Troy Taylor

WARNING: Review contains a few spoilers. Read at your own risk.

This was a little different than I expected, but certainly well worth the read. I initially picked it up as research material for my novel, but once I began reading, I became interested for my own sake. It was well researched and well written. I picked up on a typo here and there, but they were few and far between so it wasn't distracting.

I did feel that too many pages were dedicated to the Fox sisters. While they are show more absolutely an important piece of the puzzle and worth some examination, I don't think that they merited as much space as was given to them. That's simply my opinion. I'm of the belief that they were frauds so it irritates me when I see so much attention still focused on them.

That aside, I learned a lot about folks that I didn't know about and there was a wealth of information about how things worked; how frauds operated, balanced by healthy discussion of folks who may have been genuine mediums. That was particularly helpful to me as one of the characters in my novel is a medium and I want to depict it as truthfully as possible. I was especially drawn to those parts that were focused on the 19th century. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm slightly obsessed with the era. The descriptions of some of the things that were faked and the fact that people actually fell for it was amazing to me. In fact, in places I laughed aloud. Of course to my modern eye, certain things were simply ludicrous, but I understand that in a different time, when lighting was poor and electricity was a relatively new phenomenon, it was easier to suspend belief. I don't mean to pass judgment, either. My own beliefs run outside the norm (I'm pagan) so I also understand how believing in something that others find difficult to comprehend presents its own challenges.

Overall, I would say that for those who are interested in the subject matter, this is an absolute must read. It gets a little dry at times, but that's to be expected in a book of this nature. I really appreciate the amount of work and research that must have gone into this. I will be reading more from this author. show less

A nice specialized look at monster sightings in the Land of Lincolm. Ignore Chicago and you have a lot farmland as well as plenty of forest. Southern Illinois is covered by the Shawnee National Forest. Read about the Pias a Bird, pretty much the trademark of Alton, my hometown overlooking the Mississippi. Also read up on the Big Muddy Monster (Bigfoot), alligators in the sewers, mysterious panther sightings, phantom kangaroos, thunferbirds, lake monsters, and more. Troy Taylor is the go-to show more guy in the subject, author of well over 100 books on ghosts and the paranormal, true crime, and natural disasters. show less

Fun book with a number of odd places and people in Indiana. A number of sections with a big section with ghost stories, the phantom hitchhiker or the haunted train or bridge. There's a few creeping around the state. Another section about large than life roadside attractions, a huge elephant of which there actually 3, different versions of the "muffler man." Strange animals, from two headed calves to big foot, yes big foot in Indiana, and a giant snapping turtle. Was amazed to see that my show more home town Prairieton made it into the book with the locally infamous blue hole which is "bottomless." And Terre Haute just north of there where I live now got three mentions, Stiffy green the dog in a mausoleum, the man who had a phone line installed in his family crypt for if he was buried alive and St. Mary of the Woods College and the shrine that is made of shells. Really an enjoyable read and shows that we have more than just corn fields in Indiana. show less

I’m giving this 3 1/2 stars, but I went ahead and rounded it up to four because I really did enjoy the book. It’s always interesting to learn about local history, and Jacksonville’s past is full of amazing and tragic stories.

It was the haunting stories I have some issues with. I love ghost stories and the supernatural, but a lot of the stories in Haunted Jacksonville felt like an afterthought. They didn’t seem to be very fleshed out or researched much. I would have enjoyed more show more information about how the authors went about their own ghost hunting as well as a bit more description of the experiences. There were a lot of sections with long, fascinating historical stories that ended with a small paragraph stating that many people experience footsteps or noises, so they think it might be haunted. They weren’t all like that; there are a few very creepy accounts in some cases; but I thought there would be more in a book titled, “Haunted Jacksonville.”

The book also ends rather abruptly without any conclusion or wrapping up. The last paragraph is an experience a girl had at Illinois College, which ended the chapter on Jacksonville schools. The next page was the bibliography instead of a conclusion or closing paragraph.

Despite these issues, the book really is a fun and interesting read full of rich historical information about the small rural town of Jacksonville, and I recommend it to anyone who’s interested in local history. show less