A paranormal investigator says the building used by Sunbury Radio volunteers is haunted by former patients of the old hospital on Jacksons Hill.
The radio station, at Building 19, Circular Dr, was once used by nurses working at the Sunbury asylum, which opened in 1879. Although Building 19 was built much later.
Kelly Beardsmore, and members of her Epic Country Paranormal Australia group, visited the site on Sunday 21 January to find out if there was ‘anybody there’. She says her nan, a nurse, may have used the building before the hospital closed in 1985.
“We like to find places of historical interest, and after doing some research go out and investigate them,” she says.
“I’m a Christian. But I am also a ’sensitive’. I pick up on whether there are spirits around. Sometimes I see things.”
Ms Beardsmore describes her group as scientifically based, and uses a range of electronic equipment to help her team of 15 confirm if a spirit is in the room with them.
“We ask for their name, details about them, just the basic stuff,” she says. “We also ask for an intelligent response. When we get given a name we look that person up to confirm, and then put that out with our history reports on old buildings like this.”
During her visit, Ms Beardsmore says she saw a spirit who – when a patient – was allowed to walk around the hospital’s grounds.
“There was a young guy who looked like he had a disability and a mental illness. He was born in the 1930s, was a patient, and was sent there by his family,” she says. “He was quite happy to set off one of our detection devices so it made a beeping sound.
“And outside a young girl was waving to me from across a fence. I waved back and she disappeared.
“Some spirits play tricks on people, and I am told some USB sticks have gone missing from the studio here…I asked the spirit to return them and he said ‘no’.
Based in Mornington, Ms Beardsmore discovered she was a sensitive when she was eight years old.
“I find talking to people on the other side interesting because they went through a different era than me,” she says.
Fore more information, see the Epic Country Paranormal Australia Facebook page.
Further reading: ‘Black territory’: the dark story of Sunbury’s asylum on the hill
