Haunted Illinois

125 haunted destinations cataloged across Illinois, spanning 50 counties. The collection features cemetery, other dark tourism site, and museum — every listing verified with family ratings, accessibility info, and practical visit logistics.

125 locations 50 counties 10 classifications ♿ 49 wheelchair accessible

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Featured in Illinois

Top 6

Asylum / Hospital

Peoria State Hospital (Bartonville Asylum)

Bartonville, IL

Peoria State Hospital, originally the Illinois Asylum for the Incurable Insane, operated in Bartonville from 1902 to 1973 under Illinois state oversight. Its first superintendent, Dr. George A. Zeller, persuaded the legislature to drop 'Incurable' from the institution's name. Most of the original 63-building campus has been demolished or repurposed.

$$ All Ages for museum; ghost hunts may have age minimums Family: Low

Haunted House / Historic Home

George Stickney House

Bull Valley, IL

George and Sylvia Stickney built this Italianate mansion in 1865 outside Bull Valley, Illinois. The Stickneys practiced Spiritualism and held seances; the house was designed without right angles in its perimeter rooms — a Spiritualist accommodation for moving spirits. It is now occupied by the Village of Bull Valley government and police department.

$ All Ages Family: High

Haunted Hotel / Inn

Original Springs Hotel

Okawville, IL

The Original Springs Hotel sits on the site where Okawville's mineral water trade began in 1868. After an 1891 fire destroyed the original bathhouse, the current hotel and bathhouse opened on May 1, 1893, and have operated continuously since — making the property the last natural mineral spa hotel in Illinois.

$$ All Ages — overnight ghost hunt programs adults only Family: Moderate

Restored Italianate Victorian house with cupola in Watseka, Illinois

Haunted House / Historic Home

Roff House (Watseka Manor)

Watseka, IL

The Roff House in Watseka, Illinois was built in 1868 by Asa B. and Anna Roff, prominent local Spiritualists. In 1878 it became the focus of the Watseka Wonder, an extensively documented case in which 13-year-old Lurancy Vennum is said to have been possessed by the spirit of the Roffs's deceased daughter Mary, lived as Mary in the Roff home for roughly 100 days, and then returned to her own family.

$$ All Ages for tours; overnight investigations 18+ Family: Moderate

The Rialto Square Theatre's marquee on N. Chicago Street in downtown Joliet

Photo coming soon

Theater / Performance Venue

Rialto Square Theatre

Joliet, IL

The Rialto Square Theatre opened May 24, 1926, designed by Chicago firm Rapp & Rapp for the six Rubens brothers. Its Neo-Baroque interior — modeled in part on the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles — earned it a place on the American Institute of Architects's '150 Great Places in Illinois' and a listing on the National Register of Historic Places.

$$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Calvary Cemetery mausoleum structures in Springfield, Illinois

Photo coming soon

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Calvary Cemetery

Springfield, IL

Calvary Cemetery was established in 1857 when Bishop Henry Damian Juncker of Alton purchased land outside Springfield, Illinois to comply with an 1856 city ordinance prohibiting new burial grounds within the city. The 70-acre Catholic cemetery, owned by the Diocese of Springfield, adjoins Oak Ridge Cemetery and contains the burials of three diocesan bishops.

$ All Ages Family: High

More in Illinois

Chicago — 23

Theater / Performance Venue

Biograph Theater

Chicago, IL

The Biograph Theater opened in 1914 on North Lincoln Avenue in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood, designed by architect Samuel N. Crowen in Classical Revival style. On July 22, 1934, FBI agents shot bank robber John Dillinger outside the building after Anna Sage, known as 'The Lady in Red,' informed on his location. Victory Gardens Theater purchased the building in 2004 and completed an $11 million renovation in 2006.

$$ All Ages Family: High

Biograph Theater marquee in Chicago where John Dillinger was killed in 1934

Other Dark Tourism Site

Chicago Gangsters & Ghosts Tour (US Ghost Adventures)

Chicago, IL

The US Ghost Adventures Chicago Gangsters & Ghosts Tour is a 1-mile walking tour covering the city's Prohibition-era mob history and associated paranormal accounts. The route includes the Biograph Theater, where John Dillinger was shot by federal agents in 1934.

$$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Biograph Theater marquee in Chicago a featured stop on Prohibition gangster ghost tours

Other Dark Tourism Site

Chicago Gangsters and Ghosts Tour

Chicago, IL

The Chicago Gangsters and Ghosts Tour is a long-running walking tour of the Loop, departing four times daily from the corner of Wacker Drive and Wabash, adjacent to the Royal Sonesta Hotel. The two-hour route covers Prohibition-era crime sites alongside reported hauntings within the central business district.

$$ All Ages (parental discretion advised) Family: Moderate

Other Dark Tourism Site

Chicago Hauntings Ghost Tours

Chicago, IL

Chicago Hauntings Ghost Tours, now operated under the American Ghost Walks brand, runs evening walking and bus tours through Chicago's Loop, Lincoln Park, and southwest suburbs. The company's flagship Original Chicago Hauntings Tour departs Saturday evenings from the Congress Plaza Hotel.

$$ 10+ Family: Moderate

Congress Plaza Hotel facade on South Michigan Avenue Chicago

Haunted Hotel / Inn

The Congress Plaza Hotel

Chicago, IL

The Congress Plaza Hotel opened in 1893 as the Auditorium Annex, built to accommodate visitors to Chicago's World's Columbian Exposition. The hotel sits at 520 South Michigan Avenue facing Grant Park, and has hosted every U.S. president from Benjamin Harrison through Bill Clinton, earning it the nickname 'The Hotel of Presidents.'

$$$ All Ages Family: Moderate

The Royal Sonesta Hotel at the corner of Wacker Drive and Wabash, meeting point for the Chicago Gangsters and Ghosts Walking Tour

Other Dark Tourism Site

Chicago Gangsters and Ghosts Tour

Chicago, IL

Chicago Gangsters and Ghosts Tour has operated since 2017, combining Prohibition-era organized-crime history with paranormal reports tied to former crime scenes. The walking tour departs from the Royal Sonesta Hotel; a minibus version runs from the Palmer House Hilton.

$$ All ages; under 6 free Family: Moderate

Chicago's downtown skyline along the South Loop — the route covered by Ghost City Tours' family-friendly Chicago ghost walk

Other Dark Tourism Site

Ghosts of Chicago by Ghost City Tours

Chicago, IL

Ghost City Tours is a national ghost-walk operator with year-round programming in Chicago and several other historic U.S. cities. The Chicago tours cover documented haunted sites across the downtown core in three distinct format variants: family-friendly, adults-only, and pub-crawl.

$$ All Ages for the family-friendly tour; 21+ for the pub crawl Family: Moderate

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Graceland Cemetery

Chicago, IL

Graceland Cemetery was established in 1860 on land north of what was then the Chicago city limit. The 121-acre grounds hold graves of architects Louis Sullivan, Daniel Burnham, and Mies van der Rohe, alongside industrialists George Pullman and Marshall Field, and contain sculptural monuments by Lorado Taft and Karl Bitter.

