Unknowing Australia

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Speaker B: Joining me today is Stacey, the creator.

Speaker A: And editor of Unknowing Australia. Unknowing was conceived in 2022 as an independent design that aims to highlight the haunted locations, dark history, and fascinating mythology of Australia.

Speaker B: It was created after identifying a gap.

Speaker A: In paranormal programming and content from down under. Despite a rich history of mysterious activity, stacy has been exploring haunted locations for many years and began her own explorations in her home state of Victoria with the infamous Aridale Asylum.

Speaker B: A writer, artist and graphic designer, she.

Speaker A: Has a Bachelor of Creative Arts and Diploma of Professional Writing and Editing, which allows her to create Unknowing Zine almost entirely independently.

Speaker B: There is an Australian Aboriginal proverb that.

Speaker A: Stacey quotes in issue, one that I think is very fitting.

Speaker B: It states, we are all visitors to this time, this place we are just passing through. Our purpose here is to observe, to learn, to grow, to love, and then we return home. This is partly what I think Stacey's creation is about a chance to observe.

Speaker A: Learn, and to grow within the paranormal community.

Speaker B: To love and fall in love with stories, locations, and history, to observe what.

Speaker A: Is around us, whether it be on.

Speaker B: Our doorsteps or from afar, to appreciate and wonder and to ask questions about.

Speaker A: The unknown aspects of life.

Speaker B: Today we explore the zine and some of the accounts featured, such as the.

Speaker A: Haunting history and paranormal tales at the Monte Cristo Homestead.

Speaker B: We talk about some of the asylums.

Speaker A: That Stacey has written about and explored.

Speaker B: We discuss how you can get involved and more. So get settled, and let's say hello.

Speaker A: To Stacey and hear a little more about her. Hi, Stacey. Thank you so much for joining me today.

Speaker C: Hi, Michelle. No, thank you so much for inviting me. I've been listening to your podcast for a little bit now, and you've got a lot of great guests and people that I look up to in the paranormal community. So it's an honor to join you.

Speaker A: I can't wait to chat with you today. I think we're going to have a really interesting conversation and just the chance to dive into some of the locations that you've written about as part of your Zion I'm just really excited to kind of dive into some of that. Before we kind of get going with that, do you want to just start by letting us know a little bit about you and your background?

Speaker C: Yeah, so I guess I've always had an interest in the paranormal and all the weird and wonderful things about the world that we live in. I kind of started off as being terrified of ghosts. I was a pretty scared little kid and didn't sleep very well because I thought my bedroom was haunted as a kid. Looking back, I don't think it was. It was probably just an overactive imagination. But moving on to being a teenager, I guess I became more fascinated than scared and traveled to the US and sort of sort out all those creepy locations I'd seen on TV, like Eastern State Penitentiary, Alcatraz, Hollywood Forever Cemetery, all that dark kind of stuff really interested me. And then I decided to do a bit more exploration of those kinds of locations in Australia and fell pretty hard down the rabbit hole in 2019 when I started devouring a lot more paranormal content in terms of not just ghosts and hauntings, but also cryptids, UFO sightings and just that wider kind of Fortiana stuff. And I guess my interests in all this got really intensified when I lost my partner in 2020. So kind of researching all this unknown side of life kind of provided me with a bit of a sense of comfort and regained my passion for the fascinating side of the world. And I began leaning pretty hard into this interest that I've got. Yeah, that's me in a nutshell.

Speaker A: It's such a wide topic and I think for many people, you start looking at it from this one perspective of thinking it is just about ghosts or it's just about cryptids or it's just about something along that spectrum. But the more you start kind of really diving into it, the bigger that question becomes and the bigger the different kind of things that you can look at you realize are out there. And it's one that can be very immersive and very much something that really can take hold in terms of just the questions that keep coming and that desire to keep wanting to find out more and more and more. And so I really applaud that you've put together something that not only showcases things about Australia, but really does kind of tap into that wide spectrum of things that fall within the paranormal, within the supernatural kind of community.

Speaker C: Yeah, exactly. Like you said, it can start off with just being interested in ghosts or something like that, and it was never really interested in sort of UFO sightings and things like that. I didn't really think too much on that. It was a bit outside of the scope of what I was interested in. But yeah, like you said, as I've started researching, writing a bit more about the paranormal. I've become really interested in that side of things, as well as cryptids, and you also see links between all these different sort of supernatural occurrences. Like, I don't necessarily think UFO sightings are that disconnected from ghost sightings in some instances. So, yeah, it's really interesting when you start to see the links between all these different aspects of the supernatural.

