"I'd always been nagging my Kim to go and have a look
at the Vulcan Hotel and its supposed ghost, hoping we would find
something."
That search turned up short.
"I had a beer at the pub and got goosebumps but I think
it was just the excitement."
The pair took plenty of photos and didn't think they had
anything until a friend spotted a shape with an uncanny resemblance to a woman
in the window at the post office, he said.
"It's freaked me out a bit. The shape is very close to
a human figure."
The photograph did not make him any more or less sceptical
about the existence of ghosts but it was bizarre, Mr Watters said.
Vulcan Hotel leasee Jude Cavanagh said it was the first she
had heard of a ghost sighting at the post office.
"It's a very spirited town, so who knows?"
The post office, which was managed by the Department of Conservation
since the 1950s, had been vacant for about a year, at least in the bodily
sense, she said.
"It all adds to the legend of the place."
The department's Alexandra community relations programme
manager Amanda Ware said she had no knowledge of any phantom presence at the
post office.
The building, opened in 1909, was a category two historic
place and had been vacant for about a year, she said.
The interior largely remained unchanged from its days as a
working port office and the second floor, where the mysterious shape was seen,
was the postmaster's living quarters, Ms Ware said.
"Maybe it was him coming back for a visit."
She would tread carefully the next time she stopped by, she
said.