Böcker av Troy Taylor

UNTIL DEATH DO US PARTMURDER, MAYHEM & MALEVOLENT TALES OF LOVE GONE WRONGBY TROY TAYLORThere is no question that we are fascinated by murder. And among those murders, there are none we find more intriguing than crimes of passion. They're compelling for many reasons, not the least of which is that crimes of passion are offenses not usually committed by criminals - but by ordinary men and women who only become criminals because of these acts. Love is strange - and it can also be tragic, murderous, twisted, horrible, and even cruel. Intense love is a form of madness that can inspire insanity, even in those who never seemed unhinged before. This special kind of madness has led to torture, stalking, obsession, abuse, and, yes, even murder. Love can push a man or woman to unthinkable things - direct responses to betrayal, broken hearts, ruined lives, injured pride, jealousy, and probably all the rest of the Seven Deadly Sins. It can even happen when someone can't have something - or someone - they desperately want.And then there are those couples who share their madness between them, resulting in dire and horrific events. Sometimes, lovers can bring out the best in one another -- at other times, not so much.In this blood-curdling book, Troy Taylor presents an American history of love, murder, and insanity with stories of murderous couples, violent ends, "lonely hearts killers," monsters, ghosts, "black widows," "bluebeards," obsessed stalkers, meat cleaver waving madwomen, and more. Read this one at your own risk - you never know who might be sleeping beside you!

FEAR THE REAPERAmerica's Rural Mysteries, Hauntings & HorrorsBy Troy Taylor & Rene KruseWOODS AND FIELDS DARK AND WICKED!Far away from the bright lights of America's big cities are the woods, forests, fields, and farms of America's heartland. Hidden among these isolated spots are heartbreaking tales of murder, mayhem, brutal violence, and ghosts. Such accounts of depravity and murder seem to be far removed from what we mistakenly believe to have been the "good ol' days" of our country's farms and fields. But, as you'll soon find, those days weren't always good and the isolation, loneliness and despair of country life often led to horrific acts that can hardly be imagined outside of our worst nightmares.From seemingly normal farmers who one day snapped and slaughtered their family to murderous hired hands, dangerous drifters, depraved lunatics, and worse, the reader will soon find there was something sinister lurking in the old woods and forests, the fields, farms, and small towns of America and the tales that remain about that sinister darkness are sure to convince you to make sure the doors are locked after the lights are turned out at night. Discover the chilling stories of the Murders on Saxtown Road; The "Inhuman Butcher;" The Meeks Murders; The "Moonlight Murder;" The Hoskins Family Murders; The Lawson Christmas Murders; The Wolf Family Massacre; The "Babes in the Woods;" The Clutter Murders of "In Cold Blood;" Ed Gein; the Keddie Murders; Fox Hollow Farm; and more! If you've ever believed that the most horrendous crimes in history occurred in the big cities, then you'll be both shocked and frightened by those who that occurred in the quiet countryside, along the dusty backroads, in the dark woods, and outside the small farming towns of America - and by the ghosts those crimes left behind.

"When we think of the Roaring 20's -- that decade of gangsters, jazz, Prohibition, and flappers -- most of us think of Chicago, Al Capone, and the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. The Windy City has become famous for its one-way-rides and violent shootouts, but author Troy Taylor presents another part of Prohibition-era Illinois that not only outgunned and outdrank Chicago but has just as many ghost stories left lingering behind from those turbulent days. Southern Illinois -- or 'Little Egypt' as some call it -- not only had just as many gangsters and just as much booze and bloodshed, but it also had aerial bombings, homemade military tanks, dirty cops, unsolved murders, attacks on hospitals, and gun battles with the Ku Klux Klan! Take a trip back in time to the days of the explosive Southern Illinois gang wars, when Charlie Birger, the Shelton Brothers, the Ku Klux Klan, and a bunch of wild card gunmen wreaked havoc, created mayhem, and carried out countless murders as they fought for control of the liquor trade. And it was all happening at the same time Al Capone was the biggest mob boss in that city by Lake Michigan. Maybe the gangs of Southern Illinois didn't wear fancy suits or drink their bootleg liquor in fancy glasses on Lake Shore Drive, but they were just as deadly as their counterparts -- maybe even more so!"--