Speaker A: So do you have any particular favorite types of locations that you've had the chance to explore across Australia? And, I mean, you touched upon being able to visit the states and see some of the locations there, but do you have any favorite types of locations to explore for their history or for that paranormal kind of edge to them?

Speaker C: Yeah, probably in Victoria, where I live and have grown up, we've got quite a few amazing asylums, what used to be called lunatic asylum during the gold rush in the 18 hundreds, there was a population boom in Melbourne, Victoria. So soon enough, they had to deal with a lot of people with mental health issues and ended up having to build three quite large asylums in Victoria, one of which is called Aridale Asylum. That's probably my favorite location in Australia that I have been able to visit, visited a few times. And I think just aside from the fact that these places are rumored to be haunted, just the history and what people went through in those locations, it's just palpable, like, just the feeling and the energy in places like that. I've been able to visit the other two major ones in Victoria Beachworth Asylum and Queue Asylum, which is closer to the city of Melbourne. And, yeah, they just all have that energy that you can't avoid. And yeah, I kind of like, delving into that kind of history.

Speaker A: I think when you said they're palpable locations, I mean, I think that is so accurate. I mean, we have similar locations here in the United Kingdom, but they kind of vary in terms of the state that they're in. A lot of them have become very derelict and have been abandoned over the years. In some cases, they're still working hospitals. But over that kind of time frame of moving from being a lunatic asylum to becoming a more general hospital to being converted into something else or still being a hospital, this kind of reputation that they had has been something that really has been pushed away and hidden away because of those dark associations of what went on there and the kind of life that people had in those institutions. And I think there's something very wrong about that. I think we really should be looking at the changes that have happened across that field and how we can still continue to do more when we're thinking about people suffering and mental health and so on and so forth. But they are incredibly fascinating locations to explore. And the history is, like I said, something that I think we really shouldn't be forgetting.

Speaker C: Yeah, exactly. I mean, there's a sense of sort of voyeurism about going to locations like that, doing ghost tours and things and investigations. But at the end of the day, when I visit locations like that, I very much have those patients that kind of lived there and died there right at the forefront of my mind and what they went through, how mental health was viewed back then, the fact that someone with depression could have been in a place like that. Whereas today it's quite treatable and it's not something that you need to be locked up for. So having going through all of that in your mind while you're in a place like that, I feel that you're sort of lending your respect to the people that did go before you. And then also those ghost tours and things that happen in locations like that. It's preserving those locations. Like you said, some of them get a bit dilapidated. But when you have people that are interested in the history, those tours and investigations are pumping money into this location and being able to repair certain areas and keep them alive for future generations to come and have a look at and learn about history.

Speaker A: I'm kind of curious as to whether some of these asylums in Australia had.

Speaker B: A similar setup or if they were.

Speaker A: Kind of constructed differently to a lot of the asylums that we had in the United Kingdom. I mean, institutions over here were vast, they were huge, and they incorporated so many different things. I mean, many of them had large ballroom areas with stages that were set up off of the ground, these platforms where theater productions would be put on and so on and so forth to try and provide some kind of entertainment. And then you would have these hidden away, tucked away rooms where obviously things were happening, just almost a location where it was in two parts because you had these spots where you could really try and see things being brought in to offer comfort, entertainment, some kind of rehabilitation.

Speaker B: And then that contrasted very much with.

Speaker A: These small, overfilled rooms that they would have seen sadly in the day, treatment rooms and so on, that were kind of part of the vast hospital area that seemed separate from these. Kind of rehabilitation spots where they might be able to dance or watch a play or go about in the garden painting and so on. So it really does kind of have that, like I mentioned, that kind of feeling of a location of different parts, an amalgamation of different things. And I'm kind of curious as to what life would have been like part of asylums in Australia.

Speaker C: Yeah, that's a really good observation in terms of them having sort of innovative sort of areas where they're allowing patients to sort of socialize and get fresh air and do creative kind of things, but then they have the surgeries and things like that hidden away a bit where they were performing lobotomies, sort of like outside of the sort of viewing area. But, yeah, these asylums were very much like the English asylums. They were actually modeled on the asylums of England. Actually, the major asylum in Melbourne. The Queue Asylum was modeled on the Coleman Hatch Lunatic Asylum. In English, England. And just the way they built them, the way they were run as a self sustaining model, where there were farms on site where food was grown and definitely self sustaining kind of places. Also, most of them were built on hilltops where they were getting a lot of fresh air. And back then they thought that getting fresh air and kind of windswept locations, that was kind of a Victorian belief that disease was more connected with congestion and squalor. So being in a fresh air kind of area was important. And I believe that come from England as well. So, yeah, definitely. Probably not as old as the ones you've got over there, but they do sound very similar.

