This Paranormal Life - 420 Ghost Of Federici Melbournes Haunted Princess Theatre

Episode Date: January 11, 2026

Phantom of the Opera, The Curse of the Ninth, the play about a Scottish king that we mustn't mention by name — we’ve all heard the stories. Theaters are some of the most paranormal locations on earth, stalked by ghosts and curses. Is it the electric energy of the adoring crowds that seeps into the walls as an emotional memory? Or is it simply the misfortune of those who work in theaters and pass away that they’re doomed to wander the halls forever. What is it about theaters that causes them to be haunted or cursed? To find out Kit and Rory will investigate one of Australia’s most haunted locations of all — The Princess Theater in Melbourne! Follow us on ⁠Twitter⁠, ⁠Instagram⁠, and ⁠YouTube⁠ ⁠Join our Secret Society Facebook Community⁠ Support us on ⁠Patreon.com/ThisParanormalLife⁠ to get access to weekly bonus episodes! ⁠Buy Official TPL Merch!⁠ - ⁠thisparanormallife.com/store⁠ Intro music by ⁠www.purple-planet.com⁠ Edited by Philip Shacklady Research by ⁠Ewen Friers Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Are cryptids allowed to vote? We've heard about crop circles, but what about crop squares? Answers to these questions and more on this episode of This Paranormal Life! Hey! Hello! And welcome back to This Paranormal Life, the weekly comedy podcast where every Tuesday we get to the bottom of a different paranormal tale.

Case, beast, claim. And at the end of the episode, decide whether we, as experts, think it's really paranormal. Oranormal or not, as always, you're being joined by me, Kit Greer Mulvena, and my co-investigator, paranormal expert, Mr. Rory Powers. How you doing today, Rory? We've heard all about crop circles. What about crop tops? Oh, ho! Potentially the most paranormal piece of clothing someone can wear.

A shirt that implies, since you left the house, you've grown twice as tall. Right. Yeah. You know, that's why I kind of like him, you know? To be fair, I don't think I necessarily have the midriff to be able to pull off. a crop top. You do. But it does kind of look like the people who are wearing them have accidentally dunked themselves

in some nuclear waste at some point in the day and kind of Hulk style grown out of their clothes. I was going to say it's giving incredible Hulk. Yeah. No, but I am happy and excited to be back here, Kit, for a brand new investigation. It's been an exciting week for me today because a new little responsibility entered my life. I'd been trying to make it happen for a while. And I'm very happy to say that we're joined by a third today on the podcast.

Huh? I actually got a new Tamagotchi. Oh, wow. Tamaguchi. So it's a big week for me. I thought you were banned from owning those. No, this is actually court ordered. The judge says, until I can prove that I can keep a Tamagotchi alive for a week, I'm not

allowed to see my children again. That's fair. I think after you failing to pay all of the support for so many years. Right. They're like, if you kill a digital pet, we're not giving you control of a human life again. That's crazy they wouldn't even let you work with a plant. Right. You know, like even just giving you just a simple fern.

They say that all the plant needs to survive is sunlight and water. I gave it plenty of sunlight, plenty of sunlight and something better than water, Red Bull. So the plant should have been twice as strong and way more energetic. That's not my fault. Why does it sound like you put this plant in a tanning bed or something? It's too much sunlight. I'm trying to speed run the process. My Tamagotchi has shit itself.

I'm just seeing right now there is poo on the floor. They can. Oh, they can. Really? There is digital poo on the floor. So I'm just going to clean this up real quick because I'm a good parent. It is crying. So I'm just going to discipline it real quick.

Bad character. Where's a stick? Is there a digital stick? It is, yeah. Every option, I'm like, oh, it's, it's, I'm really hungry and it seems to have shit itself, so I'm going to discipline it real quick. It's like, isn't there a feed option? And also, if it's annoying you, you can just turn the lights off and it just lives in the dark, like my fern. Okay. All right, Fritzel, this is getting very, very dark. I am very disturbed. Listen, I'm happy to say it's almost been a week. And Dolores, my Tamagocchi, is still a lot. alive. Delores is still alive. Why have you given it the name of like a 1920s

flapper? Just a lady who was probably on the Titanic. Dolores has been alive for five days because I originally had Tander. Tander died. I will say when my daughter was young enough to need a baby monitor, you know, the baby monitor, it was a pretty good one. It was like not all of them have like a little video feed. It was like a little security camera, black and white. Yeah.

Night vision. It was quite cool. It was a little hand. me down one. One of the features I found questionable was the walkie-talkie feature. Oh, that's cool. Because, you know, the logic is, okay, you're in bed, your kids in bed in another room. They cry, wow, wow, it comes through, you hear it, means you can go attend to them. They also built in a feature where you can talk back. Yeah, you don't have to leave the bed. To the child, which is questionable in itself. Coral, we're hearing reports of... Tumbling, tumbling. We're dispatching too petty-flu to the scene right now.

