Pemberton Hall is famous for its resident ghost, Mary Hawkins. A few heard about her for the first time last night at Troy Taylor’s lecture about ghosts and other hauntings in Illinois.

Taylor is a expert on the subject of ghosts and ghouls and has spent his life chasing down and investigating various tales of horror across the country. He has written 25 books on the subject.

Taylor decided to pursue this unusual career after one peculiar evening at a cemetery outside of Decatur, Ill. during his senior year of high school. According to Taylor, “It was a dark and stormy night,” when he and his friends decided to try and follow a ritual that had previously provoked supernatural events at this cemetery.

They parked their car at one end of the cemetery and turned on the headlights so they illuminated the entire yard of gravestones. The dare was to walk from their car to the far corner of the cemetery and back, and despite the terrible fear he was feeling, he decided to follow through and do it.

They made it to the far side and just as they started the trip back to the car, the headlights shut off. As they cautiously returned to investigate, they discovered that the battery was not dead; instead, the lights had been switched off even though the car had been locked.

From that night on, Taylor has been pursuing ghost stories in schools, cemeteries, mansions, and hospitals all across the country. During his lecture,Taylor told many stories taking place in areas all over the state from Chicago to the southern tip of the state.

The history of some of the stories go back to before Illinois was a state, and many of the stories Taylor told contained interesting bits of history about the area.

The haunted mansion of Hickory Hill that was the only place in Illinois to legally practice slavery in the 1800s is one interesting story.

Taylor claims he has in fact actually seen a ghost once and has a strong belief in the supernatural. He does check thoroughly into every ghost story he hears and during his many journeys he has come across various hair-raising events.

Simply hearing about the stories was leaving some audience members gasping and clutching their neighbor’s arm.