Speaker A: Yeah, it's fascinating when you kind of see those connections and just to see how people were treated very similarly in terms of asylums, I think all around the world, really very much just down to lack of understanding and where things were back then compared to where we are today. And like you mentioned before, you could find yourself part of one of those institutions for a variety of different reasons, some of which we would never, ever kind of expect someone to be sadly institutionalized for today, but back then was very commonplace. And I think we've touched on the.

Speaker B: Fact that that kind of history, that.

Speaker A: Understanding of practices, is something that is really important to preserve.

Speaker C: Exactly. Yeah. And I think the interest in these locations in Australia is slowly growing. So these locations are sort of becoming tourist sort of areas in their own right. And I think that's a good thing because a lot more people are learning about the history of mental health and that puts it in perspective and just allows people to realize how lucky they are to be living in these times. But also, I think we've still got a fair way to go with perceptions around mental illness. So, yeah, it's getting people to think about these things and it's definitely a good thing to be visiting these locations.

Speaker A: So we touched upon the fact that you have created an incredible zine. I mean, you've got issue three out right now. Where was the inspiration, the idea for kind of putting that together? Where did that come from?

Speaker C: Yeah, so probably similar to you, I wrote a piece for The Feminine Macabre earlier last year. I love that publication and I've enjoyed reading it since it began. And I had an idea to write something a bit more with the Australian theme in mind. I wrote about the asylums here in Melbourne that I visited quite regularly and kind of put a bit of a personal spin on the story and it got accepted for volume four. So that was really encouraging to me that I did have something to say within this sort of community and it really got my writing juices flowing again. I started writing probably about ten years ago, but sort of got out a bit of that habit, having a full time job and stuff like that. So, yeah, definitely started writing again. Started writing a lot about the paranormal. I got a piece accepted into the Strange Day Zine as well, as well as American Paranormal magazine, which I think you've also written for.

Speaker B: Yeah, I have.

Speaker A: It's a great magazine.

Speaker C: Yeah, it is. There's a lot of cool things in that magazine, each issue, and I was finding like, primarily or understandably, I was writing a lot about Australia and Australia Australian events and locations, and I felt like I needed sort of a suppository for all that stuff that I was writing. I know a lot of people were doing really cool blogs, but as a graphic designer in my day job, the idea of putting together a physical publication was really exciting to me. So I decided to do one issue, to start off with one issue and see how that went. Put it together quite quickly with that being my day job. Quite quick at putting together things like that. And, yeah, it was obviously inspired by the Feminine Macabre Strange Days Halbore, which is a cool UK scene you guys got over there, but obviously put a different approach on it, shine a light on Australia's history of paranormal and high strangeness and highlight our history and our locations. I think there's a lot of really cool American content out there at the moment, which I love and which I devour. And, yeah, I'm always watching and reading American content. I visited the US and Europe and explored a lot of the cool, famous locations in those countries. But I think it can be easy to forget what you've got in your own backyard in terms of strange activity, strange history. And, yeah, that was definitely my goal with the Zine. And I was really excited to sell more copies than I'd expected. I didn't print off enough, so I had to hustle and get a bunch more printed of that first issue. And, yeah, it did really well. Got a lot of feedback from Australian customers saying they had been waiting for something like this in Australia. And I also sell a lot overseas as well, which is great to think that the rest of the world is interested in Australia's weirdness too, and they haven't heard a lot about it. So, yeah, I've gotten good feedback from those guys, too. So, yeah, that's where it started and just released issue three, which you are a part of, which is great. So, yeah, it's going well.

Speaker A: I think you kind of said something there that really resonates, which is that, speaking from this from a personal perspective, it just opened up so much more information that I don't really have access to. I think the Paranormal community is very much dominated with sharing locations across America, and there's a lot of content that's put out around great locations and rightly so. I mean, they have some fantastic things going on, but there are places around the world that really don't have that same kind of exposure. And here you are putting something across in a format that is beautiful. I mean, it's stunning. The graphics are incredible, the way you piece it all together.

Speaker C: Thank you.

Speaker A: But you're allowing someone who doesn't have that kind of understanding of the locations and the history and some of the things that are reported in some of these locations, but you're allowing someone to immerse themselves into something unknown. And for me, that is the real joy, being able to find out and explore hidden gems, places that maybe I have never heard of. And you're doing that in such a beautifully creative way. I mean, I can't say how stunning they are. They really are gorgeous. You bring every single place alive with the graphics and the photographs. I mean, it really is a work of art and adds something to it.

Speaker C: Thank you.

Speaker A: So it's amazing that you are offering something that I think would remain hidden for so many people without something like that being put out there. So I really applaud that you've done it. Really, it's incredible.