It's a 10-92. It's a 10-92. Dispatch, this is Big Daddy. We've got a request for some cuddles in an early breakfast. Come in, over. We got a request to leave bed and watch cartoons in the living room. Request in night. Unfortunately, the sun is not risen.

It is not really morning time yet. We're getting reports of a dirty diaper. Mother, could you please... Can you please report to the scene of the crime? No. No. You do it.

Saying all of this naked on my side in bed on a pillow. Rory, we are burying the lead. We do, of course, have a fantastic paranormal investigation to get into today and one of our favorite locales

right here on planet Earth in the Milky Way galaxy. We are going to get right into today's investigation. After a couple of words from today's sponsors, remember every episode of this paranormal life is available ad free right now at patreon.com forward slash this paranormal life link is in the

description of this podcast or if you're on YouTube in the description of the video check it on this investigation comes courtesy a quick thank you to sandy harrison who emailed this one in to this paranormal life podcast at gmail.com fair play about five years ago sorry to keep you waiting sandy hope you're still listening sandy And our terrifying tale kicks off in a theatre in Australia. All right, Jimmy, good luck in your first shift tonight. The show's sold out, so just remember your training, mate, and things will go off without a hitch. Thanks, boss.

All right, ticket office ready? Ready! Concession stand? Ready! And my brand new usher. Ready, boss. You join us at the legendary Princess. theater on Spring Street, Melbourne, the oldest theater in Australia.

I believe they call it Melbourne. Hmm? Believe they pronounce it Melbourne. Melbourne. Melbourne. Oh, how do you say it? That's how I say it. Because I'm cool with the locals.

You don't say Melbourne. Yeah, I do. Absolutely. What did I say? Melbourne. I didn't do a heart. He did. Oh, you gave it a hard.

He did. He did. Melbourne? Melbourne. Melbourne? Melbourne. Melbourne. Oh, we're both going to get roasted. Melbourne.

Melbourne. I'm saying it like Blackburn. That's how I want to say. It's not Melbourne. Melbourne. Melbourne. God damn it. Why do we always get flamed when we do an Australian episode?

I live in fear of Australians, okay? I live in fear of these people. It's 2004, and a brand new production of Mel Brooks, The Producers, is just about. to open. The doors have just been unlocked and a sellout crowd begins to filter in. The audience take their seats and marvel at the Victorian splendor all around them. Our brand new usher, Jimmy, checks tickets and guides the excited fans towards their seats. Just as the curtain is scheduled to drop, Jimmy notices an empty third row seat in the dress circle. That's a great seat, he thinks.

We'll be ashamed to see it go unused. Well, Jimmy, as a guy in, curtain's about to to go up. All good boss. Just one thing. That seat third row, dress circle. Is that just a no-show? Oh, mate. Didn't anyone tell you? We don't sell that seat. That's Frederici's seat. Federici? A ghost, Jimmy. Frederick Federici. Don't worry. He's friendly. But yeah, mate, someone should have told you that Princess Theatre is haunted. Where are we from, mate? Our accents sound weird. It's not important.

I'm born and raised in Melbourne. Born and raised. We don't sound Australian. We sound weird. Well, we're not going to sound Australian, mate, because we're from Melbourne. Okay. Which is a very different... It's nothing to do with Melbourne.

Oh, I wish we were from Melbourne. mate. Melbourne is a small Pacific island. It's similar to Australia, but it's a bit weird, mate. It's just off the coast of Blackpool. It's a small f***ed up island, off the coast of both Australia and somehow Britain. Jimmy was frozen. Haunted? He hadn't signed up for this. By the signs of it, it wasn't just some rumor either. This was baked into theater ticketing policy. In fact, the haunting of the Princess Theater was already well known and well established.

Just one night earlier, a cleaner in the theater, Trina Domovska, had a paranormal experience of her own. She told ABC Radio, Something just touched my hair and my shoulders and my body on the back, and I just like froze. No one was there, no human.

Only me. Myself because the theatre was closed. Rory, Phantom of the Opera, the curse of the ninth, the play about the Scottish King that we mustn't mention by name. We've all heard the stories. Beth? I don't say it, you f***. Jesus, give me the Tamagotchi.

All right, you, you get, the judge, if the judge knew we're walking around saying the M bomb with a hard M, I think he'd be taking the Tamagotchi off you. You can't have kids and say the M bomb. Listen, I'm doing a great job. I don't want the streak ruined, all right? I think that I'm doing, she shit herself again. I'm going to have to discipline her real quick. Not how it works.

What are you feeding her in order for her to defecate this much? Candy! In a digital... It's all she eats. She doesn't want regular food. So I just keep giving her snack after snack. I literally drop bread from the sky and she shakes her head and her big lips at me. Because she doesn't want to eat it.

