Think you know Canberra? Although it’s a relatively new city, it’s one that certainly holds its secrets.

Here are a few tidbits that drill down into the secret life of Canberra

Ghosts of Canberra

Have you ever felt the hairs of your neck stand up for no reason at all in a quiet corner of Canberra? There are plenty of places in town that are said to be haunted, but here are a few of the best:

1. The National Film and Sound Archives.
Anecdotally there are a number of ghosts here. Try the ‘hanging tree outside of the café, or the halls of the building (it was once a School of Anatomy).

2. The Air Disaster Memorial.
Out on Fairbairn Avenue near the airport, this is a great one if you want to scare the Hell out of some friends on a dark and windy night. The ghosts of 75 years ago are still said to walk the 10-person crash site. Great fun!

3. Hotel Kurrajong.
If you prefer your spirits with a prime ministerial air, the ghost of Ben Chifley is said to walk the balconies and windows pointing at Parliament House. Located in Barton, stop in late at night for a glass of wine, and see if you can spot the old PM. Do you dare to stay the night?

Westlake

No, not ‘Westside’, the pop-up container village due to open this weekend. Westlake is an old workers village located where Empire Circuit and Forster Street meet in Yarralumla. Walk through the long grass and seek out the plastic-wrapped mini-memorials that detail the sites and families of the workers who built Canberra in the early 1900s. Quaint, cute, but a little disturbing… it’s a fascinating part of Canberra’s history.

Walter Burley Griffin: Satanist

Scoff as you might, but there have always been discussions around the symbolism detailed in the plan created by Walter Burley and Marion Mahoney Griffin. If you’ve ever tried to drive through the back streets of Griffith and Forrest, you’ll know how devilish some of the street placements can be, and viewed from above, the map of the inner suburbs reveals plenty of interlocking circles and lines of axis that have apparent supernatural significance.

There have been lots of articles written on this, but the biggest question is this: “Is it all down to interpretation? Or were the Griffins hiding something that wasn’t publicly palpable 100 years ago.”

Over to you, conspiracy theorists!

The Parliament House Tunnel

An oldie-but-a-goodie. There has long been talk of Cold War corridor linking Parliament House with the Defense offices in Russell at the top of Kings Avenue. The idea was that, in the event of an attack on Canberra (everyone was terrified of nuclear war) that the big-wigs in town could get together to sort out how to respond.

During the construction of Parliament House (which took six years!) there were many stories of steps leading to secret doors and other construction oddities.

Maybe we’ll never know!