Diamond Creek Cemetery

Cemeteries hold fascination for most youngsters while growing up, along with creeks, trees & of course the local 'proverbial Haunted House'. I grew up in Diamond Creek an outer suburb about 30km north east of Melbourne and being an old pioneering town has a rich history....and ghosts.

My experience happened about 16 years ago. Ray,(my brother-not his real name)Craig (friend - also an alias) and myself (Thomas) being very bored teenagers decided to go exploring in the Diamond Creek Cemetery. This wasn't the first time we had been there, but it was the last! It began as usual, chasing each other around, hiding and exploring. I, being the eldest, was more intrigued by the history of the cemetery. Anyway as the day wore on and our youthful energy began to wane new foolish games were sought. One of these being to find pauper graves and place some of the excessive flowers from others on them. We then decided to move some of the small crucifixes and angels that could be moved onto them. This took up more time then we realised, as dusk was approaching we headed off as we had quite a distance to walk home for tea. I still had a crucifix in my hand and not being able to remember which grave I had removed it from decided to take it home and return it the next day. Upon reaching home I put it high in the bedroom cupboard then forgot about it for a while.

Weeks went by and the Summer holidays rolled on. Our parents were invited to a friends holiday house in the country for the weekend and as both my brother and I had another engagement on that weekend trusted us to be alone. Our best mate Craig came over on the Friday night and as 16 year olds (& 17) do when left alone, decided to have a quiet drink from Dad's cabinet. During the evening Craig had asked if I had ever returned the crucifix to the cemetery. To be honest I had forgotten about it (I really had intended to return it). I went and brought it into the sunroom where we were sitting in a rather relaxed and mellow state listening to music. My brother decided to make the crucifix the centre of attention on the sideboard by placing lit candles beside it and some flowers. This created a rather eerie look especially when he turned out the lights. As the evening wore on we hardly began to pay attention to it any more. As we relaxed even more the whole atmosphere began to change in the sunroom. First the candles flickered more brightly (as if turned up), then went out. Craig got up to flick the light switch, but they didn't come on. I wasn't alarmed thinking merely a globe had gone (not uncommon back then) and a breeze had blown out the candles (the windows were open although the night air was still). Then the stereo started playing as if it had flat batteries only it was plugged into the wall socket. I was starting to feel very uncomfortable by now as were Ray and Craig. I started up the two steps that led into the kitchen to turn on the kitchen light. As I got halfway to the wall switch I became very strangely disoriented and very frightened. I found the switch after what seemed like ages, reassuringly it turned on. My brother meanwhile had removed the tape from the player and placed another inside it. This tape also ran slowly. While Ray and I were busy Craig had gone to the bathroom. Several minutes later he began banging on the door telling us not to fool around and to let him out. We both looked at each other in the sunroom and bolted up the passage to open the door. It did easily. Craig by now was very frightened as were Ray and I. We locked up the house and stayed out that night.

The next day upon returning Craig wouldn't enter and went home. Ray and I decided the crucifix had to be returned at once.

We rode down to the cemetery and wow! All the crucifix's we had moved two weeks before were all returned, as were the flowers it was as if nothing had happened! I hear you saying the caretaker had cleaned up. In all the times I have been there I have never seen a caretaker and sometimes I've been there most of the day.Other times empty beer bottles and burger wrappers etc can be laying around for days or weeks. The cemetery is usually partly overgrown in places and some graves in a sad state of disrepair. After the crucifix was returned no other ghostly event took place in the house again.

FOOTNOTE: several months before this event happened, the three of us and an older friend (with a car) had gone roller skating for the evening in nearby Eltham. On our way home we still had energy to burn and being a nice spring night decided to detour. A quick game of tag was just the thing to blow off some youthful steam and the fog shrouded cemetery seemed like the ideal place. It's never locked. As we bolted around jumping and squealing, Jim (an alias) went back to the car and waited for us to tire. From the gateway he had an open view into the misty cemetery. Although not clearly he could still make out our darting silhouettes and tell who was who by our distinctive shapes. During the course of one chase he noticed me drop behind a gravestone as my brother ran by followed by Craig. When they left he saw me get up and run in the opposite direction and a few seconds later from the same area another shape (unfamiliar) took off in my direction! This 4th shape was then seen darting around with us several times by Jim. Although none of us had seen it. Jim then called for us to quickly return to the car and leave. He never mentioned it until we got home and then only to myself. The shape was smaller, about the size of a child. I only told Craig and Ray after the above event. Maybe ghost children get bored too!!

Good Night, Pleasant Dreams.