There is a distinct difference between a ghost tour and a paranormal investigation according to Shepparton paranormal investigator Clive ‘CJ’ Woolley.
And when someone doesn’t charge for their service, you know they do it because they strongly believe in it.
Mr Woolley, who will host a 12-hour paranormal investigation at the Mooroopna Museum and Gallery later this month, once witnessed a horrific train accident where a woman who’d been struck and thrown toward him died at his feet.
From that moment, he has looked at the spirit world in a different light.
And with a whole array of different instruments.
“In the 1970s, there was no counselling, no nothing, so that meant you had to accept things and with that, it’s given me that (sixth) sense,” Mr Woolley said.
“I can go into a place and sense what’s going to happen and who’s trying to make contact, then we use our equipment to record that.”
The equipment Mr Woolley references includes EMF meters to measure electromagnetic fields, and cameras with thermal imaging and sensitive audio, which can pick up the smallest of sounds at 20 feet away.
Mr Woolley has been investigating for at least 15 years, and running his business Caspa Paranormal Investigations for eight.
He’s conducted many investigations at suspected haunted places, such as the Old Kilmore Gaol, Thurston Railway Station, and even a local kindergarten.
He is no stranger to the Mooroopna Museum and Gallery, claiming to have made contact before with several spirits who linger there.
The vast museum, with many rooms and long hallways is housed in a former nursing home and has the largest historic medical collection in regional Victoria.
Inside there’s an archaic operating theatre, nurses’ uniforms adorning mannequins, torturous-looking medical apparatus, along with a vintage dentist’s chair.
“I’ve been here by myself and picked up audio on CCTV footage that sounded like an old gurney being wheeled and then hitting the wall,” Mr Woolley said.
“Everyone’s got their beliefs; my belief is paranormal and the afterlife.
“They see us, we don’t see them.
“The only thing we can do is to try and communicate with them, get their message across, so then we can take the right steps to get closure for them to move on.”
Mooroopna Historical Society volunteer Geoff Hill said the Mooroopna Hospital was once the only hospital between Rushworth and Beechworth.
He said many patients died there, and 937 were buried in unmarked graves at Mooroopna Cemetary between 1881 and 1944.
Perhaps that’s why so many spirits are “stuck” at the museum, which Mr Woolley said experienced an abundance of paranormal activity in its back corner, where it backs onto the hospital.
He believes there are about 30 to 40 spirits in the precinct, and on a good night of investigation, they will all show themselves.
He reckons there will be evidence of about 20 on an average night.
And on the weakest night, still up to eight.
There are places for up to 12 adult guests at the June 22 investigation, which starts at 6pm, when the mixed group of experienced investigators with their own gear and curious first-timers will meet for a meal before heading inside the cold walls of the museum to hunt ghosts all night long.
Don’t expect to sleep. But do expect to be intrigued.
The cost is $120 per person, with $90 of the event fee going to the Mooroopna Historical Society to help with running the museum, while the other $30 goes to a meal at the Mooroopna Golf Club.
“We do what we do for nothing; I’m not making any money whatsoever,” Mr Woolley said.
To book a spot, phone or text Caspa Paranormal Investigations on 0419 612 920.