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Best Australian Ghost Stories: Spine-Chilling Tales of Hauntings, Apparitions and the Unexplained
Australia's master storyteller uncovers stories of hauntings and uncanny events in the bush and in our towns - and maybe in your own neighbourhood too. Have you ever seen, heard or felt something that cannot be rationally explained?
Australia is troubled by the departed spirits of convicts, bushrangers, drovers, nurses and miners. People have seen spectres in pubs, theatres, lighthouses, asylums, and by lonely waterholes.
There are locations in the bush that send a shiver down your spine, as well as some truly perplexing phenomena such as the Spirit Stones of Mayanup, Quinn's Light, the Guyra Ghost, the Humpty Doo haunting and the Min Min lights. Master storyteller Graham Seal recounts the sinister legends of ghost towns, blasted mines, and other ill-omened places. He has uncovered the histories behind the most haunted sites in Australia, our Bermuda Triangle, the convict era ghosts still troubling the Hawkesbury River, phantom ships, and gruesome unsolved crimes which have left unsettled spirits.
Uncanny experiences are regularly reported even by people who usually don't believe in such things. Whether they are real or not, our ghosts exist most powerfully in the stories we tell about them. We've been frightening ourselves with these yarns for a long time.
'Graham Seal has the knack of the storyteller' - Warren Fahey
'Ripper, fair-dinkum, true blue Aussie yarns.' The Weekly Times
Australia is troubled by the departed spirits of convicts, bushrangers, drovers, nurses and miners. People have seen spectres in pubs, theatres, lighthouses, asylums, and by lonely waterholes.
There are locations in the bush that send a shiver down your spine, as well as some truly perplexing phenomena such as the Spirit Stones of Mayanup, Quinn's Light, the Guyra Ghost, the Humpty Doo haunting and the Min Min lights. Master storyteller Graham Seal recounts the sinister legends of ghost towns, blasted mines, and other ill-omened places. He has uncovered the histories behind the most haunted sites in Australia, our Bermuda Triangle, the convict era ghosts still troubling the Hawkesbury River, phantom ships, and gruesome unsolved crimes which have left unsettled spirits.
Uncanny experiences are regularly reported even by people who usually don't believe in such things. Whether they are real or not, our ghosts exist most powerfully in the stories we tell about them. We've been frightening ourselves with these yarns for a long time.
'Graham Seal has the knack of the storyteller' - Warren Fahey
'Ripper, fair-dinkum, true blue Aussie yarns.' The Weekly Times
314 pages, Paperback
First published September 30, 2025
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
October 28, 2025
Big thanks to Allen & Unwin for sending us a copy to read and review.
Australia is a large country with a dark history that creates places, atmospheres and events that have a tense haunting.
Not everyone experiences the eerie and frightening spectrum of paranormal phenomena.
I wouldn’t have believed in or indulged in these theories up until a decade ago.
A few very real encounters and experiences have turned this non believer into an avid believer.
This is a comprehensive collection of ghost stories from right around the nation.
The diversity and consistent stories highlight we have some very haunted places in both the city and the bush.
Restless spirits roam and cause fear.
If nothing else the anecdotes reveal brutal histories and immense suffering as the foundations of our nation took shape.
This whole book is full of spooky and sad stories that makes you realise how many footsteps have trampled through the time and met with unfortunate consequences.
Little wonder we have some of the best crime writers here.
Australia is a large country with a dark history that creates places, atmospheres and events that have a tense haunting.
Not everyone experiences the eerie and frightening spectrum of paranormal phenomena.
I wouldn’t have believed in or indulged in these theories up until a decade ago.
A few very real encounters and experiences have turned this non believer into an avid believer.
This is a comprehensive collection of ghost stories from right around the nation.
The diversity and consistent stories highlight we have some very haunted places in both the city and the bush.
Restless spirits roam and cause fear.
If nothing else the anecdotes reveal brutal histories and immense suffering as the foundations of our nation took shape.
This whole book is full of spooky and sad stories that makes you realise how many footsteps have trampled through the time and met with unfortunate consequences.
Little wonder we have some of the best crime writers here.
