Troy Taylor is the author of nearly three dozen books about ghosts and hauntings in America, including HAUNTED ILLINOIS, THE GHOST HUNTER?S GUIDEBOOK and many others. He is also the editor of GHOSTS OF THE PRAIRIE magazine, about the history, hauntings and unsolved mysteries of America. A number of his articles have been published here and in other ghost-related publications.

Taylor is the president of the ?American Ghost Society,? a network of ghost hunters, which boasts more than 600 active members in the United States and Canada. The group collects stories of ghost sightings and haunted houses and uses investigative techniques to track down evidence of the supernatural. In addition, he hosts a National Conference each year in conjunction with the group, which usually attracts several hundred ghost enthusiasts from around the country.

Along with writing about ghosts, Taylor is also a public speaker on the subject and has spoken to well over 1,000 private and public groups on a variety of paranormal subjects. He has appeared in literally dozens of newspaper and magazine articles about ghosts and hauntings. Taylor has 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, like AMERICA?S MOST HAUNTED, BEYOND HUMAN SENSES, GHOST WATERS, NIGHT VISITORS; television series including MYSTERIOUS WORLDS and MOSTLY TRUE STORIES; and in one feature film, THE ST. FRANCISVILLE EXPERIMENT.

Born and raised in Illinois, Taylor has long had an affinity for ?things that go bump in the night? and published his first book, HAUNTED DECATUR, in 1995. For seven years, he was also the host of the popular, and award-winning, ?Haunted Decatur? ghost tours of the city, for which he sometimes still appears as a guest host. He also hosted tours in Chicago, St. Louis, St. Charles, Missouri and the ?History & Hauntings Tours? of Alton, Illinois. He is the co-founder of the ?Bump in the Night Tour Co.? with fellow ghost author Ursula Bielski.