Troy Taylor

Click on the Haunted America Conference Logo for Information & Reservations for the 2008 Event! Troy Taylor is the author of 55 books about history, hauntings and the unexplained in America, including "Haunted Illinois", "The Ghost Hunter’s Guidebook", "Weird Illinois" and many others. He is the founder and president of the “American Ghost Society” , a national network of ghost hunters.

Taylor was born on September 24, 1966 in Decatur, Illinois, a Midwestern city that is steeped in legend and lore. He grew up fascinated with “things that go bump in the night”, and, in school, Taylor was well-known for his interest in the paranormal and often took friends on informal ghost tours of haunted places all over downstate Illinois. In 1989, Taylor turned his interest in the supernatural into a career when he began working on his first book, Haunted Decatur , which delved into the ghosts and hauntings of the city where he grew up. The book spawned the Haunted Decatur Tour in 1994, which took guests to locations that he had written about in his book.
In 1996, Taylor organized a group of ghost enthusiasts into an investigation team and the American Ghost Society was launched, gained 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 12th annual event. In 1998, Taylor moved his operations, which now included the American Ghost Society, a history and hauntings bookstore and a publishing company called Whitechapel Press , to Alton, Illinois, near St. Louis. In Alton, Taylor started his second tour company, Alton Hauntings , which took guests to local haunted places in the small Mississippi River town. He would go on to put the place on the map as “one of the most haunted small towns in America.”

Taylor remained in Alton until 2005, when he returned to Decatur. By then, he had also established a tour company that arranges overnight stays in haunted places called American Hauntings . This company, using other names, first began in 1999. All of the tours, including those in Decatur & Alton, were organized under the heading of the "Illinois Hauntings Ghost Tours" . Taylor also continued the operation of Whitechapel Press , which specializes in ghost-related titles and has more than a dozen authors working under its banner. In 2006, Taylor started the Weird Chicago Tours with his friends Ken Berg and Adam Selzer. The Weird Chicago Tours are based on Troy's book "Weird Illinois", which was published by Barnes & Noble Press. In that same year, the Illinois Hauntings Tours expanded to include ghost tours in Jacksonville and Lebanon . In 2008, Troy also helped to start another tour in Watseka , based on the story of the "Watseka Wonder", which was the basis of his 2007 book, "The Possessed."
In 2007, Taylor incorporated as Dark Haven Entertainment, Inc. , a parent company for Whitechapel Press, the Illinois Hauntings Tours and for the Ghosts of the Prairie Website and Magazine. The new company also handles the film rights to Troy's ghost books and stories. Currently, there are three of his works optioned for possible film and television production.
Also in 2007, Taylor became the executive producer of the web series Cringe , which was created by the iClips Network .
The series began production in 2007 at the Lemp Mansion in St. Louis and also filmed episodes at Bachelor's Grove Cemetery and the Lincoln Theater. Additional episodes are planned for 2008.
Click on the Logo for Cringe!
Along with writing about the unusual and hosting tours, Taylor is also a public speaker on the subject of ghosts and hauntings and has spoken to literally hundreds of private and public groups on a variety of paranormal subjects.
He has appeared in newspaper and magazine articles about ghosts and has also been fortunate enough to be interviewed hundreds of times for 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.
In April 2008, Troy and his wife, Haven, opened Prairie Fire , a retail store in historic downtown Decatur. The store specializes in teas, herbs, spices, pastas, gourmet food and hot food items and also serves as a retail outlet for the Whitechapel Press line of books and as home to the Haunted Decatur Tours . Troy and Haven currently reside in Central Illinois in a decidedly non-haunted house.
Click on the Haunted House on the Right to see Troy's "Dark Haven" Website: Home to Ghosts of the Prairie, Whitechapel Press & the Illinois Hauntings Tours
Check out the Series! DEAD MEN DO TELL TALES SERIES
Dead Men Do Tell Tales (2008)
Bloody Chicago (2006)
Bloody Illinois (2008)

HAUNTED ILLINOIS BOOKS
Haunted Illinois
(1999 / 2001 / 2004)
Haunted Decatur (1995)
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)
Mysterious Illinois (2006)
Resurrection Mary (2007)
The Possessed (2007)
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)
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)