Dive into the Harbour City’s dark past by embarking on some of the best ghost tours in Sydney or visit the most haunted sites.

Supernatural encounters aren’t just the stuff of movies, they’re all across Sydney. From terrifying sightings to spine-tingling sensations at historic sites, there are plenty of opportunities to test your mettle. These are some of the spookiest ghost tours available across the city, or you can go at it alone and visit some of the haunted landmarks.

1. The Rocks Ghost Tour

Brian Harrison’s family ran boarding houses in The Rocks and learned many gruesome stories buried in the area’s past, passing them down through generations. Together with his wife Colleen, they created The Rocks Ghost Tours. Their nightly ghost tours focus on the more macabre parts of Sydney’s past, with stories pieced together by locals, historians and Brian’s family’s generational stories.

These aren’t stories you’ll read on Wikipedia.

On this walking tour you’ll discover the stories behind the country’s first European settlement, visiting well-known landmarks as well as normally inaccessible areas that hold some of Sydney’s most macabre stories.

Price: Adult $55, child $45.

Book at ghosttours.com.au.

2. Ghostly Garden Tours at the Royal Botanic Garden

In a rare opportunity to enter the Royal Botanic Garden after hours, you’ll walk along shadowy tree-lined paths and past gloomy ponds as bats fly overhead. Your guide will share spooky stories of the Garden’s past and you walk by torchlight. The 90-minute tour takes place on Friday, June 27 and starts at 6pm, just in time for twilight. Bring your own torch.

Price: $45 per person. Children over 12 years only.

The tour is currently sold-out but you can join the wait list here.

3. Sydney Investigation Ghost Hunt Tours

Are you ready for an exciting spooky adventure in Campbelltown? Jen and Jeanette from the S.I.G.H.T team take guests on a mini investigation inside one of the southwest suburb’s most haunted buildings. Using a variety of tools and paranormal equipment, you’ll investigate the Town Hall Theatre and test the vibrations for otherworldly activity. Suitable for over 18s only; enter if you dare.

Tour dates: June 14 (6:30pm-9:30pm), July 12 (6:30pm–10:30pm), August 23 (6:30pm–9:30pm), September 13 (6:30pm–9:30pm), October 23 (6:30pm-10:30pm) and November 1 (6:30pm–10:30pm).
To book: contact them by email or phone at 0424 933 704.

4. Dark Past Tour at Cockatoo Island

Cockatoo Island/Wareamah is a former convict gaol and shipyard, in the heart of Sydney Harbour. As you’d expect from such a place, there is a dark history to be revealed. On Saturday, June 14 and June 18, the secrets, scandals and skeletons of the island’s past will be revealed on this special tour. Your guide will blend history with mystery as you visit iconic buildings from different eras, including the convict workshops, Dog Leg Tunnel and Biloela House.

When: 6:30pm & 8:30pm on Saturday, June 14 and Saturday, June 18
Price: $26 per adult, $16 per child

Book at cockatooisland.gov.au.

Fear Island: Tunnels of Terror

For one weekend only, Sydney’s most terrifying immersive horror experience will land on Cockatoo Island — especially for Friday 13th. Walk through the tunnels that are occupied by live zombie actors. If you make it through there, go on to explore the outdoor cinema (Friday 13th at 7pm), food trucks (4pm-9pm) and take a Thriller dance lesson (6pm).

When: Friday, June 13 to Sunday, June 15, 4pm-9pm; sessions get scarier as the night goes on.
Price: From $25.

Book at cockatooisland.gov.au.

5. Q Station, Manly

Considered by many Sydneysiders as the city’s most haunted place, if you know the history of Q Station, there’s really no other option for ghostly sightings and strange occurrences. Sydney’s major Quarantine Station operated between 1832 and 1984, built to house people who contracted a deadly, infectious illness when they sailed to Australia on ships from 1828 onwards.

Smallpox, typhoid, scarlet fever, Spanish flu, plague and typhus were common back then and became a frequent problem in Sydney. As such, Q Station saw more than a few deaths.

It’s now a lauded part of North Head, with accommodation cottages, an acclaimed restaurant and the 200-metre Quarantine Beach – a hidden gem in Manly.

If you’re looking for the paranormal, take a look at the ghost tours that are available. For adults, there’s a 2.5-hour Ghostly Encounters Tour ($68.55) and a 3.5-hour Paranormal Investigation experience ($126.55), and families will love the Ghost Trackers Kids Tour (from $53 for adults and $42 for children).

Where: 1 North Head Scenic Drive, Manly NSW 2095.

Find out more at qstation.com.au.

6. Darlinghurst Gaol (now the National Art School)

Not the National Art School, the site used to be the Darlinghurst Gaol, one of the city’s earliest prisons that opened in 1841. It operated for 100 years, holding many thousands of inmates in that time, 76 of whom were hanged. According to legend, the building is haunted by the restless ghosts of these people including bushrangers, the ‘demon dentist’ and men and women who were executed at the gaol’s gallows.

Tours are currently unavailable, but keep an eye on nas.edu.au for updates.

7. Old Government House, Parramatta

Another historic convict site, Old Government House is the oldest surviving public building in all of Australia, and one of 11 recognised sites that tells the story of the country’s forced convict migration history. Wander through the elegant Georgian house and learn about the real stories of the convicts and first ten Governors of New South Wales who have roamed the building.

Where: Parramatta Park, Pitt Street Entrance, Parramatta NSW 2150
Opening hours: Thursday and Friday 10am–5pm; Saturday and Sunday 11am–4pm. Last entry 3:30pm.

Find out more at nationaltrust.org.au.