Sophie & the Boy without a face – A True Story by Sophie Collier, Age 8.

I’ve seen him more than once. A few times in some of the houses that we’ve lived in before, but the time I remember most clearly was when we moved into the house that we live in at the moment. I usually see him around the same week or so

Awaiting the bulldozers – South Auckland

The Cromwell Kilwinning Lodge ghost

The Cromwell Kilwinning Lodge No. 98 was founded in 1869 for the Freemasons of Cromwell, with the Lodge building constructed in 1900. The Lodge is a small but impressive building, constructed of local stone set in the old part of Cromwell, immediately adjoining ‘Old Cromwell Town’ which is the surviving

Plant Nursery, closed for demolition & development – South Auckland

Moa and Various Skeletal displays at the Auckland War Museum

Photos by Mark Wallbank

Life on the farm – Nelson

Monte Cristo homestead

Monte Cristo homestead was the country’s most haunted home. And it doesn’t seem to have fazed them – they still live there. Reginald’s nephew and his wife once visited Monte Cristo and were looking for the loo late one night. A young woman dressed in white appeared before them, whispered

Bizarre conspiracy claims involving Paranormal NZ

A bizarre and amusing webpage came to our attention recently. It involves an alleged cover-up by Paranormal NZ, aka Haunted Auckland, in a case named the “Johanna Laing Conspiracy Theory”. The webpage gives information on the alleged sighting of a ghost in Laingholm, Auckland, purported to be the spirit of Johanna

Where are the Bones? A logical question with a logical answer

When discussing the possibility of sasquatches being real animals with the general public, I often get the question, “If they’re real, why don’t we find their bones?” I usually answer this question with another: “If bears and mountain lions are real, why don’t we find their bones?” The likely answer

The Soldiers of Selwyn Street

When I was about six, our family lived in Christchurch in an old rented three bedroom house on Selwyn Street in Spreydon. Sometimes I would wake up and there was a war on my bed with little people dressed like the King, soldiers, horses and canons, other times a tall

Editor's Choice

- Wains Hotel – Dunedin25/11/2015Haunted LocationsThe Wains Hotel Building (frequently spelt grammatically but incorrectly as Wain’s Hotel) is a historic hotel building in Dunedin, New Zealand. It is currently occupied by the Park Regis Dunedin hotel. Job Wain started his first hotel in downtown Dunedin in the 1860s, at the height of the Central Otago gold rush. Business flourished, and when the Commercial Bank next door closed Wain expanded his business into that building. He continued to buy nearby properties, and in 1878 contracted to have a major new structure — costing £14,000 — built in Princes Street, designed by Mason, Wales, & Stevenson. At that time, the Exchange area where the hotel was constructed was the heart of Dunedin’s central business district, so it was very well positioned for major trade. Wains Hotel has an Italianate style, with an elaborate façade noted for its columns, pilasters, and carved figures. At ground level, substantial columns of Port Chalmers basalt breccia rise, topped with capitals of Kakanui limestone. These columns support arches above which sit carved figures of Bacchus, Neptune, and mermaids. The entranceway is topped by a stone balustrade featuring an eagle as its keystone. The upper storeys are equally ornate. Inside, doors and fittings of Tasmanian blackwood complemented the exterior’s grandeur. The building is classified as a Category I historic place by the New Zealand Historic Places Trust. Hauntings Kitchen staff have mentioned a man that has been seen, wearing 1950s attire. He appears when staff are acting up, or being disruptive. It is thought that he might be a previous manager keeping and eye on the place. A woman in Victorian dress was seen in the reception area on a security camera, yet wasnt seen by anyone there are that time. A staff member there mentioned that her husband saw the apparent ghost of a Victorian woman wearing a scarf. There have been reports sent in of a young boy being seen up on the 5th and 6th floors. The sounds of children have also been heard up on those floors when none are staying in any of the rooms.... Read more...
- Under renovations, Freemans Bay. Auckland26/07/2017Locations of InterestStately but faded, this once-glorious historical home has been a long-standing presence on a massive 1246 square-meter site in Auckland’s central suburb of Freemans Bay, perched atop a large section alongside a huge mature pohutukawa tree. The interior of the home, which boasts many original character features, including a grand staircase, fireplaces, entry foyer, timber floors and high ceilings, also needs major renovation. Work is underway on the site, but the grand old dame is not being demolished. She is getting the facelift of the century. Consent has been granted to relocate the now historically recognised and registered 1880s Victorian architectural gem on the property, allowing for a single-level addition. The years have taken their toll on the house’s architectural facade, which now looks worn, its paint peeling and faded. The weatherboard cladding is rotting; the formerly magnificent turret has rusted and windows are painted over and boarded up. The two-storey statement villa home was originally owned by a successful merchant and Auckland Deputy Mayor Andrew Entrican. It’s second owner was businessman MP Captain William Crush Daldy; the tugboat named after him is still enjoying its own long semi-retirement at Devonport Wharf. In the 1940s a Maori Trust bought the property and the house became a boarding house for girls attending local colleges. For 70 years it was known as Te Kainga Aroha, before it was put up for sale in 2014 over mounting maintenance costs. Some of its voluminous rooms were partitioned to create additional spaces, and there is still schoolgirl graffiti on the wardrobes. The house featured in Taika Waititi’s Hunt for the Wilderpeople as the home Uncle Hec, played by Sam Neill, stayed at towards the end of the film. I spoke to the owner, who tells me they purchased the house three years ago but have been unable to touch it due to all the ongoing council red tape and a seemingly endless stream of fees and paperwork. Work is now underway to slowly and delicately roll the house forward onto its new foundations a few meters from is original position.... Read more...