Speaker C: Thank you. I appreciate that. I mean, I do want them to be, like, a bit of a work of art each issue because I want people to keep them. I don't want it to be like a throwaway thing that you read and then you've read it, so you just get rid of it, put it in the recycling. I want it to sit on people's bookshelves. I want it to sit on coffee tables and be a bit of a conversation starter. But I also want Australians to be proud of our country and our history and be excited about the locations you can visit within Australia. Like, I can sit here and just kind of wish that I could go to Waverley Hills Sanitarium one day, but it's probably not going to happen anytime soon. So instead of just sitting back and wishing that I lived in America, I should just look in my own backyard and realize what amazing locations we've got and what an amazing kind of history we've got that we don't know a lot about. Like, we go to the movies and see a lot of movies on the history of the US. And the history of Europe. And sometimes when I look back, I even think in my history classes, I learned a lot more about Europe than I did about Australia. So, yeah, I'm learning a lot too. And even the piece you wrote about the Batavia shipwreck, that's something that I was aware of, but I didn't know the background. I didn't know the details. And for you to write that in a really easily digestible and succinct sort of I know it's a huge it's an epic tale, but you wrote, like, a really succinct piece that allowed me to learn about it without having to read a big, huge, thick hardcover book. So, yeah, I really appreciated that, being able to learn something, learn about something that's in my own magazine. So thank you for contributing that.

Speaker A: Honestly, it was such a pleasure. And I enjoyed every second of writing about it. I mean, I really did kind of find myself slipping into this other place, this other world. And it was something that I knew about. It's something that I've spoken about in terms of mentioning to classes and things that I've taught, but again, just not knowing, really, the full details. And so when I was trying to think of a piece to write, it was just one that came to me having briefly touched on it when I was teaching my classes about exploration and seafare as part of history, topics that I've taught. And so having that chance to explore and to really see the impact that it had. I mean, just this fascinating story in terms of maritime seafare and what life was like. But also, here's one of the earliest examples of a shipwreck that also has this very macabre aspect to it in terms of what happened after they wrecked. And then to realize that it's something that's only been discovered, the shipwreck itself has only really been discovered in the last few decades. And then the archaeological discoveries of grave sites and remains and how each of those, when they are uncovered, what they reveal about what happened to those people as part of this very tragic, murderous, terrible, twisted kind of plot. I mean, it's so much more than just a simple shipwreck. There was so much to it. And so it's a fascinating one. And the fact that it resonated so much around the world at the time being published and told about and kind of held up as this dark story of what could happen as part of life at sea and the fact that it's still something being talked about, I think is something fascinating to me. So I thank you for kind of including it, really.

Speaker C: No, thank you for contributing it. And it was sort of great to get your perspective on this story and hence on Australia. Because this story, this tale of the shipwreck kind of filtered through as this cautionary tale of what Australia was back then for European explorers. So it just gives this fascinating background into the beginnings of Australia and this wild southern land that it was seen as back then. So, yeah, I was very pleased to include it.

Speaker A: Yeah, it was the place that they all avoided because they perceived it to be so barren, which is, again, just so intriguing to kind of have that perspective. And we know that that's true because we have the diary accounts of the sailors. It's why we know so much about this particular encounter, which, again, is not really something that you often see very often because there were survivors from this encounter. Their journals, their entries, is what has been used to continue to kind of explore the story. And so having that alongside archaeological discoveries today is again, something that's fascinating to be able to kind of see how they sync up. Really interesting.

Speaker C: Yeah. But at the same time, I'm learning about this from a magazine, which is exactly what I wanted this Zine to represent.

Speaker A: And I love that it's becoming this publication that is also including other writers across not only Australia, but the fact.

Speaker B: That you open it up to international.

Speaker A: Writers too, I think is an incredible opportunity. And in the latest volume, volume three, I mean, there are some amazing other contributors with fabulous stories to share. Do you want to kind of explore some of those authors and what they contributed for the current volume?

