12 Most Haunted Places in Illinois, You Won’t Dare to Visit After Dark. It seems that every corner of the Land of Lincoln has a story to tell, so we have made this list of the most haunted places in Illinois.
Most haunted stories involve the tragic demise of residents of the past who remain on this plane of existence still today. Considering some of Illinois’ residents, however, it’s no wonder why it’s long been a favorite location for paranormal enthusiasts.
From Al Capone to H.H. Holmes, the residents have long shared state lines with some of history’s greatest murderers. John Wayne Gacy, who brutally ended the lives of thirty-three men, called Chicago his home.
Alongside these notoriously dangerous men, violent histories of war, massacres, cold cases, lost love, and slave kidnappings form the backdrop for a terrifying tapestry of terror right in the heartland of America.
1. Chesterville Witch’s Grave, Arcola, Illinois
Address: N. Co Rd 425E, Chesterville, IL 61911
It seems Salem is not the only town with a rather witchy past. In the heart of Amish Country lies a small village called Chesterville. The whole village comprises only a few houses, a diner, and a small cemetery where a witch’s remains lie in an unmarked grave.
Outside of the cemetery is a huge oak, encircled by a black, wrought iron fence that seems anomalous to this otherwise unremarkable resting place for long-dead Chesterville residents. There’s even a legend about one of the women interred there: she was said to have been convicted of practicing witchcraft circa 1900.
Although the story behind this is not known, there are a few theories as to why this site sees so much paranormal activity. The community lashed at a woman in each of these, accusing her of consorting with the devil and practicing black magic.
In order to subdue her restless spirit, the townspeople shackled her soul to the oak tree and used the anti-spectral properties of iron to keep her from escaping her grave.
Visitors strongly believe that the practices do very little to prevent the lady from going around the graveyard at midnight, hoping one day for the opportunity to get the revenge she intends on a people whose predecessors had sealed her fate early and in a very gruesome manner.
This is one peculiar destination to top the list of the haunted places of Illinois.
2. Death Curve, Cambridge, Illinois
Address: Timber Ridge Road, Cambridge, Illinois 61238
Timber Ridge Road looks harmless enough, at least until drivers glimpse the flutter of a white dress out of the corner of their eyes as they steer their way through the so-called “Death Curve.”
This ghost has a horrific history that was once front-page news.
As reported in the Rock Island Argus on September 30, 1905, “Mrs. Clarence Markham While Insane Murders Seven Children With an Ax and Sets House Afire– Succeeds in Killing Herself.
The narrative commences when Julia Johnson marries a farmer called Clarence B. Markham in 1896. Within nine years, Julia would have borne seven children – four girls and three boys.
On the fateful day of the crime, Julia sent the two oldest to collect water from a spring near her place. She, while they were away, with an ax, killed the youngest five, who were in her company, one being only five months old. After they returned, she also killed the other two.
Mrs. Markham tried to slit her own throat with a dull knife after her dirty work. After failing to do so, she arranged all of her children on the bed, poured oil on their bodies, and lit the match that sealed her fate.
Neighbors found her horrifically burnt when she crawled out from the informal funeral pyre, and she died later in the day.
Locals blame accidents on Timber Ridge road on her ghost, who is said to wander the fields with her hair billowing behind her like smoke.
3. Acid Bridge, Collinsville, Illinois
Address: Lebanon Road, Collinsville, IL 62234
Next on the list of the most haunted places in Illinois is Lebanon Road known as home to seven bridges commonly referred to as “The Seven Gates of Hell.” These bridges are said to lead to the underworld, and vicious hellhounds, jowls oozing with rabid fury, guard each one.
The route’s most haunted bridge is Acid Bridge, where a car carrying drug-addled teenagers was wrecked when its driver lost control of his vehicle and summarily died in the shallow creek bed below.
Travelers at late night describe experiencing uneasiness, strange noises, and temperature drop when crossing over this paranormal site.
