Seymour’s Royal Hotel has been part of the town since 1839 and some of its loyal customers from that era have never left.
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When Leigh Bushell-Lowe moved to town to run the iconic pub with her husband Paul, the last thing she expected was to bump into any ghostly apparitions.
However, Leigh and Paul, who took over the pub in 2015, soon found they had some roommates they had not been aware of.
“We would hear footsteps going up and down the hallway outside my office. You look out and there’s no-one there,” Leigh said.
She said sometimes there would be the smell of very nice perfume, cigarette smoke, or tobacco pipes when there was no-one in the building.
There was once a man who lived in room five who worked on the railway who Leigh believes still hangs around.
“He died of a heart attack here,” she said.
The Royal Hotel boasts a rich history, serving as different things at different times.
It was one of the first buildings in the area and was a hub for Seymour society in its early days.
It was a local courthouse, post office, fire station, police lock-up, a market and even a morgue.
Leigh said she often experienced paranormal activities in the pub.
So, in the spirit of the spooky season, she organised a ghost tour on Saturday, September 30.
According to Geoff Painter, a medium who has conducted paranormal investigations across Victoria and led the tour on Saturday, it is common for places with long histories to have spirits.
He said that in the gold rush era, when the Royal was new, many people feared dying.
“I believe spirits tend to hang around more because of that fear,” he said.
One infamous story about the pub is that it once housed the severed head of bushranger Dan Morgan.
Mr Painter believes his spirit now haunts the Royal.
“And he is just one of several entities believed to roam the property,” he said.
Armed with various ghost-finding gadgets, Mr Painter conducted an investigation for those on the tour.
But this wasn’t the first paranormal investigation at the Royal.
During a previous ghost tour, mediums noted the presence of the spirit of a little girl named Isabella, who had taken a liking to Leigh.
“I was sitting up there one day with the paranormal investigators, and all of my hair started to get full of static. I could feel it moving and crackling,” Leigh said.
“(The medium) said, ‘Isabella, are you playing with Leigh’s hair?’ and every device in the room went green.”
One of those devices was an EMF reader, which paranormal investigators use to measure fluctuations in magnetic fields, temperature and light.
The idea is that these fluctuations can signify the presence of a spirit.
Leigh said after the device turned green, she felt someone stroke her face and under her chin.
Paranormal occurrences have occurred frequently at the pub, and Leigh said while a spirit stroking your face was a shock, nothing bad had happened.
“They have never been nasty,” she said.
Participant Bec came into the investigation a sceptic but came out a believer.
“I’m converted,” Bec said.
“They explained everything and it really opened my eyes.”
While on the tour, Bec said she experienced heavy pressure on her chest and was struggling to breathe.
Despite that experience, she said she loved the tour.
“(There’s) lots of freaky stuff happening, but it was well worth it,” Bec said.
Mr Painter said he had a great time and loved to share his passion with others.
“Opening people’s eyes to that other world is a very fulfilling experience,” he said.
Cadet journalist