“I ask you to come to me right now. We come in love, peace and respect. I wish you no harm.”
Daniel Rickard’s voice booms through the empty theatre, reverberating around the vast space.
There is no response. Not a scrape, not a bump, no noise. But I swear I can almost hear my heart beating against my chest.
He continues: “Are there any spirits with us right now?”
It is an unusually quiet night at The Majestic Theatre in the small township of Pomona. Dan is on the hunt – a ghost hunt that is, and it seems the ghosts don’t want to be found tonight.
He circles the theatre’s main room, glancing at the heavy gold curtains and then back towards the exit.
Dan pauses. “I just saw a shadow.” He calls out, but there is no sign of human life.
Rumour has it that the wife of The Majestic’s former piano player, Ron, haunts the halls. Her memorial was held at the theatre in the 1990s and “her spirit never left”.
“She’s been known to be seen and heard,” Dan explains. “Is Ron’s wife here?” he calls out. “Who is here with us tonight? Can you let me know?”
In a darkened room nearby, Dan’s friend Steph sits quietly, blindfold and headphones on.
This is called a “sensory deprivation session”. Sight and noise are stripped away so that the participant can feel and hear even the smallest sensation coming through the spirit box, a handheld radio device that rapidly scans AM/FM frequencies. Paranormal investigators believe spirits can manipulate the white noise or fragmented radio snippets to form words, which the isolated participant then calls out in real time.
Tonight, Steph is hearing minimal chatter, but Dan believes The Majestic Theatre “is very haunted”.
Originally built as a multi-function hall in 1921, today it is the world’s longest-running silent film theatre and one of the few pre-World War II picture theatres remaining in Queensland.
“The cleaner here saw with her own eyes a full body apparition of one of the original owners, Ernie Bazzo, who owned the theatre in 1933,” Dan says. “People have seen curtains lifting, caught things rattling, doors opening, disembodied voices. We’ve heard intelligent responses on our own devices.
“Spirits choose to go back to the places that made them happy. Of course, things aren’t always active or haunted. It comes in waves. They come into our realm and come out of it.”
Dan is one half of the investigator duo Night Watches Paranormal Australia. He and mate Pete Cazzolato began filming six years ago and they travel the globe visiting haunted sites and producing content for their YouTube channel and German-based streaming service Ghostflix.tv. They recently returned from the UK, where they filmed season seven of their show and took part in a soon-to-be-released film, The Ghost Chronicles.
Set in York, “the most haunted town in all of the UK”, the crew investigated three locations, alongside Irish director Jason Figgis and producer John West, a paranormal author.
“We filmed at three locations. The Roman Baths, Marsden Moor and the Golden Fleece pub. There was lots of activity. Let’s just say we had some physical interaction at Marsden Moor,” Dan tells salt.
Are these experiences frightening?
“For me and Pete, it’s more of an adrenaline, heightened heart rate reaction. You still get that sometimes, no matter how many you’ve done, and we’ve done more than 500 investigations.”
Dan says his interest in paranormal activity stems back to his childhood when family members witnessed an entity in their home, and is driven by curiosity and a “desire to document the unexplained with honesty”.
“I have always had a curiosity for the paranormal and have wanted to know the truth for many years,” he says. “I’ve grown up wondering what is there? Is there something after death? This can’t be it.
“One thing I’ve realised, doing what I do, is that energy doesn’t die… it has to move on to somewhere. This whole experience of doing the paranormal, for me, is basically finding that truth, finding that evidence. Where do we go after here?
“I came into this as an open-minded sceptic and I am now a true believer, who also has a very sceptical mind when investigating. Not all knocks and sounds are ghosts.”
Based on the Sunshine Coast, Dan says there are plenty of local haunted spots to keep him busy. In fact, he has recently launched his haunted ghost tours, starting at The Majestic Theatre. Dan will also offer tours at the Kandanga Hotel and the Gympie Gold Mining Historical Museum.
Tour participants will have the chance to experience authentic paranormal equipment such as K2 EMF meters, spirit boxes and motion sensors.
As for other Sunshine Coast hotspots, Dan and Pete have explored cemeteries in Caloundra, Woodford, Mapleton, Nambour and Eumundi.
One of the pair’s YouTube episodes captures a disembodied voice at the Caloundra cemetery. It is dark, eerie and you can hear the voice clear as day: “I’m here”.
Dan’s response demonstrates his passion, as he exclaims loudly, excitedly thanking the spirit.
Believe or not, it is creepy to watch.
“[Paranormal interest] is a niche over here that is growing,” he explains. “People are starting to open up and tell their experiences. People contact us all the time. We do private home investigations.
“With paranormal equipment, nothing is concrete, nothing is gospel. You have to take everything with a grain of salt. You are listening for underlying answers, you are listening for intelligent responses. You’ll find too, the way I investigate, if I get an answer to something, I’ll ask the question numerous times to see if I get that same answer.
“It is all pseudo-science, all stuff that can’t be scientifically proved – yet. More scientists are coming out with more understanding. But we’ve done the investigations. I’m the one who does all the editing and analysis of the evidence. When you’re in a cemetery on your own, with a microphone on, and a voice says, ‘help me’, that is definitely circumstantial evidence.
“What I would like to say to all sceptics out there is to believe in what you want to believe in, but try to at least keep an open mind to the things that you don’t know. You never know what you might experience one day that will really open your eyes and your mind.”
So, any advice as to what we should do with any noisy spirits who won’t cross over?
“Clear it with sage to try and remove,” Dan shares. “You can live in harmony once it’s calmed down. It can work one of two ways. You can acknowledge and try to communicate with it. Sometimes it just wants you to know it’s there and pass on a message.”
And if that doesn’t work? Call a ghost hunter.
@facebook.com/danielrickard1979
COAST HAUNTED HOT SPOTS
SUNNY BRAE, EUMUNDI: Originally built in 1910 as a private home for the Luke family, the building was converted to a private hospital in 1924. It closed in 1958 and was converted back to a residence. Today, it is the main building at the Eumundi Showgrounds.
KANDANGA HOTEL: Dan says the rebuilt pub (the original burned down in 2015) is an active site. “Nearly every staff member has seen a full body apparition.”
THE OLD NUNNERY, POMONA: The former convent was built in Church Street in the 1920s before becoming a private residence. Sadly, the home was destroyed in an arson attack in 2007, but previous owners reported seeing the ghost of a nun during the years.
IMPERIAL HOTEL, EUMUNDI: As one of the region’s oldest venues, it doesn’t come as a surprise that the Imperial reportedly houses a ghost. Numerous people have reported seeing and sensing the resident spirit, ‘Margaret’, a 30-year-old woman in a white dress.
TEWANTIN: This old ghost story is set near the junction of the Noosa River and Wooroi Creek, where the car ferry operates. In 1976, two fishermen reported seeing a mist-like figure with two dark holes for eyes by the riverbank. It vanished whenever they shone their headlights towards it. Police later found no trace of anyone there and the unexplained sighting has lingered in local folklore ever since.