Ghosts In The City

May 22nd is World Goth Day. It is a day to celebrate being a Goth and to enjoy the many aspects of Goth culture. Coincidentally, World Goth Day is celebrated a few days after my birthday. I decided to get into the spirit of these special days by celebrating my birthday night with an Old Melbourne Ghost Tour. I love Melbourne, it’s my home, and I have travelled through her streets all my life. Tonight I would learn the darker and deadly history of my beautiful city.

Melbourne graced us with a glorious Autumn evening for our ghost tour. The night was cold and dark, parts of the city glowed with eerie lights, and rain pelted down in bursts of watery fury. We waited for our tour outside Young and Jacksons, an iconic pub prominently located near the main train station. Not only is it a convenient location, but it also has a resident ghost attached to a controversial painting. After whetting our appetites with this ghostly tale of art, unrequited love and suicide, our gothically attired host took the weather in her stride as she guided us on a fascinating tour through the streets and laneways of Melbourne.

I’ve been on a few Lantern Ghost Tours, but never one in the city. The stark contrast of ghostly tales being told in urban landscapes was refreshingly chilling. It’s easy to picture ghosts haunting old mansions and historic homesteads. The ancient decor is enough to set images of restless spirits racing through your mind, especially if there are creepy dolls in the house! But in cities filled with light, we often forget how dark these place can be. We may think about city crime, but not necessarily city ghosts.

In its infancy, Melbourne was a very dark city. There were no street lights, and the tall buildings and narrow lanes blocked the light from the stars, leaving parts of the city almost pitch black, even when the moon was full. These darkened lanes were a perfect environment for nefarious activities. The city at night was scary, crime ridden and avoided by most. Our evening walk took us through some of the most notorious of these laneways as well as some of Melbourne’s more famous buildings, allowing us to enjoy the present while imagining its dark past.

Today Melbourne is well lit and vibrant. As befits a city renowned for its love of culinary delights, the lighting up of Melbourne started with an entrepreneurial baker and confectioner. To entice customers to come and enjoy his offerings after dark, he installed gaslights outside his shops. Crowds came to enjoy the light and to sample his tasty wares. Neighbours followed suit and over time the city centre was lit up and its nightlife grew. The gaslights are long gone, replaced by the electric lights that continue to illuminate our dark paths.

The tour ended in Chinatown where we were treated to a final ghostly tale. Melbourne’s Chinatown is the oldest in the Southern Hemisphere, born in the era of the Victorian gold rush, and alive with the ghosts of those who tested their luck in its gambling houses and opium dens. Before leaving we were invited to stand under a circle to cleanse ourselves of any lingering spirits. I stood under the circle in the sky, knowing that the only thing I would be taking home with me were lingering memories of my haunted city.