General News
18 April, 2026
Old convent site for spooky scenes
There is an overnight tour this weekend.
THERE are only two more opportunities to learn about a St Arnaud landmark’s spooky past - and present - before it closes for restorations.
The town’s old convent is a site that is said to send shivers down your spine as groups like the Paranormal Adventures Australia keep getting drawn back to town.
Director Soula Raven Vaitsis said her team are engrossed in the building’s long and shrouded history.
“The building has lived many lives and has quite a dark past at times,” she said.
“There’s obviously the convent, but it’s also been an orphanage and now you can get married there or host other events.
“But we’ve come across a lot of interesting scenes with plenty of characters from the building’s past in the form of spirits.
In 1901, Father Gerald Doyle arranged for five nuns from the Sisters of Mercy in Ballarat to establish a new branch of their teaching order in St Arnaud.
Father Doyle had acquired some 14 acres on a high point to the west of the town to establish Francis Xavier’s Boarding School.
It has since served as a boarding college, orphanage and home for the sisters for over 80 years, finally closing in 1986.
The present-day operators claim the “nuns are still in charge” of the building.
Ms Vaitsis said guests on the team’s tours have reported seeing and hearing the nuns and the children.
There are even places she, who has worked with the paranormal for over two decades, won’t go.
“I won’t go in one of the dorms or use the back stairs alone,” she said. “Your whole body changes when you walk in and you don’t know if it’s because the spirits don’t want you there.
“We’ve had people say they’ve heard giggling children, they’ve been poked in their sleep. We even had a bride manniquin set up in the chapel and came back to see it thrown across the room.
“There may have been people who came in, but we’re not sure.”
Ms Vaitsis said she hoped the business can change from just touring and chasing ghostly figures into something that brings more respect to those who may not have fully crossed over.
“Dying is scary and these spirits may be trapped,” she said.
“A lot of awful things have happened in the convent’s past and we want to morphe the business into a company that brings respect and guidence to these spirits. It’s the least we can do.
“The veil between this life and the afterlife has never been thinner and for me, it’s about clensing and guiding through to their peaceful resting place.”
The Old Convent St Arnaud will be toured overnight on April 18 and then for the last time on May 23.
“We’ll take patrons all through the building and they will have the chance to stay overnight,” Ms Vaitsis said.
“We’re not sure if we will be back in St Arnaud in this format this year, but there is something that tells me our work here isn’t finished just yet.”
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