4. H.H. Holmes Murder Castle, Chicago, Illinois
Address: 611 W. 63rd St., Chicago, IL 60621
If you passed through the vacant lot sandwiched by a post office and railway lines on both sides at 611 W. 63rd Street, in the downtown Chicago area, no one would think this is the place America’s first serial killer, known by the pseudonym of H.H. Holmes, spent part of his life.
It was no simple family home, however. This was a “Murder Castle,” replete with trap doors, body chutes, and a basement crematorium where Holmes disposed of the evidence of his sick crimes.
He commissioned the building in 1889 and hired hands completed it just in time for thousands of visitors to pour into the Windy City for the World’s Fair in 1893. Holmes capitalized on the chaos to lure unsuspecting tourists to his hotel, where he played mad scientist with their bodies.
Some of the most notable features of the house included gas lines that piped poison into rooms and massive safes with floors covered in acid where he would lock his victims to suffer an excruciatingly long and painful death.
Ultimately Holmes finally owned to 27 murders, yet people can estimate that the total kills attributed to him could be nearer around 200. No one wonder that the post office, and grassy knoll where his “pet project” used to be stood would flare with paranormal activities.
There are no wonder ways on why this H.H. Holmes Murder House ended up in most haunted Illinois’ list.
5. DeSoto House Hotel, Galena, Illinois
Address: 230 S Main St, Galena, IL 61036
Once Galena’s hub of town social life, the DeSoto House Hotel has been host to many illustrious guests in its 170-year history.
Abraham Lincoln gave an election speech from the balcony in 1856. Stephen A. Douglas in 1968 also spoke from this very same balcony. Ulysses S. Grant was in charge of his campaign headquarters from the rooms 209 and 211. So how could such a high-class hotel be featured in the most haunted places in Illinois? Well…
There were misfortunes in equal measure for every celebrated politician and celebrity guest. Four years after the Galena opened, a raging fire destroyed twelve rooms. A decade later, in 1869, a basement boiler exploded.
By 1880, the Galena had lost its luster, and the city removed the top stories. Today, fifty-five rooms, three dining areas, shops, and a four-story atrium remain. But bellhops and housekeepers aren’t the only souls wandering the winding corridors of the DeSoto House Hotel.
The Lady in Black, a ghost of unknown origin, appears as a dark shadow of a woman dressed in late 19th-century period dress and floats through what once was a doorway as if it were a wall. The third floor is the most active, with phantom footfalls, eerie noises from empty rooms, and an ominous presence in bed with guests from foot of bed.
6. Devil’s Bake-Oven, Grand Tower, Illinois
Address: Grand Tower, IL 62942
Standing 100-feet tall and overlooking the Mississippi River, the Devil’s Bake-Oven is a cliff that has played host to its fair share of tragedy.
Local historians note that pirates hiding in the coves would attack frontiers navigating the area, stealing their cargo and lives. Algonquian tribes, who believed the river was home to the Manitou deity, would sacrifice travelers to appease the hungry monster.
But the saddest story is of Esmerelda. She was the daughter of an iron mill supervisor who fell in love with a riverboat pilot. Her father, not wanting Esmerelda to marry, locked her away in her room. She ran away, throwing herself off the cliff into the craggy rocks below.
Locals report that late night adventurers will hear the sound of weeping from the girl and even see a mysterious form manifest in the inky blackness of the night.
7. Peoria State Hospital, Bartonville, Illinois
Address: Ricketts Ave. and U.S. 24, Bartonville, Illinois 61607
Once known as the Illinois Asylum for the Incurably Insane, little now remains of the massive Peoria State Hospital. Of the original 63 buildings, only twelve remain on the campus, among them Pollack Hospital, which was once a tuberculosis ward.
This building is where most paranormal activity takes place, plus the four graveyards located within the grounds where thousands of patients were buried. One of them is Old Book, a gravedigger who always cried under an elm tree each time someone died.
Dr. George Zeller, in his book Befriending the Bereft, relates how on Old Book’s funeral day, hundreds of people saw a full-body apparition of the man standing under the “Crying Tree.”
Paranormal enthusiasts have seen voices from beyond the veil as they wander the grounds, an echo of the patients and staff who once called Peoria State Hospital home.
