Ghosts and paranormal activity aren't typically associated with the rough and tumble of politics in Parliament.
But there are whispers its 163-year-old library is the home to the ghost of former Dunedin MP William Larnach.
"Doors closing, lights flickering, there really could be anything around," says research librarian Lilly Phillips.
Glenn Hardingham has worked in the library for 15 years and believes "there are definitely ghosts, but I've never seen them".
One of those alleged ghosts is rumoured to be of former Larnach, who entered Parliament in 1875. It's thought he fell into financial trouble and relationship trouble with his third wife, Constance.
"There was a rumour Constance was having an affair with Larnach's son and that has become the law of Larnach's suicide here in Parliament," Phillips said. "Was it because of his financial troubles or because he found out about this affair? No one really knows."
It's a mystery whether Larnach's ghost does haunt the old library, but if he does he's not the only one.
"Security guards have told me about a demented woman in 19th-century finery hovering down the staircase," Hardingham explained. "I've heard tales of a cleaner, cleaning one really cold night in a bathroom, looking up in the mirror and she sees a ghostly visage of herself rotting away like a corpse with red hair. The cleaner screamed, ran from the building and was never seen again."
But today's real life MPs aren't so sure.
Tourism Minister Stuart Nash says he's seen lots out of the ordinary but never a ghost, while Agriculture Minister Damien O'Connor admits"'it hasn't come visiting me, perhaps I haven't read enough books".
National's Simeon Brown says he wants to go find and catch the ghost, while Defence Minister Peeni Henare says "na sorry bro, it's random too".
