HALLOWEEN will bring a busload of ghost hunters to some of Redlands Coast’s most mysterious locations when author Jack Sim launches his new book at Cleveland’s Grand View Hotel.
Haunted Redlands: Legends and Ghosts of the Redlands Coast Volume 1 will be launched at 2pm on Saturday before Mr Sim leads a haunted-sites bus tour from 4.30pm.
The tour will finish back at the Grand View Hotel for dinner, with guests set to hear tales of local apparitions, unexplained encounters and enduring urban myths.
Mr Sim said the book was built on more than 70 interviews and hours of research into reported ghostly sightings and mysteries across the district.
“My task is to listen to and unravel these urban legends to see if they are true or a fabrication,” he said.
The book explores 13 locations including Mount Cotton’s infamous Spook Hill on Mount View Rd.
The site became a teenage test of nerve with visitors claiming unusual magnetic forces could interfere with compasses and even pull cars uphill.
The Redlands book is part of Mr Sim’s 26-book Ghost Trail series, and he has already begun mapping out a second local volume.
“This time I will take about two years to finish it,” he said.
The next instalment is expected to expand into the Southern Moreton Bay Islands and include tales of ghostly shipwrecks.
Mr Sim said the first book grew from a promise he made during a Capalaba Library talk in October last year.
“I decided to keep the promise, and I had one year to do what was a lifetime of stories shared with me,” he said.
He also runs several Redlands ghost tours each year and regular after-dark tours of Ormiston House, where he shares stories of unusual occurrences and mysteries connected to the historic property.
Haunted Redlands: Legends and Ghosts of the Redlands Coast Volume 1 costs $30 and is available from Cleveland Visitor Information Centre, selected gift shops and jacksim.com.au.