December 31, 2025
As I understand it, to have a yarn in Australia is to have a conversation or a chat, to tell a yarn is to tell a story and to spin a yarn is to tell a tall tale or something that is unlikely to be true. In Best Australian Ghost Stories - Spine-chilling Tales of Hauntings, Apparitions and the Unexplained, Graham Seal continually refers to the accounts he's presenting as yarns, stories and hoaxes and in doing so diminishes the value of the stories and the likelihood of them being true and honest accounts in the view of the author.
Graham Seal is a prolific author of 14 books (including: Great Australian Places, Great Australian Mysteries, Australia's Funniest Yarns, Great Bush Stories, Great Convict Stories) and it seems to me this collection of ghost stories were likely unearthed during the comprehensive research undertaken for his other works and brought together here, despite the author not seeming to believe in ghosts.
In the Introduction, Graham Seal makes it pretty clear that he's a sceptic and doesn't believe in many of the hauntings and unexplained events he's about to inform the reader about:
"Outside works of fiction, Australian hauntings, vanishings and unexplained events happen - if they did - in a landscape marked by its rivers, waterholes and surrounding seas, its islands and its abandoned places." Page xvi
Broken down into unique categories - Bush Haunts, House Ghosts, Unsettling Places, Ghost Roads and more - there were often too many stories presented in quick succession; this pub has a ghost in it, this inn has a woman in white. The sheer number of cases cited along with the scant information available about each of them made it difficult to be spooked or reach the spine-chilling reading experience hinted at on the cover.
And then there were bizarre moments like this one. When discussing the plan by scientists to resurrect the Tasmanian Tiger using DNA technology, the author wonders how long it'll be before the same technology is applied to dead humans. Ummmm what? Humans aren't extinct so clearly he missed the point altogether. Either that, or this was an attempt at humour that sailed right over my head.
I was pleased to see the case of Minnie Brown and the unexplained poltergeist activity that took place in 1921 taken seriously but then disappointed the very next chapter when the author describes the events in a remote town in the Northern Territory in 1998 as Humpty Doo high jinks as he wonders whether it was all a hoax.
The author frequently uses negative language like shades and ghouls and phrases such as supernatural spice throughout the book which begins to build a mocking and condescending tone. The reader who picks up a book about ghost stories is more likely to have an open mind or a firm belief in the unexplained so the failure of the author to take the topic seriously struck a sour note.
I also found myself wondering why Seal chose to include stories where the ghostly activity was proven to be caused by hardcore hoaxers or prankers. What value do stories like these add to a book entitled Best Australian Ghost Stories? I didn't choose to read a book about Best Australian Hoaxes and in my opinion these accounts detracted from the theme and had no place being included.
Why the mocking tone? In the Ghost Roads chapter I could almost hear him rolling his eyes:
"While these events are disturbing enough, drivers also report their headlights illuminating ghostly figures along the road and - always dependable - the Yowie has been seen." Page 194
Ironically, this same chapter also contained one of the best stories which was entitled The Ghost of the Old Bridge and took place in Western Australia in the 1870s. What made it the most enjoyable of the collection was the long and detailed first person account from settler Thomas Scott included in the book. For the first time this allowed the reader to stick with one account and travel back 150 years to hear directly from a witness relaying a sighting seen by at least five others.
Several first hand accounts from direct sources were included and if more of these had been incorporated in favour of the hoax narrative, this book would have been a terrific read.
As it is, when I think of this book in the future, I think I'll remember it for the inspired inclusion of the poem 'The Ghost at the Second Bridge' by Henry Lawson. It's been a long time since I've read any Henry Lawson and reading the story of two men encountering the Black Lady in the middle of the night was immensely enjoyable.
As the End Notes attest, it's evident that a tonne of research has gone into the writing of this book, and that's to be acknowledged and admired. In addition, I was pleased to see Australian Ghost Stories by James Phelps mentioned in the author's Afterword as I read and enjoyed this last year.
Readers wanting to know if their local legend is included are likely to find it briefly mentioned in Best Australian Ghost Stories by Graham Seal, but if you're looking for a serious, deep and penetrating look into hauntings and apparitions in Australia that'll make the hairs on your arms stand on end, this isn't it.
