One of ‘s oldest supermarkets is also the most haunted, according to adamant staff and locals.
The local IGA store in the Tasmanian seaside town of Swansea is gearing up for the spookiest day of the year this Halloween.
The supermarket has operated for 185 years in what’s regarded as one of the first rural settlements in .
Originally housed in the historical Morris General Store building, the Morris family owned the store for 170 years and has only had three owners in its time.
The supermarket was operated continually by the Morris family from 1860 until last year when IGA took it over.
Store manager Greg Raspin hasn’t personally had any scary encounters during his 12 months in charge.
But his staff tell a different story and insist a ghost lives upstairs in the adjoining original building and often hears footsteps from the third floor.
IGA Swansea manager Greg Raspin (pictured) manages one of ‘s oldest supermarkets. Staff and locals say the adjoining original building is haunted
A former longtime employee who worked there for 25 years and asked not to be named claimed she always felt a ‘presence’ whenever she was in the building.
She would even greet the presence at the start of every shift because she believed if she were polite to her, it would leave her alone.
She also refused to go upstairs to the bathroom after 5.30pm at night because of the ‘haunted’ floor.
‘The girls say stuff goes missing and items fly off the shelves,’ Mr Raspin told .
‘They hear footsteps coming from the third storey. Some of them refuse to go upstairs anymore.’
Builders and tradesmen working on the third storey have also reported disturbing the ghost and that the paranormal activity would cease as soon as the work stopped, according to Mr Raspin.
Photos and footage inside the rundown building obtained by show why locals believe its haunted.
The unused upstairs storeys are littered with an assortment of abandoned items, store shelving and boxes strewn across the dusty and creaky wooden floorboards.
Locals’ names and signatures are scribbled on the walls dated back to the 1800s.
Greg Raspin says some staff refuse to go upstairs in fear of disturbing the ghost
The Morris General Store building (pictured inside) is part of local ghost tours
The supermarket (left) is now based next to the adjoining original building (right)
The supermarket was operated continually by the Morris family from 1860 until last year when IGA took over
Swansea was the first municipality in to be established after Hobart and Sydney.
Original owner Jim Morris Sr took over an established business and started Morris’ General Store in 1868.
Located in the town’s main street, the Morris General Store in a registered heritage site on the Tasmanian Heritage Register.
The 1838-built structure is considered a ‘significant landmark’ in the town and has ‘value to Tasmania as a relatively rare rural example of a freestanding commercial warehouse’, according to a heritage report recently submitted to the local council.
Although expanded significantly over the years with the construction of an adjoining supermarket, the original warehouse continues to be used for community purposes and is part of a local ghost tour.
Some IGA staff claim they hear footsteps coming from the third storey of the original building
Even builders and tradies working in the building (pictured) have reported disturbing the ghost
Many of the signatures and names scribbled on the walls (pictured) date back to the 1880s
The local council recently approved plans for a major redevelopment of the site.
The proposed project would see the adjoining supermarket demolished and replaced with a new hospitality complex. A second IGA nearby would remain.
The original building will undergo conservation and stabilisation work.
The supermarket isn’t the first IGA store in to have haunted connections.
In 2012, the local outlet in Brompton, South made headlines around the world after in-store CCTV captured a box of Fruit Roll-Ups flying off a shelf past and landing in an aisle, six metres away.
‘The previous owners told me it was haunted,’ owner Norm Hurst recalled at the time.
‘I thought, ‘yeah, whatever.’ But since we’ve owned the place, strange things have happened.
Greg Raspin says he’s yet to experience any scary encounters with the building’s ghost
Jim Morris Snr took over an established business and started Morris’ General Store in 1868.
The store was owned by the Morris family for 170 years before IGA took over ownership in 2022. It has only had three owners in its time