A Night Alone In The Rocks

Sydney's The Rocks is known as ground zero for spooky happenings, and this story will no doubt give you chills.

Would you spend a night alone in an old sandstone Airbnb that's reportedly haunted?

 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
A Podshape production.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
I never imagined a short weekend stay in the Rocks
could turn into something I'd never forget. I had booked
an airbnb on Argyle Street, just a stone's throw from
the historic pubs and tourist shops. The listing described it
as a charming sandstone cottage full of character and history,
perfect for a quiet escape. I thought it sounded ideal.

Speaker 1 (00:37):
That's the email we got from Rachel, who lives in
Melbourne and was in Sydney for a friend's wedding. Now,
if you've got a story that's like Rachel's and you
want to give us the chills, then just email us
at the Chills at podshape dot com. Anyway, let's get
back to Rachel's spooky story, which she didn't want to read,
so we've had someone else read it secret Now. Rachel

(00:58):
booked this little cottage in Sydney and the plan was simple.
She was pretty much going to use it as a
place to get ready and then I can sleep off
a wedding day hangover the next day, with lots of
cool coffee shops and cafes close by for a caffeine fix.

Speaker 2 (01:14):
When I arrived, the cottage looked exactly as it had
in the photos, small, quaint squeezed between modern apartment blocks.
The host left the key in a lock box, so
I let myself in immediately. Something felt wrong. The air
was thick, heavy with a musty smell of damp stone.

(01:35):
The floors creaked beneath my feet even though I wasn't moving,
and the place felt colder than it should have considering
the warm Sydney.

Speaker 1 (01:43):
Evening now, if you're not familiar with the Rocks in Sydney,
it's a cool spot for dinner and drinks in general fun,
but it also is considered ground zero for haunted places
and paranormal activity, which is generally not listed on the
Airbnb websites. There's lots of pubs in the area that
are suspected to be haunted. Like the Hero of Waterloo,

(02:07):
they host their own Redcoats ghost tour. The Glenmore Hotel
has an old world charm and a story of a
sailor who met his tragic end and haunts the hotel's
upper floors and then as Cadman's Cottage, one of Sydney's
oldest buildings, it's believed to be haunted by the spirits

(02:28):
of former convicts. Back to Rachel and her first night
before the wedding in the Sandstone cottage that she booked.
It just started with noises.

Speaker 2 (02:41):
At first, it sounded like the wind, a faint groaning,
as if a breeze was passing through cracks in the walls.
I went from room to room, checking the windows, but
they were all shut tight. Yet the noise persisted, and
it wasn't just a wind. It sounded like something dragging
along the ceiling, slow and deliberate. I froze listening the

(03:05):
sound was coming from above me.

Speaker 1 (03:07):
The this issue hear is that the cottage didn't have
and upstairs it was a roof. When Rachel went back
to her bedroom to unpack her bag, the temperature suddenly dropped.

Speaker 2 (03:19):
It was freezing, so much so that I could see
my breath hanging in the air. The windows were sealed
shut and there was no draft, yet the cold was palpable,
like the room had been sucked dry of all warmth.
That's when I saw it.

Speaker 1 (03:34):
In the corner of the bedroom is a wardrobe. Now,
in a cottage like this, it's not built in. This
is a massive old piece of furniture. Rachel said she
wasn't sure it was original, but it looked old. And
when she first reached the bedroom, she said the door
was slightly ajar. But then as she turned and started
to unpack her bag on the bed, my.

Speaker 2 (03:56):
Stomach churned as I stared into its dark, empty interior.
But I told myself it was nothing. Maybe the door
was loose or the floor was uneven. Anything to stop
the creeping sense of dread climbing up my spine. Later
that night, as I brushed my teeth, I glanced at
the bathroom mirror, and that's when I saw the shadow.

(04:20):
It flickered past the open doorway behind me, just for
a second, a vague shape, like someone walking down the hallway.
I froze, staring at the mirror, half expecting the shadow
to reappear. The shadow didn't reappear, but what replaced it
was even more spooky. It was the sound of dragging,

(04:41):
and the dragging was coming from above. It sounded like
someone or something was crawling through the narrow space between
the walls, pulling themselves closer. I backed away, phone in hand,
trying to call the host. No signal typical.

Speaker 1 (04:59):
Now, these really big stone cottages aren't really good for
getting phone signals they'm all made for scare the shit
out of people like Rachel. While she's trying to find
a place to call a friend from inside the cottage,
the bedroom door suddenly slammed shut with a force that
felt like it rattled the whole place. Suddenly everything went silent,

(05:21):
no dragging, just what Rachel says was an oppressive, suffocating silence.

Speaker 2 (05:35):
I stood there waiting, my mind racing with terror, and
then I felt it. A presence behind me. Standing in
the corner of the room, barely visible in the dim light,
was a man. His clothes were old, torn like they
belonged to a different era. His face was hidden beneath
the brim of a wide hat, and his hands were pale,

(05:58):
almost skeletal. He didn't move, He just stood there, staring
at me with hollow eyes. His mouth opened, but no
sound came out, just a faint, dragging noise that filled
the room. I tried to scream, but no sound escaped
my throat. My body wouldn't move, as if I was
frozen in place by his geeze. Then, in a voice

(06:19):
that wasn't his, he whispered a single word, stay.

Speaker 1 (06:25):
Rachel didn't stay. She made a wise movement left, She
got in an uber and headed to the city and
booked another more current hotel minus the ghost, on booking
dot com. If you've got a spooky story that you
want to share, then email us at the Chills at
podshape dot com. We'll see you next time.