Speaker C: Yeah, well, I've always seen this as something that I want to be a sort of collaboration with other writers and I'm writing about there's a few places that I've written about within Australia that I haven't been to, so I don't see why people from overseas can't write about Australian mysteries and Australian hauntings from your perspective. So, yeah, definitely open to international writers discovering things about Australia and being inspired to write about them. But in addition to your piece, we've also got a piece from Alan Tiller, who's quite a renowned Australian paranormal investigator. He appeared on a TV show in Australia called Haunting Australia. I met him during my trip to Tasmania late last year and it was just awesome to have him contribute a piece from his home state of Adelaide. I haven't been to Adelaide, so there hadn't been any stories in the Zine about Adelaide before then. So it was great to get really quite a creepy story from him from the Barossa region, which is mostly known for its wine. But his story from two small towns outside of Adelaide includes tales of witchcraft, devil worship and even a sighting of the Greek god Pan. So, yeah, really intriguing story and makes me want to go there now. Yeah, I'd love to visit Adelaide soon. Also, we've got a piece from Susan Boland, a piece from the Sydney suburb of Newtown about a historical figure from that region who may have been the inspiration for Charles Dickens. Miss Havisham character and the evidence she's included is quite convincing. The evidence that's led to this rumor. Dickens did have a fascination for Australia, and the story of Eliza Donnaform is strikingly similar to that character in Great Expectations. So, yeah, it was great to include those contributions. Great to include new voices in the zine. And yeah, like you said, stories from across the country, places that I've never been. So that's exactly what I envision for the future, for the magazine. So anyone out there from Australia, all overseas that is looking to get their writing out there and research a bit about Australia, please, I'd love to receive lots more contribution.

Speaker A: It's a really easy way to submit pieces. I mean, you don't overly complicate things, you don't have lots of rules about how to format and so on and so forth. You've made it something very easy for people to try and to do to have their pieces included. Do you want to just kind of explain the process of what people should do and how to go about submitting a piece in case there's anybody listening that thinks, I've got this incredible story that I'd like to kind of possibly share and put into a future issue.

Speaker C: Yeah, definitely. So I have a website, it's unknowingau.com and there you can find ways to purchase the magazine, which I definitely suggest doing before you submit. I always find that the best way to know kind of what kinds of stories, what writing style, and maybe inspire some ideas as well. So I definitely suggest grabbing a copy and then you can also visit that site to contact me, get in touch with an idea or a finished piece. I'm looking at this stage to release four magazines per year, so one per quarter and yeah, all types of stories, haunting haunted locations, the dark history of Australia, UFO stories, and also really interested in the indigenous mythology and any general high strangeness that interests you that you'd like to write about. So, yeah, definitely get in touch and yeah, really looking forward to reading some new stories for the next issue. I believe that the next issue's deadline will be around February 17, so I'm not sure when this episode will come out, but yeah, if I could get some good stories by then, they might make it into the next issue.

Speaker A: So exciting. I mean, I just really encourage people to grab a copy. It really does allow you such a wealth of different types of material and if you are interested in submitting something, just give it a go. You never know what might happen. And I think that's something that we can all be very critical of what we write and what we put out there, thinking it wouldn't be good enough, but actually you never know and you never know what doors it opens up and it's a fabulous, fabulous sign. So just having the chance to pick it up and explore and read it I think is something not to miss. It's definitely something I encourage people to read, to explore because it is so fascinating, just so interesting and so different.

Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, definitely don't be self conscious about your writing if you've got a good idea or if you're. Passionate about a certain location and you want to sort of write about it, please get in touch. I am happy to work with you on it and do any editing that's required. So yeah, definitely help. Happy to receive contributions of all different writing levels.

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Speaker A: And in terms of the three issues that have come out so far, I mean, each one is so unique, it's just a different journey each time because you do touch on such different locations with their own unique stories.

Speaker B: And then the fact that you do.

Speaker A: Throw in indigenous mythology and cryptids and so many wonderful things, each one is so different that, like I said, it's just a unique journey in itself. And because of the artwork, it really does feel something very special as well. As part of this kind of series, they still feel very unique in their own right, if that makes sense.

Speaker C: I'm glad. Yeah, that's definitely a goal of mine. With each issue and also being a creative person, I want to improve with each issue. I always think I can do something better, so hopefully it's going to get even better. And I'm really surprised by the fact that I've still got a big long list of locations and stories that I want to touch on. I'm not running out of content, which when I started, I kind of had a few favorite places that I wanted to write about and was happy if I'd get a couple of issues out of all these stories. But yeah, still got a big long list of places and different events that I want to write about. So yeah, looking forward to that.

Speaker A: I mean, I've loved the writing that you've done as part of them so far. I mean, the Monte Cristo piece in the first one just had me hooked. I mean, it's definitely a location I would have loved to explore. Do you want to just tell us a little bit about that spot? For those that haven't read it yet?