$ All Ages Family: High

Jane Addams Hull-House Museum historic settlement house exterior in Chicago

Photo coming soon

Museum / Historical Site

Jane Addams Hull-House Museum

Chicago, IL

Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr established Hull House on September 18, 1889, in a mansion built by Charles Jerald Hull in 1856 on Chicago's Near West Side. The complex grew to 13 buildings by 1907 and became the model for approximately 500 American settlement houses. In the 1960s, the University of Illinois demolished most of the complex to build its Chicago campus; the original mansion and 1905 dining hall survive as a museum operated by UIC.

$ All Ages Family: High

Lincoln Park Zoo entrance archway in Chicago, Illinois

Other Dark Tourism Site

Lincoln Park Zoo Haunted History Tours

Chicago, IL

Lincoln Park Zoo occupies part of the former Chicago City Cemetery, which was decommissioned and largely cleared in the 1860s and 1870s. Tens of thousands of nineteenth-century Chicagoans were buried in the area before the cemetery was converted to parkland. The zoo's October Haunted History Tours, hosted by author Adam Selzer, examine the cemetery's incomplete relocation and the area's reportedly active sites.

$$$ 16 and older only Family: Moderate

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Lincoln Park Zoo (Haunted History)

Chicago, IL

Lincoln Park Zoo occupies the southern portion of Lincoln Park, which served as Chicago's primary municipal cemetery from 1843 until 1866. After cholera outbreaks raised concern about contamination of the city's lakefront water supply, Chicago ordered the disinterment of tens of thousands of graves and conversion of the land to a public park.

$ All ages for daytime visits; haunted history tours 16+ Family: Moderate

Museum / Historical Site

Lincoln Park Zoo Haunted History Tour

Chicago, IL

Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago occupies land that served as the city's first official cemetery from 1843 to 1869. Roughly 35,600 bodies were buried in the City Cemetery and adjacent Catholic Cemetery; an estimated 15,000 may remain beneath today's park, zoo, and surrounding Gold Coast.

$ All Ages for daytime visit; haunted-history evening tours typically 16+ Family: Moderate

Brick worker rowhouses in the Pullman Historic District at dusk, Chicago, Illinois

Photo coming soon

Other Dark Tourism Site

Macabre Pullman Tour

Chicago, IL

The Macabre Pullman Tour is an evening walking tour of the Pullman Historic District, organized by the Historic Pullman Foundation and operating on select autumn evenings. The route covers the darker history of George Pullman's 1880 model industrial town — fatal train accidents, primitive surgeries, mysterious deaths, and crimes drawn from local press archives.

$$ Mature audiences (parental discretion advised) Family: Low

Pullman Palace Car Company clock tower and administration building in Chicago Pullman Historic District

Other Dark Tourism Site

Macabre Pullman Tour

Chicago, IL

The Macabre Pullman Tour is an evening dark-history walk operated by the Historic Pullman Foundation through the Pullman National Historical Park on Chicago's far South Side. Founded by George Pullman in 1880, Pullman was the model company town for the Pullman Palace Car Company.

$$ Mature audiences; parental discretion advised Family: Moderate

Glessner House on Prairie Avenue Chicago, starting point for Shadows on the Street walking tour

Other Dark Tourism Site

Shadows on the Street: Haunted Tours of Historic Prairie Avenue

Chicago, IL

Glessner House Museum operates Shadows on the Street as a sixty-minute walking tour of the Prairie Avenue Historic District. Between 16th and 22nd Streets, late-nineteenth-century Prairie Avenue was Chicago's most exclusive residential boulevard — the so-called Sunny Street that held the sifted few — and was home to Marshall Field, Philip Armour, George Pullman, and more than seventy other millionaires.

$$ All ages welcome; content is family-appropriate but historically heavy Family: Moderate

A Seadog speedboat on the Chicago River at twilight with the Loop skyline visible above

Other Dark Tourism Site

Seadog Haunted River Tour

Chicago, IL

The Seadog Haunted River Tour is operated by City Experiences (formerly Chicago First Lady Cruises) from Navy Pier. The 45-minute speedboat cruise narrates Chicago's gangster era, river-disaster record, and reported paranormal accounts during the Halloween season.

$$$ All ages welcome; BYOB policy means alcohol is permitted onboard but only for adults 21+. Family: Moderate

Glessner House on Prairie Avenue Chicago, 1887 H.H. Richardson granite mansion exterior

Other Dark Tourism Site

Shadows on the Street

Chicago, IL

Prairie Avenue between 16th and 22nd Streets served as Chicago's most prestigious residential address in the late 19th century, nicknamed Millionaire's Row. The street housed Marshall Field, Philip Armour, George Pullman, and more than seventy other industrialists. The 1887 Glessner House by Henry Hobson Richardson anchors the surviving section and operates the seasonal Shadows on the Street walking-tour program.

$$ All ages; content suited to teens and adults Family: Moderate

Museum / Historical Site

Givins Beverly Castle

Chicago, IL

Robert C. Givins, a Chicago real estate developer, built the limestone Beverly Castle between 1886 and 1887 as his personal residence. It is Chicago's last standing castle and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Beverly Unitarian Church purchased the building in 1942 and continues to occupy it today.

