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Australia's new Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, may have to exorcise more than just the legacy of predecessor John Howard, ousted last November after more than 11 years in power.
Rudd returned to the capital this week to launch his vision of a 21st century nation.
But his official Canberra residence is claimed to be one of the most haunted houses in a city which paranormal investigators say contains a surprisingly high level of supernatural activity.
The Lodge, a 40-room Georgian-style mansion built as a temporary residence in the late 1920s, has been home to each of the nation's leaders except Howard, who chose to live in Sydney instead, and Ben Chifley, a Labor Prime Minister who lived and died in the nearby Kurrajong Hotel.
Chifley's ghost is reputed to still haunt the hotel, appearing from time to time as a spectre enigmatically pointing towards old Parliament House, where he ruled from 1945 to 1949.
Old Parliament House itself, where Chifley, fellow Labor Prime Minister John Curtin and the Unknown Soldier lay in state, is reportedly a particularly haunted place that regularly scares security guards off the job.
Tim the Yowie Man - his actual name, changed by deed poll - who runs ghost tours in Canberra, says objects have been snatched and thrown across the room, and guards patrolling near the old Cabinet room have claimed to have been followed by the sound of dragging feet.
Temperatures, Tim the Yowie Man says, have plunged by 12C to 14C without explanation.
"I had a sleepover there at the end of November with some people and we had about 12 unexplained events," he said.
Why Canberra - and especially The Lodge - should attract such supernatural interest remains a mystery.
