Weird Illinois: Your Travel Guide to Illinois' Local Legends and Best Kept Secrets

Weird Travel Guides

by Mark Moran, Mark Sceurman, Troy Taylor

Explores bizarre sights and stories found in Illinois.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, History, Paranormal, Humor, Ghosts, Trivia

256 pages, Hardcover

First published April 7, 2005

Reviews

[Heidi Wiechert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Weird Illinois is a mix of stories, speculation and ghost lore from my home state, Illinois. And it is really weird.

The chapters cover topics from local legends and lore to bizarre beasts and roadside oddities. But I'm not sure how true it is.

The road-side attractions seem to be the "most real" part of this book, but the legends and ghost stories could be simply myths or urban legends.

It makes me want to put together an investigation, or several, to go find out what is true or not. That is part of the charm of this book.

My favorite chapter was about the "bizarre beasts" of Illinois which is a collection of animal oddity or cryptozoological stories from the area. I really want to see the "Albino Squirrels of Olney" mentioned on page 95.

I was creeped out by the stories of the "Murphysboro Mud Monster" on page 84. That's not very far from here!

I think this book could be useful for travelers who are looking for entertainment that is off-the-beaten path in Illinois or trivia fans.

Make sure to read it with a discerning mind, as I said, I'm not certain how much of this is "non-fiction." I can say: it's good fun.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've owned this book for over 20 years, my mom buying it for me pretty much right when it was released. Yet it wasn't until recently that I decided to read it cover to cover, after years of flipping through it and only reading the blurbs and stories that sounded interesting to me. And now that I've read it, there are both great parts of Weird Illinois and parts that left me wanting more. To me, the best parts of the book were when the author talked about the truly mysterious parts of the state - the Seven Gates to Hell, allegedly haunted cemeteries, the roadside oddities, and legendary abandoned structures. I follow Troy Taylor on social media and you can tell these are the stories he loves to tell. While all the stories are interesting and enjoyable to read, I'd be lying if I said there weren't parts I lost interest in. Some of the more historical-based stories seemed to drag on a bit and there were parts of some stories that got a bit repetitive (for instance, I noticed a couple times where facts in stories were repeated). But I do like that, especially with some of the more paranormal stories, Taylor doesn't swear they're true and has the reader decide for themselves what they believe. And this is truly a great book if you want to know about mysteries in Illinois. I know I would love to visit the existing sites for myself. But perhaps it is best read Weird Illinois how I read it for years - picking out the stories that sound most interesting to you and reading only them.

[Patrick Broderick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun book that highlights the oddities all over the state. It's far from comprehensive but does touch on the highlights like Resurrection Mary, the Manteno State Hospital, Roseland Cemetery, Route 66 and even the Lexington Hotel (made famous by Geraldo Rivera when he excavated Capone's vault). The book covers odd stories, sometimes creepy, in usually 1-2 pages. It runs the gamut from the Piasa Bird to HH Holmes (and Gacy) to Batchelor's Grove Cemetery (arguably the most haunted cemetery in America) to the white squirrels of Olney. The Gates of Hell (old railroad viaducts between the old Collinsville coalfields south to my hometown of O'Fallon) are mentioned - if you pass through the viaducts in order, the last will show you Hell at midnight on a specific day of the year.

Among the things left out, though, are places like Pemberton Hall at Eastern Illinois University (my alma mater) which has been reportedly haunted for decades.

Still, a fun cross-section of oddities and creeps from across Illinois.

[Bill Lindsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have always sought out the strange and unusual. This book covers many different phenomena. The overall design of the book is fun with the Cover and photography inside. Whether it is ghosts, aliens, legends, cryptids, or just weird lore, this book has a wide scope. I live in the state and occasionally participate in investigations of these subjects. I even wrote a play Ghosts, Aliens, and Bigfoot (Unpublished). This book almost reminds me of being with my grandfather as a child. He loved to scare with local legends and ghost stories spun with his special brand of creepiness and humor. Reading this late at night took me back to those special times.

[SusanwithaGoodBook · Rating 2 out of 5]

I liked some of the stories and others were really stupid and boring. I should have researched this series a little more before I bought these books. The UFOs and Ghosts are just stupid. The roadside stuff and building histories were interesting. (Same review for all of the Weirds I've read so far.)

[Courtney Schafer · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I appreciated learning tidbits about Illinois, most of this book bored me. The chapters I personally found interesting were :

Local Heroes and Villains
Ghost Stories and Local Haunts.

