Interview for a student Documentary on Sydney’s local ghosts and ghost stories

Do you believe in ghosts? Earlier this year I had the pleasure of being interviewed about all things ghosts and ghost stories by an incredibly talented group of students from the Department of Media, Communication, Creative Arts, Language and Literature in Macquarie University’s Faculty of Arts (where I currently lead the Master of Research program). These students were producing a short documentary around the infamous ghost legends attached to a lonely stretch of road called The Wakehurst Parkway in Sydney’s Northern Beaches (I was also recently interviewed about that for a newspaper article: read here), and they were an absolute blast to work with.

Sydney’s Wakehurst Parkway is associated with multiple spectral phenomena, including the ghost of ‘Kelly’, who suddenly appears in the back seat of passing cars, or forlornly wanders the roadside. The documentary explores these legends by tracing the fascinating line between credulity and disbelief, situating the ghost stories within the broader history of human interaction with the Otherworld. Naturally of course, when these students invited me to come along to their beautifully decorated set and share my thoughts about the history of ghosts and ghost stories, I said yes! My interest in ghosts and especially stories about them spans back into my earliest years and now haunts my academic research, so I was delighted to speak about the spooky with such engaged and enthusiastic students!

This documentary was produced entirely by this wonderful group of students, and I think their creativity and talent speak for themselves. Enjoy their short introduction to the spooky stories surrounding this lonely stretch of road in the video below:

Or watch on Youtube here: https://youtu.be/BlqYvml1ei8

Thank you so much to Davina, Ellie and the rest of the wonderful team for having me!