Book Description

HAUNTED DECATUR: 25TH ANNIVERSARY EDITIONTWO CENTURIES OF DECATUR'S SPIRITS, SCANDALS AND SINSBY TROY TAYLOROn the 25th anniversary of the publication of his first book, author Troy Taylor returns once more to reveal two centuries of spirits, scandals, and sins in Decatur, Illinois - the most haunted town in the Midwest! He takes you behind the scenes of the most spirited places in the city and reveals a collection of favorite hauntings, new stories you've never heard before, and offers new secrets about old stories that everyone only thinks they know! Journey back in time to the days of the first settlers and discover how the city came to be so haunted. Then, hold on for a wild ride to the most ghost-infested spots in Decatur from Greenwood Cemetery to the Common Burial Grounds, the Lincoln and Avon Theaters, Hell Hollow, Millikin University, Wabash Train Station, and many more. If you dare, take a walk into haunted houses, eerie hotels, ghostly graveyards, and find out why the entire city of Decatur was sent into a panic over a phantom in 1903. You'll be terrified by historic tales of crime, murder, bootlegging, and corruption and learn how Decatur earned the nickname of the "second most corrupt city in Illinois." You'll find lurid stories of gangsters, graverobbers, killers, thieves, prostitutes, and cold-blooded murders and scandalous suicides that left lingering ghosts in their wake.This is not a book for the faint of heart, but it is a celebration of a city that has worked hard to earn its reputation for bloodshed, murder, death - and ghosts. Decatur is a place that is haunted by its past in more ways than one. So, turn off the lights, lock the doors, and let this book take you back to where the history and hauntings in Decatur began.