Any ghost hunter worth their weight in demon-warding salt will say spirits are more active when they’re agitated by reminders of what’s keeping them from moving on to the afterlife.
Hunters say those killed in particularly tragic and gruesome ways, or have a connection to a specific physical location are also said to be more likely to be tethered to the mortal world.
All those supposed influences converge at the old Camperdown cemetery in Newtown, in Sydney’s Inner West — home to the mass grave of 121 people killed in the horrific Dunbar shipwreck.
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Local legend suggests ghosts of the victims can be seen around the graveyard on the anniversary of the merchant ship tragedy, which crashed into the cliffs at the entrance to Sydney Harbour on August 20, 1857.
Having heard about the tall tale for years, 7NEWS.com.au scoured across the Camperdown Memorial Park on Thursday night to investigate the phenomena and perhaps catch a glimpse of the supernatural.
Armed with an open mind and equipment which supposedly reveals ghostly activity, this is what was found:
The Dunbar shipwreck
The mass grave for the 121 victims who died in the Dunbar shipwreck remains at Camperdown Park. Credit: 7NEWS
The Dunbar was a merchant ship battling wild winds and heavy rain while closing in on the entrance to Sydney Harbour after 81 days at sea.
While the exact circumstances of the tragedy remain unknown, the weather is believed to have played a role in the ship crashing into rocks near The Gap, off Watsons Bay, shortly before midnight.
Those that weren’t killed in the collision drowned after being smashed into the rocks by the heavy swell. Some were eaten by sharks.
Rescue teams arrived the following morning but were hindered by sharks attacking the dead bodies and rescuers.
Two days after the crash, as the weather, sea and scene settled and the bodies were pulled from the water, crew member James Johnson was found clinging to the cliff face. He was the sole survivor.
The mass grave
The tragedy sent shockwaves through Sydney, leading to thousands attending the funeral at the Camperdown Graveyard, which had been opened less than a decade beforehand.
All but one of the ship’s crew were killed during the tragic crash and buried in a mass grave due the extensive damage to their remains. Credit: State Library New South Wales
But extensive damage meant just one of the victims’ bodies could be identified, leading to the remaining 120 to be placed into a mass grave at the cemetery without an individual headstone.
The tomb of the Dunbar victims remains in the cemetery more than a century later beside a headstone for the only identified victim, Royal Navy Captain John Steane, and an anchor from the ship.
A poem written by an unknown author in the wake of the crash, titled The Wreck Of The Dunbar, hinting at victims staying in the cemetery.
“But one part yet remains, before we see
The last sad scene of this sad tragedy.
That last abode, where all that earth bestows,
Her joys, and tears, and empty honors, close ;
There, down between two narrow walls confin’d,
All rests at last but the immortal mind. “
Local legend suggests the ghosts of those killed in the tragedy wonder through the Camperdown Cemetery at night on the anniversary of the crash. Credit: 7NEWS
The ghosts
The Dunbar victims became part of the estimated 18,000 people buried in the cemetery before it was eventually declared full and a large portion of it repurposed to become the Camperdown Memorial Park.
But there’s rumour of at least one more ghost at the cemetery — who wasn’t killed in the wreck but instead reports suggest was part of a love triangle involving Steane, the only victim to be identified.
Hannah Watson was the wife of the Harbour Master of Port Jackson, Captain Thomas Watson, and was having an affair with Steane, according to local legend.
The rumous claim Watson cursed the lovers after discovering the affair and Hannah begged Steane not to return to Sydney.
But Steane refused her request.
Hannah died days before the wreckage and was coincidentally buried just metres away from Steane in Camperdown.
Legend claims that the ghost of Hannah emerges from her grave and wanders to her former lover’s headstone.
The story remains an urban legend among locals.
Ghost hunting equipment is supposed to pick up signs of spirits but the technology is disputed. Credit: 7NEWS
The hunt
With the history and rumours of why the ghosts rise once a year, the hunt was on to try and catch a glimpse of one.
While the cemetery closes from sundown, the walls are low enough to peer over and get a look at the tombstones, worn down by more than a century of weathering.
It was a quiet night at Camperdown Park — just a stone’s throw a way from the centre of one of Sydney’s nightlife hotspots — but chatter and music of local pubs still echoed toward the cemetery.
So did any of the fated crewmembers aboard the ship wander aimlessly around the cemetery, or Hannah rise from her grave in search of her lover? Well, no.
Were there any noises, like voices calling out for help? Outside of what were most likely possums running through the large gum trees above the cemetery? Also no.
But the ghost-catching equipment told another story, particularly the electromagnetic field meter (EMF) reader.
The only other spot in the park where the equipment also showed signs was the only headstone that remains outside the cemetery walls. Credit: 7NEWS
The device measures ambient levels of electromagnetic fields arounds it, which some ghost hunters claim spirits can manipulate.
While they’re also impacted by modern technology such as mobile phones, power lines and radio or TV transmitters — ghost hunters say unexplained spikes on the reader could be attributed to ghostly activity nearby.
When approaching the tomb of the Dunbar victims, the EMF reader showed readings above its maximum level.
It stayed at that level while nearby the tomb and only returned to a low level when leaving.
The reader only matched those same readings at one other spot in the park, near a plaque commemorating an Indigenous man named Mogo.
Mogo was buried in the old site of the cemetery in 1850 and is the only headstone that remains outside of the current cemetery walls.
So are there ghosts roaming Camperdown Memorial Park at night? If not just the Dunbar victims but the thousands that were also buried there? Well, that’s something you’ll have to head down there to find out for yourself.
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