The Haunting File: Brisbane - What's Under Brisbane Town
Saturday 21 November, 6.45pm. A night out on foot with your friends: the haunted places of Brisbane, the true stories behind them, and every other team racing you on one scoreboard.


6.45pm at The Old Windmill. Teams of two to five. Check in on your phones and the story opens.
13 stops, 3 km, about 90 minutes. Each stop is a story and a clue. Fast and right beats slow and right.
Every team lands on one scoreboard. It closes at 9.45pm. The top three win a free Questo game for every player. The rest take the pub.

★ 4.5 from 628 Questo players in Brisbane
Absolutely amazing! As a local, I had no idea that my city had so many interesting ghost stories.
A player, played in Thorshavn
Great way to see the city. We learned things we never knew, and we’ve lived in Glasgow our whole lives. We bar hopped while playing, which made it even better!
A player, played in Glasgow
A really lovely game, and it left us with some surprising memories. We will look at some of the places we walked past differently now.
A player, played in Cluj-Napoca (translated from Romanian)

Everyone starts together at The Old Windmill. Then your team is on its own: 13 stops through Brisbane, a story at each one, clues you have to find on the street, and a city-wide scoreboard watching the clock.
No guide to follow. The game runs in the Questo app: check in at The Old Windmill at 6.45pm, the story opens on your phones, and off you go. Keep mobile data on.
It is a ghost story you walk through, not a haunted house. Nothing jumps out. Your mates will, though.
Not a ghost tour. Nobody talks at you for 90 minutes: your team plays the story, and every team in Brisbane is on the same scoreboard.
The case
The city feels older tonight. Heavier. Like something has been waiting a very long time for someone to come asking.
You've been recruited by the Bureau of Otherworldly Observation, and Agent Howl is handing you your first case: a district full of the dead, and a file nobody has ever managed to close.
Thirteen stops. Thirteen things this city would rather you didn't look at too closely. Some of them are waiting for you.
The night. The whole city out, every team on the scoreboard.
★ 4.5 from 628 Questo players in Brisbane
Questo players in Brisbane.



Every stop is a real place with a story that happened there, or has long been told there. We wrote the night from what the city remembers and dramatised it for the hunt. A few of the 13 stops; the rest you find on the street.
Stands where the Moreton Bay Female Factory held convict women from 1829.
In February 1896 the ferry Pearl capsized nearby in floodwater; 57 people died.
Recalls Commandant Patrick Logan, whose floggings filled the registers until his death in 1830.
Said to be haunted by Captain Richard Coley, first Sergeant-at-Arms, who died in office.
Leave your email and you hear first when the next haunted night in Brisbane opens.
A bit. It is a ghost story told in the streets it happened in. Nothing jumps out, nobody in a costume chases you. The streets do the rest.
The stories are inspired by true events and local legends of Brisbane, dramatised for the game, and every stop is a real place. The Moreton Bay Female Factory, a women's prison on Gaol Hill from 1829, is one documented example.
Some stories are dark. None are gory. Teens love it. For younger kids it depends on the child.
No. The game runs in the Questo app on your phones. Everyone checks in at The Old Windmill at 6.45pm, then each team goes at its own pace.
It runs in rain. If the city issues a weather warning we move you to the other night or refund you, your call.
The start window is half an hour. After 7.15pm you can still play, but the clock started at 6.45pm for everyone and the scoreboard does not wait.
Yes. Every player has the story on their own phone and their own part to play. A team shares one place on the scoreboard.
For the scoreboard, yes. The story stays open for you until the end of the night.
In full, up to 24 hours before the start. After that we can move you to the other night if there is space.
Because it is one night, played together. Enough teams for a real race and new people to meet at the finish. Few enough that every team finds its own clues, and everyone fits at the Port Office Hotel (Edward Street, a 10-minute walk) after.
Every night is its own story, played in Brisbane only on the dates above. Leave your email in the box above and you hear first when the next one opens.