I know a lot of people have heard about, or even seen Old Tailem Town Pioneer Village after South Aussie with Cosi’s coverage. Having been there a number of times myself, I know how charming the site is and how much of an adventure it can be. What a lot of people aren’t aware of is that the town changes character at night.
Unfortunately, you can’t just adventure on your own at night; but you can book a Ghost Tour with Adelaide’s Haunted Horizons. Run by a team of very interesting characters, you’ll get to hear the story of how Old Tailem Town came to be, stories of some of the buildings and spend time in some of the more active — aka. haunted — buildings on the site.
Last night, I attended with a group (18 of us in total) of current and former work colleagues, some of whom brought family with them. The tour was great fun, a few laughs were had and a moment of WTF!? when a possum fight erupted on the roof of the building we were in. But otherwise, as the sun set, the views were spectacular.
After a quick break, now well after dark, we headed over to the old Wolseley Church; said to be one of the most haunted buildings on the site. Having been there for night tours before, I’ve seen a couple of odd things in that building, but nothing that made me run away questioning my world. Last night wasn’t much different with a few little noises and pieces of equipment going off; but nothing that truly bothered anyone.
When we moved to the next sites however, that changed!
At the Bent Elbow, a couple of the group felt uneasy in the building from the get go. After setting up some equipment and starting to attempt interaction with whatever spirits may be present, a few little things began to happen. We put a couple of the group down the hallway to complete an Estes experiment; things kicked off. There were some responses to questions that were quick and contextually appropriate. A few minutes in, a squeal came from the corridor and when we looked up the two ladies that were at the other end of the corridor were coming towards us at speeds that would rival Usain Bolt.
Once everything settled down from the squealing, running and hurdling over the equipment that was in the corridor, we found out what happened. After a couple of minutes in the corridor, one of them felt like there was a spider or something very small touching her arm. When that happened to the other guest next to her, they both felt like they were grabbed and left the area quickly…
Much to the amusement of everyone else.
Then to the Emporium where three separate instances occurred of people feeling like they were touched or grabbed. Even one (Sorry Harrison) who felt like his knees were tickled after the rest of the group were requesting exactly that. A lot of interesting activity, but then something I never thought I’d see happened. A mannequin visibly — nb. with no one within touching distance of it — slid slightly on the floor, then fell directly at one of our team.
After that adrenaline surge wore off, it was sadly time to pack up and head home. The tour and after dark “ghost hunt”, that require you to be over 18, took a total of four hours and I highly recommend it. Even if you’re a skeptic, there’s a lot of history on the site to appreciate, some stunning views to enjoy and great company.
I want to thank the team (especially Kag – Our guide last night) at Adelaide’s Haunted Horizons, and the awesome group of friends who came to enjoy the tour together. If you want to book a tour, do it here where you can also see the other tour sites and availability.
Disclosure: I am a patreon member of Adelaide Haunted Horizons, but have had no incentive to write this article. I have written it purely on my experience with friends at a wonderful site that is well worth visiting. It’s also worth noting that activity like this isn’t “normal” and that actually seeing a ghost is extremely unlikely, people investigate the paranormal for decades and may never actually see an apparition.