Speaker C: Yes. Monte Cristo Homestead is the image that's on the COVID of the first issue and it's well known across Australia with the tagline of Australia's Most Haunted Homestead. So already it's quite ominous, but a lot of people agree with that statement. You can do a ghost tour there and also stay the night. I haven't stayed the night yet. I'd love to one day. I've been there a couple of times. I haven't experienced anything, but the history of the place is quite unsettling. Again, that's kind of the palpable feeling you get even aside from any sights or feelings of ghostly activity. It's a beautiful homestead in country New South Wales, in a town called June. It was built by a local pioneer named Christopher Crawley in 1885. Him and his wife had seven children, I believe. And, yeah, there's some pretty dark stories around the place. A pregnant maid supposedly suicided off the balcony at the front landing on the front step to the house, which now bears a white bleach stain where the blood was cleaned off. And you can still see that stain, which is a little unsettling. An infant was dropped on the staircase inside with the I believe it had passed away. And the nurse maid claimed something had pushed her on the stairs out the back in the stable. The young stable boy was killed in a fire and a burning smell is still reported in that area. After Mr Crawley died, mrs. Crawley became a bit of a hermit and created a makeshift chapel in one of the upstairs rooms where she prayed and hardly ever left. So some people report the feeling of, like, a grumpy old woman presence up there and experience cold touches. And one of the more troubling sort of stories is that one of Mrs. Crawley's maids had a severely mentally disabled son and he was chained up in the dairy cottage out the back, which is horrible. A lot of the local children would torment him because he'd scream all day and you can actually see the hole in the brickwork of the cottage where the chain was that held him. And in that area, often, sounds of jangling chains can be heard. And also in that same cottage, a caretaker that stayed there was murdered by a disturbed local man who had seen the film Psycho three times in the 60s. So, yeah, there's a lot of darkness around that place, so it's no surprise that it's rumored to be haunted. The property became dilapidated after Mrs Crawley died and the Ryan family purchased it and renovated it to the way you see it now. And that family experienced a lot of strange activity almost immediately. As soon as they moved in, pets ran away kittens were killed inside the house when the doors were locked inexplicably. They've heard footsteps on the balcony even before the flooring was replaced during the renovations. And also accounts that the house would light up when it was empty. And I think the children also saw faces in the windows in the upstairs bedrooms. So, yeah, Monte Cristo's got quite an ominous reputation in Australia. I think it's probably number one or around about number one or two on the list of the most popular sort of haunted destinations in Australia. So, yeah, I'm hoping to stay the night sometime soon and maybe I'll have a story to add to that list of interesting stories from Monte Cristo.

Speaker A: And I think that's what's interesting about, again, the pieces that you write about because you have such very different locations, homesteads, to asylums and so on.

Speaker B: In some cases, they're very much based.

Speaker A: Around personal experiences and visits and then other times about what you know, and maybe not a location as yet that you've explored. So it's this very rich tapestry of different accounts across Australia because it's a vast area and there's so much history, there's so many different accounts and you're trying to put across different pieces, I think, so that there is that variety of geographical locations and types of places to report about. And again, I think that's applaudible because it allows you to immerse yourself in different types of writings and locations with different, maybe things that you're touching upon as part of that writing, if that makes sense.

Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, where I can I try to insert my personal experiences in locations, but again, some locations I haven't experienced anything except for that feeling of history. And I guess that's the great part about having different contributors from across Australia. There's places I'd love to go to, but time doesn't allow for it. So, yeah, really looking forward to exploring a lot of different locations and different sort of supernatural activity, which, like I said, I love all of it. So, yeah, definitely looking to include lots of different aspects of the paranormal.

Speaker A: And some of the locations that you've written about, obviously, are these asylums places like Beechworth Asylum and so on. There's a few that you touch upon and you write about, and in some of those cases, you're obviously sharing the history and the kind of the atmosphere of those spots, but you're also reporting some of that personal experience that we were just talking about. Do you want to kind of share, again, just briefly, some of those experiences that you might have had exploring some of these asylums as part of your writing?

Speaker C: Yeah, so probably the place that I have experienced the most is Beachworth Asylum. I've been there a couple of times and I experienced being touched in the same location in the asylum, which is in the basement. Very strange kind of activity, very playful kind of energy, but also a bit unnerving. I haven't had a lot of experience seeing or feeling any paranormal activity, though I do firmly believe in it all. But, yeah, when it actually happens to you, it's very unnerving. The cool part about Beachworth also is that you can stay on site. They've turned the old nurses quarters into really cool accommodation. It's a very vintage sort of building. I would say it's more of an art deco sort of style and error. So, yeah, you have all these strange things happen to you in the asylum and then you just don't go very far, and you lie in bed awake thinking about all these strange things that happened and the fact that you're staying not far from where all the patients stayed back in the day. So I would definitely say Beachworth is top of my list of definitely haunted places. Also recently, like I said, just got back from Tasmania late last year. Tasmania is the little island state on the bottom of Australia, and that's where a lot of the convicts from the UK were sent when they were barred from their country and sent off to Australia. So, yeah, that's a really historic place. Very somber because, you know, these convicts that were sent here were deported sometimes. All they really did was steal a loaf of bread or steal some clothing for their children, and they were sent to this to the end of the earth, essentially, in Tasmania, in pretty deplorable conditions at the Port Arthur settlement. So, yeah, didn't experience or see any, like, again, didn't see anything that I can chalk down to being ghostly activity, but you can feel it when you go to places like that. And that's probably more important to me than capturing something on camera or having a really great ghost encounter story. It's about being able to connect with these places. So, yeah, that's definitely what I look for when I'm traveling to these locations.

