Legendary ghost author speaks at Carrollton Library

By Editor | November 2, 2023 |

Author Troy Taylor sets out a few of his more that 140 books he has authored over the last 30 years covering ghosts, hauntings and true crime. Taylor had a presentation at the Carrollton Public Library on Oct. 24. (Carmen Ensinger/Greene Prairie Press)

By Carmen Ensinger

The lawn of the Carrollton Public Library was packed Tuesday night, Oct. 24, with around 70 people who came to hear Troy Taylor give a presentation on Neighborhood History and Hauntings of Southwest Illinois.
Taylor is the author of over 140 books dealing with ghosts, hauntings and true crime, most of which is based in and around the state of Illinois.
“I have never had a real job in my entire life,” Taylor boasted to the audience. “I was born and raised in Illinois and I actually started my very first ghost tours and wrote my first book living in Decatur 30 years ago this October. It is a long time to be writing about ghosts and true crime and haunted places and while I’ve had places from all over the country in my books, I do love Illinois and I’m always happy to come back here to Carrollton.”
Carrollton Librarian Angie Custer has had a long association with Taylor, who has spoke at the library several times.
“Troy and I go way back and it is always exciting to have him come and see us,” she said. “From the first time I got my hands on one of his books, I was hooked. I love his depth of history. I love the way he researches. I love how he presents all sides of the story. It is just incredible to me as a librarian.”
Taylor said that pretty much every town has some kind of ghost story or haunting associated with it.
“People will give me leads and I just start digging,” he said. “This is one of my favorite parts – the researching. Just finding the stories and finding the real information behind the stories is what I think is so much fun.”
When asked how long it typically takes to write a book, he said that it varies.
“I usually have several projects going at the same time so it is hard to really say how long it takes me to write a single book,” Taylor said. “But I usually do about four books a year. But I might have started researching a book two years ago but just never got around to writing it until now.”
Taylor said he does all his own research – he has no help in this area.
“I don’t have any help in the research because then they would be doing the part that I like to do,” he said. “I want to do the research because that is the fun part. I can spend two hours looking for something that turns into maybe two sentences in the book but its worth it because it is something I needed to know.”
One thing is for certain, getting information has gotten a lot easier over the past 30 years .
“When I first started 30 years ago, I had to go to every archive library, historical society, etcetera, to get the information for my books,” he said. “It is a little easier to find records now. I used to have to sit in front of a microfiche for hours and go blind. Now, I can get onto Newspapers.com and find almost everything I need.”
Carrollton Library has many of Taylor’s books on hand for its customers to check out, but, by far, the most popular is the “Haunted Alton” book, which talks about local places which are supposedly haunted by ghosts.
“We call this book our ‘tour guide’ because so many people have checked it out and placed paper markers in the book as to where they have gone or asked me how to get to this place or that place in the book,” Custer said. “Because I’m a librarian, I’m going to mark that and we decided just to leave the markers there for the next one who wants to check it out and go on an adventure.”