“Pioneers in the field…. Leading the way with Paranormal Research in New Zealand” – Connor Biddle, Paranormal Encounters.

“I have much respect for the level of study Mark and his team have put into the paranormal phenomenon through the years. His work is interesting and very well researched.” – Murray Bott, U.F.O Researcher & NZ’s MUFON representative.

”Refreshing to see solid and innovative investigation work, done with passion and honesty. Haunted Auckland stand out in the crowd and dont fit any typical mould. This is a very good thing”. – Paranormal Review newsletter

Paranormal New Zealand is the home of Haunted Auckland, a Paranormal Investigation and Research group.

Whether you’ve been aware of Mark Wallbank’s research work since the 1980s, subscribed to his popular mid-2000s blog BizarreNZ, followed the Haunted Auckland team since 2010, or just recently discovered us; WELCOME and thanks for joining in the fun, learning, and adventures.

We are a dedicated group of paranormal enthusiasts, all having one thing in common – a passion and drive to find out as much as humanly possible about the mysterious and unknown field that is the Paranormal, as well as documenting New Zealand’s historical buildings and landmarks in their current state.

Paranormal (păr′ə-nôr′məl) adjective.
Paranormal events are purported phenomena described in popular culture, folk, and other non-scientific bodies of knowledge, whose existence within these contexts is described as beyond normal experience or scientific explanation. The term “paranormal” has existed in the English language since at least 1920. The word consists of two parts: “para” and “normal”. The definition implies that the scientific explanation of the world around us is “normal” and anything that is above, beyond, or contrary to that is “para”.

We’re always learning new things, so hope to pass that knowledge on to you all so that you might learn as we do, in this crazy but fascinating world of the paranormal.

Firstly a few things you should know about Haunted Auckland. We’re a small Auckland based team of friendly, dedicated, well seasoned and enthusiastic researchers with differing levels of experience, knowledge, skills and expertise and totaling around 100 years of experience. Our investigators are intelligent, honest, compassionate and possess critically thinking (yet wide open) minds. We’re also very good listeners.

We work closely with Property Managers, local Councils and Historical organisations to help preserve local histories, bring further awareness and raise funds by running public events.

Haunted Auckland has it’s roots deep and strong. Going back to 1984, with a team (Auckland Ghost Hunting Group) formed by H.A founder, Mark Wallbank; making them NZ’s longest running Paranormal field-research entity.

What we aren’t: We aren’t Ghost Busters, Ghost Hunters, Exorcists, Mediums, Clairvoyants or Psychics and we don’t do clearings, blessings or the ridding homes of alleged demons. We don’t do prayers, rituals, or bring in any religious elements to our work. We aren’t mental health experts or sleep disorder professionals, though we do work closely with mental health professionals.

We travel that spooky road, between sceptic and believer. We are happy to sit right in amongst it all and take the research wherever it may lead us.

While we are sceptical and doubtful of certain cases and ideas, we have seen and experienced enough in our time to realise that dedication to the research is definitely a worthwhile cause. Instead of blindly believing (or disbelieving), or just accepting what we are told is true and real, we prefer to seek out the answers ourselves through first-hand, “boots on the ground” investigation. Experimentation, observation and documentation. We don’t have all the answers and we don’t consider ourselves experts.