$ All Ages Family: High

Theater / Performance Venue

House of Blues Chicago

Chicago, IL

The House of Blues Chicago opened in 1996 at 329 N Dearborn Street, part of the marina complex adjacent to the Chicago River. The venue was designed to evoke a Mississippi Delta roadhouse in miniature, with folk art-covered walls and a Foundation Room private club above the main stage. It operates as one of the premier concert and dining venues in Chicago's River North neighborhood with over 8,900 Google reviews.

$$ Varies by show; many shows 18+ after 10pm Family: Moderate

Kayakers on the Chicago River at dusk during a Wateriders Ghosts & Gangsters evening tour

Other Dark Tourism Site

Wateriders Ghosts & Gangsters Kayak Tour

Chicago, IL

Wateriders has operated guided kayak tours of the Chicago River since the early 2000s, departing from 500 N Kingsbury Street at the East Bank Club River Walk. The Ghosts & Gangsters program is a 2.5-hour evening paddle covering nineteenth-century crime history through the Italian Outfit era of Capone and Torrio.

$$$ Kayaking ability required; minor age policy per operator Family: Low

Kayakers on the Chicago River near downtown bridges, the route used by the Wateriders Ghosts and Gangsters Tour

Other Dark Tourism Site

Wateriders Ghosts and Gangsters Kayak Tour

Chicago, IL

Wateriders has operated kayak tours on the Chicago River since 1997, with three locations including the downtown East Bank Club at 500 N. Kingsbury Street. The Ghosts and Gangsters Tour is a 2.5-hour evening paddle covering Prohibition-era crime sites and Chicago River disaster history.

$$$ Minimum age set by Wateriders; check booking page Family: Moderate

Tin Man statue at Oz Park, Chicago — meeting point for Windy City Ghosts tour

Other Dark Tourism Site

Windy City Ghosts (US Ghost Adventures)

Chicago, IL

Windy City Ghosts is the Chicago program of US Ghost Adventures, a national walking-tour operator. Tours run nightly year-round at 7:00 PM and 8:00 PM, depart from the Tin Man statue at Oz Park (2021 N. Burling Street), and cover a one-mile route through Lincoln Park with stops at sites tied to the neighborhood's Civil War, asylum, and Prohibition-era past. Group size is capped at fifteen.

$$ All ages welcome Family: Moderate

Other Dark Tourism Site

Windy City Ghosts

Chicago, IL

Windy City Ghosts is the Chicago tour brand operated by US Ghost Adventures, a national ghost-tour company that runs walking tours in cities across the United States. The Chicago program centers on Lincoln Park, the Gold Coast, and the city's central historic district, with tours meeting at the Tin Man Statue in Oz Park.

$$ All ages on standard tours; some pub-style tours 21+ Family: Moderate

Alton — 8

Motorcoach loading at the American Oddities Museum on Piasa Street in Alton, Illinois, at dusk

Other Dark Tourism Site

Alton Haunted History Bus Tour

Alton, IL

The Alton Haunted History Bus Tour is operated by American Hauntings, the company founded by Illinois historian and author Troy Taylor. The tour departs from the American Oddities Museum at 301 Piasa Street in Alton, Illinois, a Mississippi River town with documented 19th-century history including the Lincoln–Douglas debate site and the Alton Penitentiary.

$$$ Children 10+ preferred; younger children at parental discretion. No toddlers, infants, or strollers. Family: Moderate

Other Dark Tourism Site

Alton Haunted History Tours

Alton, IL

Alton, Illinois, founded in 1818 on the Mississippi bluffs near St. Louis, served as a Civil War prison site and Underground Railroad stop. Its layered 19th-century history and dense surviving building stock support one of the country's most active small-town ghost-tour programs, operated by American Hauntings and based at the Mineral Springs Hotel.

$$ Most tours all ages; pub crawl 21+ Family: Moderate

Brick storefronts along East Broadway in downtown Alton, Illinois at dusk

Other Dark Tourism Site

Alton Hauntings Haunted History Walking Tour

Alton, IL

Alton Hauntings was founded by paranormal author Troy Taylor and runs guided walking, bus, and dinner tours through downtown Alton, Illinois. The walking tour is based on Taylor's book Haunted Alton and surveys the riverfront town's Civil War prison history, smallpox-burial folklore, and architectural archive of nineteenth-century commercial buildings.

$$ All ages welcome; pub-crawl variants are 21+ Family: Moderate

Downtown Alton Illinois historic riverfront streetscape on the Alton Hauntings tour route

Other Dark Tourism Site

Alton Hauntings Tours

Alton, IL

Alton Hauntings Tours is a paranormal-tourism operator founded by author Troy Taylor in Alton, Illinois. Taylor has published more than 100 books on American hauntings and operates the Alton tours April through November alongside year-round Dinner and Spirits events.

$$ All Ages for walking tour; pub crawl 21+ Family: Moderate

Tour bus along the Great River Road in Illinois at dusk, with limestone bluffs of the Mississippi visible above

Photo coming soon

Other Dark Tourism Site

Ghosts of the River Road Tour (Dinner & Spirits)

Alton, IL

The Ghosts of the River Road Tour is an American Hauntings dinner-and-bus event that pairs a meal at Bluff City Grill in Alton with a narrated drive north along the Great River Road toward Grafton, Illinois. The route follows the Mississippi River bluffs and visits documented haunted locations through the corridor.

$$$$ Adult-oriented; check current event listing for restrictions Family: Moderate

Picture of the Elijah P. Lovejoy Monument in Alton, Illinois, U.S.A.

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Lovejoy Monument Cemetery

Alton, IL

Elijah Parish Lovejoy, a Presbyterian minister and newspaper editor, was killed by a proslavery mob in Alton, Illinois on November 7, 1837, while defending his printing press. He was subsequently recognized as the first American journalist killed in the line of duty. The Illinois state memorial dedicated to Lovejoy in Alton City Cemetery was completed in 1897 and consists of a 93-foot central shaft topped by a 17-foot bronze Victory figure, flanked by two smaller shafts with bronze eagles.

$ All Ages Family: High

Haunted House / Historic Home

McPike Mansion

Alton, IL

Henry Guest McPike, Alton mayor and horticulturist, built this 16-room Italianate Victorian mansion in 1869, completing it in 1871 on a 15-acre site he named Mount Lookout. Architect Lucas Pfeiffenberger designed the home, which McPike occupied until his death in 1910. The property passed to Paul A. Laichinger around 1925, fell into severe disrepair after midcentury, and was purchased at auction in 1994 by Sharyn and George Luedke, who have undertaken restoration through tours and donations.

$$ 13+ for investigation tours Family: Low

Haunted Hotel / Inn

Mineral Springs Hotel

Alton, IL

The Mineral Springs Hotel was built in 1914 by the Luer Brothers, originally intended as an ice warehouse. When construction workers discovered a natural spring beneath the site, the project pivoted to a resort hotel capitalizing on the era's popular mineral water health culture. The building at 301 E Broadway later housed Troy Taylor's American Hauntings operation and the American Oddities Museum.

$$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Galena — 6

Other Dark Tourism Site

Amelia's Galena Ghost Tours

Galena, IL

Amelia's Galena Ghost Tours has operated a shuttle-bus ghost tour of historic Galena, Illinois since 2012, departing nightly from a loading zone behind the DeSoto House Hotel. The route covers fourteen miles of the lead-mining and steamboat-era town, the wealthiest community in Illinois during Ulysses S. Grant's residency.