* Copy courtesy of Allen & Unwin *
Graham Seal is a prolific author of 14 books (including: Great Australian Places, Great Australian Mysteries, Australia's Funniest Yarns, Great Bush Stories, Great Convict Stories) and it seems to me this collection of ghost stories were likely unearthed during the comprehensive research undertaken for his other works and brought together here, despite the author not seeming to believe in ghosts.
In the Introduction, Graham Seal makes it pretty clear that he's a sceptic and doesn't believe in many of the hauntings and unexplained events he's about to inform the reader about:
"Outside works of fiction, Australian hauntings, vanishings and unexplained events happen - if they did - in a landscape marked by its rivers, waterholes and surrounding seas, its islands and its abandoned places." Page xvi
Broken down into unique categories - Bush Haunts, House Ghosts, Unsettling Places, Ghost Roads and more - there were often too many stories presented in quick succession; this pub has a ghost in it, this inn has a woman in white. The sheer number of cases cited along with the scant information available about each of them made it difficult to be spooked or reach the spine-chilling reading experience hinted at on the cover.
And then there were bizarre moments like this one. When discussing the plan by scientists to resurrect the Tasmanian Tiger using DNA technology, the author wonders how long it'll be before the same technology is applied to dead humans. Ummmm what? Humans aren't extinct so clearly he missed the point altogether. Either that, or this was an attempt at humour that sailed right over my head.
I was pleased to see the case of Minnie Brown and the unexplained poltergeist activity that took place in 1921 taken seriously but then disappointed the very next chapter when the author describes the events in a remote town in the Northern Territory in 1998 as Humpty Doo high jinks as he wonders whether it was all a hoax.
The author frequently uses negative language like shades and ghouls and phrases such as supernatural spice throughout the book which begins to build a mocking and condescending tone. The reader who picks up a book about ghost stories is more likely to have an open mind or a firm belief in the unexplained so the failure of the author to take the topic seriously struck a sour note.
I also found myself wondering why Seal chose to include stories where the ghostly activity was proven to be caused by hardcore hoaxers or prankers. What value do stories like these add to a book entitled Best Australian Ghost Stories? I didn't choose to read a book about Best Australian Hoaxes and in my opinion these accounts detracted from the theme and had no place being included.
Why the mocking tone? In the Ghost Roads chapter I could almost hear him rolling his eyes:
"While these events are disturbing enough, drivers also report their headlights illuminating ghostly figures along the road and - always dependable - the Yowie has been seen." Page 194
Ironically, this same chapter also contained one of the best stories which was entitled The Ghost of the Old Bridge and took place in Western Australia in the 1870s. What made it the most enjoyable of the collection was the long and detailed first person account from settler Thomas Scott included in the book. For the first time this allowed the reader to stick with one account and travel back 150 years to hear directly from a witness relaying a sighting seen by at least five others.
Several first hand accounts from direct sources were included and if more of these had been incorporated in favour of the hoax narrative, this book would have been a terrific read.
As it is, when I think of this book in the future, I think I'll remember it for the inspired inclusion of the poem 'The Ghost at the Second Bridge' by Henry Lawson. It's been a long time since I've read any Henry Lawson and reading the story of two men encountering the Black Lady in the middle of the night was immensely enjoyable.
As the End Notes attest, it's evident that a tonne of research has gone into the writing of this book, and that's to be acknowledged and admired. In addition, I was pleased to see Australian Ghost Stories by James Phelps mentioned in the author's Afterword as I read and enjoyed this last year.
Readers wanting to know if their local legend is included are likely to find it briefly mentioned in Best Australian Ghost Stories by Graham Seal, but if you're looking for a serious, deep and penetrating look into hauntings and apparitions in Australia that'll make the hairs on your arms stand on end, this isn't it.
* Copy courtesy of Allen & Unwin *
October 25, 2025
This was my "spooky October" read just in time for Halloween. It has some interesting stories several of which I would like to do some more reading about.
October 27, 2025
i would love to read more of these stories that are in here . It was a perfect read for spooky month and i did devour this one in a day as i was so invested in the stories
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews