Waikino Hotel
February 2022
This is the beginning of our 2022 project which will see multiple investigations undertaken at this location. The location consists of 2 buildings we will be investigating, one 125 years old and one 130 years old - both reputedly haunted. There have been numerous occassions where previous and current managers and staff have experienced incidents of an anomalious nature that they could not explain. Quantum has been called in to see if we can shed some light on what could be occuring here.
Staff and Managers have clearly heard audible voices, felt as though they have been touched, seen full bodied apparitions, dark shadows in the form of a figure, as well as grey mists within the buildings. There have also been security motion light sensors activated when they are alone in the building, These have all been checked by electricians numerous times to rule out any faults. They have found them to be functioning perfectly with no faults present. The building has been completely rewired as part of the renovation process.
Our research has unearthed some interesting information regarding the history of the building and includes tragedy and murder!!
You can read the backstory to this location on the corresponding page on our Haunted NZ pages.
The Investigation
Upon arriving around midday, we met with the owner and manager of the hotel. The owner travelled from Auckland to attend the investigation and is incredibly supportive and interested in what we do, as is the manager and staff. The hotel exploded into life shortly after we got there which meant the staff, manager and owner were frantically serving all the tourists who had poured in from their hikes, biking tours and pit stops for much deserved refreshments and lunch! They organised the caretaker, who lives on the premises, to conduct the walk through of the upstairs area. We proceeded to interview him regarding his many experiences. During the walk through a couple of investigators picked up on a few area's that they believe felt 'odd'. It was interesting to note, these locations were the same area's where incidents of an anomalous nature had occured and are considered 'hotspots' in the building. The investigators had no prior knowledge of this.
Please note: While we do document the personal experiences of our investigators and their 'feelings' towards certain locations or area's within buildings, by no means do we consider, nor constitute this as evidence of the paranormal.
We then decided to depart and head into Waihi township where we got our supplies for the long night ahead. This saw us visiting another known establishment which for the longest time, has been known to be reputedly haunted. We spent the next couple of hours interviewing the owner and staff and listening to the fascinating stories they shared regarding their experiences and what they believe to be their 5 ghostly residents! We are returning for further exploration of this location next month.
We spent the remainder of the afternoon meandering through the surrounding area of the hotel which saw us taking a short hike across the swing bridge directly opposite the hotel and making our way towards the Victoria Battery site. Built in 1897 and closed in 1952, this was the largest Gold Ore crushing battery in New Zealand. The region is steeped in 3 centuries of mining history and Jayden, our Tech Manager and Camera Man, proceed to film the immediate area to capture the ruins and foundations of the buildings that used to occupy this site. We made our way into the old cyanide tank complex and ran some Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP) sessions. There are numerous outdoor sites to explore and we will be covering more of these upon our return in the coming months.
We commenced the hotel investigation by setting up our Infrared (IR) camera's on the upper level of the building, working our way downstairs to the lower level ensuring the coverage of storage and back room area's. We set up our communications base downstairs in the restaurant area. This is an area set up with a large monitor screen so all camera's can be monitored in real time and stimultaneously. Investigators on our team take turns monitoring the cameras at 1 hourly intervals.
We began the investigation by taking baseline temperature readings, both directional and ambient. The interior walls consistently read 1 degree warmer than the exterior walls which is normal in our experience. The ambient temperature read slightly lower in all cases than the external wall readings which again, is normal in our experience. Electro Magnetic Field (EMF) readings were also taken and nothing which could be considered of an unusual nature was detected. Both temperature and EMF readings were repeated throughout the course of the night and although there was a drop in temperature detected, this was nothing more than the usual cooling air as the night progressed into the wee hours of the morning. We did receive 2 cooling temperature deviations whilst conducting an EVP session on the landing however.
We ran multiple EVP sessions in the upstairs bedroom we referred to as the '4 poster room' as it contained a stunning 4 poster bed. We decided to ask the owner to run an EVP session in the same room due to his experiences in there thinking he may trigger some activity. EVP sessions were also run on the landing upstairs, the upstairs lounge and the downstairs storage room behind the bar. The 4 poster room was eeriely silent and gave the impression of being in some sort of 'bubble' or it being 'sound proofed', which it was not. Even the owner commented on how unusually quiet this space was (it used to be his bedroom prior to his experiences!) and was quite perplexed by the deafening silence experienced within it. Step into the hallway and it was totally different and this 'silence' was not experienced in any other rooms. We can not definitively say what the reason is for this difference, although we did check all environmental possibilities with nothing being detected. Our EMF readers were consistent throughout and detected no ununsual fluctuations or changes. Our REM pods were also not triggered.
All in all, it was a very quiet evening ........ until the morning.
Upon our return to the hotel, the caretaker advised us that when he got up in the morning, the Emergency Exit signs were not operating. This is highly unusual as they can not be switched off - there actually is no switch for them and they have their own battery power in case of a power cut and yet that was not working either. Also the exterior lights out the front had all blown but all other lights were working fine. The switchboard and fuses were checked and nothing out of the ordinary was discovered. We all remember seeing the Exit signs lit up throughout the course of the investigation but can not remember whether these were still working when we were packing down. We also had a camera situated across the road focused on the front of the hotel so we will be reviewing all our cameras to see if we capured any of the exterior lights failing.
This building, although historic, has been completely electrically rewired during it's renovation process. The upper floor of the building is currently under renovation.
Investigation Status: Ongoing
Any questions you would like to ask us? Please feel free to comment below. Your email will not be published.