So she must be disciplined. She's had an allergic reaction to whatever you're feeding her. Her lips are inflated, like she's had a nut allergy. I keep serving her peanuts and shrimp, and she won't eat them, and her lips have never been bigger. I don't know what to do at this point except discipline her. Can I, that's all you've tried, and it's not working. You're all out of ideas. Can I talk about something quick?

I saw on the news, right, amazing headline. There's a new experimental cure for, people with peanut allergies. Oh, listen up, Dolores. I was like, I'm listening. This sounds pretty interesting. They were like, here's Alex. Alex almost died a year ago because he went to a restaurant and ordered a curry and then didn't realize there was peanuts in the curry and he's a peanut allergy. He was in a coma for a week. Wow. Almost died. Was brought back to life. He is now undergone an experimental new treatment, which is maybe going to change the lives of people with peanut allergies. The quote-unquote treatment is just grinding up peanuts into a fine powder and then

just poisoning them with peanuts a minuscule amount every day. Yeah, build up a tolerance. To build up a tolerance. Wow. Which I'm pretty sure is just like Greek uncles figured that out like a hundred years ago, they were like, oh, just give the boy a tiny bit of P, he has a little bit of epileptic fit, he'll be okay. Yeah. Like, you know, that was not politically correct, but now they're saying that is the new thing. Yeah, it's like antibodies. Building up a tolerance.

And so they said, look, look what Alex did. He started off having the most, you know, they did it in hospital. They gave him like five micrograms of peanut powder and then like, you know, got ready with all the injections in case he wasn't okay. He was okay. Built it up over days and days and days, weeks and weeks, months and months. And by the end, he was able to eat five peanuts and just feel nothing. It's not that many peanuts. He's crying. That's quite a lot. That's a handful of peanuts. How many peanuts are you eating in a day? Actually, this week ate a lot of peanuts. I was at a baseball game. So it was the most peanuts I've eaten in a long time. Four thousand peanuts. It was on like 25 innings. I was on my dumber-shundbo shit. I was eating nut after nut, just shoveling them into my mouth.

It was great. Rory gets paid in peanuts. I take the Patreon money. He gets paid in peanuts. And Alex is like crying. He's like, I can't believe it. I'm cured. I never have to worry about dying.

You're still going to die, Alex. You're not immortal. Sure. Just not by nut. The voiceover is like, Alex is now cured. As he's built up the tolerance, all he has to do to now maintain his tolerance to peanuts is simply with each meal of the day, three times a day,

eat five peanuts with each meal. It's not worth it. And I was like, hold on a second. Let me get this straight. So your affliction was that you couldn't eat peanuts. Yeah. And then the cure is you have to eat peanuts with every meal for the rest of your life.

And it shows him sprinkling peanuts on his breakfast cereal in the morning. And I was like, crunchy nut? Hell yeah. I was like, did this? This doctor who designed the study have a shrivelled up monkey paw was, he was like design a cure for people with peanut allergies and it was like,

it is done. This is an episode of the Twilight Zone. What kind of evil wizard devised this cure? There's worse things to have to incorporate into every meal than nuts. Let me tell you, they go pretty good with a lot of stuff. Very rarely in a day would I not be up for a handful of nuts. Don't clip that out. Don't clip that out for sure.

But scientists are like this. This is like when I read that the scientist devised a cure for arachnophobia, fear of spiders. You have to eat five spiders. Yes. Wait, what? Yes, they were like, we figured out the amount of spiders you have to eat. And it 100% cures arachnophobia. Oh, my God.

Not worth it. So cruel. Not worth it. And also, I know that's a f***er lie because scientists also tell us that we accidentally eat like a million spiders a year. So no one should be afraid of spiders then. Don't try that at home. If you've got a peanut allergy, please don't try the Greek uncle method. You have to go to hospital, I think, and do it scientifically. Yeah. Getting back to what I was talking about, Roy, we have a haunted theatre on our hands. Me and you both well know that theatres, music venues are often

associated with superstition and paranormal energy. Something is clearly happening in these spaces. Do you remember any kind of off top of mind, theaters that we've investigated for huntings? No. Well, we have. Torrey Lane, was that one of them? Okay. I think I did that one. It is a common thing. I remember more the people. There's like haunted clowns, haunted performers that were killed on stage.

I think the whole M. Beth thing, if you know what I'm sorry about. Too close to saying. Big Macbeth, Big Macbeth. You can kind of get around. That's not getting around it. Yes, but it is a common trope in the world of the paranormal. I don't know why. I think we've done a lot of them on tour. Yeah, we were in a lot of theaters.

When we've gone on tour, we'll be in theaters, and we like to try and tailor our tour to often something to do with that location, do a story based on that location. And on a number of occasions, even the theater we've performed in has been hunted. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Even sometimes we didn't know it going in, and then the staff have told us. So it's clearly a running theme in the paranormal.