$$ All Ages (parental discretion advised) Family: Moderate

Other Dark Tourism Site

Amelia's Galena Ghost Tours

Galena, IL

Amelia's Galena Ghost Tours operates from a storefront on South Main Street in Galena, Illinois, a former lead-mining boomtown whose 19th-century building stock survives largely intact. The company runs shuttle, walking, dinner theater, and pub crawl programming year-round.

$$ All ages welcome on bus and walking tours; pub crawl 21+ Family: Moderate

Galena's preserved 19th-century Main Street commercial buildings climbing the bluff above the Galena River

Other Dark Tourism Site

Haunted Galena Ghost Walk

Galena, IL

Galena, Illinois was one of the wealthiest river towns of the antebellum Upper Mississippi, anchored by lead mining and Civil War-era political prominence — eight Galena residents served as Union generals, including Ulysses S. Grant. The Haunted Galena Tour Company has run guided ghost walks through this preserved 19th-century downtown for more than two decades.

$$ 13+ recommended Family: Moderate

The Dowling House on Diagonal Street in Galena, Illinois — the 1826 limestone residence where the Haunted Galena Tour begins

Other Dark Tourism Site

Haunted Galena Tour Company

Galena, IL

The Haunted Galena Tour Company is a family-operated walking-tour business based in Galena, Illinois — the 19th-century Mississippi River lead-mining town that boomed before the Civil War and produced more than a dozen U.S. generals, including Ulysses S. Grant. The tour begins at the Dowling House and ends at the DeSoto House Hotel.

$$ 7+ (children under 7 not permitted) Family: Moderate

The 1855 DeSoto House Hotel facade on Galena's Main Street, where the Murder & Mayhem indoor show is staged

Theater / Performance Venue

Murder & Mayhem Show (Haunted Galena)

Galena, IL

Murder & Mayhem is the indoor storytelling counterpart to the Haunted Galena Tour Company's outdoor walking tours. Performances run at the DeSoto House Hotel — a Greek Revival landmark built in 1855 that has hosted Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant, and Stephen A. Douglas.

$$$ Mature themes — recommended for adults Family: Low

Museum / Historical Site

The Dowling House

Galena, IL

The Dowling House at 220 Diagonal Street in Galena, Illinois, is the oldest building in Galena, built in 1826 by John Dowling — the same year Galena itself was founded. The limestone single-pen house served as a trading post on the first floor with the Dowling family living quarters above.

$ All Ages Family: High

Rockford — 6

Faust Landmark Art Deco tower at 618 East State Street, Rockford, Illinois

Photo coming soon

Other Dark Tourism Site

Faust Landmark (formerly the Faust Hotel)

Rockford, IL

The Faust Hotel opened in 1929 as a fifteen-story, four-hundred-room hotel and apartment complex in downtown Rockford, Illinois, named for Levin Faust, a prominent Swedish immigrant. The building has since been owned by the Shriners (as Tebala Towers) and converted in 2010 into restricted-access senior residential housing as the Faust Landmark.

$ All Ages (exterior viewing); 55+ residency restriction Family: High

Historic 1904 view of Rockford College grounds with Adams Hall and Linden Hall in Rockford Illinois

Museum / Historical Site

Rockford University (formerly Rockford College)

Rockford, IL

Rockford University is a private liberal arts university in Rockford, Illinois, founded in 1847 as Rockford Female Seminary. The institution became Rockford College in 1892 and Rockford University in 2013. Its most famous alumna is Jane Addams, the 1931 Nobel Peace Prize laureate and co-founder of Hull House in Chicago.

$ All Ages Family: High

Tinker Swiss Cottage historic Swiss-style residence, Rockford, Illinois

Museum / Historical Site

Tinker Swiss Cottage (History Tour)

Rockford, IL

Robert Hall Tinker built the 27-room Swiss-style cottage between 1865 and 1870 on a limestone bluff above Kent Creek in Rockford, Illinois, after returning from European travel in 1862. The Tinker family donated the property to the city in the 1940s, and it now operates as a house museum and gardens.

$$ All ages for history tours; paranormal investigations recommended for ages 12 and up Family: Moderate

Museum / Historical Site

Tinker Swiss Cottage Museum & Gardens

Rockford, IL

Robert H. Tinker began building Tinker Swiss Cottage in 1865 on a limestone bluff above Kent Creek in Rockford, Illinois. Inspired by his 1862 European tour, the twenty-room cottage is one of only a handful of Swiss-style residential buildings remaining in the United States. Tinker — a former Rockford mayor and founding member of the Rockford Park District — surrounded the cottage with twenty-seven acres of gardens and a Swiss-inspired three-story barn.

$$ All ages for daytime tours; paranormal events are 12 and older Family: Moderate

Museum / Historical Site

Tinker Swiss Cottage Museum & Gardens

Rockford, IL

Tinker Swiss Cottage in Rockford, Illinois is a 27-room residence built between 1865 and 1870 by accountant and traveler Robert Hall Tinker on a limestone bluff above Kent Creek. The Tinker family occupied it through 1942; it has operated as a public museum since 1943.

$$ All Ages for daytime tours; paranormal events 12+ per museum policy Family: Moderate

Haunted House / Historic Home

Tinker Swiss Cottage

Rockford, IL

The Tinker Swiss Cottage is a 27-room Swiss-style chalet built by Robert Hall Tinker in Rockford, Illinois, between 1865 and 1870 on a limestone bluff. Tinker, inspired by an 1862 European tour, married Mary Dorr Manny in 1870. The Rockford Park District opened the property as a museum in 1943, and it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1972.

$$ All Ages for daytime tours; 12+ for paranormal events Family: High

Peoria — 4

Peoria Historical Society offices on SW Washington Street in downtown Peoria, Illinois

Other Dark Tourism Site

Haunted Peoria Bus Tour (Peoria Historical Society)

Peoria, IL

The Haunted Peoria Bus Tour is operated by the Peoria Historical Society from offices at 611 SW Washington Street in Peoria, Illinois. The two-hour seasonal tour visits documented sites of regional dark history and reported paranormal accounts across the Peoria metropolitan area.

$$ All Ages; mature themes Family: Moderate

Peoria Players Theatre on North University Street

Photo coming soon

Theater / Performance Venue

Peoria Players Theatre

Peoria, IL

Peoria Players Theatre is the oldest continuously running community theatre in Illinois and the fourth oldest in the United States, founded on October 6, 1919. The company has performed at three different Peoria locations and has occupied its current University Street building since 1957.

$$ All Ages Family: High

The Rock Island Depot (River Station), an 1891 train depot along the Illinois River in Peoria, Illinois

Museum / Historical Site

River Station (Rock Island Depot)

Peoria, IL

The Rock Island Depot at 212 SW Water Street in Peoria was built in 1891 by the Chicago, Rock Island, and Pacific Railroad. A freight house was added in 1899. The depot served as a major regional rail hub through the mid-20th century, with the 'Peoria Rocket' passenger train operating until 1978. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 and has operated under the River Station name since 1981.

