Australian exorcist spills all about the reality of ghost hunting

News.com.au

24-05-2025

Ever stepped inside a home and knew something was off?
Good, then you know the feeling.
Maybe a cold chill crawls down your spine. Or a dark sense of anxiety envelops you. That tap that won't stop dripping.
You can call a tradie. Or the boys in blue. But when there's something strange in the neighbourhood, many Aussies (including the super-rich) are calling someone else.
Catarina Ligato is that someone. The Sydney home exorcist can be of service if you need evil energy driven from your digs. By cleansing these spirits, her clients claim they feel more at home.
Ligato, who has 20 years of experience providing the paranormal service (also known as home clearing or home healing), claims she's sent spirits packing from over 5,000 homes. And demand keeps growing.
While human exorcisms are embedded in popular culture, expelling evil from homes is a lesser known side of demonic possession.
But with spirituality becoming more accepted in the household, home exorcisms are starting to have their moment.
While many Aussies battle to keep a roof overhead, the idea of home exorcisms may sound silly to some. But behind closed doors, it's becoming big business.
In perhaps its highest profile example, Australian financier Michael D. Daffey hired a home exorcism when he snapped up paedophile sex predator Jeffrey Epstein's $51 million New York house of horror. Talk about having your work cut out for you.
Ligato's clients include Sydney billionaires in the elite enclaves of Sydney's eastern suburbs, who are focusing less on negative gearing and more on negative energy.
And it's not just homeowners – even leading real estate agents are using her services to save their sales.
Speaking to news.com.au, Ligato said even sceptics can be sensitive to the energy in a property.
'We're drawn not to how a home looks, but how it feels,' she said.
'I've had billionaire clients who called me after moving into 20 million dollar homes. And they tell me: 'it's haunted'.
'The rooms may feel very cold and eerie. Or pictures on the wall keep falling. Even wardrobes flying open. But always, there's the feeling.'
Ligato said larger homes often have more parties, debauchery or just people passing through who can leave lingering energy.
'It doesn't matter how much you spend on furniture or makeovers. When the energy is bad, you're not sleeping.'
'That's when you know the place needs to be wiped clean.'
Scars of the past
Ligato said this negative energy often comes from past tragedy. Death, suicide, domestic violence or drug abuse that happened inside a property can leave bad energy.
Ligato, who also runs the popular podcast and YouTube channel The Australian Ghost Whisperer, says leading Australian real estate agencies hire her for help.
'Sometimes there's a death or suicide in the house, and they can't sell.'
'I'm even being called to clear their offices.'
Ligato says this may be due to ghosts who aren't ready to crossover to the spirit realm, don't understand they're dead, or fear being condemned to hell.
'They're scared,' Ligato says. 'They don't know where to go and get stuck. They might end up in their old home or someone else's. Wherever feels safe.'
Ligato limits herself to 2 bookings a week, a boundary she needs to stay spiritually grounded.
She says these are the signs to watch out for hauntings in the home.
Signs your home is haunted
1. You feel unnaturally cold.
2. You hear voices or footsteps when no one is home.
3. You keep finding belongings moved around.
4. You feel more tense than usual.
5. You're always exhausted.
How to get rid of ghosts?
When it comes to sending polter-guests packing, it's best to leave it to the professionals. So how does it work?
If you're thinking Ligato will haul a hot cauldron into your home and chant gibberish into it, think again. Though she does wield a wand.
She gets started by assessing the property, finding any demonic entities and using the healing-crystal wand and 'sacred spray' to drive them away.
In fact, home healing is nothing new. Cultures around the world have long-held traditions for removing negative energy in the home. For example, the Balinese keep windows and doors open to invite positive energy.
Today, spiritual services are used in some of Australia's highest professions.
Another Aussie psychic Lizzy Rose claims to have once healed a former Prime Minister of negative energy.
Ligato says it's taken 20 years of speaking to her spirit guides to learn how to do what she does.
'Doing this work is a calling, it's not for everyone.'
'I know other psychics who ended up in psych wards for losing their balance.'
While Ligato has also done thousands of exorcisms on people, she said working with homes is more fulfilling.
'I find it can feel a bit more positive, because you're helping both the inhabitants and the spirits to find peace.'
What she does often involves talking to the spirit about their death to bring them to a place of peace.
'I'm able to kind of cleanse the footprints of the previous people that lived in the home.'
'So it's like the house then just feels really nice and peaceful.'
She said sometimes it's her biggest sceptics that become the biggest clients.
'People feel it instantly, even if they don't see it. It just feels peaceful and calm.
Her home healing service starts at around $300, with costs increasing depending on the size of the home and extent of the haunting.
For those who prefer to do it themselves, Ligato says you can follow simple steps.
How to keep the spirits out your home
1. Burn essential oils.
2. Play calm music.
3. Open your windows.
4. Declutter regularly
'Dark energy'
One of Ligato's clients, who asked not to be named due to her profession in the legal sector, says life took a dark turn for her family soon as they moved into their Sydney home.
'It seemed to be one bad thing after another. There was a lot of dark energy.'
When Ligato came, she determined there had been a death in the house. She got to work helping the spirit cross over.
'The home felt so much lighter.'
Another Victorian woman say her family felt a dark cloud roll over their rural home one day. When she came by, Ligato confirmed there was work to be done.
'After a few hours the energy of our home started to lift. I was overwhelmed.'
'She bought peace and happiness back in our lives.'
Another Sydney homeowner says Ligato helped get her family back on track after a move changed everything.
'The house felt chaotic in energy, which was affecting my family.'
'Afterwards we noticed a huge improvement in sleep and moods.'
'I can't talk more highly of her work.'