The Ghost Story

After the death of Ann Perry, the family sold Harlaxton House in 1911 and in 1912 the 150 acre block of land was subdivided. The house itself was then purchased by George and Dorothy Cook in 1914 and the house remained in their names until the death of Dorothy Cook in 1982. Since then the house remained unoccupied.

In 1995, the house was auctioned and bought by local Toowoomba business man Tony Frost, but the house has still remained unoccupied and has fallen into disrepair. It is around this time that tales of ghosts and hauntings began to surface. A hot-spot for vandals and trespassers, stories have emerged of a malevolent  ghost that traps anyone caught in the house after sunset. The house and its stories are so well-known it has become its own urban myth, as demonstrated by its inclusion in local lists of haunted places, and is now almost only known by most locals as a 'haunted house'.  Although there is no reported deaths linked to the house, the story is completely perpetuated by local youth and ghost hunters. In 2017, a list of Tooowoomba's most haunted places was included in the local newspaper, The Chronicle, and provided a map of all the sites for people to visit. It listed Harlaxton House as being an excellent haunted place to visit if you wished to only drive-by. Although this may promotes tourism and encourages local to go out and see historic landmarks, it may also have some unintentional damaging side effects.  

This new identity of Harlaxton House has completely shadowed its true unique and historically important past. As the ghost stories spread, it has almost become a rite of passage for the youth of Toowoomba to visit Harlaxton House late at night and dare each other to get as close as possible to the house or to even break in. Unfortunately, this only increases the risk of destruction of the house, and there are already fears that it may be beyond repair if more is not done to protect and promote its true history.