Speaker A: And Port Arthur was a fascinating article to read because obviously, from my perspective, I've looked at historical documents before where you literally can see in archives and museums these ships logs and lists of names of people being deported. And you always wonder what happened to them, what life was like once they did reach the end of the world, as you mentioned.

Speaker B: But in many cases, we don't know.

Speaker A: Because there's nothing beyond just this name as part of a list. And so to kind of read the account almost adds to that picture, if that makes sense. And it's very much something wrapped up in English history, that sad, dark part of our history where we really had this very brutal idea of crime and punishment. And punishment was being doled out for so many things that, again, would never be considered something punishable today in society today. And yet back then was a crime that could result in in all manner of punishments, one of which could mean you being deported to the other side of the world completely away from your family and what that might mean for you growing up, the kind of life that you have beyond what you've known so far. And so, like I said, it's just interesting to have something that is part of our history, too, and to see that kind of other side of it, the other kind of page in the book, if that makes sense, as to what happened next.

Speaker C: Yeah, where they ended up. It's really hard to get your head around what these people went through, coming to a place they probably had never heard of and like you said, leaving behind their family. And, yeah, Port Arthur is another place that is a huge sort of tourist location in Australia. It's the kind of place where most Australians will go at one point in their life. And this was the first time I went there. And we were there for about for two days. We had a two day ticket.

Speaker B: And I can't say that I had.

Speaker C: A great time while I was there because it's such a sad place. It's so somber, just learning about like you said, you've heard these stories, but to actually be there where they were sent and to hear these stories about how they were treated like, there's a young boys prison just on one of the islands, and that's where the young boys made a lot of the buildings at Port Arthur with their bare hands. That was their punishment, was to do all this hard labor. And then there's places like the silent prison, where the prisoners were kept in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day, only being able to attend church on Sundays with a hood over their heads. And this was supposedly an innovative punishment. And then also you can visit the island cemetery where a lot of the prisoners were buried without headstones because they weren't important enough to have headstones. And there's obviously really popular ghost tours at Port Arthur. Before I did my ghost tour, a lot of people I spoke to that I wouldn't necessarily consider believers told me how terrifying it was to walk around Port Arthur at night. So, yeah, it's definitely a scary and somber place. I'm glad I went there. But, yeah, like I said, it's not a fun place to go.

Speaker A: No, absolutely not. But again, I think something that deserves that spotlight being put on it. And the fact that you do that, I think, is, again, just really applaudible. Because for many, they may never know about it otherwise. Especially if it's from the outside perspective of someone, even from here in the UK, of not knowing what maybe happened to them beyond getting on a ship somewhere here in the UK. And being sent off. Like I said, it's that next page in the book. You're kind of enlightening people to what happened next. And as I said, I think that deserves that spotlight. So I'm glad that it featured in the issue. It's just something really fascinating to read.

Speaker C: Yeah, I mean, on the other end of the scale, I guess some people that were sent to Tasmania did go on to have lives outside of prisons and let to the prisons and started families and that's where a lot of our history and our ancestors, their story begins. So there's also that side of the coin as well, where a lot of us wouldn't be here if those people hadn't survived that trip to Tasmania and pushed forward and made something of themselves. So, yeah, that's the other side of it.

Speaker A: Absolutely. So, in terms of next steps, do you have any locations up your sleeve, places that you're looking forward to going that might feature in future issues?

Speaker C: Well, a place that I have been that I mentioned earlier was Aridale Asylum, which is in Western Victoria. I've been there a couple of times, but I haven't written about it in the Zine yet, so I would love to include that in the next issue, but I need to get there again and take some good photos. I like to include my own photos or photos from contributors in there as opposed to stock imagery and stuff like that. So, yeah, I'm looking forward to going to Aridale again and getting some good photos, possibly for the COVID I'm not sure we'll see, but yeah, other than that, like I said, I've got a lot on my wish list of places to go and places to write about. It has had that effect on me, where I'm more excited to visit these places in my own backyards than I am to sort of get on a plane and visit places overseas, even though I'd love to do that again sometime in the future. But, yeah, it's exciting to see Australia through different eyes and that's been a good effect of this Zine, but also looking forward to getting more contributions, collaborating with my fellow paranords, which is an awesome part of this community, getting to know people, getting to know people like yourself and working together on something. I don't necessarily know a lot of people in my personal life that are into this kind of thing. So through this magazine, I've got to know a lot of awesome people and collaborate. So looking forward to a lot more of that in the future.