$ All Ages Family: High

Illinois Central College North Campus on the former Zeller Mental Health Center site, Peoria, Illinois

Photo coming soon

Asylum / Hospital

Zeller Mental Health Center

Peoria, IL

Zeller Mental Health Center was a 200-bed Illinois Department of Human Services psychiatric facility in central Peoria. The state closed Zeller on June 30, 2002. In 2003 the site was reopened as Illinois Central College's North Campus and continues to operate in that role.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Aurora — 3

Two Brothers Roundhouse — historic 1856 limestone railroad roundhouse in Aurora, Illinois

Other Dark Tourism Site

Aurora Two Brothers Roundhouse Ghost Tour & Investigation

Aurora, IL

The Two Brothers Roundhouse in Aurora, Illinois was built in 1856 as a service hub for the Chicago and Aurora Railroads. It is the oldest limestone roundhouse in the United States and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The building was restored beginning in 1995 and reopened in 1996 as Walter Payton's Roundhouse Complex, and operates today as a Two Brothers Brewing taproom and event venue.

$$ 13+ Family: Moderate

Haunted Hotel / Inn

Leland Tower

Aurora, IL

The Aurora-Leland Hotel was constructed in 1928 at a cost of $3.1 million, designed by architects Anker Sveere Graven and Arthur Guy Mayger. At 22 stories, it was the tallest building in Illinois outside of Chicago when completed. The building served as the city's premier hotel and entertainment venue until the 1960s, when it transitioned to residential apartments. It continues to operate as Leland Tower Apartments under Karademas management.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Mount Olivet Cemetery

Aurora, IL

Mount Olivet Cemetery in Aurora, Illinois was established in the 1850s as a Catholic burial ground in Kane County. Now administered by the Diocese of Rockford, it contains more than 11,000 interments. The cemetery's apparition tradition is unusual in its specificity: witnesses consistently describe figures in 1950s attire, and a 1958 Lincoln Continental that drives to the front gates before dissolving.

$ All Ages Family: High

Bartonville — 3

Peoria State Hospital historic building exterior, Bartonville Illinois

Asylum / Hospital

Peoria State Hospital (Cottage B1)

Bartonville, IL

The Illinois Asylum for the Incurable Insane, opened February 10, 1902 near Bartonville under Superintendent Dr. George Zeller, was designed as a progressive 'cottage system' campus of 33 buildings spread across 215 acres. At peak capacity the facility housed 2,800 patients. It closed in 1973, and subsequent demolitions reduced the original 63 buildings to 12 survivors. The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

$$ 13+ for American Hauntings events (under 18 requires adult supervision) Family: Low

The surviving museum building of the Peoria State Hospital on the Bartonville hilltop, with the cemetery grounds visible in the distance

Photo coming soon

Asylum / Hospital

Peoria State Hospital Museum & Guided History Tour

Bartonville, IL

The Peoria State Hospital opened in 1902 in Bartonville, Illinois, originally chartered in 1895 as the Illinois Asylum for the Incurable Insane. Under superintendent Dr. George A. Zeller, the institution adopted the cottage system across 33 buildings and became a regional model for reform-era psychiatric care. The hospital closed in 1973, and most buildings were demolished or sold at auction in subsequent decades.

$$ All Ages (children must be supervised on tours) Family: Moderate

Peoria State Hospital historic building exterior used for paranormal tours, Bartonville Illinois

Asylum / Hospital

Peoria State Hospital Public Paranormal Tours

Bartonville, IL

The Illinois Hospital for the Incurable Insane opened in 1902 in Bartonville on bluffs above the Illinois River, growing into a 63-building Kirkbride Plan complex that operated as Peoria State Hospital from 1909 until its closure in 1973. Today the Pollak Tuberculosis Hospital is the only surviving hospital building, operated as a museum and the site of public historical and paranormal tours.

$$$ Historical tour appropriate for older children; paranormal investigation portion 18+ Family: Low

Evergreen Park — 2

Mature trees and lawn sections at Evergreen Cemetery in Evergreen Park, Illinois

Photo coming soon

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Evergreen Cemetery

Evergreen Park, IL

Evergreen Cemetery was established in 1910 by the LaSalle Sales Organization (a partnership of Max Guthman and Jacob Rothschild) on 110 acres in what is now Evergreen Park, Illinois. The grounds were designed by Danish landscape architect Svend Lollesgard as a memorial park. The cemetery is sometimes called the Village of Churches for the many religious institutional sections.

$ All Ages Family: High

Active Catholic cemetery at 87th and Hamlin in Evergreen Park, Illinois

Photo coming soon

Cemetery / Burial Ground

St. Mary Catholic Cemetery and Mausoleum

Evergreen Park, IL

St. Mary Catholic Cemetery in Evergreen Park, Illinois, was consecrated in 1888 as the second cemetery established by the German Angel Guardian Orphanage Society. It is the largest cemetery serving the southern area of the Archdiocese of Chicago, anchored at 87th and Hamlin.

$ All Ages Family: High

Hillside — 2

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Mount Carmel Cemetery

Hillside, IL

Mount Carmel Cemetery in Hillside was consecrated in 1901 and spans 214 acres with over 238,000 interments. Operated by the Catholic Cemeteries of Chicago, it serves Cook County's Catholic community and contains graves ranging from turn-of-the-century Italian immigrants to Chicago political figures. The cemetery's most documented legend centers on Julia Buccola Petta, who died in childbirth in 1921 and was exhumed in 1927 at her mother's insistence.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Memorial sculpture at Queen of Heaven Catholic Cemetery in Hillside, Illinois, site of reported Marian apparitions

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Queen of Heaven Cemetery

Hillside, IL

Queen of Heaven Cemetery in Hillside, Illinois is a Roman Catholic cemetery that contains the Shrine of the Holy Innocents, the only public memorial to the 92 children and 3 sisters killed in the December 1, 1958 fire at Our Lady of the Angels School in Chicago. Twenty-five of the victims are buried at the shrine.

