Franklin House (Launceston)

Franklin House in Launceston Tasmania, is a historic house that is preserved by Tasmania's National Trust and is open to the public. Built in 1838 for Britton Jones, it later became a school for boys.

Franklin House
General information
TypePublic
Architectural styleGeorgian
Town or cityFranklin Village, Tasmania
CountryAustralia
Completed1838
OwnerNational Trust
Technical details
MaterialStone, Australian red cedar

History

It is a Georgian style house that was built in 1838 for former convict Britton Jones, a Launceston brewer and innkeeper.[1][2][3]

It was later a school for boys, between 1842-1866[4] when leased to schoolmaster William Keeler Hawkes. The house and gardens are located in Youngtown, Tasmania, and are available to public tours.[5]

In 1960 Franklin house was the first heritage property taken over by the National Trust in Tasmania.[6]

Review of haunting claims

In early 2013 the Tas Ghost Hunting society undertook an investigation into possible paranormal activity after staff members reported unusual experiences while working there. They visited twice and set up equipment in a number of rooms. In a sitting room they reportedly found higher levels of energy than normal using an electromagnetic sensor. In an upstairs bedroom they asked several times the question "'What is your name?'" Mr. Hull a member of the Tas Ghost Hunting society said "'It came back with the answer, Will'".[3]

In response, members of the Launceston Skeptics group have challenged the Tas Ghost Hunting society's results by saying "'It has to be good, if it's an extraordinary claim, that is that there are ghosts there it needs very solid evidence'". According to skeptic member Jin-Oh Choi '"We want to make sure the way they're recording the information is actually correct.'"[7]

According to investigator Benjamin Radford most ghost hunting groups... make many methodological mistakes.... In his article for Skeptical Inquirer Radford concludes that ghost hunters should care about doing a truly scientific investigation "I believe that if ghosts exist, they are important and deserve to be taken seriously. Most of the efforts to investigate ghosts so far have been badly flawed and unscientific --- and, not surprisingly, fruitless." [8]

  • Franklin House side and garden
  • Franklin House from road

Notes
  1. National Trust of Australia (Tasmania) (1989), Franklin House, Franklin Village, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia, National Trust, ISBN 978-0-909575-12-0
  2. Green, Anne; National Trust of Australia (Tasmania) (2011), Franklin House, Launceston : 413 Hobart Road, Launceston, Tasmania, Australia, National Trust of Australia (Tasmania), retrieved 19 January 2014
  3. Bryan, Emily. "Ghost hunters check Tasmania's Franklin House for bumps in the night". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corp. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
  4. Dadson, Manika. "'There's definitely something here'". The Examiner. Fairfax Regional Media. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
  5. Franklin House
  6. "Franklin House". National Trust. Australian Council of National Trusts. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
  7. "Sceptics get in the spirit with offer to help Tasmanian ghost hunters". ABC. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 3 October 2015.
  8. Radford, Benjamin. "Ghost-hunting mistakes: science and pseudoscience in ghost investigations". Skeptical Inquirer. Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. Archived from the original on 4 October 2015. Retrieved 12 September 2015.

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