It is, it is. But to understand better, we need to ask who was this Frederick Federici and how did he come to haunt the Princess Theatre? Frederick Federici, or Frederick Baker, as he was originally known, was an Italian British opera singer. In early 1870s Britain, Federici began a successful career in the world of comic opera. Gaining notoriety as a young man, he performed in, Gilbert and Sullivan's operas like

the Pirates of Penzance, HMS Pinafore and the Mikado. Hmm, some classics there. He had toured all over Britain and the US before he arrived in Melbourne for a run of performances in 1887. By the following year, Federici was attracting huge audiences and much acclaim in Australia,

so critics and fans couldn't wait for the opening of his next production, Faust. This grand opera would tackle philosophical themes of regret and even striking a deal with Satan himself. Federici was playing the baritone role of Mithistopheles, a demon from hell. Whoa. And his opening performance was career defining. One newspaper said,

He both sang and acted on Saturday night in a truly artistic manner, and he has never been seen to greater advantage than he was on that occasion. It was a tour de force performance, but there was one moment in the show, That was very special indeed. Because at one point in the play, Federici's character had to descend into head. And they really made this happen on stage by using a specially designed platform that sank into the stage at the end of the night. That's pretty cool. Pretty cool for the 1800s.

I'm a big fan of next level stagecraft like that. Remember the first time I went to see Les Mis here in London and they have a revolving stage. So you can see both sides of the barricade. Barricades in the middle and it kind of rotates and flips. That kind of stuff, that kind of stagecraft. Very cool. Very, very cool. Or the classic, what was it, slip-knott, Turr?

All right. Joey Jordan's. Were they, this is the next level. Were they, the platform raised into the sky and then turned upside down 360 while he did a drum solo? That was actually also cool. Very iconic. Equally cool.

Or our old high school back in Northern Ireland, where you and I lived, that actually had a trapped door in the stage. And we used to, during lunch breaks, sneak down there and smoke weed. So that was kind of a cool little... That's a Rory original. That was a cool little bit of stagecraft. Disappearing in a puff of smoke. Yeah.

Hala, y'all don't need a haze on this stage. Yeah. We actually got stuck down there once and we didn't realize class had started back up again and someone above us started giving... flute lessons on top of the trap door so we couldn't leave because they would know that we had been down there. Yeah. So we had to listen to a poor child, receive flute lessons for 30 minutes, and they were not destined for the flute. Yeah, excruciate it. Let's just say that in the kindest way possible. It's becoming clear why you're a bad father. You know, the pipeline from basement

weed smoking to disciplining a Tamagotchi incorrectly is just, it's just a tube. Oh my God, she evolved. And she has a beak. I'm not joking. Really? Something's gone massively wrong. The lips were a step. She's dancing.

She's twerking. This is crazy. This is really, this isn't a bit. She's got legs. She didn't have legs before. She was just a puddle of a thing. Oh, my God. But now he's got legs and it's grooving.

I've been waiting for this to happen for a long time. This is pretty epic. She's a woman. She no longer needs her old man. Wouldn't go that far. Oh, she's only six, actually, turns out. How have they not created more pixels for the Tamagotchi in the last 25 years? It hasn't changed at all.

It really hasn't. From when we were kids. Okay. Can I get back to the story, please? Yeah. This is a really big moment. I'm sorry. Yeah, let's get back.

Do you remember where we are? Yes. Platform descending into hell. But as if by some bizarre and poignant poetic irony, one night, as the platform descended under the stage, Viterichi had a massive heart attack. Whoa. And he died almost immediately right there

under the Princess Theatre stage. Wow. Now you might have expected the show to grind to a halt at that point, pandemonium screaming, but actually the haunting began immediately. Because moments after Viterici died, the cast, unaware of his heart attack,

walked out on stage for their final bow of the night. The audience leapt to their feet, giving them a standing ovation. And rather than wondering where Federici was in the final moments of the show, they saw it on stage, amongst the cast, bowing deeply.

Oh, okay. Enjoying the applause. Thank God. I thought you're going to say the last round of applause, they were like, and let's raise that platform and give the star of the show one big round of applause. And his like contorted body is now lifted up onto the main stage. His bone

Cotorid body. That's right. The paranormal phenomena began immediately on Federici's demise, and his ghost began to appear to people from that evening onwards. Wow. This whole event was studied by the paranormal investigator J.A. Hernandez, who reported, Frederick Fiderichie's body was carried to the theater's green room, where a doctor could not revive him. And Frederick Fideric was pronounced dead. He was declared as having suffered a heart attack during his descent through the trap door.

Ever since his death, a ghostly figure of a man has been seen wandering the theatre, and for years after his death, over a hundred years of reports of ghostly activity at Princess Theatre include odd noises, a shadowy figure near the stage, staff and audience feeling strange or uncomfortable, sudden onset of goosebumps, wild temperature swings in small areas, strange lights, flashing during performances and the feeling of a person brushing past. Hmm. That is, I mean, I like that list. That is just literally the full bingo card.

