It sounded like the chatter of a family waiting for a train somewhere along the platform. All five of us heard it.
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These are the unused subterranean platforms 26 and 27 at Central Station intended, in the late seventies, to service Bondi and the Illawarra. But they weren't needed.
The trains never arrived. Passengers never embarked or disembarked.
The platforms were built on what was originally the Devonshire Street cemetery. Bodies were exhumed in 1901 and reburied at several different cemeteries. A newspaper report of the time stated:
"The remains represent thousands of persons, who, when in life, belonged to all denominations and religions."
Shrub and plants were cleared so that relatives could decipher the names on tombstones and the gates were kept locked to prevent graves from being desecrated by intruders.
We are on a tour of what have become known as the "ghost platforms" ahead of them being briefly made available for public access as part of Sydney Open weekend.
Tony Eid, director of operations with Sydney Trains, escorts us through the gloom and musty atmosphere. We all hear the voices. Photographer Edwina Pickles, Netta Kovach who works for City Rail and Hayley Gallant from Sydney Living Museums.
It went on for no more than 10 seconds. Mr Eid says the concrete walls are thick. Very thick. It would be unlikely for extraneous sound to travel from elsewhere in the station, he says. He's heard children's voices on a previous visit.
"This is the area that is supposed to be haunted," Mr Eid says. "You are literally in the area where the old graveyard used to be.
"Workers down here said they would hear kids playing and, thinking they were vandals, would go and investigate.
"When they got to this point it would go completely silent and they would feel a chill in the air. On one occasion I was down here with a radio crew and we all heard children playing. Take that as you wish but we all heard it."
Ms Govach said of our experience: "I did hear voices. It sounded like voices down the other end just chatting, just very jovial voices actually."
As part of Sydney Open you can also climb up inside Central's sandstone clock tower. No ghosts but, if vertigo isn't a problem, some spectacular views of the city once you have clambered up the 302 steps.
So what's the explanation for the voices? Five people don't simultaneously imagine the same thing, do they? Surely nobody has been waiting for a delayed ghost train since the 1970s?
You can make up your own mind whether they are haunted by entering a ballot for the tour. There's no guarantee you'll hear anything.
Purchase a Sydney Open City Pass by October 16 to enter the draw to win one of 112 Golden Tickets giving double pass access to limited capacity places including Central Station Clock Tower, and disused Platforms 26 and 27 and elsewhere. slm.is/open