Karina Machado is a journalist, host of the Spirit Sisters podcast and the author of Spirit Sisters, Where Spirits Dwell and Love Never Dies, a non-fiction series exploring the extraordinary experiences of ordinary people. Now, on The Ghost Files podcast each week, Karina will introduce a guest who’ll share their personal encounter with the spirit world.
When Anita was 9 years old, her family moved into a beautiful old home in Townsville, Queensland. With its wraparound verandah, soaring ceilings and bay window, the house boasted many period features associated with the beloved Queenslander style.
Heritage architecture aside, the home carried another remnant from the past: a lovely spirit lady. Anita saw her one night, after her dad’s decision to repaint the kitchen seemed to ignite a spate of paranormal activity. Before beginning, he discovered (and removed) a small Indonesian mask that was hanging above the kitchen door, a relic which Anita later learnt was designed to ward off evil spirits.
One day, Anita and her friends were playing hide-and-go-seek, making the most of the many nooks and crannies in the rambling home. Gleefully, Anita lifted the lid of the big window seat and climbed in, carefully lowering the lid on top of herself. There was no lock or latch. But when she tried to get out, it wouldn’t budge. Certain the others were sitting on it, she yelled for them to get off. When it finally sprang open, the other children were standing metres away, looking just as baffled as Anita felt.
She went to bed that night trying her best to put the eerie moment out of her mind, but comfort arrived in the most unexpected way.
“I saw the most beautiful woman standing at the end of my bed,” recalls Anita, my guest on this week’s episode of The Ghost Files podcast. Dressed in a turn-of-the-century white dress, the ghost emanated “protection, peace and love”. Terrifying events would go on to take place in the house, but Anita has never forgotten the radiant visitor from the past and how she made her feel.
To hear more about Anita’s haunted childhood home, tune into The Ghost Files podcast.
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