Tales of Black Rock House

Tales of Black Rock House By Sarah Chumacero

In the suburb of Black Rock in Victoria Australia, sits what many would argue is one of Melbourne’s most underrated haunted locations.  Black Rock House is very quickly becoming a favourite must-visit location for paranormal enthusiasts all over town.  Built in 1856 for Victoria’s first Auditor-General, Charles Ebden, this charming seaside holiday home adorned with castle gates and a mysterious underground cellar was originally used to entertain Melbourne’s elite. As the years passed and owners changed, it was used as a boarding house while it slowly decayed and fell into ruin.  In 1972, the derelict house was purchased by the Bayside City Council where it would be returned to its former glory.  Run by a group of volunteers called the Friends of Black Rock House, its historical ties have been restored to the community, many of whom didn’t know just how special the house that sits in the middle of their suburban streets was.

By embracing its historical and paranormal past, Black Rock House has soared in popularity. The house has huge connections to the community with many affectionately remembering visiting family members who once boarded at the house or playing in the rumoured underground tunnels leading from the cellar to the beach as children.  Those who walk through its heritage-listed doors instantly feel like they are home, forever bound by some sort of unsaid connection to the house. It also shows people the true essence of the paranormal, not the sensationalised version you see on movies or TV.  I always tell our guests not to come in with any expectations and that they will be subject to a very different experience than what is shown on TV.  It can be quite boring sitting around waiting for things to happen.  Most importantly, I want to show them that spirit interaction is not necessarily the negative exaggerated experience you see on TV, but it can be really beautiful, touching and even emotional.  Sharing the stories of its past is what Black Rock House and its spirits are all about. 

I am privileged alongside my brother Ragnarr to be entrusted by the volunteers to show visitors the spooky side of the house once the sun goes down by running paranormal investigations.  There aren’t a lot of historical records on previous tenants that we can draw from, so we allow the house and its spirits to tell us and a small group of budding paranormal investigators their stories in a safe and comforting environment.  

Ghost stories related to the house go all the back to 1910.  A local newspaper reported that year a group of girls visited the house asking the caretaker if they could look inside the ‘haunted house’.  It seems one of the local rumours was that the house was haunted by the mistress of a former tenant who brutally locked her in the cellar.  The caretaker later wrote to a newspaper that the haunting rumours were made up by a previous tenant wanting to purchase the property at a discounted price, for no one back then would want to pay top dollar for a haunted house!  More recent claims via internet forums were a buzz over a decade ago with various ghost stories attached to the house.  Supposedly passing motorists witnessed a spectral figure toppling from the roof of the house where a viewing tower once stood.  Then there were the claims that police had been called on-site to handle a fistfight under a heritage-listed fig tree.  When they arrived, the fighters had vanished into thin air.  Famously a bare-knuckle fistfight took place on the grounds of Black Rock House with Australia’s own Sherlock Holmes detective J.M Christie who could have been one of the ghostly fighters.  There were stories of a séance in the dining room opening a portal using the large mirror, all the way down to a council worker running out the doors and never returning after seeing a ghostly figure in period dress.

It is always hard to determine what is true and what is local legend when it comes to ghost stories.  That is one of the reasons we were so intrigued to investigate Black Rock House.  After 9 years there, we have had many of our own spooky occurrences.  While I could literally write a book about it all, for now here are just some of the Tales of Black Rock House.

The Library

Restored and unveiled to the public in 2022, the library pays homage to one of the former owners, Sir Peter MacCallum.  In 1931 Professor Peter MacCallum purchased Black Rock House in an attempt to restore it to its former glory as by this point, it was virtually in ruin and had been up for demolition on various occasions. Knighted in 1953 for his contribution to health and education, MacCallum’s legacy is a world-leading cancer centre where humanity, care, and research are valued equally, affectionately referred to by Victorians as Peter Mac.  He started to restore the property as his home, a project that unfortunately was not finished. 

For the longest time, there was no access to this room, aside from using it for storage.  Filled with mannequins, costumes, boxes of pamphlets and other items, it certainly wasn’t much to look at, however, it just seemed to have a bit of an uneasy vibe.  Maybe it had something to do with the fact the room was always closed off with stale air having nowhere to go, or maybe it was just the mystery of people wanting to get in and see what was behind the closed door.  Ironically since its opening, the most profound experience in this room to date seemed to want to keep guests out.

