| Title | : | Weird Illinois |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 076075943X |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780760759431 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 256 |
| Publication | : | First published April 7, 2005 |
With notepad and camera in hand, Troy has traveled the back roads, main roads, and all roads in between in search of the odd and the offbeat. He's tracked down impossible-to-believe tales, only to discover an odd grain of truth that gives the story just enough credibility to make one feel a little . . . uncomfortable. Whether it's a man-eating Piasa Bird, an abandoned insane asylum, mystery airships, or the haunted tomb of a certain famous Abe, Troy has researched and chronicled the story and presents it here for you, fellow admirers of the weird.
Turn the pages and visit the hell of Hell Hollow and learn the legend of the Devil's Bake Oven. Find out about the Macomb Fire Starter, the Mad Gasser of Mattoon, and the Curse of Kaskaskia. Go off the beaten path and look for kangaroos and albino squirrels on the loose. Walk down Ghost Hollow Road, see the World's Largest Catsup Bottle, touch Lincoln's lucky nose, gawk at the miniature houses on the prairie, and gaze in puzzlement at the double-deck outhouse and the Leaning Tower of Niles. Read all about the Devil Baby of Hull House, visit the grave of the Chesterville Witch, and meet, if you dare, the demon butcher of Palos Park.
A brand-new entry in the best-selling Weird U.S. series, Weird Illinois is packed with all the info about our state that your history teacher never taught you. So join Troy on his great adventure. It's a journey you'll never forget.
Weird Illinois Reviews
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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. -
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. -
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.)
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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. -
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.
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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.
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Interesting...sometimes creepy...very often scary. Every Illinoisan may want to check this out.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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?
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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.
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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...
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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.
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An awesome read! I love Troy's books!
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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.
