Share this tour
Offered languages
- English
This is a self-guided exploration game where you'll be solving a paranormal case involving real people and their wandering ghosts. The file on Melbourne's East End has been open since 1972. You, with your detective and observational skills, and a little help from the Questo app, will try to close it in 2 hours.
The route runs from the Old Treasury's gold vaults through Chinatown to the old gaol, past 13 of its darkest addresses. Your job is to hear out the dead and check their stories against the record.
You'll discover dark stories like a singer who died on stage as the Devil and still bowed, a fountain carved in prison by a horse thief, and a man pardoned 86 years after his hanging.
Each location involves inspecting a real-world object and solving a challenge.
Best after dark with your phone torch on. About 2.7 km of walking, with unlimited breaks.
Hints and 24/7 support if you get stuck.
Perfect for Halloween or any night you're in the mood for creepy ghost stories.
What's Included
Meeting and pickup
The game starts at the Old Treasury Building. After booking, we'll message you a code and activation link. Activate with your own email, then log in to the Questo app with that email. No message? Open the Questo app, tap "Bought a quest somewhere else?" and enter your booking reference number.
The game ends outside the Melbourne City Baths on Swanston Street.
Itinerary
-
1Old Treasury Building
You'll start outside the Old Treasury Building, where the app opens your case file and introduces the agent running it. Your first task is to find the plaque with the building's name and use a code to pull a password from it. You'll learn about the caretaker's family who lived in the vaults, right beside the colony's gold.
7 minutes • Admission ticket free -
2Stanford Fountain
You'll cross to the Stanford Fountain in Gordon Reserve, restore a question with its vowels missing and count the answer on the stone. You'll learn how a horse thief serving 22 years carved it in prison, and why it now faces the Parliament that sentenced him.
7 minutes • Admission ticket free -
3Princess Theatre
You'll stop at the Princess Theatre on Spring Street and pick the real gilded emblem out of four lookalikes. You'll learn about the baritone who died in 1888 while sinking through the stage trap as the Devil, and why the theatre still keeps a seat empty on opening nights.
7 minutes • Admission ticket free -
4Royal Australasian College Of Surgeons
You'll walk to the top of Spring Street and read the blue plaque beside the stairs of the College of Surgeons. You'll learn where nineteenth-century anatomists found the heads they studied, and how short the walk was from the gaol.
7 minutes • Admission ticket free -
5Little Lon Distilling Co.
You'll find the last old cottage on Casselden Place and fill a gap in a list of the people who once lived on the lane. You'll learn about Little Lon, the slum two streets from the gold vaults, where half the children on the block didn't reach two.
7 minutes • Admission ticket free -
6Museum of Chinese Australian History
You'll step into Chinatown off Little Bourke Street and solve a riddle about the stone guardian lions. You'll learn how the Chinese societies of the gold rush exhumed thousands of their dead and shipped the bones home.
6 minutes • Admission ticket free -
7Chinatown
You'll walk under the Chinatown gate on Little Bourke Street and look down to finish a riddle. You'll learn how one bestselling murder mystery from 1886 branded this street as the city's underworld for a generation.
6 minutes • Admission ticket free -
8State Library Victoria
You'll reach the State Library Victoria, decode a scrambled message and find the answer on the statue in the forecourt. You'll learn about Grace, the kind reading-room ghost who appears in none of the library's staff registers.
6 minutes • Admission ticket free -
9Former Melbourne Magistrates Court
You'll stop at the old Magistrates' Court and find the word missing from a line about its sandstone. You'll learn how the court, the cells and the gallows stood side by side on this one block.
6 minutes • Admission ticket free -
10Old Melbourne Gaol
You'll walk to the bluestone walls of the Old Melbourne Gaol and spot what's wrong with a photo of its sign. You'll learn about Colin Ross, hanged here in 1922 for a murder he didn't commit and pardoned 86 years later.
6 minutes • Admission ticket free -
11Eight Hour Day Monument
You'll find the Eight Hour Day Monument and work out the code hidden under the sticker in your photo. You'll learn how the stonemasons who cut the city's bluestone won the eight-hour day here in 1856.
6 minutes • Admission ticket free -
12Melbourne City Baths
You'll finish at the Melbourne City Baths, where the clues you've collected spell out the last question. You'll learn why the city built public baths for people with nowhere to wash, and why the ghost from Little Lon comes up to see the file closed.
19 minutes • Admission ticket free
Additional info
- Service animals allowed
- Public transportation options are available nearby
- Infants and small children can ride in a pram or stroller
- Suitable for all physical fitness levels
- A charged smartphone with internet is required to play the game in the Questo app
- Comfortable walking shoes are recommended
Tags
Cancellation Policy
For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.
Cancellation Policy
- For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time.
- If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid will not be refunded.
- Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.
You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund.
Your guide to the flawless travel experience
Popular Countries
Get our app