$ All Ages (visitors expected to behave respectfully) Family: Moderate

Joliet — 2

Queen Anne limestone facade with cylindrical tower of the Frank Shaver Allen House in Joliet, Illinois

Photo coming soon

Haunted House / Historic Home

Frank Shaver Allen House

Joliet, IL

The Frank Shaver Allen House at 608 Morgan Street in Joliet was built in 1887 for architect Frank Shaver Allen (1860-1934). The limestone cottage features a cylindrical tower and ornate Queen Anne woodworking. Allen relocated his family to Los Angeles in 1904. The home remains a private residence.

$ Drive-by viewing only Family: Moderate

Prison / Reformatory

Old Joliet Prison

Joliet, IL

The Old Joliet Prison opened May 22, 1858, when fifty-three inmates arrived at a small structure to begin building the larger penitentiary around themselves. Designed by Chicago architect William W. Boyington and constructed of limestone quarried on-site, it operated until 2002 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2023.

$$ All Ages (children must be supervised) Family: Moderate

Minooka — 2

Historic Aux Sable Cemetery on Brown Road between Minooka and Morris, Grundy County, Illinois

Photo coming soon

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Aux Sable Cemetery (Minooka)

Minooka, IL

Aux Sable Cemetery is a historic pioneer cemetery (also recorded as Walley or Cryder Cemetery) at the south end of Brown Road in Aux Sable Township, Grundy County, Illinois, in the countryside between Minooka and Morris. With more than a thousand burials, it is one of the most frequently cited 'haunted' cemeteries in the state.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Historic 1847 Dresden Cemetery on Hansel Road near Minooka, Grundy County, Illinois

Photo coming soon

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Dresden Cemetery (Minooka)

Minooka, IL

Dresden Cemetery is one of the oldest cemeteries in the Minooka area of Grundy County, Illinois, established in 1847 on Hansel Road. It is closely associated with the early-twentieth-century relocation of many area burials to the newer St. Mary's Cemetery in Minooka, a move rooted in documented difficulties with flooding and grave conditions.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Monticello — 2

Allerton House (The Farm) — Robert Allerton's country estate mansion near Monticello, Illinois

Haunted House / Historic Home

Allerton Mansion

Monticello, IL

Allerton Mansion is a 40-room Georgian Revival country house completed in 1900 on the central Illinois prairie. Designed by Philadelphia architect John Borie for Robert Allerton, heir to a Chicago banking and stockyard fortune, the 5,500-acre estate was deeded to the University of Illinois in 1946 and now operates as a public park and retreat center.

$ All Ages Family: High

Rural road bridge over the Sangamon River north of Monticello, Illinois, known locally as Crybaby Bridge

Photo coming soon

Outdoor / Natural Site

Crybaby Bridge (Piatt County)

Monticello, IL

Crybaby Bridge Road crosses the Sangamon River roughly three miles north of Monticello in Piatt County, Illinois. The original one-lane iron-and-wood truss bridge was built in 1899 and stood for about a century before being demolished and replaced with a modern concrete span in 2001-2002. The crossing sits in a wooded, rolling-hill landscape near the Piatt County Forest Preserve District's Lodge Park.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Naperville — 2

The Spirit of the American Navy statue in Burlington Square Park, Naperville, Illinois — the meeting point for the Nightfall Nightmares ghost tour

Photo coming soon

Other Dark Tourism Site

Naperville Nightfall Nightmares Ghost Tour

Naperville, IL

The Naperville Nightfall Nightmares ghost tour is operated by US Ghost Adventures, a national tour-operator network running ghost walks in dozens of cities. The Naperville route covers downtown locations associated with the 1946 train disaster, the city's KKK-era history, and other documented dark events from the western Chicago suburb's past.

$$ All Ages (subject matter discusses adult historical themes) Family: Moderate

Historic downtown commercial buildings in the Naperville Historic District, the DuPage County area covered by the nightly walking ghost tour

Other Dark Tourism Site

Naperville Nightfall Nightmares Tour

Naperville, IL

Naperville, Illinois, was settled in 1831 by Joseph Naper and incorporated as DuPage County's first city. The Naperville Nightfall Nightmares Tour, operated by US Ghost Adventures, meets at the Spirit of the American Navy statue in Burlington Square Park at 317 N Ellsworth Street.

$$ All Ages; mature themes at parental discretion Family: Moderate

Ashmore — 1

Ashmore Estates exterior — former Coles County Poor Farm almshouse, Coles County, Illinois

Photo coming soon

Asylum / Hospital

Ashmore Estates

Ashmore, IL

The Coles County Poor Farm established its second almshouse on this Ashmore, Illinois property in 1916, replacing a condemned predecessor facility. The building served impoverished residents until 1959, when it was converted to a private psychiatric hospital. Financial difficulties closed the psychiatric facility in 1986, and the building remained abandoned for 20 years before current owners purchased it in 2006.

$$ Check venue for current age requirements Family: Low

Belleville — 1

Theater / Performance Venue

Lincoln Theatre

Belleville, IL

The Lincoln Theatre has operated in downtown Belleville, Illinois since 1921, designed by architect William Henry Gruen. In the 1920s, performers including a young Ginger Rogers and the Marx Brothers appeared on its stage. A $30,000 Wurlitzer organ was installed in 1927, and the theater converted to sound film in 1929. Now over a century old, the Lincoln continues showing first-run films and hosting live events.

$$ All Ages Family: High

Belvedere — 1

Blood's Point Cemetery grounds near Belvedere, Illinois

Photo coming soon

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Blood's Point Cemetery

Belvedere, IL

Blood's Point Cemetery is a historic burial ground near Belvedere, Illinois in Boone County. The cemetery serves as a final resting place for generations of local residents and has been a recognized burial site for well over a century.

$ All Ages Family: High

Buckner — 1

Rural Harrison Cemetery near Buckner in Franklin County, Illinois, with its distinctive piano-shaped headstone

Photo coming soon

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Harrison Cemetery (Buckner)

Buckner, IL

Harrison Cemetery is a rural burial ground in Browning Township, Franklin County, Illinois, sited between the town of Christopher and the village of Buckner. Named for one of the area's first settling families, it has served the community for well over a century. A notable piano-shaped monument marks an unidentified grave and has become the centerpiece of the cemetery's folklore.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Bull Valley — 1

Haunted House / Historic Home

George Stickney House

Bull Valley, IL

The George Stickney House is an 1865 stucco-over-frame mansion in Bull Valley, Illinois, built for spiritualists George and Sylvia Stickney. The Stickneys, both practicing mediums, are said to have designed the interior without right angles to ease the movement of spirits during seances. The building has served as the Bull Valley Police Department since 1985 and has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1979.

