Site unearths ghostly tales

Eerie ghost stories are usually told while huddling by a warm campfire, but it seems Albany residents are taking to social media to share their experiences of the supernatural.

Recently launched Facebook page Albany Ghost Stories has shed light on some of the city's otherworldly yarns - with the Earl of Spencer, Vancouver Arts Centre, Cheynes II, the old Woolstore and Patrick Taylor Cottage all having uncanny stories attached to them.

York Street's Premier Hotel may be the creepiest of them all, with hotel owner Melanie Blake swearing the century-old watering hole is haunted.

Ms Blake said since buying the pub five years ago she has experienced her clothes and shoes disappearing and reappearing weeks later, and said she feels another existence in the upstairs quarters and has had guests refuse to stay in some rooms.

"I've mainly encountered it upstairs, but I have had guests who say they won't stay in certain rooms because there is a force that holds them against the bed," she said. "That's happened in motel unit four and three - these are my regular stayers, and they absolutely refuse to stay in those rooms because of bad vibes."

However, Ms Blake said while she feels an otherworldly presence in the pub, she has never felt threatened.

Premier Hotel manager Mikaela Kohn, who also lives on site, told of spine-chilling moments where she had been alone in the front bar and had neatly lined up stools to come back into the room to find they had been dragged out.

"The pub could be dead and you can hear glasses moving in the front bar," she said.

Room 10 is another talking point for Ms Kohn - she says a male spirit inhabits the room - and it is no longer leased and used as a storeroom.

Former Albany man Andrew Markovs, who was involved in renovating the Earl of Spencer in the 1980s, said the site was eerie at the time.

According to Mr Markovs, the creepy feeling may be linked to convicted murderer Darren Osborne, who is believed to have hidden in the once derelict building before he was captured.