Ever wondered where the good people of Brisbane like to spend their Saturday nights? Partying like it's 1994? Dancing in the streets? Celebrating? No, the people of Brisbane do not spend their nights recreating song hit titles from the 90's. The people of Brisbane go ghost hunting, or so it would seem after being part of the impressive number of people who turned up for the Toowong Cemetery Ghost Tour that was EGG's latest contribution to our Alphabet Weekend.
By now you've probably gathered that I can be a wee bit judgmental, so quite frankly I was expecting to be part of a group of whackos. Who spends their Saturday nights traipsing around a cemetery? Well EGG and I, but at least we had an excuse--we were up to T and EGG got in big trouble off me for suggesting Ten Pin Bowling. As for the rest of the group--and I wasn't expecting too many--well, they had to be just plain weird. But they weren't weird, they were more like Bob an Cheryl from the corner shop, and there were about 24 Bob and Cheryls of varying ages. Who knew?
Now I happen to know a lot about cemeteries because I have spent hours of my time watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In fact I have often fancied myself as Buffy, but as you know I am useless at the physical stuff and the world would have been taken over by any number of demons and bad guys if I really were Buffy. But I do have an encylopaedic knowledge about repelling demons, ghosts and vampires in cemeteries (or anywhere else for that matter). Of course I didn't trot out with garlic or holy water--that would have been stupid. I even forgot my crucifix, but as I sat outside the cemetery gates waiting for the rest of the group to arrive, I did find a little stick which I sharpened to a point and surreptitiously planted in the back pocket of my jeans. Who's weird now, I hear you ask.
And, it's lucky I did, because Toowong Cemetery has a vampire. Now you may think that my little sharpened stick was not going to do much harm in a vampire-related incident, but you would be wrong. You would be wrong because the Toowong Cemetery vampire is called Lily. A vampire called Lily! It's like calling a rotweiller Mopsy. I reckoned that if Lily got cranky then I could fell her with one poke of my sharpened stick. She was obviously a wuzzy vampire.
As it turned out I didn't need my little stick because Lily didn't appear. Nor did any other ghosts, but then I don't think any one really expected them too. The tour guide tried hard to build up some atmosphere. He did have us all a bit worried at one stage when he had us all stand in a circle, holding hands while he chanted something about asking some ghost to appear. I think the ghost might have got a bit annoyed and decided not to show when someone deadpanned "Ohhh, I'm so scared." We stood there holding hands with each other for ages though because the guide told us that a lady who broke the circle had a car accident on the big roundabout outside the cemetery and that roundabout was the only way out of the cemetery and no one was going to risk it.
There was a bit of excitement when someone reckoned they saw something and it turned out they were right, but it was only a man walking his dog! In the middle of the night. In a cemetery. Now there's the whacko I was looking for.
That was the high spot for excitement on the night but we did learn a lot about Brisbane's very interesting history.
EGG and I went home and I found Buffy on Foxtel to show him what really happens in cemeteries.
I should have taken that stick out of my pocket before I sat down, though.
T is for Toowong Cemetery Ghost Tour.
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