By Shelby Brooks, Jamie Salter and Eleanor Wilson
Cemetery trusts in the South East barred paranormal groups from holding events at gravesites, fearing the spooky activities would be disrespectful to those recently laid to rest.
Representatives from the Pakenham Cemetery Trust and Berwick and Harkaway Cemetery Trust were shocked to learn of ticketed paranormal tours scheduled to be held at their cemeteries in July.
Belinda Smart, manager of Berwick and Harkaway Cemetery Trust, said according to the Department of Health, trusts have the right to say no to events.
Ms Smart said cemeteries “should be left alone” by paranormal investigators.
“I don’t think it’s something they should be profiting off because there’s people who visit the cemetery on a daily basis who weren’t comfortable with it, we had calls from the general public and people were quite upset about it. I don’t think it’s appropriate at all,” she said.
A spokesperson for the paranormal society said during the tours, they do not look at graves post-1900.
“We feel we can’t do the paranormal element without having the foundation in history,” they said.
“History is a big part of it, it’s like an interactive history lesson. The goal is for people to think about the past.”