$ All Ages Family: High

Centralia — 1

The marble statue of Harriet Annie Marshall holding a violin atop her family monument in Elmwood Cemetery, Centralia, Illinois.

Photo coming soon

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Elmwood Cemetery (Violin Annie)

Centralia, IL

Elmwood Cemetery in Centralia, Illinois, was in use by the 1860s and formally established in 1877. Its centerpiece is the marble memorial to Harriet Annie Marshall, who died of diphtheria on June 18, 1890, at age 11. The monument's statue, based on a family painting, depicts her holding a violin.

$ All Ages Family: High

Cherry Valley — 1

Blood Point Road rural county route in Boone County, Illinois

Photo coming soon

Outdoor / Natural Site

Blood Point Road

Cherry Valley, IL

Blood Point Road takes its name from Arthur Blood, an 1830s settler in Flora Township, Boone County. The 2.8-mile rural road runs east-west from Pearl Street to Cherry Valley Road in northern Illinois, near Rockford.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Clarendon Hills — 1

Haunted Dining / Bar

Country House Restaurant

Clarendon Hills, IL

A roadhouse has stood at this location on 55th Street in Clarendon Hills since 1922, when the original owner built a tavern with a residence above it. The building changed hands several times before David Regnery and partners purchased it in 1974, renovating it into the Country House that operates today. The Geneva, Illinois Country House location has closed permanently; only the Clarendon Hills restaurant remains.

$$ All Ages Family: High

Collinsville — 1

Outdoor / Natural Site

Cahokia Mounds

Collinsville, IL

Cahokia Mounds is a 2,200-acre UNESCO World Heritage Site in Collinsville, Illinois containing 80 surviving prehistoric earthen mounds. The site was occupied by the Mississippian civilization from approximately 600-1400 CE, at its peak encompassing 4,000 acres with a population exceeding 10,000 inhabitants.

$ All Ages Family: High

Crystal Lake — 1

Sign at Mt. Thabor Cemetery in Crystal Lake, Illinois, photographed 2022

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Mount Thabor Cemetery

Crystal Lake, IL

Mount Thabor Cemetery was established in 1846 when early McHenry County settler Owen Dyer deeded one acre of his land to the Catholic Church for one dollar. The cemetery holds approximately 120 burials, most pre-dating 1900, though only about 35 markers remain standing after a 1965 vandalism event that smashed many of the century-old headstones. The Crystal Lake Historical Society maintains records of the site.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Danville — 1

Museum / Historical Site

Holland Apartments

Danville, IL

The Holland Apartments at 324-326 N. Vermilion Street in Danville were constructed in two sections: the northern half in 1906 and the southern half in 1927, both in the Dutch Revival style. After years as a downtown landmark in severe disrepair, the building was restored to 57 units of low-income and assisted-living housing and became Illinois's first LEED-Gold National Register of Historic Places building.

$ All Ages Family: High

Decatur — 1

Schilling Hall at Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois

Photo coming soon

Theater / Performance Venue

Millikin University — Albert Taylor Theater

Decatur, IL

Millikin University was founded in Decatur, Illinois in 1901 through an endowment from industrialist James Millikin. Schilling Hall, one of the oldest campus structures, houses the Albert Taylor Theater — named for a university president who died in 1929 and whose funeral was held in the auditorium that would later bear his name. The theater has been the center of campus performing arts for over a century.

$ All Ages Family: High

Des Plaines — 1

Other Dark Tourism Site

Maryville Academy

Des Plaines, IL

Maryville Academy in Des Plaines, Illinois began in 1883 as Saint Mary's Training School, founded by Archbishop Patrick A. Feehan on an 880-acre farm as a home for dependent and neglected boys. Girls joined the facility in 1911, and after a student vote the institution was renamed Maryville Academy in 1950. Today the organization operates 19 programs across five Illinois locations, having evolved from an orphanage model to a trauma-informed care clinical approach.

$ All Ages Family: High

Elgin — 1

Pastoral grounds of Hilltop Cemetery, the burial ground of the Elgin State Hospital in Elgin, Illinois

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Elgin State Hospital Cemetery (Hilltop Cemetery)

Elgin, IL

Hilltop Cemetery, also known as Hillside Cemetery and historically as the Elgin State Hospital Cemetery, was laid out in 1933 on farmland belonging to the Elgin State Hospital. The first burial took place on October 27, 1933. The hospital itself opened in 1872 as the Northern Illinois Hospital and Asylum for the Insane. The cemetery now contains 974 marked grave sites and is owned by the City of Elgin.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Elkhart — 1

Hillside cemetery and Richard J. Oglesby mausoleum at Elkhart Cemetery near Elkhart, Illinois

Photo coming soon

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Elkhart Cemetery

Elkhart, IL

Elkhart Cemetery occupies Elkhart Hill near the village of Elkhart in Logan County, Illinois. It holds the mausoleum of Richard J. Oglesby (1824-1899), Illinois's only three-time governor, a Civil War major general, a US senator, and a friend of Abraham Lincoln. The on-site St. John the Baptist Chapel was the setting for Oglesby's funeral on April 28, 1899.

$ All Ages Family: High

Flora — 1

Bloods Point Cemetery entrance and grounds in Flora Township, Illinois

Photo coming soon

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Bloods Point Cemetery

Flora, IL

Bloods Point Cemetery was established in 1836 in Flora Township, Boone County, taking its name from Arthur Blood, an 1830s settler and the first European-American resident of the region. The cemetery serves as a burial ground for over two centuries of local residents.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Forest City — 1

Mt. Zion Cemetery white gate entrance in rural Mason County, Illinois

Photo coming soon

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Mt. Zion Cemetery

Forest City, IL

Mt. Zion Cemetery in Mason County, Illinois near Forest City is the burial site of a congregation reportedly lost in a church fire that burned on this property while services were in session. Local researchers, including Chad Lewis and Terry Fisk, noted in their 2007 Illinois Road Guide to Haunted Locations that the church was removed from the deed by 1955, suggesting the fire predated that year — though historical documentation of victims has not been confirmed.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Forest Park — 1

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Showmen's Rest

Forest Park, IL

Showmen's Rest is a 750-plot section of Woodlawn Cemetery in Forest Park, Illinois, owned by the Showmen's League of America since 1913. Its earliest burials, in June 1918, were 56 to 61 employees of the Hagenbeck-Wallace Circus killed in one of the deadliest train wrecks in U.S. history.