Every single individual paranormal phenomena we would associate with a haunted theater. Yeah, I mean, that is also a list of things that would happen to you at a regular theater. Someone brushing past you, a light flickering. Not when the cleaner is in the theater alone at night, quietly. brushing the floor. That's true. That's true. And they feel, you know, someone yanked their hair. They turn around.

No one said that. No one's this didn't happen. You're making that up. There's, moving on. There's newspaper report. Okay. What, from the death? Yeah, it's just cool to see.

Princess Theater, out of respect for the memory of the deceased, Mr. Frederici, who died so suddenly at the termination of the opera on Saturday evening. No performance will take place tonight and the theatre will be closed in capital letters. That is quite sad. And it's always cool to see like a newspaper clipping or something from a case to remind you that this is real and it did happen. Isn't it mad how like when someone dies in a show like that, it doesn't always cancel the show. Yeah, that's what an understudies for. That's what an understudies for, yeah.

You're a spare part of a set of bodily organs. Frederick, right, Frederici needs a new heart, right? Get up here, boy. Cut him open, give Frederici the heart. I would like to, because we're going on tour this year, get your tickets now, online. Links in the description. Come see us, please. I plan on dying on stage.

I won't tell you which show. I won't tell you which show it is. This tour? Yeah. One of the shows, I'm going to have a heart attack. Hopefully not the first one. I'll give you a clue. the heart attack's going to be after eating a deep dish pizza

so you know clean from that what you will I thought you were going to say we need understudies the good news is we both have brothers that's true which they do like if you squint they could be us put them in our clothes like you'd have to style them a little bit not because they don't have any style I mean you'd have to like downgrade their appearance obviously fuck them up a bit yeah and they'd look like us

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that could work. The Princess Theatre Haunting was cemented in Australian paranormal lore from the get-go. In the book, Great Australian Ghost Stories, the writer Richard Davis documented one very strange encounter. Attending the theatre when a fire alarm had sounded, it was a false alarm. One of the firemen attempted to open a sliding section of the roof to let some fresh air in. He was later found by his colleague. huddled in a corner, shaking with fear.

As moonlight flooded the theatre, a fireman claimed he had seen a figure standing, statue-like in the middle of the stage. I could see through him, the fireman claimed. And his eyes, they were like a cat's eyes. Whoa. And, you know, a fireman, an Australian fireman. God damn.

That is, we're talking, Zach Ephron post-plastic surgery. We're talking beefy. We're talking scary-looking. Yeah. And that is a guy who's not going to be terrified easily by much, and he's, quote, huddled in the corner. Yeah, I mean, a translucent person with cat's eyes,

that's a pretty scary thing to behold. But while this encounter terrified that witness, the theatre's managers claim that Federici is a friendly ghost. Like Casper. And some seem to agree. One theatre director Jesse Kane says He's really more of a good luck omen Saying Fred is very much a benevolent presence

Nothing nasty ever happens He's like a friendly poltergeist Again this kind of taps into the superstitious nature of theatre We've mentioned it before With the M play The M Beth play The Scottish play

You can't say it And if you say it something bad will happen Someone will break a leg, someone will die, someone will die. A piano will fall on them like wily coyote. Yeah. I said it earlier and now my Tamagotchi has a beak. It's not a bad thing. It's a bit less disturbing than the lips. Yeah. She's still dancing too, but Leah, let's stay on track. I'd be dancing too if I'd lips like that. But it's true. You know, it goes to show that the superstition swings both ways. It can be bad, but it can also be good kind of theater people or if they are superstitious, they

might also interpret it in a different way. They go, like, you know, because if you're putting on a production, and, you know, maybe you didn't have a great opening night. The reviews weren't so good. Yeah. But then one night you see Federici in the stand, see through big glowing cat's eyes, giving you two thumbs up. You'd kind of feel a little bit like, okay, he's giving us the blessing. Yeah. And also, you know, when people say that he's a friendly ghost, I could also understand that Because even though his death was tragic, he died doing what he loved. Yeah. During a performance that people said was the best of his entire career.

So true. That's how I want to go out in my prime, you know? So don't applaud too loud on tour Aurora will end it all. They'll be like, this is it, this is the high point. If people clap enough when we walk out on stage during our first show, I'll be like, this is it! Pull out a handgun. The kid's like, no! No!

the audience starters he's got a gun no it's for me it's for myself that's the saddest thing you can say if you pull out a gun

no it's for me the police bursted sir put down the firearm no it's for me it's fine yeah yeah I like this idea

a friendly ghost I like to see it more of that please but it also It also appears that the ghost stories surrounding the Princess Theatre don't end with Federici. Other ghosts are well known. This suggests the location itself might possess some powerful paranormal energy. One famous ghost associated with the theatre is the Lady in Grey.

