New owners of haunted Rosewood Hotel share spooky encounters before reopening
The new owners of a South East Queensland watering hole – revered as one of the most haunted places in the state – have shared their spooky encounters as they prep the new pub to reopen after six years.
The Rosewood Hotel, west of Ipswich, has been shut for years as a bar, but new owners Luke and Lynette Chalmers are hoping to have the taps pouring over the next three to four months.
Two ghosts are rumoured to haunt the hotel, causing it to become a revered location for paranormal investigators.
Mr Chalmers on Thursday told 4BC radio of the spooky happenings.
At first, it was “small encounters” like seeing things out of the corner of their eye until family relatives stepped into the venue.
“My dad, when I showed him the property, said he got tapped on the shoulder … it wasn’t us,” he said.
Mr Chalmers conceded nothing had happened in recent weeks with contractors moving about, telling 4BC the ghost “must be happy”.
One of the rumoured spirits – dubbed the “water ghost” – is claimed to be responsible for “sheets of water flowing over the veranda”.
“There’s lots of stories, everyone’s got a story about how it’s haunted and what’s happened,” Mr Chalmers said.
After purchasing the hotel, Ms Chalmers told realestate.com.au that her husband saw someone at the top of the internal stairs, but there was no one there when he did a double-take.
Mr Chalmers said the pair still had extensive renovations to make to the venue, but they wanted to “bring it back to its former glory”.
The hotel was initially built in 1870 but destroyed by fire in 1912.
Apart from its famous haunted status, the venue has also featured in Ben Lee’s I Love Pop Music video and the 2012 television movie Mabo.