Resurrection Mary for sure.

[Kara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really interesting. Covered a variety of weird things throughout the state of Illinois. Some I knew about, and some I didn't. There's definitely a couple of places I want to go and visit now after reading this book!

[Katie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some of this book was interesting and a lot of it was boring. After dragging out reading it for a long time, I just quit. I don't have any regrets about not finishing it.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was fine as a coffee table book.

[Joanne Zienty · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you love Illinois and think you know Illinois, pick this book up and find out some obscure facts that maybe even us rabid Illinoisans didn't know.

[Joseph Schlesinger · Rating 4 out of 5]

An easy & entertaining read--whatcha see is whatcha get. Fair enough. Now what's needed is another volume dedicated to Weird Illinois Politics. But that's a whole nother curiosity.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting...sometimes creepy...very often scary. Every Illinoisan may want to check this out.

[Jennie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I did not like this as much as Weird Pennsylvania, which is weird, because I have more ties to IL than PA. This may be because Weird Illinois spends a lot of time in the southern part of the state, which is not my stomping grounds, while Weird Pennsylvania spends a lot of time in the eastern part of the state, which is my stomping grounds. It may also be because Weird PA seems to have more weirdness that I like (ghosts! bizarre museums! odd art installations!) while Weird IL has more weirdness that doesn't do it for me (UFO sightings! giant fiberglass men! cryptids!). Or maybe it's just because of my deep-seated suspicion of all men named Troy. So if any of these things are right up your alley (southern IL, UFOs, giant fiberglass men, cryptids, men named Troy, giant fiberglass men named Troy), you will probably enjoy this book more than I did.

[Anthony Ventrello · Rating 5 out of 5]

Illinois is right next door to my home state of Indiana, though I haven't really spent a great deal of time there. I thought this book would tell me more about the state that I really don't care too much for, and I was right. Although Chicago could easily get its own book because it is the kingdom of weirdness and crime, this book showed that there is much more to Illinois than that city in the northeast corner of the state.

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

Similar in content to the Wisconsin version.

Features some of same reports of bizarre beasts like thunderbirds and bigfoot.

I am interested in The Albino Squirrels of Olney. We have had many gray squirrels in the time we have lived in Hales Corners but I have never seen an albino. There are 200 albinos in Olney.

An entertaining book.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

The quality of this book suffered a downward spiral. At first the tales were all original and thought-provoking, then more about novelty/tourist attractions, then generic urban legends that all sounded the same. Had they filtered the less original tales in this book, it would have done more justice to the other oddities of my hometown.

[Jason · Rating 3 out of 5]

In a book like this, some of the weird stuff is going to be more interesting than others. I was intrigued by the chapters on forgotten structures and cemeteries, less so by the Bigfoot tales and yet another telling of the Resurrection Mary story. I had already read a lot of these stories in other forms, but there was enough odd stuff to keep me interested.

[Lucy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book lots because I now know where to go to see weird stuff in Illinois. It's possible that it's only so intriguing to me because I live here, but all in all I think most people would enjoy this book.

[Valerie Sherman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think this book is really interesting, but it becomes apparent that many of the backwater sites have simply invented hauntings because there is nothing else to do in southern / central Illinois. I would like to have seen more Chicago sites, but I guess that's what "Weird Chicago" is for, right?

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the concept of this collection, but feel there were a lot of things the authors left out that I would have liked to have seen covered in this book. They have a book for every state and I realize they are not from this area. I would love to see a Weird Illinois II with more material.

[Stephanie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I thought this was going to be more about quirky things around the state, but it's more ghosts and hauntings and stuff. Most of it was about places I'd never been to, so...

[Tori]

Weird Illinois (Weird) by Troy Taylor (2005)

[Marge · Rating 5 out of 5]

it was interesting and we had a speaker at the library that wrote about haunts all over the US and other places.OOoOO it is October

[Rick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed the descriptions of strange monsters quite a bit (Enfield Horror, yipe!); the ghost sightings, not so much; and the abandoned buildings, not at all.

[Carolyn Bay · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you're an Illinois buff, it's a must-read.

[jamez · Rating 4 out of 5]

An awesome read! I love Troy's books!

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Weird Illinois is an interesting book, excellent for tourists or Illinoisans looking to become more familiar with the Land of Lincoln. It offers glimpses of the strange and spooky for sites around the state.