HELL HATH NO FURY 313 MORE SPIRITS OF THE SINISTER AND THE SLAIN"A villain is just a victim whose story hasn't been told yet."Hell Hath No Fury Like a Woman Scorned... But have they been scorned because they have been overlooked, ignored, and underestimated for so long? Perhaps, because we do know that women have rarely been given the respect they deserve, even when it comes to homicide. As the unlucky can assure you, murders committed by women are almost always more terrifying than any man can imagine. Frightened yet? You should be. Women kill for money, revenge, love, and, yes, occasionally, just for pleasure. They have left behind slain lovers, dismembered children, and spirits who refuse to rest. They can be insane, vengeful, and malicious, and their ghosts often demand attention long after their deaths. They are also the slain - victims who become enduring specters that beg for their stories to be told.The women within these pages are the lost, disappeared, misguided, spurned, wicked, put-upon, vicious, neglected, misunderstood, sinister, haunted, devious, mistreated, murdered, and spectral - and women you will never forget. After two books about women who prey on the innocent - and who are sometimes the innocent who are preyed upon - Troy Taylor knew there were more stories to be told. In this third volume of the series, he recruited the talents of Amanda R. Woomer to reveal thirteen more tales of the sinister and the slain. It's another book of depravity that's not for the faint of heart!

ONE NIGHT IN SALEMTHE HIDDEN HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN WITCHBY TROY TAYLORWitchcraft came to America with the first European settlers. They came here and brought with them their histories and traditions, hopes, dreams, terrors, and fear of their gods. They had fled from home at a time when thousands were being accused, tortured, hanged, and burned for being witches. They came to America for a fresh start - and brought that fear of witches with them.The belief in witches - who carried out the Devil's evil deeds - was as real to the colonists as the constant threat of the Devil himself. They believed that witches caused livestock to sicken and die, crops to fail, and babies to be born dead or deformed. Fear and dread became hysteria when evil came to Salem Village, fueling hostility, distrust, and religious fanaticism that claimed the lives of innocents on the gallows. But Salem was not the end of America's obsession with witchcraft. Join Troy Taylor on a trip back in time as he reveals the hidden history of the American witch! Discover the strange tales of what happened in America in the wake of Salem, from the persecution and murders of accused witches to the conjure folk, Appalachian folk magic, Hexes and Powwowing, Voodoo and Hoodoo, killings, curses, witchcraft manias, and more! This is not another book about Salem, a spell book, or a how-to guide, but a haunted and historic look at how witchcraft came to America and the ways that it continues to thrive today.

DEVIL CAME TO ST. LOUISTHE UNCENSORED TRUE STORY OF THE 1949 EXORCISMThe 1949 exorcism that took place in St. Louis, Missouri, has become one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in American history. But is the story so mysterious because of the events that occurred -- or because so much of the story has been kept secret over the years? After the events in the story concluded, it was decided that further investigation of the case was "counterproductive", and details were buried. The identity of the allegedly possessed boy was hidden to protect his identity. If not for a series of coincidences, the story would have never likely been revealed at all and would never have inspired books, films, documentaries, and more.  Author Troy Taylor has spent more than two decades researching the facts behind this chilling story - searching through old records, visiting the sites that still exist, and interviewing the surviving witnesses to the strange events. But even when he published his first book on the case in 2006, it was nearly impossible to separate fact from fiction because so much of the story had been purposely hidden. He had also made a promise that he would not reveal the identity of the family - or that of the boy at the center of it - as long as he was living. This book is the result of a promise that he sadly no longer needs to keep.  In this updated and uncensored edition of his acclaimed book, he reveals the complete truth for the very first time, uncovering secret details, stories that have never been told, and a full accounting of a story that goes far beyond anything you''ve ever heard before. Read new interviews, never-before-published details, and chilling accounts - and then decide for yourself from this new evidence what you choose to believe - or not believe - about the time when the Devil came to St. Louis!

