Jack Chan has always wanted to write a book combining his interest in local history and paranormal.
Chan, who works at Mill Park Library, is the author of Whittlesea Dark Past, a book of historical local true crime and paranormal stories.
Whittlesea Dark Past aims to showcase the historical crime in Whittlesea and “promote a part of local history that there’s not a lot of books written about ”.
“This part of the past is dark and dark can mean different things, dark might not mean bad, dark also means things that is not talked about very much,” he said.
“Letting people know there are these kinds of stories in the community” is important and “it’s another fascinating aspect of local history there’s not a lot of books written about.”
During his research and interviewing people, Chan found that many people were interested in the paranormal side of Whittlesea and used it as an advantage to explore it in his book.
“Because there hasn’t been any books done on the paranormal stories from Whittlesea, this is good to have a first,” he said.
“I learnt other things as we’re going along the journey about Melbourne in general. I learnt about a history I wouldn’t have known about.”
He believes communities, including researchers, could really benefit from his project.
“This will definitely be part of Whittlesea local history connection which a lot of people come and use it for research,” he said.
“Also for researchers who might want to work on similar projects, they have a reference to go to. At least they can see we started something and they can use it as a reference guide as to how they might do their research. If they ever want to do a book they can as well. So it’s that kind of stepping stone.”
Whittlesea Dark Past was funded by the Public Records Office of Victoria and received support from Yarra Plenty Regional Library, Whittlesea Historical Association and the publishing company.
Communities are invited to the book launch of Whittlesea’s Dark Past, to discover the true tales and share their own paranormal stories.
The book launch presented by Yarra Plenty Regional Library on Thursday, October 20.
