Is this the Ward 5 ghost? Willow Court

For me it’s been about 10 years in the making. Long have I heard about this illusive Ward 5 photo only to fall short each time, mind you in that 10 years I have only had 3 opportunities.

For a Willow Court historian & paranormal investigator like myself this is one of the Holy Grails in terms of Willow Court, something that I have heard so much about but wasn’t able to find.

Well the search for this Holy Grail is over.

Recently I came into possession of the infamous Ward 5 ghost photo. When I rocked up at this gentleman’s house I didn’t know what to expect.

He presented the photo to me in an old yellow envelope. I wasn’t sure if he wanted me to open it there and then, but he gave me the go ahead.

What was I about to see? Could this change everything? Could it be a major disappointment? I was only seconds away from finding out.

When I saw the photo for the first time, I have to admit I was expecting more. In today’s terms it could be considered just a light anomaly, but it’s not until you dig deeper and hear everyone’s reports about what they saw you start to come to terms with what’s in the photo.

From all reports I have received this is what people saw when the ghost started to appear. For them this photo is like reliving the very moments when they encountered the Ward 5 ghost first hand.

Make of it as you will, but I encourage people to read all the accounts before making a judgement.










WARNING- Please view with caution!




Most if not all the 7 people who had this photo have destroyed it. Many feel that it’s connected to something evil and don’t feel comfortable having it in their home.

One of the people who destroyed their copy is interested in looking at it again but only over the internet and not in a physical form at home.

The person, who gave me the photo Paul, said he wasn’t quite sure where it was as he hasn’t looked at it for many years. Paul eventually found it and said he kept it a John Edward book possibly for some protection.

Paul stated that he doesn’t show anyone one this photo and prefers not to discuss with family and friends. Paul said looking back at his life he thinks it may have rubbed off some of its negative energy on him over the years, as since then he has become a negative person and things just went wrong.

Paul told me that he had to seek approval from Willow Court Administration to film inside Ward 5 and it was a condition that he surrenders all film and negatives to Administration after he took the photo as it was their property.

The photo was taken on the 22 July 1991 around 9.30pm in a pitch black section of Ward 5 halfway down the West Wing using a Pentax SLR 35mm with special night film. Paul said he used low aperture, no flash and took random photos in fairly quick succession around 20 in total.

Whilst taking the photos Paul stated he did not dare go down to the end of the West Wing as he did not want to get hurt. Paul stated that he didn’t see anything but felt a bit uneasy. Paul said he felt something lightly touching the hairs on his head like an aura, he was wearing a jacket but felt quite cold and the hairs on his neck started to stand on end.

He stated when he went to pick them up from being developed at Kodak in New Norfolk the female shopkeeper said “No charge” because there was nothing was on the photos. Paul flicked through the photos and saw one photo that was different from the others and showed the shopkeeper and said that this is a ghost. After hearing and seeing the photo the shopkeeper looked pale and ill. Paul asked if she could make 7 copies.

Paul handed over the photos and negatives to Administration. The man asked did you capture anything? Paul told him why don’t you go over there and find out for yourself.

Before Paul handed out the copies to some of the people involved in the haunting he was curious as to what they actually saw to see if it was anything like the photo he took. Paul asked them to draw what they saw (ghost) on a piece of paper. He stated that they all drew the same image, and that image was the same thing he captured in the photo.

Paul stated since hearing about the Ward 5 ghost there was interest from the media including from Channel 7’s The Extraordinary with Warwick Moss. However given it was a government institution they were not able to speak with the media.

Paul said the camera was never the same after taking that photo. Paul took it to a camera shop in Elizabeth st in Hobart and asked them what was wrong with it.
It took them four weeks and pulled it to pieces twice to try and work out what was wrong with the camera. They stated what happened to the camera was very rare. The silk/material piece inside the camera at the back had come out and chance of this occurring was around 1 in 100. They also said that they were unable to sync all the functions together again.

They asked Paul if he dropped it. Paul told them he took a photo of a ghost and since then it never worked properly. The shopkeeper was speechless; they said this type of thing has happened before and told him to get rid of the camera.

This is the actual full photo, not zoomed in etc.