Troy Taylor

About me:

Troy Taylor is an occultist, supernatural historian and the author of 64 books on ghosts, hauntings, history, crime and the unexplained in America. He is also the founder of the American Ghost Society and the owner of the Illinois and American Hauntings Tour companies.

Taylor shares a birthday with one of his favorite authors, F. Scott Fitzgerald, but instead of living in New York and Paris like Fitzgerald, Taylor grew up in Illinois. Raised on the prairies of the state, he developed an interest in "things that go bump in the night" at an early age and as a young man, developing ghost tours and writing about haunts in Chicago and Central Illinois.

He began his first book in 1989, which delved into the history and hauntings of Decatur, Illinois, and in 1994,it spawned the Haunted Decatur Tour -- and eventually led to the founding of his Illinois Hauntings Tours (with current tours in Alton, Chicago, Decatur, Lebanon & Jacksonville..) and the American Hauntings Tours which travel all over the country in search of haunted places.

In 1996, Taylor organized a group of ghost enthusiasts into an investigation team and the American Ghost Society was launched, gaining over 600 members in the years that followed. The organization continues today as one of America’s largest and most honored research groups.

In 1997, Taylor launched the Haunted America Conference, regarded as "America's Original Ghost  Conference" in Decatur, Illinois. After a number of years in Alton, Illinois, the conference has returned to its original site at the Lincoln Theater in Decatur. The Haunted America Conference remains the most imitated conference in the country and is now preparing for its 13th annual event.

In addition to the tour companies and Haunted America Conference, Taylor is also the founder of Whitechapel Press, a publishing company for books about the supernatural that he started in 1993. In addition to publishing many of Taylor's books, the company also works with other authors all over the country.

Along with writing about the unusual and hosting tours, Taylor is also a public speaker on the subject of ghosts and hauntings. has appeared in scores of newspaper and magazine articles about the subject and in hundreds of radio and television broadcasts about the supernatural. He has also appeared in a number of documentary films, several television series and in one feature film about the paranormal.

Troy's website, American Hauntings, can be visited at http://www.americanhauntings.org

BOOKS BY TROY TAYLOR

DEAD MEN DO TELL TALES SERIES
Dead Men Do Tell Tales (2008)
Bloody Chicago (2006)
Bloody Illinois (2008)
Bloody Hollywood (2008)
Without a Trace (2009)

HAUNTED ILLINOIS BOOKS
Haunted Illinois(1999 / 2001 / 2004)
Haunted Decatur (1995/ 2009)
More Haunted Decatur (1996)
Ghosts of Millikin (1996 / 2001)
Where the Dead Walk (1997 / 2002)
Dark Harvest (1997)
Ghosts of Springfield (1997)
Haunted Decatur Revisited (2000)
Flickering Images (2001)
Haunted Decatur: 13th Anniversary Edition (2006)
Haunted Alton (2000 / 2003 / 2008)
Haunted Chicago (2003)
The Haunted President (2005 / 2009)
Mysterious Illinois (2006)
Resurrection Mary (2007)
The Possessed (2007)
Weird Chicago (2008)

HAUNTED FIELD GUIDE BOOKS
The Ghost Hunter's Guidebook (1997/ 1999 / 2001/ 2004)
Ghost Hunter's Guidebook: 10th Anniversary Edition(2007)
Confessions of a Ghost Hunter (2002/ 2007)
Field Guide to Haunted Graveyards (2003)
Ghosts on Film (2005)
So, There I Was... (With Len Adams) (2006)

HISTORY & HAUNTINGS SERIES
The Haunting of America (2001)
Into the Shadows (2002)
Down in the Darkness (2003)
Out Past the Campfire Light (2004)
Ghosts by Gaslight (2007)

OTHER GHOSTLY TITLES
Spirits of the Civil War (1999)
Season of the Witch (1999/ 2002)
Haunted New Orleans (2000)
Beyond the Grave (2001)
No Rest for the Wicked (2001)
Haunted St. Louis (2002)
The Devil Came to St. Louis (2006)
Sex & The Supernatural (2009)

STERLING PUBLICATIONS TITLES
Weird U.S. (Co-Author) (2004)
Weird Illinois (Barnes & Noble Press) (2005)
Weird Virginia (co-author) (2007)
Weird Indiana (co-author) (2008)

BARNES & NOBLE PRESS TITLES..
Haunting of America (2006)
Spirits of the Civil War (2007)
Into the Shadows (2007)

HISTORY PRESS
Wicked Washington (2007)

STACKPOLE BOOKS
Haunted Illinois (2008)
True Crime Illinois (2009)