In 1929, Chicago gangster Al Capone arranged a special St. Valentine's Day delivery for his favorite arch enemies: a massacre. Seven North Side mobsters were left dead. Yet random killings and bizarre murders were not unfamiliar in Chicago. Tales of the city's most violent and puzzling murders make this gripping work truly hair-raising: a deranged stalker kills his love object and then himself; a sausage maker uses the tools of his trade to rid himself of his wife; and a meticulous serial killer cleans his dead victims' wounds before taping them closed. Through accounts dripping with mystery, gory details and suspense, Troy Taylor brilliantly tells the twisted history of the worst of Chicago's North Side.

Blazing from the West Side, the Great Chicago Fire left nothing but ashy remnants of the developing city leveling its landscape but certainly not its spirit. While the West Side was home to the infamous O'Leary Barn, it was also where the news of some of the city's most gruesome and horrific crime reverberated throughout the state and across the country. Read about the bloody end of Robert 'the Terrible' Toughy, who undoubtedly lived up to his name, met an ill-deserved fate. Troy Taylor also delves into the life of John Wayne Gacy the depraved man masked by the clown costume and yet again proves to be a master storyteller and historian of Chicago's criminal underworld.

From the very beginning, Chicago thrived on its reputation as a wide-open town. After the Great Fire, no part of the city was rebuilt more quickly than the vice districts, where bribed cops and brutal force emboldened professional wickedness to celebrate itself with gala events like the First Ward Ball, begun in honor of a madam's pianist and often so crowded that passed-out drunks couldn't even fall to the floor. Randolph Street was nicknamed Gambler's Row because men gambled with their lives by visiting it. In Little Hell, guns and knives could be rented by the hour. In these seedy areas only put to sleep by Mickey Finn's knockout drinks or Gentle Annie's knockout punches, it is no wonder that Detective Woolridge kept seventy-five disguises, made twenty thousand arrests and was shot at forty-four times.

Lurking below the Loop, behind the industry-driven energy of Chicago, lies the mysterious criminal underworld of the South Side. Recounting criminal exploits of legends like Alphonse Capone, as well as lesser-known stories like the Car Barn Bandits, Troy Taylor captures the intricacies of the most infamous stories of Chicago's South Side. From the gruesome murders committed by the unassuming H.H. Holmes to the mysterious death of Marshall Field Jr., join Taylor as he revisits the South Side's prosperous middle-class days and vividly depicts the strange and horrific crimes that have cast new light on the character of these too often overlooked neighborhoods.

An addictive and fascinating read that traces the criminal history of our nation's capital, from the bloody site of the city's most famous murder to dark deeds involving politicians from both sides of the aisle. Includes a look at the mysteries surrounding the Lincoln assassination, death by duels and the infamous "Washington Vampire,"

New Orleans--the Big Easy, the birthplace of jazz, home of Cafe du Monde and what some call the most haunted city in America. Beneath the indulgence and revelry of the Crescent City lies a long history of the dark and mysterious. From the famous "Queen of Voodoo," Marie Laveau, who is said to haunt the site of her grave, to the wicked LaLauries, whose true natures were hidden behind elegance and the trappings of high society, New Orleans is filled with spirits of all kinds. Some of the ghosts in these stories have sordid and scandalous histories, while others are friendly specters who simply can't leave their beloved city behind. Join supernatural historian Troy Taylor as he takes readers beyond the French Quarter and shows a side of New Orleans never seen.

"Since as early as the 1700s, New Orleans has been a city filled with sin and vice. Those first pioneering citizens of the Big Easy were thieves, vagabonds and criminals of all kinds. By the time Louisiana fell under American control, New Orleans had become a city of debauchery and corruption camouflaged by decadence. It was also considered one of the country's most dangerious cities, with a reputation of crime and loose morals. Rampant gambling and prostitution were the norm in nineteenth-century New Orleans, and over one-third of today's French Quarter was considered a hotbed of sin. Tales in this volume of streets of the Crescent City in the early 1900s and Kate Townsend, a prositute who was murdered by her own lover, a man who later wass awarde her inheritance. Troy Taylor takes a look back at New Orleans's early wicked days and historic crimes" --Back cover.

Hauntings lurk and spirits linger in the Show Me State Reader, beware! Turn these pages and enter the world of the paranormal, where ghosts and ghouls alike creep just out of sight. Author Troy Taylor shines a light in the dark corners of Missouri and scares those spirits out of hiding in this thrilling collection. From a headless ghost who stalks the aptly named "Murder Rocks", to a large hairy monster that roams the banks of the Missouri River, there's no shortage of bone-chilling tales to keep you up at night. It's even rumored that the devil himself came to St. Louis in 1949, but nobody knows for sure if he ever left. Around the campfire or tucked away on a dark and stormy night, this big book of ghost stories is a hauntingly good read.

SOLDIERS & THE SUPERNATURAL America's Haunted Forts, Prisons, Battlefields and Military Ghosts Ask any ghost hunter where to find America's most haunted places and they are sure to point you to the battlefields, forts and former prisons that dot the historic landscape of our country. At places like the Alamo. Antietam, Gettysburg and Little Bighorn, terrified soldiers fought and died in the midst of blood, smoke and fire. The men who died in military prisons wished for death in battle. They faced a slow, excruciating, wasting kind of death, far from their brothers, their loved ones and their homes. Is it any wonder that such placed become haunted? Without a doubt, the horrific deaths, as well as the valiant deeds of soldiers on the fields of battle, create the hauntings we know today. History tells us the locations of troops, the number of dead and wounded, the quirks of generals and how one side maneuvered against the other, but if ghosts are born, they are born from humanity's most atrocious acts -- war and mortal combat. Authors David Goodwin and Troy Taylor have combined their knowledge of history, hauntings and military regimen to present a book unlike any other military ghost book you have ever seen before. No mere collection of folklore and spooky campfire stories, it presents a chilling account of life and death on the battlefield, in the fort and in the prisons of historic America. Interwoven with the supernatural and the macabre, these dark tales will have you believing that you hear the clash of battle and feel the panic, horror and sadness of the soldiers who have long since vanished through death's door.

The "Dead Men Do Tell Tales" saga begins with the first book in the series by Troy Taylor and reveals the dark and crime-ridden history of Chicago Join the author for a look at how the crime, violence and death of yesterday have created the hauntings of today in what has been called "the most haunted city in America" This page-turning thriller delves into Chicago's tales of crime, corruption, violence and bloody murder, from the days of gangland violence to the most perplexing unsolved mysteries in the city, and presents a unique perspective on the origins of Chicago's many ghost stories and unsettling legends. Discover the bloodcurdling events that have spawned some of Chicago's greatest ghost stories, including: Torso Murders & Unsolved Crime, the House of Weird Death, Marshall Field Jr. Mystery, Chicago's Jack the Ripper, the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, Legend & Lore of John Dillinger, Murder Castle of H.H. Holmes, Sausage Factory Murders, Ghosts of the "Ragged Stranger" Case, Leopold & Loeb, Grimes Sisters Murders, Ghosts of Wolf Lake and Much More