About

FullCodeGhost came about through one of those weird and happy coincidences life throws up occasionally.

The Wellington Town Hall has been the venue for each Webstock conference, and was our first choice for a FullCodePress venue this year. And then one day we realised three things…

We were going to be staying overnight at the Town Hall during FullCodePress.

There have been rumours of a ghost at the Town Hall.

We knew a ghost hunter.

And thus, FullCodeGhost was born.

The Ghost Hunter

James Gilberd has been the official Webstock photographer at each Webstock. You can see his wonderful work on the Webstock flickr site and he runs the Photospace gallery and studio. He's also part of the Strange Occurrences paranormal investigation team.

James and his team jumped at the chance to investigate the Town Hall alongside FullCodePress. And as FullCodePress organisers, well, the chance to add a little more pressure to the teams is always appealing!

The Ghost

At Webstock 2008, late on the Thursday evening, we were leaving the venue and someone [either the Duty Manager or a security guard] was locking up the venue after us. Someone must have mentioned working there late at night and suddenly he was telling us about the ghost at the Town Hall. There had been sightings… and occurrences… and noises… and he said a number of staff were wary about working late at night or downright just didn't.

We're still trying to find someone with first-hand experience of the ghost. All we've managed to date are tantalizing mentions of the ghost. An ex-staff member of the Town Hall remembers being told of the ghost during her time working there.

There was a Dominion Post Lifestyle supplement entitled, “Spooky Old Town” published by Nikki McDonald on 25/10/2008 with the following extracts:

“When the windows darken at Wellington’s stately old Town Hall, its doors disgorge councillors, council workers and conference-goers. But left lurking in its grand foyers and meeting rooms could be a much more lively tribe of uninvited guests.

“Sudden temperature drops, unexplained noises and doorhandles scratching up and down of their own accord have reportedly spooked council staff and scared security guards off the job.

“There were reports late last year of what some people called strange and, in some cases, quite frightening late-night goings-on.”

FullCodeGhost

We don't know what we're going to find. But we think it'll be fun and entertaining and a nice sideline to the drama and competition of FullCodePress.

We'd like to thank the staff and management of the Wellington Convention Centre for being open to FullCodeGhost and allowing it to take place.