8. McPike Mansion, Alton, Illinois
Address: 2018 Alby St, Alton, IL 62002
The McPike Mansion is a well-known paranormal hotspot, with a dilapidated 16-acre mansion on a large 15-acre parcel of land that Mother Nature has overtaken over the past 60 years. This was a no-brainer addition to our most haunted places in Illinois list.
Despite its desolate state, the mansion appears to be aflame with inexplicable energy. All the past and existing owners have reported orbs, footsteps, strange mists, objects moving on their own, and chilling voices piercing through the stale air of the decaying building.
Perhaps most haunting, however, are the shapes of human figures that come out only in photographs.
While there is some debate over who precisely is wandering these halls, a dozen different spirits have made themselves known to visitors, including Native Americans, the original owners, servants, and escaped slaves.
9. Crenshaw Mansion, Equality, Illinois
Address: Route 1, Equality, Illinois 62934
John Crenshaw, who made his living kidnapping freed African Americans and selling them back into slavery, built this family residence in the 1830s.
Its notoriety as a key stop along the Reverse Underground Railroad is only enhanced by the presence of a spirit of a slave named Big Jim. He was only one of the many African Americans who found themselves shackled in Crenshaw’s attic, outfitted as a dungeon of horrors.
There, they say the tourists see blood come suddenly bubbling down in rivulets from the walls and they also hear chain clinking among the dying that are groaning for redemption from a dungeon.
Historians believe that the rumors of the ghost began when townspeople would hear the cries of these prisoners, mistaking them for the laments of tortured souls from beyond the grave. The truth behind their assumptions was more horrifying than they could imagine.
10. Robinson Woods, Norridge, Illinois
Address: W Lawrence Ave, Chicago, IL 60706
After protecting several Americans and helping them escape from the Fort Dearborn Massacre during the War of 1812, Potawatomi chief Chee-chee-pin-quay, also known as Alexander Robinson, received 1,600 acres of land now known as the Robinson Woods.
As the site of several Native American burial mounds, this sylvan gathering place of spirits seems to haunt all five of the senses with reminders of the tribes who rest there.
Those who venture along the trails are bold enough to say that they catch whiffs of lavender, see torches waving nearby the gravesites, and hear the beat of tom-tom drums echoing through the groves of trees.
Adding to the creepiness factor, it’s also the location where three young boys were found dead in 1955. The case went cold for more than 40 years until forensic evidence from another disappearance revealed the culprit, a man named Silas Jayne.
11. Manteno State Mental Hospital, Manteno, Illinois
Address: 102 Diversatech Dr, Manteno, IL 60950
As other asylums filled with patients who were desperate for mental health services, Manteno State Mental Hospital opened its doors in 1930, hoping to alleviate overcrowding in other facilities would stop the horrible abuse that mentally ill people received in overcrowded sanitariums.
Not so. Instead, Manteno quickly filled to bursting, much like a wave of typhoid fever swept over the area.
In the name of science, these patients were placed in the care of doctors who cared little for human decency.
Instead, so-called medical professionals delighted in their research into the effects of injecting people with malaria, performing oft-botched lobotomies, and any other “experiments” that caught their fancy.
No wonder, then, that the violent, unnecessary deaths of the humans roam these halls seeking peace in the afterlife that may never come?
When the hospital was open to tours, people found themselves suddenly under the grip of a chilling, imperceptible hand or experienced the overwhelming feeling of being watched by the strange entities that suffered there so long ago.
12. Congress Plaza Hotel, Chicago, Illinois
Address: 520 S Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60605
Nicknamed “Chicago’s Most Haunted Hotel,” another World’s Fair relic is the Congress Plaza-a labyrinthine warren of hallways patrolled by specters from days and decades now dead.
One such spook is Peg Leg Johnny, Al Capone’s associate, who ended up on the wrong side of a lead bullet. The tiny ghosts of two children, whose mother threw them from a window, still enjoy their mischief, filling the empty labyrinth with bone-chilling laughter.
Those who dare to spend a night say that they feel as though they are being constantly watched by something unseen, following them from the halls. It is said to be strong on the 12th floor where the siblings experienced their petrifying death.
