AMERICAN HAUNTINGS THE RISE OF THE SPIRIT WORLD AND THE BIRTH OF THE MODERN GHOST HUNTER BY TROY TAYLOR Do you believe in ghosts? You're not alone. For nearly two centuries, American popular culture has been influenced by the supernatural. Since the Fox sisters first reported the "mysterious rappings" in their New York home, mediums, magicians, and ghost hunters have played a huge part in the shaping of American history. In this compelling book by Troy Taylor, he reveals the roots of our fascination with ghosts, haunted houses, and the supernatural, and offers a rich, entertaining, and colorful look at the people, places, and eerie events that have captured the imagination of the country. From the mediums of Spiritualism's golden age to the ghost hunters of the modern era, Taylor shines a light on the phantasms and frauds of the past, the inexplicable and violent events that kept Spiritualism alive in a new century, the first researchers who dared to investigate the unknown, and the stories and events that galvanized the pubic and created the paranormal field that we know today. This is a thrilling exploration of the creation of paranormal popular culture in America, filled with heroes, villains, skeptics, believers, horrors, and hoaxes. This is a must-have book for anyone with an interest in how ghost research truly began! Want to know how it all started? It wasn't with a television show! * How did a region filled with crazy cults and religious movements shape America's supernatural history? * What really happened at the Fox home in New York? * How did Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War save Spiritualism? * Who held the first seances in the White House? * Who were the first ghost hunters in American history? * What supernatural events in American history have NEVER been explained? * Did one American medium truly fly during his seances? * Why were eminent scientists of the late nineteenth century convinced in survival after death? * Did Harry Houdini really communicate from beyond the grave? * Who was the most influential ghost hunter in history? * What about the resurgence in the paranormal in the 1960s and 1970s? * What really happened in Amityville, New York? * Did a poltergeist really wreak havoc in Columbus, Ohio, in the 1980s? * Were you part of the paranormal revival of the 1990s? * How did reality TV ghost hunting affect American popular culture? And so much more - this is Troy Taylor's most challenging, exciting, and controversial book so far! Troy Taylor is the author of more than 120 books on ghosts, hauntings, true crime, the unexplained, and the supernatural in America. He is also the founder of American Hauntings Ink, which offers books, ghost tours, events and excursions across the country. He was born and raised in the Midwest and currently divides his time between Illinois and the far-flung reaches of America.