Taylor, Troy

Troy Taylor (1966– ) is the founder of the American Ghost Society, prominent ghost and paranormal investigator, and author.

Troy Taylor was born on September 24, 1966, in Decatur, Illinois, in an area rich in ghost lore. As a youth he was fascinated by true ghost stories and followed the work of ghost investigator Richard Winer, British ghost investigator Harry Price, and cryptozoologist Loren Coleman (cryptozoology is the study of mysterious or “hidden” creatures). He struck up a correspondence with Coleman, establishing a lasting relationship.

In school, Taylor was known for his paranormal interests and often took friends on informal ghost tours of local haunted sites.

Following graduation from high school, Taylor travelled and worked in various jobs. He married, had two children—a son and a daughter—and divorced.

In 1989 Taylor took a job in a bookstore in Decatur. By 1992, he was an active ghost investigator. His ghost experiences and his job inspired him to write his first book on ghosts, Haunted Decatur, his collection of ghost stories and lore. He published the book in 1995 with his own press, Whitechapel Productions Press.

The immediate success and popularity of the book established Taylor as an expert on Hauntings and ghosts. While investigating a haunting at Eastern Illinois University— the ghost of counsellor Mary Hawkins reportedly prowls Pemberton Hall dormitory—Taylor met Amy Van Lear, a graduating student who shared Taylor’s ghost interests. The two were married on December 31, 1996.

In 1995, Taylor and Van Lear organized a group of ghost enthusiasts to act as an investigations team and search for hard evidence corroborating the existence of ghosts. The organization, the Ghost Research Society of Central Illinois, started with about 25 people and quickly grew. A year later they reorganized it as the American Ghost Society, and it quickly became one of the largest ghost organizations in North America.

The Taylors moved to Alton, Illinois, near St. Louis, Missouri, in 1998, where they purchased a bookstore, Riverboat Molly’s, later renamed History & Hauntings. The bookstore served as headquarters for the AGS and as the site of the annual AGS conference. Taylor gained prominence in the media as a ghost expert and author. He started the Alton Hauntings tour company.

The Taylors divorced in 2005. Taylor sold the bookstore and relocated to Decatur, where he started two more tour companies, one in Springfield, Illinois, and one that arranges haunted weekends. For a time he collaborated with Ursula Bielski, a Chicago-area ghost author who also had a tour company. In 2006, Taylor established his own Chicago area tour company, Weird Chicago, based on his book Weird Illinois.

In February 2006, he remarried, to Haven Starrett.

Taylor describes himself as “a sceptic with an open mind.” He believes in Survival After Death and is favourably inclined toward Reincarnation. He believes in the existence of ghosts, though he has not found any conclusive proof. His no-nonsense approach appeals to a wide audience. When investigating phenomena, Taylor starts with the premise that the cause is not a ghost and looks first for all possible natural explanations.

While many cases do have natural explanations, some remain inconclusive. Taylor divides ghosts into two categories: residual hauntings, or impressions of images, sounds, smells and so on, and intelligent, conscious spirits, or discarnate beings who exhibit a personality. Intelligent ghosts are rare; residual hauntings account for most unexplained phenomena.

Taylor has had various experiences himself of haunting phenomena, such as unusual Smells associated with haunted places. For example, he went to Springfield, Illinois, to research the Springfield Theatre Center, reputedly haunted by the ghost of actor Joe Neville, who committed suicide at home in the 1950s, shortly before he was to take the lead in a new production. Taylor didn’t know it at the time, but one of the hallmarks of Neville’s presence was the pungent smell of a well-known medicated facial cleanser cream used by many actors for removing makeup. Taylor walked into a little-used, old dressing room and met the recognizable smell of this cleanser. He didn’t think it was unusual—after all, he was in a stage theatre. Later he was told the smell signified the presence of the ghost—and also that the theatre had prohibited the use of the cleanser for years, because of the haunting.

On a research trip to the Gettysburg Battlefield in Pennsylvania, Taylor had another phantom smell experience— the sudden, pervasive aroma of peppermint along Baltimore Street. He then learned that the residents of Gettysburg had used ample amounts of peppermint and vanilla to counteract the stench of dying soldiers. Both smells still haunt the area today.

At the Waverly Hills Sanitorium in Louisville, Kentucky, both Taylor and Keith Age saw Apparitions and were the targets of objects thrown by invisible forces.

One of Taylor’s primary objectives is to raise the standards of professionalism in Ghost INVESTIGATION. His book The Ghost Hunter’s Handbook: The Essential Guide for Investigating Ghosts & Hauntings (1998; 1999; 2001, 2007) has become a standard manual for ghost fieldwork.

Taylor has written more than 40 books on ghosts and hauntings, nearly all of them published by his own company.

SOURCE:

The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits– Written by Rosemary Ellen Guiley – September 1, 2007

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