Page 13 - IAV Digital Magazine #615

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New Zealand’s Parliament Gives After- hours Ghost Tours of Mysterious Deaths, Strange Noises And Apparitions
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rG0XYGpWjIs
By Angela Barbuti Politics can be scary.
New Zealand’s parliament con- ducts after-hour tours of “mostly factual” legends that occurred in its halls, which center around mysterious deaths, unex- plained noises, deadly storms and ghostly apparitions.
The weekly spooky tours —
based on tales that have been circulating among political staffers for decades — are held in the parliament build- ings in Wellington, and tour guides dress in Victorian-era garb and cover their faces in fake blood.
“This is your last chance to back out,” guide Lisa Brand said at the start of a recent tour.
One of the tour’s stops is its library — rumored to be haunted — which has been plagued by two fires, a flood, and a feral cat infestation since being built in 1883.
Although staff still utilize it for research, night shift security guards and clean- ers are said to be fearful of the library.
Another topic on the tour is the ghosts of former lawmakers, said to haunt the space, such as William Larnach, who was found dead in a room at parliament with a revolver in his hand.
His skull was stolen and close to a century later, found in a college student’s bed- room.
The parliament’s
first full-time librarian, Ewen McColl, whose death was partly attributed to him being over- worked, is also said to haunt its halls.
Urban legends have also been passed down about the build- ing’s basement, which include sto- ries of hands reaching out from the stacks, songs coming from empty bathrooms, the appearance of a ghostly woman in a mir- ror, and locked doors suddenly swinging open.
The building was also hit by a terri- ble storm in 1968 — sinking a pas- senger ferry and killing 53 — which tore out its skylights and caused librarians to scale the roof in an attempt to protect their books.
“For mysterious and unknown rea-
sons they did this in their under- wear,” a guide told visitors. “There seems to be a history of people losing their pants here in this parlia- ment.”
Guides give regu- lar tours daily, but the spooky ones are only held on Thursdays when parliament is not in session.
This is under- standable, given the fact that guides are known to let out blood- curdling screams and spectral fig- ures shriek while floating down staircases lined with portraits of former head librarians and prime ministers.
The tour was “a bit spookier than I expected,” said visitor Holly Masters. “There was quite a few deaths here that I did not expect to find out about.”
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