You might have heard stories about ghosts in The Rocks. If you take a compass into Gloucester Street you’ll come away convinced that there are indeed ghosts there. The compass spins wildly as soon as you walk into the street. Is it a ghost or something else affecting the compass?

This mystery came to us from listener Phil Marks who writes:

I read a book about Ghosts in The Rocks. Being an inquisitive soul I visited the area with a compass to see if there were any strange EMF (electric and magnetic fields) effects in the area. As soon as I arrived in Gloucester Street the compass started to swing wildly. The effect happens all along the street and even continues a little across Cumberland, but then the compass returns to normal. I'm not saying it's paranormal but I'd love to know exactly what is doing this.

702 Reporter Phil Ashley-Brown visited the Rocks with Dr Geoffrey Clarke, a geologist from Sydney University. With compass in hand Dr Clarke explains that the compass was unlikely to be affected by iron oxide in the sandstone. Instead he said a large power source could be responsible.

"We’re very close to a heated swimming pool here. It would draw very large currents through copper cables, which are probably lying underground. We’re simply seeing the effect of the heating elements switching on and off. So no, I don’t think there are any ghosts here."

A spokesman from Energy Australia confirmed the presence of the copper cabling.

"An eleven thousand volt cable runs the length of Gloucester Street and feeds into a sub-station. It’s common that big air-conditioning systems and lifts will draw large amounts of power at different times during the day."

The article above was found on Google and was published originally on 702 ABC Sydney