashlight around, I noted the still curtains, and pristine cover pulled over the single bed.
Inside Barwon Park Mansion.
Then one of the psychics began playing an old wooden flute, which was how he channelled the energy of spirits.
We were meant to keep our eyes closed to create a sense of calm but I kept one eye slightly open to see if any of the others tried to move anything.
“There’s a happy little girl in here,” the psychic smiled. “She’s jumping on the bed.”
Suddenly, imprints formed on the flat bed cover. They were the size of a child’s feet!
A cold shudder ran through me. I’d always thought everything had an explanation but there was no rhyme or reason to what I’d seen.
We’d just witnessed the presence of a ghost.
I left feeling sick to my stomach.
From that moment, I truly believed in life after death.
I started dating a lady named Jazz who I’d met online.
Just like I’d always done, I swept the ghost stuff under the rug for many months.
But over time I learnt that Jazz loved horror movies and was obsessed with paranormal documentaries.
Eventually, I decided to come clean. “I’m a ghost investigator,” I confessed.
Her face immediately lit up and she wanted to know everything.
I knew then that Jazz was perfect.
Jazz and I share a passion for the supernatural.
Years later, I started my own paranormal investigation business called Australian Ghost Investigators, along with Jazz and my psychic friend Sherry.
We worked free of charge, helping people make sense of paranormal activity in their homes.
First, we asked for a full history of any supernatural activity and who’s lived there.
Then we looked for any logical explanation for our clients’ experience.
First we checked out any structural problems. Unsealed windows or expanding wooden floors could cause cool draughts or noises people often mistook for ghosts.
Flickering lamps could be just a basic electrical issue and white orbs were often dust reflecting light.
Once we ruled out any realistic cause, I’d bring in my Ovilus, an instrument which uses electric waves to detect speech and my electromagnetic field meter, or EMF, to detect any spirits.
Mobile phones are left outside so they don’t interfere with my equipment, then we use a digital recorder or EVP to record a spirit’s response.
Most just mutter sounds but I’ve occasionally recorded a ghost saying my name.
After analysing recordings, I give the client a report of my findings, and if paranormal activity is detected, Sherry goes in to see if the spirits are trying to send a message.
Clients are always shocked when we show them what our equipment picked up.
Now, Jazz and I are engaged and she is also training to become a paranormal investigator. We plan to travel the country in search of spirits.
If you’d asked me 20 years ago if there was such a thing as ghosts, I’d have laughed in your face but now, I’ve seen way too much to ignore it.
They’re definitely out there and wherever they are, we’re going to find them.