Speaker A: Honestly, I can't wait for each subsequent issue because I just think it's such a joy to read. And I really echo what you said about it's wonderful to fall in love again with what you have on your doorstep. And I certainly love doing that. And it's part of the reason why I talk to some of the guests that I do, because I think there's something very important about not losing what we have, literally on our doorsteps and around us, but equally so. I love exploring things that are unknown to me. It's fantastic to be able to dive into something where I can still make connections with them, like we've mentioned and talked about with things like Port Arthur and English history, but also things that I know I've spoken about and know fragments of, but being able to kind of see those things in more detail. And pieces like the Mishavishon piece, which completely blew me away. Being an English literature student, seeing something from that perspective and reading something about an author and a book that I have read I don't know how many times, it's new and refreshing and I love that. I absolutely love that. So I'm really excited to see each subsequent issue and to see new authors and new pieces and new places and just so many different things being covered. I'm excited for it.

Speaker C: Yes, thank you so much. I appreciate it. And I hope that you will consider contributing again if you have the time. Because, yeah, like I said, I love reading pieces from the perspective of international writers as well as Australian writers. So, yeah, thank you.

Speaker A: Just to kind of finish, do you have anything else that you're looking forward to for this coming year? Beyond design and what you're doing? Is there any other kind of exciting projects in the future for you that you want to kind of share?

Speaker C: Only that I found out a couple of weeks ago, maybe, that I am also going to be in the next edition of The Feminine Macabre. So I'm super excited about that. This piece that I wrote is a little bit more personal than my previous story and a lot more personal than what goes in the zine kind of my feelings around sort of grief and mourning and comparing the sort of modern way we mourn and look at death compared to the way it was done back in the day, back in the Victorian era. So, yeah, I'm so pleased that it was accepted. And I think that's coming out around middle of the year, around your summer in the Northern Hemisphere. So, yeah, looking forward to that. If anyone out there hasn't checked out The Feminine Macabre yet, I'd definitely recommend picking that up too, because it's also a beautiful publication with so many great writers in it. So, yeah, looking forward to that coming.

Speaker A: Out again, I was really excited to see your name on it again because I loved your piece in the last volume and I just think it's echoing what you said. It's a great publication. The fact that there's now going to this is the fifth one that's coming out, each one is different and again, they feel very unique, offers a wide variety of different voices and stories and accounts. And there aren't many publications, I think, that allow you to step into so many different perspectives and thoughts and research pieces and personal accounts and locations and just a huge wealth and variety covering paranormal topics.

Speaker C: Exactly. Yeah, it's an amazing publication and also the fact that in some issues, you have advice on reading tarot cards and advice on equipment for paranormal investigation, and then you have quite personal stories about loft personal stories about encounters with the paranormal. So, yeah, I love it. And yeah, pleased to be alongside you as a contributor to The Feminine Macabre as well as a lot of other amazing writers. Like I said, yeah, I echo your sentiments.

Speaker A: Thank you, honestly, so much for your time. Stacy, it's just incredible to be able to speak to you and to kind of dive into some of the topics that we've had. And I'll make sure to include all of the details for the website and how to get hold of design, but also, obviously, just your different social media pages so people can follow what you're doing because you share some great things across those pages and there's so many things that you do. I'm blown away with your art. I mean, it's beautiful what you produce.

Speaker C: Thank you.

Speaker A: So we'll make sure to kind of include all of that as part of the podcast description notes and on the website and so on so that people can come along and see more of what you're about and what you're doing and hopefully read some of these issues and possibly contribute to future issues. That would be great.

Speaker C: Thank you, Michelle. I really appreciate your ongoing support of everything I'm doing. I'm really pleased to have met you today in person. Kind of. Yes, it's been lovely to talk to your actual voice, as opposed to back and forth emails and things like that. Yeah, I appreciate it. Thank you so much for having me.

Speaker A: Honestly, it was an absolute pleasure. And you're welcome anytime, because, as I say, I just think your voice is one that I really enjoy reading and talking to and seeing the different things that you're doing over there. I mean, it's fascinating to me. So thank you so much. It's been incredible.

Speaker C: Thanks, Michelle.

Speaker A: And I'll say goodbye to everybody. Listen thing.

Speaker C: Bye, everyone.