THE ghost FILES
Karina Machado is a journalist, host of the Spirit Sisters podcast and the author of Spirit Sisters, Where Spirits Dwell and Love Never Dies, a non-fiction series exploring the extraordinary experiences of ordinary people. Now, on The Ghost Files podcast each week, Karina will introduce a guest who’ll share their personal encounter with the spirit world.
EVICTING EVIL
As housewarming gifts go, it was hardly ideal. A week after 24-yearold Sophie Tate moved into her new rental on the Mornington Peninsula in 2002, an unknown force wrote ‘DIE’ on her lower leg, in an intricate, old-world style calligraphy. Since this wasn’t Sophie’s first brush with the paranormal, she wasn’t as shocked as you’d imagine. Instead, she and her friend searched for every possible rational explanation, because that’s the kind of person she is. But there was none.
Last week, on The Ghost Files podcast, I introduced Sophie, a medical administrator, who tells one of the most extraordinary haunted-house stories I’ve ever heard. Yet as chilling as these tales are, it’s easy to forget that these are no fabulous yarns designed for quick thrills. For Sophie, and others who’ve lived through inexplicable events, the story doesn’t end after the last page is turned, or the cinema lights come back on.
As Sophie tells me this week in the conclusion of our two-part interview on The Ghost
Files podcast, she endured four months of relentless mental abuse at the hands of an unknown entity she soon realised was no run-ofthe-mill ‘human ghost’. The bizarre episode with the imprint on her leg was just the beginning. Days later, footsteps and a mocking laughter began, followed by appliance – and electrical – malfunctions.
Eventually, it became a showdown between the malevolent force and brave Sophie, who was determined to stand her ground. She liked her house, she tells me. She loved her balcony with a view to the sea, and she was close to her beloved horse, who was on agistment nearby. There were many pluses.
At last, Sophie sought help. You might be surprised about who she turned to. Tune in to The Ghost Files this week to hear about who evicted the evil gatecrasher and returned peace to Sophie’s life.