Legend has it, she was an actor who died in the theatre in the early 1900s, said to haunt the dress circle of the theatre. Many people have witnessed her in a long flowing grey. Gone. It said one of the most famous encounters was where an entire group of workmen in the 1920s saw the Grey Lady for themselves. I will say I could see Roy's eyes glazing over at this point. A little bit, yeah. Lady in Grey is one of the most typical ghost sightings of all. Yeah, Lady in Fill in the Blank. That's when my brain starts to turn off. It's always a flowy dress. It's never like a cute pantsuit. Yeah. It's never a

Like we mentioned earlier, some Doc Martins. Gene shorts, crop top. Yeah. Always lady in blank, lady in white. Lady in blue, lady in black, lady in gray. As soon as I hear that, you've kind of lost me a little bit. Okay, well, let's move on. It's just too generic.

It's just a little too generic for me. I like the specifics in a case. I like the details. I like unique stories. I think that's where believability comes from, is the smaller details. Beep, that's this case, flat. lining because Rory is checked out. We're not investigating the Lady and Grey.

We're investigating this other ghost. But I will say, whilst the Lady in grey is not interesting in a sense, it's not, it's too general to really latch on to. It's also, yeah, it's probably famous for a reason. It's seen all around the world and haunted locations. And still may point to the idea that this place is just more generally haunted than just Federici. But yes, Federici is, I suppose, a bit more specific, a bit more meaty of a subject. Look, this is naturally the point where I need some clutch evidence to come in and save the day,

pointing us to a double yes. Unfortunately, in my research, I haven't found any real photos or recorded evidence to attach to Federici or even the grey woman, which isn't a great start. Though with that said, I wanted to find some folk evidence at the very least. And of course, I turned to Reddit. And I wasn't necessarily disappointed. On the Melbourne subreddit, I found a thread titled, Has anyone seen The Princess Theatre Ghost? As usual, this type of post attracted a couple of locals-only jokes which I have no idea about,

as well as a few hard noes, also including some paranormal enthusiasts who really have hoped to see it, but still haven't. But there was one reply that started with the words, I did. Okay. User, Ashamed Tomorrow 6885, writes. But not ashamed today. I bought the ticket last minute.

Third row, center. Because my date bailed and I refused to waste 250 bucks on the thing. The Princess Theater hummed with pre-show chatter. Phones glowing like fireflies. Then the lights dimmed. The overture swelled and I forgot everything. until the intermission. That's when I saw him.

I'd lingered in my seat, scrolling Instagram, when a cold draft cut through the air. The house lights were still low, but I could have sworn someone sat down beside me. I glanced over. He wore a 19th century tailcoat. Oh boy. At first I thought he was part of the show,

some kind of immersive gimmick. Then he turned. His eyes were. black pits. Jesus. His lips blue. Enjoying the performance. He rasped. No, he didn't. The words syrup thick.

You're not real. I whispered. He laughed. A wet rattle. Are you sure? Okay. When the curtain fell, I was the first out. But as I hailed an Uber, my phone died

Beep, case flatlining again And in the black screen of my phone I saw him reflected behind me Grinning a hand on my shoulder Now every night My Spotify shuffles to a piece From that performance And when I checks the mirror

His face flickers in mind for a second Mouthing the words On call Okay, all right Someone just took a creative writing course And he's trying to flex on Reddit Nice. All right. Bravo! No. Bravo!

I think it's honestly beautiful that we... This is a theatrical investigation. Only fitting that we inject a little bit of real theater. Because that's real, what just happened, into today's case. Enjoying the performance, the ghost turned and asked him. Oh, Lord. It's the golden moment. Triumph on the podium, golden hand.

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There was pictures. There were pictures, and bones. Unicorn bones. Oh, you want to see bones of Fiderici? I can show you bones, all right. Let's go. I don't want to see that. Look, there's no evidence for today's case.

Yeah. Yeah, I could have probably guessed that one, yeah. Look, let's quickly talk theories. We've mentioned that theaters are one of the most commonly haunted spaces we see in the world of the paranormal. Is it possible that actors and directors are just a very superstitious bunch who are either more sensitive to the paranormal or just believe in things that aren't there? Or is it possible this is a Melbourne thing? It is true that Melbourne has a rich history of haunted locations, everything from haunted cinemas to the haunted Queen Victoria Market, built on the grounds of the old Melbourne

cemetery in the 1860s. Loads of stories I'd love to get to another day, but from my research, it doesn't really seem significantly more haunted than any other historic city on earth. Yeah, yeah, yeah, any old city. you throw a dart and there's a building where someone's seen a ghost or seen a cryptid or heard a legend of a story of a tale. It just happens a lot. And as you said, the theatre crowd, we used to run with them. They are a superstitious bunch.

We smoked weed into the stage. Yeah, we're into theatre. We're specifically inside the theatre stage. Our high school friend Scott Hamilton had a heart attack down there after smoking too much weed. Not name-checking Scott. Jesus Christ. I had to resuscitate him under the stage mid-high school performance. Yeah, we've told stories ourselves of a bad luck and misfortune that took place during our own school performances.

