Number 13 Hannan Street, Maitland, otherwise known as Hannan House, was built on a 16ha (40 acre) veteran’s allotment by John Hannan circa 1834.
In 1843 the house became a temporary hospital for the district when the Benevolent Asylum situated in Caroline Chisholm’s barracks became inadequate for the community.
The house was used as a psychiatric hospital until 1849 when the new Maitland Hospital was opened.
In the 1880s the building was used as a private school and later as a pub.
Hannan House has since been turned into a three-bedroom residence and has had many private owners – though not many have stayed there for long.
Suellen and Stewart Whyte moved into Hannan House two years ago and immediately liked the property from a practical point of view.
“It was in such a wonderful, convenient location,” Stewart said.
The Whytes were well aware of the property’s reputation for having “a lot of ghosts” but this did nothing to dissuade them from moving in.
In fact, they believe it was fate that brought them to Hannan House.
“The previous owners think the house chose us.”
During their time in the house the Whytes have heard mysterious banging noises, heard pacing up and down the halls, smelt the unexplained aromas of roast dinners and horses and Suellen even claims to have seen a dark-haired girl dressed in white running around upstairs.
Such paranormal activity would probably have most of us heading for the hills, but not the Whytes.
“We just love the house”
“It doesn’t frighten us at all.”
The Whytes jumped at the chance to have a psychic in their home and on Tuesday morning myself, Mercury photographer Cath Bowen and psychic Luke Patrick arrived at Hannan House.
Luke said he knew nothing about the house and had done no background research into its past.
“It’s smaller than I thought it would be,” Luke said as the car pulled up.
The two-storey building has been redone with modern features but still has a historic feel with open fireplaces and low doorways.
It doesn’t look too scary – in the daylight.
Luke made his way through the back door into the kitchen and we tentatively followed behind him.
As soon as he walked inside Luke turned on his medium switch and let the ‘spirits’ in.
“There are about eleven people within the premises,” he said.
“I’m picking up a lot of people screaming and shouting.
“Many souls have passed here in traumatic circumstances.
“There was a lot of mental instability in this house.
“I need to acknowledge William – he is saying ‘I passed with a heart attack’.”
An incredulous Suellen then told the story of one of the previous occupants of the house, a man called Michael, who had visited the Whytes at the house one day to take photos.
“He told us his grandfather lived in the little house near the back fence and would come over every day to have a cup of tea in the kitchen – one day he was found dead of a heart attack on the kitchen floor,” she said.
Spooky.
We then moved through to the dining room.
“This room was filled with rows of very small single beds,” Luke said, like he was seeing them right in front of him.
“People were restrained in the beds.”
The spirits then came through thick and fast.
“I can tell I’m not going to get much peace in this house,” he said.
“There is an Elizabeth present in this room, she may have worked here as a nurse.”
“Edward is also a significant presence in this home – Ed Granger, very significant.
“Charles also wants to be acknowledged.”
“Someone passed in this dining room at 47years of age.
“Someone in this room has also received severe burns or been scorched.”
The spirits kept coming.
“Someone’s mother has passed away from cancer in the chest – Margaret or Maggie,” Luke said.
“That was Stewart’s mother,” Suellen said.
“There is also a Dorothy present,” he said.
“There are so many people here.
“There is a lot of pain and torment in this house.”
We follow Luke out of the dining room and he stops short in the hallway at the entrance to the lounge room at the front of the house.
“I’m hesitant to walk into this room,” he said.
But we really want him to. Reluctantly, he enters.
“This room would have been very formal – almost palatial in its day.
“I get a sense of Victorian-style red curtains in here.”
More spirits make themself known to him.
“Someone here passed away here from pneumonia – a younger woman Bridget, she had chest and breathing problems.
“There is also a Thomas and the word ‘master’ associated with the home.”
He points to the ceiling.
“I feel strangulation like someone has hung themselves above where we are standing – upstairs.”
With that chilling statement we move to the bathroom, somewhat oddly located downstairs, near the kitchen.
Luke declares that the bathroom is spirit-free.
“I don’t think this has always been a bathroom.” “It hasn’t, and I always had the feeling they don’t like it,” Suellen said.
“They are not happy – they feel they have been displaced,” Luke said.
But as we exit the bathroom into a small corridor in the entrance way Luke paused and said eerily, “someone passed away right here on the floor.”
After that we climb the winding, timber staircase to the second floor, which has a decidedly creepier feel.
Upstairs is where we meet “Emily”.
“There is a young girl running around up here, about the age of seven – she lived here before it was a hospital.
“This is her domain, she’s very mischievous.”
“Emily must be the girl I’ve seen,” Suellen said.
We move to a bedroom at the front of the house.
“I’m being told that this was Michael’s room,” Luke said.
“They used to watch him sleep.’
A shiver runs up my spine as Suellen confirms that yes, the previous occupant was Michael.
“They are telling me that Michael was very aware of the spirits’ presence in the house, he knew he wasn’t alone.”
We continued on across the hall to the master bedroom.
“There is someone called Anne saying this is my room,” Luke said.
“She is pacing up and down the room, boom, boom, boom – I almost feel as if I am being pushed out of the way.”
“I think Anne was a patient.”
Well that may explain the mysterious noises the Whytes have been hearing.
Luke said he also felt someone had fallen out of the bedroom window but had not died as it was too short a distance.
Stepping into the walk-in wardrobe, Luke tells us he has an overwhelming feeling of being choked.
“Someone committed suicide right in this spot, they hanged themselves.”
“I’m getting the name David Croft,” he said.
“This is very distressing.”
Sure enough, this spot is directly where he said it would be when we were downstairs.
This is particularly unsettling, considering Suellen and Stewart sleep just metres away.
All of sudden Emily comes back into the picture with some startling news.
“Do you have jewellery missing?” Luke asks Suellen.
“Yes, we had a break-in some months ago and jewellery was stolen,” she said.
“Emily keeps saying “I saw them, they took it,” Luke said.
Then he makes a shocking assertion.
“It’s not far from here, it was taken to a pawn shop not far away and someone living close by is wearing your jewellery.”
“She is telling me there is a lady wearing your bracelet and something about a court,” he said.
As it turns out Luke is not just a ghost buster but also a crime buster.
We looked at each other in astonishment.
Luke tells us he has switched of his “medium switch” and he is now back to being just plain old psychic.
On the way outside we duck into the laundry, which used to be the hospital morgue.
Luke tells us there is a cellar underneath the laundry which contains bottles of historic vintage liquor worth thousands of “pounds” but unfortunately there is no way of getting to it.
So what did Suellen and Stewart think of their psychic encounter?
“It was incredible and now we know so much more about them.”
Luke came to the conclusion that there were at least 11 people that had died in Hannan House whose souls were trapped there – unable to proceed to the afterlife.
“Although it had a lot of distressing aspects, there were some friendly spirits in that house.”
I came to the conclusion that I certainly would not want to spend a night alone in Hannan House.
Luke Patrick is currently producing a television show that will feature a series of haunted houses in the Hunter area.
The Mercury will follow Luke to various ghostly hotspots in Maitland to find Maitland’s most haunted.
(Original headline: Ghosts of our past )