After being in the room previously that evening as I do every night before a tour, I closed the door behind me ready to go back in with a tour group. Later that night, I went to open the door and I couldn’t because something was pushed up against the door.  At first, the door felt like it was caught on carpet or a rug.  When I pushed the door with a little more force, to my surprise there was a chair wedged in front of the door.  After some colourful language on my part,  everyone kind of stopped what they were doing in another room to see what was going on.  A chair had been set up against the door.  The only way to position the chair like this is from the inside (and of course, no one was inside).  The windows were all closed and locked so that someone from outside would not be able to get in. There is no other access to the room.  The curious part of me wonders, did something not want us in the room?

Annie’s Room

Nestled in the back of the living quarters is a cozy little room.  It is always one of the first places we head to on an investigation and is usually the place most people ask us if they can go back into.  For the last 9 years, we have had quite a lot of communication in this room.  What surprises people is that is a mostly positive experience.  A lot of people associate the paranormal with negative entities.  In reality, it is far from the truth, and Annie gives them a glimpse of this.  

From REM Pods going off through to what seems to be intelligent responses on EMF meters, I have brought many investigators and even sceptics into this room and they would all walk out scratching their heads.  Some have even seen a female figure in the doorway with long brown hair.  In our first investigations, we got the name Annie to come through and I guess it stuck.  What seemed to be something a lot of people picked up on or received through communication, was that for a long time, Annie didn’t understand why people were coming in her space and not acknowledging her.  So now everyone who visits Black Rock House including the volunteers say “Hello” to Annie whenever they walk into her room.  

The Death Room

Quite often when roaming around Black Rock House, people seem to be drawn to one particular room. In fact, if we say to people have a walk around and see where you end up, you can bet they will end up in the main bedroom, a room affectionately known by the volunteers of Black Rock House as ‘The Death Room’.  Why would such a beautifully decorated room be associated with such a dark name?  When I took my first historical tour of Black Rock House, the volunteers were the ones who actually brought this to my attention. For some reason, people seemed to react to this room. This was well before we started doing investigations here. The people having these experiences were people doing a normal historical walkthrough.  Some could not enter the room at all like there was some sort of invisible wall blocking them.  Others would walk in and start feeling seasick and swaying like they were rocking on a boat.  Then there were those who thought it just smelt and felt like death. This was such a regular occurrence that the nickname ‘The Death Room’ was coined.

 Of the many experiences we have had in this room, there is one that we will never forget.  I was sitting on the bed conducting a spirit box session with a few of the guests.  There was another tour guide in the house.  We all heard the door latch unlock and saw the door open.  A couple of people even stepped aside as they waited for someone to walk in, thinking it was the other tour guide.  No one came in.  I immediately leapt off the bed to investigate and opened the door.  No one was there.  I called out to the other tour guide.  They were at the other end of the house, and nowhere near our room.  

It was also in this room one of our guests spotted who they believed was Charles Ebden the original owner of Black Rock House himself.  It was her first time ever attending a paranormal investigation and she wasn’t even sure if she believed in ghosts.  While in this room, she looked at the mirror in the corner.  She saw the face of man with a large nose and wild white hair.  The next day she contacted me because she was unable to get the image out of her head.  I sent her a photo of Ebden and she shockingly responded “That is who I saw!”.  

I was always sceptical if Charles Ebden would still be roaming the halls of Black Rock House as it was such a small part of his large life.  It is not the only time he has been spotted.  On the very first investigation we did of the house, I was the only person privy to the history with the rest of the group going in blind so as not to be influenced.  My brother was standing in the doorway of the drawing room when he turned around to face the hallway and let out a large scream.  He had seen a large man standing there with white hair and strong facial features.  I then showed him a photo of Ebden.  He uttered the words “That’s him … that is who I saw!”  I guess I should take my own words above into account and remember not to have any preconceived notions about the paranormal.  Anything and everything can happen, and for me, that is what exploring Black Rock House is all about.

Black Rock House is open for historical tours and Devonshire tea on the first Sunday of each month. Monthly paranormal investigations are available as well as historical ghost tours during the Winter.