So, yeah, yeah, I think any high-tension situation with a lot of pressure, like a performance, there's going to be misfortune that happens. Rory, well said. In the theatre, emotions run high. Many interesting people come through. And, you know, in the world of the arts, in the world of theatre, you know, we blend the worlds of reality and fiction. It only seems fitting that we would also, in our minds potentially, blend the worlds of the real world and the other world.

At the end of every episode, we do still have to come down on a conclusion as to whether we think the case is paranormal or not. Rory, in the case of the Princess Theatre in Melbourne, what do you think today? Hey, look, as an ex-theater kid, I'm always going to enjoy it when we go investigate the stage. It's always a blast. It's a great setting for any paranormal tale.

But unfortunately, we still have to treat these cases like any other paranormal investigation. And without any hardcore evidence, physical, or some more solid witness testimonies, we really don't have a lot to go on in today's investigation. So for me this week, it is going to be a no. Rats. Gosh, darn it.

Yeah, it's a pity because I really enjoy this case. Stories like this just jump off the page. I feel like, you know, Federici giving the performance of his life descending under the stage. It's like a movie. It's amazing. It's like The Prestige, one of your favorite movies. Watch the prestige if you haven't seen The Prestige.

But sadly, not loads there. It's disappointing for something, for a ghost scene as many times, we would have loved a little bit of evidence for Federici's ghost. But hey, a no, okay, a double no today.

Oh, a doubler. But it reminds me of the kind of case, like I say, that we would have done on tour. Sadly, we haven't managed to get our greasy mitts on the continent of Australasia yet on tour. Yeah. But who knows?

The Princess Theatre is probably, a little rich for our blood, maybe too many seats for this part of my life. I don't know. I haven't looked it up. But gosh, that would be really fun, wouldn't it? That would be cool. Perform in the Princess Theater. Maybe we can just, we'll be like, hey, let's just leave a bunch empty for Frederici.

The whole kind of dress circle, yeah. The expensive seats, those are empty for Federici. Oh, we sold 35 out of a 700 cedar venue. Well, those are for the ghosts because we have a lot of deceased fans. So, yeah, we just want to make sure we want to leave space for them. We want to hold space.

I'll Google it. I'll Google the capacity, see if this is possible. If this is possible. For our future. Kit did say that it is a double no at the end of today's episode. But of course, we have one more vote today. Is it a triple no? Dolores, what do you think? What do you think, sweetheart?

Is it adult, stop dancing or I'm going to discipline you? Okay. I swear, she doesn't seem interested at all. But she is hungry and not very happy. Both of those stats are at an all-time low. Yes, I'm still. starting to worry that it's not dancing at all. I think it's maybe some kind of complex neurological issue brought on by a diet of pure candy. Because if I assumed it was happiness. I did assume that.

I didn't know what Tamagotchi could have diabetes. But it seems that Dolores does in fact have it. Roy, I do have a result for my search. And the Princess Theatre is a 1,452-seater venue. Oh, okay. Which, oh, it's, you know, that is on the top end. That is on the top end of kind of venues we would normally perform in. But we know that if we made the journey out there, Australia would turn up. You know, there might be... Turn up!

Yeah, for sure, for sure. Yeah. I think if every one of our fans... Double it! What? Do you want the princess theater or do you want to double it and do it to the next show? Two nights. Yeah, that's right, baby.

because we know Australia, if we came all the way out there, they'd turn up, mate. I think they would need to bring about seven guests per paying customer, you know, it would be, yeah. We should book a week run now. And just because I know every single person would want to come seven days in a row, we turn it into like a festival. It's just, I'm kind of looking at the other people performing there and it kind of seems like. I'll do a shooy on stage. We're going to turn up and the staff will be like, oh, are you guys here to perform the podcast tonight? and we'll say, we're not here to f*** spiders, mate.

Nice. Local knowledge. Some people will appreciate that one. Yeah, that's one of those ones. I don't know if that's... It kind of feels like a top of the morning to your situation. Like, you know, someone would say that to me, and I'd be like, I don't... We don't really say that over there.

That doesn't make me feel anything. Yeah, unfortunately. So, Australia, we are working on coming to your continent, but good news. If you live in the United States of America, yes. Toronto Canada Yes

We are coming to a city near you That is right If you go to this paranormal life dot com We have all the turdates For 2025 That we are performing

We are coming Soonest of all To the United States and Canada We cannot wait to come back It has been two years Since we've been there Crazy And we're coming this August

For the last time No, why Yeah So it's a way to sell tickets Is it like this? It's the last time we're ever coming. Well, apparently Rory's last time. It sounds like I'll live to tell the tale. And I'll be lowered into hell. Rory's going to be my Federici. This is disturbing.