The team prides itself in being quite a bit different from other paranormal investigation teams out there. Our mindset strays from the popular culture train of thinking with regards to the paranormal, that is already rife with spirit boxes, phone apps and flashy, easily manipulated fad gadgets. Our goal is answers and evidence, not social media or entertainment popularity.

We don’t follow the mainstream, gadget driven mentality. Gadgets marketed to the naïve and gullible, claiming to detect and interact with ghosts.

We don’t however dismiss these gadgets until we have fairly trialed and experimented with them within our own investigations, before deciding whether they are worthy and valid to use within our research, or just more useless toys for the ever growing ‘’junk box’’.

Research time in these locations is valuable and a privilege, so wasting it on pointless flashy boxes that offer no accurate data in return or are vague and open to interpretation (as well as mis-interpretation) is counter-productive and a poorly used opportunity. Thinking outside of the ‘’box’’ confinements of the popular T.V and social media- lead mainstream is something, the team sees as important if the field is to move forward and gain any serious credibility or traction within scientific or academic circles.

The team utilises a combination of old-school thinking and techniques, coupled with a modern way of thinking. Simple and stripped back yet embracing current technology to work though theories and ideas that may find their way into our research. We don’t make claims we can’t back up with evidence or reliable data.

We pride ourselves in keeping it real. No faking evidence or embellishing of facts. If nothing happened, nothing happened.

What we are, is “real world” researchers. Learning by doing. Walking the talk. Substance over fluff. If we don’t know something, we say so.

We don’t charge anything for what we do. The opportunity to investigate a location and hopefully further our research is its own great reward.

We follow the Scientific Method as closely as we are able to; though it’s not always easy to create a fully controlled environment and the fact that true paranormal activity is sporadic and very rare means we don’t always have a lot to go on. Still, we do our best with what we have to work with at the time and go wherever it takes us.

We go to where the stories come from in order to see for ourselves. We talk to the people involved to get their sides to the occurrences.

Our conclusions are never really final and we find multiple return visits yield the best results; so have built up trusting relationships with quite a few locations within the historical communities in this country. Our clean and respected reputation within historical circles is something the team prides itself on, as it has grown over the last decade and is based on well over 200 investigation sessions within that time.

For a full listing of References & testimonials, please visit our TESTIMONIALS page on this website.

Exploration – Observation – Experimentation – Documentation … Ultimately leading to Interaction, Understanding and Conclusion.

KEEPING IT REAL

Please check out our website and don’t hesitate to make contact if you have any queries or would like to know more about what we do. We’re always happy to talk about spooks!

Through the years the team have investigated:

Waikato

Hawkes Bay

Central North Island

Chateau Tongariro Hotel

West Coast and Central South Island

Seaview Asylum
Otira Stagecoach Hotel

Canterbury

The Old Shipping Office (Akaroa)

Otago

Cardrona Hotel
Vulcan Hotel (St Bathans)

Dunedin

Seacliff Asylum
Chalet Backpackers
Globe Theatre
Leviathan Hotel
Larnach Castle

United Kingdom

The Drovers Inn – Scotland
Traquair House – Innerleithen
Ancient Ram Inn – Wooton-Under-Edge
30 East Drive – Pontefract
Boleskine House – Scotland
Ballachulish Hotel – Glencoe
Chillingham Castle
The Golden Fleece – York
Bunchrew House – Scotland
Oswald House – Kirkcaldy
Halston Hall – Carlisle
Airth Castle
Dalhousie Castle
Barcaldine Castle – Oban
The Witchery – Edinburgh
Edinburgh Vaults – Scotland
Touchwood House – Scotland
Greyfriars Kirkyard – Scotland
The Hellfire Club – Ireland

Australia

YHA [Katoomba] – Hartley Village [NSW] – Quarantine Station [Manly] – The Russell Hotel [Sydney]

Cryptozoological Field Research

YOWIE RESEARCH: Blue Mountains [ Australia] – Kanangra Ranges [Australia]

MOEHAU RESEARCH: Coromandel Ranges [New Zealand] – Urerewa Ranges [New Zealand]

LAKE MONSTER RESEARCH: Loch Ness [Scotland]

… as well as many private home visits around Auckland and surrounding towns and extensive investigation internationally.

Some of the services and experience we have on offer:

Research and Investigation of buildings, historical locations and businesses

Photo & video analysis

Photographic enhancements

General paranormal consultation

Historical Research

Conferences / Public speaking

Educational talks & fundraising for historical locations

Media interviews