Title: Aradale : the making of a haunted asylum /
Authors: Waldron, David,; Waldron, Sharn,; Buchanan, Nathaniel,
Year: 2020
Subjects: Aradale Psychiatric Hospital; Aradale Psychiatric Hospital; Psychiatric hospitals Australia Ararat (Vic.); Mentally ill Care Australia Ararat (Vic.); People with mental disabilities Care Australia Ararat (Vic.); Haunted hospitals Australia Ararat (Vic.); Haunted hospitals; Mentally ill Care; People with mental disabilities Care; Psychiatric hospitals; Victoria Ararat
Abstract: First built in 1867, the remarkable Gothic structure of the former Ararat Lunatic Asylum, colloquially known as Aradale, has overlooked the regional town of Ararat for over 150 years. Throughout its history it has seen remarkable transformations in the history of Australian psychiatry and western society's treatment of the mentally ill, and it has participated in some of their darkest scandals. Today in popular press, the labyrinthine complex is commonly acclaimed as 'Australia's most haunted building' and is home to a flourishing dark tourism industry boasting tens of thousands of visitors a year. This book explores the history of the former asylum, and examines what is it that makes a place 'haunted' in the popular imagination, and what it is about hauntings that so invariably connects them with problematic histories.