A stable boy set alight, a quarantine site for the plague and childrens’ voices giggling in the walls – Are these Australia’s most haunted houses?

Although Australia is home to hundreds of so-called ‘haunted houses’, one state has far more than the rest.

Stories of death, tragedy and unexplained oddities persist in the walls of more than 300 homes across NSW.

Sydney is said to have the most haunted locations of any major city, but regional NSW isn’t far behind with dozens of spooky properties spread across the state.

One house in particular in Sydney’s Lower North Shore’s Gladesville had famed US-based paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren – on whose lives the Hollywood film ‘The Conjuring’ is based – tell the owners to ‘leave or die’.

Some of NSW’s haunted houses have disturbing histories dating back centuries, while others have been the scene of tragedies in recent decades.

But it appears the rumors have had little impact on the sales price of most homes, as several properties have attracted million-dollar offers since the housing crisis began.

GERARD STREET HOME

On Gerard St in Gladesville otherwise unremarkable brick heritage buildings hide a house that has been considered haunted since April 1980.

A now defunct Sydney newspaper, The Sun, published a photo of the house with the caption ‘FAMILY FLEE GHOST HOUSE’ after a visit by Lorraine and Ed Warren.

They came at the request of the owners who had become convinced that something was wrong with the house.

After inspecting the house, the Warren’s said it was ‘more evil than Amityville,” the haunted house that inspired “The Exorcist.”

Since then, several other owners and tenants have added to the story author James Phelps visited the house 2024.

Mr Phelps spoke to several neighbors who lived next door in the 1980s for his book, Australian Ghost Stories.

“I have no doubt that these people think the house is haunted,” he wrote.

“There’s definitely something about that house that makes people very nervous.

“It’s just scary.”

MONTE CRISTO HOME

About a century ago, many tragedies are said to have occurred at the Monte Cristo Homestead in Junee, Sydney.

A maid falling from a balcony, a stable boy set on fire, a baby killed in a separate fall and a caretaker fatally shot are just some of the stories still told today.

More recently, in 1963, the Ryan family purchased and restored the house, only to witness a number of unexplained events happening around them.

The Monte Cristo Homestead in Junee, Sydney, has seen a number of people die within its walls

Lights flickered on and off and visitors heard whistles, but Ryan’s animals suffered the worst fate of all.

Their chickens and parrot were found dead and a new litter of kittens the family had raised were all sadly found dead a short time later.

Q STATION

Located on Sydney’s northern beaches, ‘Quarantine Station’ originally offered accommodation for people arriving to Australia by boat in 1893.

Passengers would be quarantined on arrival in Manly due to plague, typhoid, small box, cholera and Spanish flu.

Quarantine station in Manly, Sydney, which first functioned as a decontamination facility for new arrivals in 1893. Visitors report that they still hear the sick and infirm whispering within the walls

Patients were treated with a disinfectant and carbolic acid so strong that it would melt off the top layer of their skin during disinfection.

The station closed in 1984 and reopened in 1990 with ghost tours that began operating after stories of paranormal activity began to spread.

Visitors claim to have heard voices of the sick in parts of the building and some have reported ghost sightings.

Crying figures, Station guards and prints on old hospital beds have all been spotted in recent decades.

Despite the ghost quarantine station being purchased by hotelier Glenn Piper in 2021 for approximately $20 million.

APPLEGARTH

In rural NSW, 202km east of Canberra, Applegarth was one of the Milton’s first homes.

Originally built for John Cambage in 1868, architect James Poole had built a stone pier at Ulladulla, but he remained in the area to oversee Applegarth.

Applegarth was one of Milton’s first houses, but the house is believed to be haunted by the first owner’s son more than 150 years later

Mr. Cambage’s son, Henry, lived and died in the house and is said to still haunt it.

Henry’s ghost couldn’t deter any buyer who paid $2.4 million for it as recently as 2021.

ZEAL STAY

Zeal Cottage in Wingham, 110 miles north of Newcastle, was first occupied by Adelaide Hill in the early 1900s.

The day after Mrs Hill moved in, her two-year-old grandson died after falling into a vat of boiling water.

She had built Zeal Cottage and died there in 1922.

Adelaide Hill first lived in Zeal Cottage in Wingham and her grandson died in a vat of boiling water two days after she moved in

Locals believe her ghost still haunts the property, along with her grandson.

The ghosts welcomed new homeowners who purchased the cottage for $545,000 in 2019.

GLEDSWOOD HOMESTE

Gledswood Homestead was originally built in 1810 as a convict prison in Camden, 67 km northwest of Sydney and is now Grade II listed.

The enclosed vineyard, colonial farmhouse and homestead was first occupied by Gabriel Louis Marie Huon de Kerilleau until 1827.

Gledswood Homestead was originally built as a prison for convicts and is said to be haunted by a father and his five-year-old daughter

The next owner, James Chisholm, left his five-year-old daughter to die of scarlet fever on the property and a worker died after being crushed by a tree shortly afterwards.

It is said that both still hang around the property and visitors claim to have heard giggling children and other voices floating around the grounds.

CAMELOT CASTLE

Kirkham’s Camelot Castle south-west Sydney has become synonymous with mystery after being featured in many films and TV shows.

Over the years, however, the dark history has slowly come to light.

Camelot Castle’s first owner, James White, lived there for just two years before dying in the property in 1890.

Camelot Castle became iconic after being featured in films and TV shows, but many of its former owners have died on the grounds

His wife never left and she also died there.

The second owner, William Anderson, did not live there long before he committed suicide in the house in 1912.

His wife, Frances, died there in 1948.

Their daughter died in the castle in 1979 without ever having married or had children.

Rumors of the many deaths have led many to believe this is also one of NSW’s most haunted houses.