The convict-built well and the site of a former female factory in Munster Street draw in Portparanormal founder Shaun Oldfield.

The professional signwriter believes Port Macquarie’s convict past is a rich source of paranormal phenomena.

“Ultimately, it is the history of Port Macquarie that I started the society for and I want to dig further in our history,” he said.

Mr Oldfield said many people could have had paranormal experiences but not have recognised it as such.

His goal is for the Hastings and Macleay paranormal research society to be well respected and eventually be granted access to the area’s haunted and historic buildings.

Mr Oldfield has called for people to contact him with information about paranormal experiences worthy of investigation and information about paranormal activity in the area.

“I’d really like to create a database of haunted places throughout Port Macquarie and I’d like to know about people’s personal experiences,” he said.

Mr Oldfield had his first brush with the paranormal as a 10-year-old when he heard strange noises at a then apartment complex in William Street.

Unexplained incidences, from strange images in photographs to weird noises, have continued ever since.

On Wednesday night, a high-tech recording at the historic well picked up unexplained pops and clicks, Mr Oldfield said.

April will mark Mr Oldfield’s first official overnight stay in what he described as a “known haunted location”, Maitland jail, which housed some of Australia’s most hardened criminals.

Sixteen men were executed there.

Meanwhile, Portparanormal, which has a Facebook page, only has a handful of members but Mr Oldfield hopes the group’s size will swell over time.

Contact Shaun Oldfield on 0421 035 573 for more information.