THE GHOSTS OF WALHALLA

Well, this is new for me to write and talk about. Since I was about 5 years of age, I remember being aware of things around me that no one else was.  From shadows that crept along my bedroom walls, to voices, strange smells and objects moving. Of course, I put it down to my imagination.  Someone else had moved the objects to scare me and the voices that I heard were people outside the house, whilst walking past, doing their thing!  For a few years on, that is how I explained these happenings to myself. Until one night, the presence made itself known. It was bad for a few nights, so my mother decided to take me to a Psychic.

And now, it is the year 2025 and i'm needing to understand myself better. Like a child with an imaginary friend, you can not expect anyone to believe what you see, hear and know. Many times in my life, I have wondered if I am crazy, or why, when my mother passed away 27 years ago, have I never seen her nor felt her presence? I had so many questions and only as I have grown older, I've found out that there are plenty more people asking for explanations to similar occurings. There were no answers, and yet I was too afraid to share.

I do sort of understand some reasons and am wanting to validate my own mind. Things like past echoes, which I encounter the most, can be more scary than when I see shadows. This in itself is strange, but I know for sure that the echoes repeat themselves time after time, like a tape recorder or a warning post saying 'do not let this happen again!' But most of the time they make no sense. The shadows and voices that are clear, seem to have feelings with them, and like me, are mostly confused and upset. So, this has left me wanting to seek out places that are so called haunted. So, join me, as I document my thoughts and experiences, in attempt to help others, who can not explain what has happened to them.

For our first trip away, my partner and I chose to remain close to where we live, as I was unsure how to figure out and understand myself. I chose to go where the noises of every-day life were. Somewhere peaceful, where I'm not just going through the motions and stresses of everyday life. So, yep! Van Life was the answer! The town we chose to escape to is Walhalla. Such a beautiful place, steeped in historic gold mining and tragedy. You may question whether this is a good spot for discovering hauntings? My partner and I went to Walhalla with a blank slate, having no knowledge of any stories that may lead me away from the truth.. We stayed at a lovely camp site in the Chinese Gardens. It was on the higher end of cost, for a non-powered site, but it was just so quiet and peaceful. The amenities there were reasonable. If I do visit Walhalla again, I will choose to stay at one of the free camp sites, not too far away from Walhalla.

That all being said, whilst at Walhalla, I could at night, feel the history of the camp-site. There were echoes of the past there. Nothing scary though! i could feel the community of prospectors living there doing their daily chores. Yet whilst walking through the town, was so peaceful. Most of the houses had history. I felt no echoes, which was strange, for such an old town, with very old buildings. Walking past the old mine there, was different though. I experienced a deep sense of echoes. I would not be surprised if these noises of voices had an imprint of the old-time workings, that had been processed within these confined spaces.

I was a little disappointed, that on the first few nights, I had found nothing to help me more, in understanding myself better. There was one place though, that I had been avoiding, for reasons at first, that I did not understand. This place was hidden in the town. It was the old Cemetery! I knew of this from signs and maps. Let's just say that I was getting excited. For me, this was unusual, as most Cemetery's I had visited were not haunted. With time and experience, I came to reason that this was because there was nothing there to hold a spirit.

On 9our last day at Walhalla, we decided to go to the Cemetery. At the bottom of the track, I felt compressed, which I likened to be like being in deep water. I stopped before going through the fence, leading uphill. I did not want to turn around, as I felt there was a shadow, peering out in the distance. I forced myself to move forwards and up the big hill, via a windy, steep track. At about half-way, I could feel past emotions of other people that had also travelled this track. The trees were bent over, forming an eerie concave, like a tunnel going towards the sky. I did not feel anything scary or depressing here. Nothing was constricting my movement up the track. I could, however, understand why people could develop scary feelings. It could have felt as though you were in an eerie old building or castle. Yet, this was not the case for me. The walk was long and uphill and we were getting tired. We stopped and sat on a bench chair. It was lovely. After a short break we continued up towards the Cemetery.

At the top of the track, it opens up with an old barrier, surrounding the Cemetery. At the main gate was a tourist spot for information. My partner, Alison, stayed there for a while reading it. I did not wish to know this information. I wanted to remain neutral and clear of my feelings. As I walked in, I approached the first graves. This is where my feelings started to impact me. Like with most Cemetery's, there is a feeling of sadness. Yet, on top of this, I was being drawn towards the top. So I went to see what it was that I was being drawn to.

As I walked uphill, about three rows in, the goose bumps started. The hair on my body started to react. I could hear voices, yet we were the only people there. I followed my feelings. At about the ninth grave along, whilst filming, I kept getting stopped, as though I had hit a barrier. I turned and focused on this one grave. It was on top of the ground and in total disrepair. Here, I saw a shadow moving within. You could see the remnants within the grave.

A voice booming out to me, from a far distance away, took my attention. I walked closer. I began feeling sick inside. My legs hurt. I stood still and looked towards where the voice was coming from. I could see a shadow. Like a sharp headache, I could hear yelling for me to 'stay out of here, you are not welcome!' I backed away. Try to understand the feelings I was having. It was a lot! I needed to ground myself, in order to understand it all. I went to the entrance where Alison was still standing. I asked her to go in. She hesitated, having no inclination of wanting to enter. I asked her to just walk in half way and to tell me what she felt. As she entered the Cemetery, I watched, as the shadow was darting, from one grave to the next. It was keeping its distance. It almost felt like it was afraid of Alison? But I soon learnt that it was more concerned with me. I was getting the strongest of feelings. It was anger, but not towards people going there to remember, but at the fact that the graves were so badly in disrepair. When Alison came back, I asked her what she had felt. Nothing! I decided to head towards where I was seeing the shadows. the warnings for me to 'stay away' kept getting stronger and angrier. It came to a point where I just had to relent and give the shadow its wishes. This shadow, was someone from a long time ago.

Feeling a little concerned, we left the Cemetery and started our long way back, down the hill, I kept looking behind us. I did not want any attachments. Through the gaps, I could see graves up on the hill. I had forgotten the first feelings I had when we first entered the Cemetery. These same feelings were coming back. The strongest feelings were echoes. Across the road, on the hill was a shed. I stopped and looked for a while. I could feel that it was a sorting shed, for gear when it was a working mine. I felt that there was some sort of history that happened in that shed. We left and headed back to Minty, our home on wheels.

My conclusion is this. If you want to visit Walhalla, in search of history, then this is the place to go! If it is a haunting that you are after, then the only spot there is the Cemetery. The rich history and culture that has impacted this town is still there for anyone to see. So enjoy what Walhalla has to offer and do not be scared.

Safe travels and see you in the next Blog!

Nick

NickAlly Van Life

(www.nickallyvanlife.net)