Lake Mungo
I feel like something bad
I feel like something bad
has happened.
It hasn't reached me yet
but it's on its way.
I don't know why
it's important...
...like, how it helps people
to deal with loss...
...by making up stories
about ghosts or whatever.
Alice kept secrets.
She kept the fact
she kept secrets a secret.
It's hard for some people
to understand.
You've to believe
you're to blame...
...otherwise there's
nothing to hold on to.
Emergency services.
My daughter Alice
has gone. We need...
She's been missing.
Send someone up.
I need you to talk
to me for a second.
Can you hear me?
The normally tranquil setting
of Ararat's novel dam...
...was shattered
with the disappearance...
...of 1 6 year-old
Alice Palmer...
...while picnicking.
We received a call
around 6 p.m. tonight...
...over a missing girl.
Upon discovering the nature
of the situation...
...we called in the search
and rescue divers.
Police divers entered
the water around 1 0...
...with volunteers joining
a fruitless search.
They'd swum out
to the middle of the dam.
I could see them
from where I was sitting...
...in the picnic area.
I think I'd been
in the water 1 5 min...
...and I said I'd get out
because I was cold.
So l started swimming back and
she didn't come out with me...
...she said she'd stay there.
l remember Matty got out.
A few minutes later
l heard him ask...
...where was Alice.
So l stood up and
looked out across the dam.
The water was
completely still.
So I called out.
I looked out
over the water...
...to see if I could see her.
And both the boys had
kind of checked...
...you know,
the bush land behind.
l could see Alice's towel.
She'd left it on the ground.
She clearly hadn't gone
out of the water...
...because she would've
picked up her towel.
That was the last time
that l saw her.
Police continue to hold
their search...
...for 1 6 year-old
Alice Palmer...
...who disappeared while
picnicking with her family.
We were told to go home.
lf the search and rescue
divers found anything...
...then they'd let us know
immediately.
It felt very strange
in the car on the way home...
...because there was
one empty seat.
One minute she was there
and then...
...gone.
I went back to stay
with the Palmer's that night.
We were just mostly waiting.
Waiting for news...
...and for bad news.
There was that expectation.
We got a call from Russell
on his mobile...
...at about 9 o'clock at night.
He said there'd been
an accident at the dam...
...and Alice had gone missing.
So, we thought...
...we'd better go.
l remember June was
a bit funny...
...about seeing lris.
There was a strange
feeling between them.
lt felt a little strange
having my mother there.
Mum, l and,
therefore, Alice.
It just didn't feel like
It was an awful,
awful night.
Worse night of our lives.
I went into Alice's room
later that night.
Her phone went off
a couple of times...
...but I didn't answer it.
I remember the bed
was made.
I remember thinking
how neat everything looked.
I got a call from
Alice's mum, June.
She'd said that Alice
was missing...
...and presumed
that she drowned.
l did not believe her...
...but, I don't know,
it was hard to take...
...so I actually called
Alice's mobile.
l just...
l wanted to see if it was
a joke or something.
A real shock.
Just didn't really feel
like it was real.
Everything was the same
as always...
...but people were saying
that Alice had drowned.
Are there memories from
l remember we had
the porch light on.
We still do, actually,
just in case.
And why is that?
Just in case she comes home,
l guess.
Divers located Alice's body
at approximately 9:25 p.m.
They used sonar to locate her.
She drifted someway...
...and came to rest
on a shelf...
...at the bottom
Obviously we contacted
the family immediately.
As soon as we were told
they'd found the body...
...June and I went down
to the dam.
It was all very official
and formal.
They asked me to sign a
statement of identification.
June stayed in the car.
On reflection, l think
that was a mistake...
...because she didn't
have any closure.
I just couldn't bring myself
to identify Alice's body.
She'd been underwater
all that time.
l guess it's not how l...
I didn't want to remember her
that way.
l thought it
my responsibility...
...as Allie's dad, you know?
That's what a father does.
The car stalled on the way
back from the dam.
The only gear I could
get into was reverse.
So we drove back to town
in reverse...
...which was either that
or walk...
...and given everything
that had happened...
...it seemed like
the better option, really.
The autopsy was performed
on the 27 th.
Then the coroner
released the body...
...on Tuesday the 28th.
It was very strange...
...spending Christmas day
with the family there...
...while Alice lay alone
in the morgue.
I don't know, it was like I
hadn't seen her for a week.
lt didn't feel real.
Death takes everything,
eventually.
It's the meanest, dumbest
machine there is.
It keeps coming
and it doesn't care.
There's nothing else to know
about it, really.
It was a somber day
for the family...
...and friends of Alice Palmer
who gathered to pay...
...their final respects
to a young woman taken too soon.
She was a great person.
Very popular...
...clever, lovely.
Alice is remembered as
a happy, fun-loving girl...
...with a zest for life.
Described as always...
The Palmer's were really
doing tough at the time.
it was back then...
...it was hard to imagine
the 1 5th of January...
...stuff started happening
around the house.
Noises on the roof.
Sounds coming outside
the windows...
...and other movements
that seemed to come...
...from Allie's old room.
So we rehung the door...
...to Allie's room and
we got a pest controller...
...to come in and check
for termites.
It didn't help at all.
Doors kept slamming...
...and we still kept getting
noises from her room.
There was just something
weird about that house.
It had a fairly strange
feeling about it...
...I can't explain to you
what it was exactly.
You'd go in there
and have this bad feeling...
...in your gut.
I started having
these nightmares...
...and they were
so distressing...
...that sometimes
I wouldn't want...
...to open my eyes.
l'd woken up but l didn't
want to open my eyes.
There was one particular one.
It was quite vivid...
...and recurring. Alice would
come down the hall...
...still dripping
from the dam...
...and just stand at
the foot of our bed...
...staring at us.
It was quite terrifying.
As I said, I didn't want
to open my eyes.
By early February...
...my nightmares were
getting so bad that...
...I began to go
for walks at night...
...sometimes
0 fans
Submitted on August 05, 2018
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"Lake Mungo" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Dec. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/lake_mungo_12183>.
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