FORLORN HOPEA HAUNTED HISTORY OF THE DONNER PARTYBY TROY TAYLOR"In prosecuting this journey," warned an 1849 guidebook to the West, "the emigrant should never forget that it is one in which time is everything." It was the best advice that any settler going West was given during the days of the wagon trains to California. The clock ticked with each passing mile, sounding an alarm that meant success for most but doom for an unlucky few - like the Donner Party. In Troy Taylor''s latest book of historical horror, discover the true story of the Donner Party, which left Illinois in the spring of 1846 and traveled by wagon toward California. Most of us know how the story ends - with cannibalism in the mountains - but most don''t know how they ended up there, snowbound in a winter landscape of ice and snow.The Donners began their journey filled with hope and a hunger for new land in the sunshine, but they had no idea what awaited them on the overland trail. Cursed by bad luck, they made careless mistakes, took an untested shortcut, and were plagued by death and bloodshed along the way. Within these pages, you''ll travel along with them as they face horrifying storms, cut a new trail through the Wasatch, spend four days in the desert with no water, and banish one of the caravan''s best men after a murder in self-defense. They only had to cross the Sierra Nevada before the heavy winter snowfalls - but they didn''t make it. Trapped for months in the snow-covered mountains, slowly dying from cold and starvation, they did everything they could to stay alive - even the unthinkable. Discover the events that left them stranded at Truckee Lake, the plight of the first escape attempt by a snowshoe, the horrors found at the camps by the rescue parties, the desperate hunger that led to eating human flesh, the monster that acquired a taste for it and, finally, the eerie hauntings left behind in the wake of the tragedy. This is a story that we all think we know - but there''s much more to it than we hear about in school. This is one of the author''s strangest and most unsettling books so far!

ONE NIGHT IN WASHINGTONTHE TRUE STORY OF AMERICA''S MOST HAUNTED PRESIDENTBY TROY TAYLORFrom the backwoods of Kentucky and Illinois to the White House steps, the life of Abraham Lincoln has become one of America''s greatest legends. But there is much more to Lincoln''s life than you''ll find in any mainstream history book. Visited by eerie premonitions of death, omens and portents, and prophetic dreams, Lincoln embraced the supernatural from when he was a young boy to just days before his assassination. He had an innate faith in destiny and the ability of the dead to communicate with the living. Forget everything you think you know about Abraham Lincoln and take a trip back in time to discover the true story of our country''s most haunted president.Author Troy Taylor lifts the veil from Lincoln''s often macabre and eerie life, from his encounters with Voodoo predictions as a young man to his eerily accurate visions of the future and his embrace of Spiritualist mediums in the White House. Using forgotten newspapers and vintage sources, this is the most complete book ever published about Lincoln''s haunted life, and within these pages, Taylor reveals Lincoln''s dreams of death, spirits around the séance table, and how the occult affected Lincoln''s life until one tragic night at Ford''s Theater in Washington.He takes the reader along as he delves deep into the annals of history with unsettling accounts of the Lincoln Assassination and the spirits that lingered from it, the "Lincoln Curse," the haunted life of Mary Lincoln, mystery, mayhem, mummies, grave robbery, ghosts, and much more! There is no other Lincoln book like this one - and you''ll be turning its pages long into the night!

