Customer Reviews

Haunted Chicago

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

 

 

The rating should not even be 1 star - it should be 0. This is the absolute worst book I have ever read. The title is "Haunted Chicago". However, the book talks very little about "Haunted Chicago". Ninety-nine percent of the book is devoted to the history of Chicago and not the hauntings of Chicago. That would not be so bad as I love the city and read everything I can about it; but, much of the history reported in this book has conflicting details with the other material I have read on the history of Chicago. The grammatical and spelling errors in this book are so prevalant that it is actually unpleasant to read and sometimes you are left trying to figure out what he is trying to say. A very disappointing read.

This book is very interesting from a historical viewpoint--lots of background about the founding and growth of the city of Chicago. But hauntings? Not so much.

It's really about 80% history and 20% hauntings and none of the photos are remotely paranormal.

Throw in dozens of typos and grammatical errors (did anyone proofread this book?)and the author's love of exclamation points, and it's a hard book to like.

Troy Taylor combines history of the great city along with true stories of hauntings brilliantly. It is a book for the patient reader & goes very much indepth into history, but the author is genuinely in awe of Chicago & puts it all across with passion. The stories are fascinating & spine-tingling. I look forward to reading Haunted Illinois.

I bought this with "Bloody Chicago" by the same author and am now thoroughly disgusted. The author's books lack any theory, any journalistic savvy, any insight. I felt like I was reading a high school paper that had been lifted from the internet. After half the book, I gave up. A friend had taken me on the author's tour in Decatur (in central Illinois--decidedly not Chicago, though charming in a different way and in its own right). The tour was not led by him but another guide, and it was fascinating. Unlike this book. Perhaps the author's book on Decatur is better, as our guide on the tour told us Taylor grew up there. I won't be finding out, though! Again, try Ursula Bielski's "Chicago Haunts" series for everything anyone will ever need to know about haunted Chicago. I'm off ghost books for awhile!