The Who Wasn't There

From: 
Story type: Ghost
Location: Pt. Arthur, Tasmania, Australia
Source: Form Submission

This strange encounter happened while on holiday in Tasmania, Australia. It's a little long but sets up the scene. It took place in a famous 19th century penal colony called Pt. Arthur. Site of the tragic Pt. Arthur massacre a few years ago.

This place is just amazing. You can sense the history as you walk down the roads, and enter the houses that have been restored. It was an infamous penal colony that was started around the late 1840's. The setting is picturesque. It sits on he edge of a bay and nestled in deep bush. There are ruins there as well as fully renovated houses with furniture set up as museums.

In the day it is peaceful, and at night...well thats when you join the ghost tour. These are run by the Dept. of Parks and Wildlife who take care of the place. And usually you have a group from 10-15 people. Who follow your guide through the darkness led by kerosene lanterns and torches to add to the atmosphere.

You generally visit a select few homes, get the details of who lived there etc. Plus any strange stories or sightings. There is also a burnt out shell of a church, the governors residence, hospital asylum and then the maximum security cell block.

The latter is the most interesting one. Here the prisoners were placed in small cells for 23 hours and then had 1 hour exercise time. Whenever they were transferred to this area or any where, they had a hood placed on them and special slippers so as not to make any noise. They were not allowed to speak or make noises at anytime except at church on Sunday where they were allowed to sing and boy, did they sing with gusto then!

Now for my encounter! We had just come out of the Doctors home, from within his cellar where he performed autopsy's and such in his spare time. And had been told a rather scary story and were all a bit scared and such. As we came out of the cellar, the guide informed us that we were heading for this cell block.

It was at this time that this man who was on the tour asked for the toilet. So the guide told him there was a toilet block next to the house or to go to the main entrance, but then he'd have to forget the tour. He said he'd use the nearest toilet. The guide then told him exactly where we were going and it was about 300m away. And that we'd be waiting for him. It was at this cell block that we had all gathered and we were waiting for this man. There was a dirt road that led up to the main cell block where we were and was lined with pine trees. There were streetlights dotted around the place, but not fully lighting the whole surroundings.

Only three of us noticed this incident including me, the others were too busy telling jokes as to why he was taking so long or discussing the last home we saw. But i remember this vividly... I suddenly saw what i thought was the man coming back to join the group. I announced to the guide "Here he is!" And the figure was that of a man but not very distinguishable if you know what i mean. The guide called out to him and no response. He moved off the path and moved to the side, then went behind one of the pines and stood there. You couldn't see him anymore. We figured he wasn't going to join us, and the guide used her walkie talkie to inform the head office that we had lost some one and to send somebody over to check. We went in to complete the tour.

After the tour we headed up to the main entrance and met the man again, he said he opted out and when we asked him if he came to where we were the answer was no, he apparently bumped into another guide on their own as he came out of the toilet and was led back to he main office. Needless to say we were a bit surprised!