IN THE BONEYARDHISTORY AND HORROR OF AMERICA'S HAUNTED CEMETERIESDeath is the final mystery at the end of life. We have feared and worshipped it since the beginning of time. All of us have contemplated the mystery of death, and we all wonder – no matter what our beliefs – what will happen to us after we die. Some believe we are born again in a new body with an old soul, while others believe our spirits pass on to another place – or perhaps remain behind as ghosts. The mystery of death has forced us to create rituals and practices to deal with it and to immortalize it with cemeteries, grave markers, and of course, dark and frightening legends and lore.Come along as author Troy Taylor takes you on a cross-country trip to the most haunted cemeteries and burial grounds in America. Within these pages, you’ll discover the traditions behind our funeral and cemetery customs and find out why a cemetery becomes haunted. On this journey, we’ll uncover forbidden and forgotten places, premature burials, grave robbery, desecrations, vampires, haunted cemetery art, curses, and a myriad of lingering spirits that will chill your blood. They are nightmarish stories that seem to be too good to be true – but, they aren’t. They are not tales from fiction, but authentic accounts from the dark side of American history, including the true story of one of the most famous cemetery phantoms of all time – Resurrection Mary.This collection of unsettling tales of boneyard ghosts and specters is the most chilling we have ever offered. Inside, we’ll explore both old favorites and reveal some of the mysteries of haunted cemeteries that may have eluded us until now. So, take our hand, light a candle, and let’s whistle as we walk past the graveyard tonight – and hope that nothing is waiting for us out there in the dark.

Delve into the shadowy world of unsolved disappearances and people who have vanished without a trace, never to be seen again. Such strange and chilling tales run the gamut of the terrifying and the bizarre and include crime victims, lost explorers, ships vanished at sea, outdoor disappearances, and supernatural mysteries that defy all explanation.

In this chilling book by author Troy Taylor, he shines a light on the darkest tales of horror and hauntings from American history and presents a terrifying collection of dark crimes perpetrated against our most tender victims - our children.

From the God-fearing Puritans to the aftermath of the Civil War, the Victorian descent into mourning to modern day funeral traditions, authors April Slaughter and Troy Taylor take the reader along on a journey through America's history with death, dying, and how they've shaped our society today.

Turn these pages and enter the world of the paranormal, where ghosts and ghouls alike creep just out of sight. From a gallows tree in Greene County where an apparition can still be seen hanging, to the lingering spirits of warring mobsters at the site of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, Illinois haunting abound.

Illinois's mysterious and often violent history has made the state a haven for restless spirits.

WEIRD HIGHWAY: MISSOURI ROUTE 66 HISTORY & HAUNTINGS, LEGENDS & LORE BY TROY TAYLOR "GETTING YOUR KICKS" ON MISSOURI'S ROUTE 66! There is no greater highway in American History than Route 66 - the legendary "Mother Road" - which began in downtown Chicago and stretched all of the way to the Pacific Ocean. For millions of people, it represents a treasure trove of memories and a link to the days of two-lane highways, family vacations, and roadside diners that vanished decades ago. For many, it conjures up images of souvenir shops, tourist traps, cozy motor courts, flickering neon signs, and roadside attractions that have blown away in the wind. To others, the highway holds stories of ghosts, haunted hotels, roadside spirits, mysterious vanishings, and bewildering anomalies from America's past. In the second books in the "Weird Highway" series, author Troy Taylor takes readers on a virtual road trip and journey back in time to one of his favorite eras in our history. Part travel guide, part crime thriller, part ghost book, this volume reveals everything from lost restaurants to outlaws like Bonnie and Clyde, forgotten towns, abandoned motels, haunted places, and restless spirits that still linger from the heyday of Route 66. This is not just another book about the Mother Road, but an entertaining trip along parts of the road that many have never heard about, or have forgotten altogether. Hope in, buckle up, and let us take you on a ride you'll never forget! Some of the stories in this volume include: * Spirits of St. Louis * Mystery at the Coral Court Motel * Times Beach: Modern-day Ghost Town * Legends of "Zombie Road" * Diamonds & the Tri-County Truck Stop * Meramec Caverns * The Man Who Would be "Jesse James" * "Mammoth Cave of Missouri" * Tribute to the "Trail of Tears" * Murder at Devil's Elbow * Ghosts of Fort Leonard Wood * Munger Moss Motel * The Story of "Nelsonville" * Spectral Soldiers at Wilson's Creek * Haunts of Pythian Castle * Ghosts of the "Brookline Massacre" * Hiding out with Bonnie & Clyde * Billy Cook's Unmarked Grave * The Hornet Spook Light * Kansas on Route 66 - and much more!