I would like to thank the many other writers and chroniclers of Illinois history and crime who came before me, especially Herbert Asbury, Jay Robert Nash, Paul Angle, Randall Parrish, Milo Quaife and Stu Fliege. I’d also like to thank my friend John Winterbauer for his continued assistance with all things dark and my editor at The History Press, Ben Gibson, who put up with my many quirks and oddities. And finally, thanks to my wife, Haven, for her continued patience and love and for really getting me into this mess when she suggested that I write about something other than ghosts. She said to me, “You love crime history, too. Why don’t you write about that?” Thus, my “other” writing began.