A veiled woman burst screaming from a lift. The small crowd gathered in a basement corridor of New Zealand’s parliament drew back nervously.
Advertisement
Their guide, wearing a trailing, white gown, smiled sweetly. “You’re welcome to take the elevator,” she said. Nobody did.
Mysterious deaths, unexplained noises and late-night apparitions are not the usual fodder of daily tours offered at the parliament buildings in Wellington. After hours on Thursday, however, guides donned Victorian-era garb to regale visitors with the site’s less savoury history – “mostly factual” tales of real-world tragedy and paranormal lore that have grown established among member of political staff through decades of colourful retelling.
The history of parliament’s stately Gothic library is particularly rich in woe. Constructed in the late 19th century and feared by some of parliament’s night shift security guards and cleaners, it has survived two fires, a flood and being overrun by feral cats.
“This is your last chance to back out,” Lisa Brand, her face dripping with fake blood, told the group who had arrived for Thursday’s tour – a recent initiative and one embraced by the guides with gusto.
Advertisement