Customer Reviews

Haunted Alton: History & Hauntings of the Riverbend Region

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I have a lot of Troy Taylor books, because I live about 10 minutes away from Alton. Troy is a nice man, so ignore the ignorant comments of people who wrote in, because they don't know him! This book tells about several Historical Hauntings that happen in this region. It have everything from the Civil War ghosts, to Elijah Lovejoy. You'll be happy you bought and read this wonderful book by a wonderful man. I also recomend Season of the Witch. You'll love it-I did!

This is an errie book. It sent chills down my spine when I read it. --If you are interested in seeing these places, I discovered that Alton has a special tour of the homes in Taylor's book. It is a neat town to visit.

As an Alton resident, I can assure you that Mr. Taylor's recent work, Haunted Alton, is a must read for anyone interested in ghosts or the paranormal. I, myself, live in an Alton home built around 1840, and so, have experienced many of the happenings that Mr. Taylor so redily explains.

As a former resident of the Alton area I was hoping to read many ghost stories from the region; however, at least half of this book has nothing to do with ghosts. This is far more a history book than a hauntings book. I loved learning more of the history of the region since we learned little of it in school, but I fail to understand why there were so many stories included that were history only and absolutely no connection to an even suspected haunting. An example of this is the chapters on Robert Waldlow and Paula Sims, fascinating chapters of local history but not hauntings.
Secondly, Mr. Taylor seems to think proofreading is running your work through your computer's spell check and grammer check. This was supposed to be a revised edition of this book, but it was filled with typing errors. Totally wrong words were used (such as "on" instead of "one", the wrong tense of words were used (such as "stop" instead of "stopped" or "stopping" or words were skipped all together. This made for difficult reading at times.

Billed with only a little hyperbole as the Most Haunted City in America, Alton abounds with ghost stories and as an Alton native, I'm continually amazed at how many reports Troy turned up from the area...and not all of them are even in this book. The historical background of the area is not only fasinating on its own, but critical to establishing context of the ghost story....and, admit it, most ghost stories are pretty insubstantial in and of themselves (spooky noises, movement out of the corner of the eye, footsteps from the empty apartment upstairs). Alton has dozens of stories from the mysterious origins of the Piasa Bird to the Confederate ghosts on Hop Hollow Road (a spooky walk on a dark night) to the Mineral Springs Hotel (now mall) and Troy Taylor does an excellent job bringing them together in what is the premiere book on a once-overlooked subject.

I am from the Alton area and have lived there most of my life. I thought this book was very entertaining and accurate as I know the owner of one of the buildings mentioned. I think it was a great way to learn about the city, and had very good information.

Taylor, one of the most experienced ghost hunters in the nation, has written THE definitive book on hauntings in the Riverbend Region. Highly recommended. And if you're ever in Alton, be sure to visit Taylor's store. Despite what you may have read elsewhere, visitors are always welcome, and his selection of ghost-related products is impressive.

This book was a gross disappointment and a waste of money. Repeating the stories and the history in Haunted Illinois relative to Alton, throwing in a few new and adding a (very) few about some nearby towns, made for a very dissapointing book. There is a great deal of vagueness about the location of a number of the sites he writes about. There are plenty of new typos and errors, which would make one hope that any forthcoming books get a good proof reading before printing. Since that appears to be a commonality of his work, I am not expecting it to come about. Oh, and as far as the invitation to look him up if you visit Alton (presumably by stopping by his shop/museum) - apparently that is out of date or another typo - he doesn't welcome visitors - not even buyers and fans of his work.

Ok, first of all... you'd think if you were going to steal someone else's stories to use in your book you'd spice them up a little instead of making it drag as long as possible and as boring as can be. I know for a fact that almost all the stories in Mr.Taylor's book aren't his own. So before you go on and on praising his brilliance, you need to know the truth. He's nothing but a thief. And a lousy one at that.
Save your money... or buy the excorcist if you want a thrill. This man is not a writer, nor is he interesting.