Dolores is my understudy for when I die on stage. It's going to be Kittinatamiaguchi for most of the tour. Yeah, do not wait until the last minute. Please go pick up your tickets. Some of these shows might already be sold out. Jesus. So get on it. We're so excited to be out there again performing live and hanging out with everyone. Yeah, the link is in the description. Get your tickets. We are coming to do a live podcast, live investigation of this paranormal life, meeting you, the listener in some of our favorite cities on Earth.

It is going to be such a blast. As Roy says, ticket in the description. The patrons knew about it before anybody else, which is a really cool thing. We did a Patreon pre-sale because all our patrons get early access to her tickets. So if you want to be in that elite group for next time, and also get a bunch of really amazing rewards, including bonus episodes, shoutouts right here in the podcast and Night of the Commune, gold and silver coins, head on over to patreon.com forward slash this

paranormal life. Also, just a fun way to get this Paranormal Life episodes with no ads. So you can listen uninterrupted, crystal clear. And at the end of every episode, we like to give a shout out to some of those people on Patreon. I'd say let's do that. Let's do it. So, as special, thank you to Yugaray 44. Damn, that is one hell of a lot of understudies. If you're on number 44 already, what kind of performance are you guys putting on every night?

Yeah, look into that person. Yeah, that is a prestige level performance. If you're on number 44 of, what, Yugaray? Yeah. I would say let's try and not make it 45. I like 44. 44 is the only one that's subscribed to us on Patreon. Yeah.

So let's stick with 44. If your number of understudies gets to the point where your name sounds like a radioactive element, you're gray 44, you've gone wrong somewhere. Thanks also to Antonis Theodorou. Antonis, do you think you can handle this? You're going to need to come on the road for two months. Watch Rory every minute of the day, study his every thought, his every behavior, the way he, the weird fucking way he brushes his teeth. Jesus Christ, if you saw the way he did it.

Right, it's normal. The way he wipes his ass. Well, don't look at that. You don't need to know that. I don't, sorry. How do you know how I wipe my ass? It's more just like, if he's my understudy, just how I perform on stage. The way he sleeps, the way he snores.

If you were going to become his understudy, you need to live in his skin. I mean, you need to cut his skin off at night. The way he disciplines his Tamagotchi relentlessly. You need to study him. Because only then will you know the twisted mind that creates such episodes as, I don't know, Shag Harbor. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just I'll tell you right now, my tamaguchi eats 19 times a day. It's all candy.

Discipline once an hour, every hour, on the hour. Even if you have to wake them up to discipline them. 19 times. And anytime you don't want to look at them, just lights off time. So that's how you raise a kid. Awful. Awful person. Antonis, I think turned on the job.

Turned on the job offer. Thanks also to Kerry King. Carry King, you are welcome in the commune because we need someone to carry the king, two kings specifically. So if we could get you with some kind of saddle, like a two-person saddle, and you could just carry the kings

around the place we don't actually have any obviously there's no cars or bikes or horses or donkeys or anything like that because we had to eat and sell everything so it's really just manpower woman power people power

yeah normally that job though like back in night times it would be like six people carrying the king right we can afford six people yeah unfortunately Sorry, Gary. Thanks, lastly, today, to Jeff Nickliss.

Come on down to Jeff Nicklaces' necklaces. We got all the jewelry that you possibly want, right here in our jewelry store. Jeff's Jeff's necklaces. Love that. Yeah, we got it all, baby. Can I interest you in a necklace today, sir? Lovely, anything simple, kind of silver. We have string.

We have string. Uh-huh. And I can tie it in any way you want. What's on the string? Is it like a charm or like a thing? Yep. There's a little charm made of rope. There's a little rope.

More string. There's a bit of rope. Rope isn't string. Those are two completely different things. Yeah. Sorry. Because even string with a thing would be acceptable as a necklace. Yeah.

I'm not putting rope around my neck. That's, that's, that's, it sounds like you're trying to trick me into doing something. Why don't you're talking about? Just stand on this platform and why don't you test out one of our rope necklaces. Right. Chip. very dark Jeff. Thank you so much. We love you guys. We're doing fine.

We're going on tour. We're going on term. We're going to see Jeff in person. Yeah, we are. Hell yeah. Thank you for listening to this week's episode. If you're Australian, sorry. And we're going to be back on Tuesday with a brand new paranormal tale. Back on Friday with an after party. Put the Tamagotchi away. I don't want to hear it.

She's sick. She's still dancing There's a skull above her head She needs medicine Please support us on Patreon My daughter needs medicine Oh mercy I'm gonna discipline her real quick

Remember to live fast Investigate And die young baby Dolores will The show sold out So just remember your training mate And things will go off With that hitch

Let me do it last bit And things will go off And things will go off And things will go off With that Poh-No Things will go off Things will go off without a hitch

Brutal I'll just do it one more time I'll do it one more time