Prairie State Spirits: A Troy Taylor Book Review
Readers, beware! Inside the pages of The Big Book of Illinois Ghost Stories are hauntingly descriptive
tales of the Prairie State’s most notorious sightings. From miniscule towns
that border the true South to Chicago’s infamous disaster sites, author Troy
Taylor covers a variety of local hauntings.
Taylor is the author of more than 50 books related to ghosts
and hauntings in America, and is the president of the American Ghost Society,
who has over 600 active members. The Illinois native is also a public speaker,
tour guide and founder of the Haunted America Conference. His dedication to the
subject is apparent in each story told in The
Big Book of Illinois Ghost Stories, and those who are fascinated in
Illinois’ haunted history may just find a story that they haven’t heard before.
The book is broken up into different areas of Illinois:
Southwestern, Southern, Central, Northern and Chicago. Southwestern Illinois
has stories of cursed towns, phantom funerals, rivers made of blood,
pro-slavery murders, haunted penitentiaries and typical haunted houses, hotels
and cemeteries. Southern Illinois has ghost towns, a headless horseman, the
first and last hanged woman in the state and a boogeyman. Central Illinois has
an abundance of ghosts that haunt railroads, hotels, colleges, cemeteries and
theaters. Northern Illinois has abandoned asylums, a house with no square
corners and a prison that had held the likes of George “Bugs” Moran and Chicago’s
“Sausage King” Adolph Luetgert. Chicago has massacres, fires, some of the most
haunted cemeteries and the notorious Resurrection Mary.
While some of these stories can be read in more detail in
Taylor’s other books, he also presented research from other well-known experts
in the field that reside in Illinois with him. Ursula Bielski, Chicago
historian and folklorist, is also an author of dozens of Illinois-specific
paranormal books and owns Chicago Hauntings Ghost Tours. Chicago-born Dale
Kaczmarek has actively investigated paranormal phenomena since 1975 and is the
president of the Ghost Research Society. Springfield resident Stu Fliege has
had a lifelong interest in Illinois history and has been recognized by the
Illinois State Historical Society.
The latest book by Troy Taylor shares both well-known and
obscure ghost stories and legends that have been passed down to generations of
those that call the Prairie State home. It blends the right amount of fact and
lore, making it an exceptional start to someone’s next deep dive into those
that haunt Illinois.
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