The Aradale Lunatic Asylum is a hulking complex of more than 60 buildings in the town of Ararat (2½ hours west of Melbourne) which was operated first as a county jail, then as an insane asylum from 1867 all the way until 1998; since 2001 it´s been a campus of Melbourne Polytechnic. As one might imagine, that adds up to 131 years of pain, suffering, tortured souls, and more than 13,000 deaths over the years. It´s open for tours of its notorious, deliciously spooky J Ward as well as tours focusing on the paranormal, which include stories of the ghost of Nurse Kerry and reports of nausea, fainting and strange odors and tastes, banging sounds, footsteps, shadows, even tickling (!).
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