Model: Charlotte Dawson's ghost is haunting me

Charlotte Dawson's birth mother said yesterday it was time to move on. Photo / Getty Images

A former Top Model contestant claims the ghost of Charlotte Dawson is haunting her - but the visits are not scary.

Simone Holtznagel, who placed third in the 2011 cycle of Australia's Next Top Model, told the Herald Dawson had visited her three times since she died in February last year.

Dawson was Ms Holtznagel's mentor on the reality show and the two were close - so close that Dawson, who Ms Holtznagel called "mama," had entrusted the younger woman with keys to her home.

"We spoke every day. We would see each other a few days during the week and every Sunday we'd have lunch on the wharf," Ms Holtznagel said.

The young model, who moved to pursue a career in acting and modelling the United states in 2013, even claimed to have identified the star's body after her death.

"[We] did everything together. We ID'd her body. That's how close [we were]."

The visits were "not scary," and Dawson's presence was quiet with the ghost "almost whispering" when she spoke, Ms Holtznagel claimed.

"It's happened once at my grandma's house, again when I moved into my place in LA and then just the other night in my hotel room in Amsterdam. It's the most surreal thing that's ever happened to me," she said.

"The first two times I've felt someone sit on my bed, right next to me and then feeling a weight on my forearm.

"The other night was the first night I actually had the courage to turn and look," she said.

"When it happened the other night she said "it's ok" a few times, then she was just saying along the lines of, 'you know this time last year was really rough.'"

Ms Holtznagel claimed the visits happened when she was still wide awake, and said she did not think she was imagining things.

"I definitely do not think being over tired is the case," she said.

"It's happened to me more than once and I remember things like that happening since I was about 14."

Charlotte Dawson was found dead in her luxury waterside apartment at Woolloomooloo, Sydney, in February last year.

Dawson, a television personality and former model, had struggled with depression for years and had been the target of cyber bullying through social media.