#jward

kitchen Old Gaol J Ward, Ararat by Jellibat Via Flickr:

Old Ararat Gaol by Jellibat Via Flickr:

Old Ararat Gaol by Jellibat Via Flickr:

So I'm not sure if I've ever told you guys that in my town, there is a jail for the criminally insane AND a mental asylum. Both closed a long time ago of course. The jail is called J ward, and the mental asylum is called Aradale. They're both open for day and night tours, and I've never been game to go, but believe me, they are both very haunted. Aradale was huge when it was running, with 60 buildings, 500 staff, and thousands of patients. So many people died there, a morgue was built, with a giant Pepper tree built beside it to mask the "unpleasant smell". In the 108 (give or take) years it was used, 13,000 people died. No wonder it's haunted. J ward had far less people, but because it was for the CRIMINALLY insane, some of the inmates were far more sinister. Apparently a psychic medium visited the place and encountered "the most evil presence she'd ever felt". One of the sad things about it though is that some completely sane people, including a young boy, were put in it for committing very small crimes, and spent years there. We also have a jail slightly out of town, but it's just a regular prison with no interesting stories attached to it as far as I know.