$ All Ages Family: High

Galesburg — 1

Museum / Historical Site

Knox College

Galesburg, IL

Knox College was founded in 1837 by anti-slavery advocates in Galesburg, Illinois. The campus served as a station on the Underground Railroad and hosted the fifth of the seven Lincoln-Douglas senatorial debates in October 1858. In March 1998, freshman Andrea Racibozynski was beaten to death with a brick in the glass-enclosed stairwell of Seymour Hall by fellow student Clyde A. Best.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Geneva — 1

Small surviving cemetery of the Illinois State Training School for Girls in the Fox Run subdivision, Geneva, Illinois

Photo coming soon

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Girls' School Cemetery (Illinois State Training School)

Geneva, IL

The Girls' School Cemetery is a small burial ground of roughly 51 graves in Geneva, Illinois, the only surviving remnant of the Illinois State Training School for Delinquent Girls (also called the State Industrial School for Delinquent Girls), which operated from 1894 to 1977. The school's grounds are now the Fox Run subdivision, and the cemetery holds former residents and infants tied to the institution.

$ All Ages Family: Low

Godfrey — 1

Museum / Historical Site

Lewis and Clark Community College

Godfrey, IL

Captain Benjamin Godfrey founded Monticello Female Seminary in Godfrey, Illinois in 1838 as one of the earliest institutions of higher education for women west of the Appalachians. Harriet Newell Haskell served as principal from 1867 until her death in 1907, rebuilding the school after a devastating 1888 fire and raising its national reputation. In 1971, the institution became Lewis and Clark Community College.

$ All Ages Family: High

Grafton — 1

Haunted Hotel / Inn

Ruebel Hotel

Grafton, IL

Michael Ruebel built the Ruebel Hotel in Grafton, Illinois in 1879. The property sits at the confluence of the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers, beneath the limestone bluffs of the Great River Road. After fire destroyed the original structure in 1912, Ruebel rebuilt the hotel the following year with 32 guest rooms renting at $1 per night.

$$ All Ages Family: High

Hoffman Estates — 1

Shoe Factory Road in Hoffman Estates, Illinois

Photo coming soon

Outdoor / Natural Site

Shoe Factory Road

Hoffman Estates, IL

Shoe Factory Road in Hoffman Estates was named for the 1891 Ludlow shoe factory at Shoe Factory and Dundee Roads. The road has hosted the Charles A. Lindbergh School (1929), the Earl and Elizabeth Teets Farm (site of an unsolved 1970s murder), and a Spanish Colonial Revival house — all demolished by 2007-2008.

$ All Ages (drive-by only) Family: Moderate

Jerseyville — 1

White-clapboard 1827 mansion in Jerseyville, Illinois with original stagecoach-stop core

Museum / Historical Site

Cheney Mansion

Jerseyville, IL

Cheney Mansion in Jerseyville, Illinois began as the 1827 four-room stagecoach stop known as the Little Red House. Over more than a century it served as a tavern, a bank, a doctor's office, and an Underground Railroad station whose false-cistern basement hide is preserved. In 1998 the property was donated to the Jersey County Historical Society and is now operated as the county's history museum.

$$ All ages for daytime museum tours; investigations are typically 18+ Family: Moderate

Justice — 1

Main gate of Resurrection Catholic Cemetery on Archer Avenue in Justice Illinois

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Resurrection Cemetery

Justice, IL

Resurrection Catholic Cemetery in Justice, Illinois, was consecrated in 1904 to serve the southwest suburbs of the Archdiocese of Chicago, particularly the growing Polish Catholic community. The cemetery spans 397 acres and contains the Resurrection Mausoleum, whose 1971 stained-glass window is recognized by Guinness World Records as the largest in the world.

$ All Ages Family: High

Lake Forest — 1

Tudor Revival roofline of Mayflower Place above its mature oak canopy

Photo coming soon

Haunted House / Historic Home

Schweppe Mansion (Mayflower Place)

Lake Forest, IL

Mayflower Place was completed in 1917 by architect Frederick Wainwright Perkins as a wedding gift from John G. Shedd to his daughter Laura Shedd Schweppe and her husband Charles Hodgdon Schweppe. After Laura's death in 1937 and Charles's suicide in 1941, the estate remained largely unoccupied for forty-seven years before a 1987 restoration.

$ All Ages Family: High

Lebanon — 1

Old Main, the historic main building of McKendree University, Lebanon, Illinois — founded 1828 as McKendree College.

Haunted House / Historic Home

McKendree University Alumni House

Lebanon, IL

McKendree University, founded in Lebanon, Illinois in 1828 as the Lebanon Seminary, is the oldest college or university in Illinois. Pioneer Methodists established the institution under Archbishop Edward Raymond Ames, and it was renamed in 1830 to honor Bishop William McKendree, the first American-born Methodist bishop. The Alumni House on campus has a documented history of deaths among its occupants.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Lemont — 1

The limestone St. James at Sag Bridge Catholic Church atop its hilltop cemetery overlooking the Calumet Sag Channel near Lemont, Illinois.

Cemetery / Burial Ground

St. James at Sag Bridge (Monk's Castle)

Lemont, IL

St. James at Sag Bridge is a limestone Catholic sanctuary built in the 1850s on a high bluff overlooking the Des Plaines River Valley near Lemont, Illinois. The parish was established in 1833, making it the oldest Catholic congregation in the Chicago area, and the surrounding cemetery contains the graves of Irish canal workers who built the Illinois and Michigan Canal.

$ All Ages Family: High

Lisle — 1

Benedictine Hall, the original 1901 Romanesque Revival building at Benedictine University in Lisle, Illinois

Photo coming soon

Museum / Historical Site

Benedictine University

Lisle, IL

Benedictine University was founded in 1887 by Czech and Slovak Benedictine monks in Chicago and relocated to Lisle in 1901. The campus occupies 108 acres that once housed St. Joseph's Bohemian Orphanage (1898-1956), where twenty-three children died and were buried on the grounds.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Lockport — 1

Photo coming soon

Outdoor / Natural Site

Bruce Road

Lockport, IL

Bruce Road is a public road in Lockport, Illinois in Will County, located in the southern Chicago metropolitan area approximately 30 miles southwest of downtown Chicago.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Marshall — 1

Remote Macke Cemetery on Macke Road near Marshall, Clark County, Illinois, known in folklore as Hatchet Man Cemetery

Photo coming soon

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Macke Cemetery ('Hatchet Man Cemetery')

Marshall, IL

Macke Cemetery is a small, remote rural cemetery on Macke Road near Marshall in Clark County, Illinois. Better known in regional folklore as the 'Hatchet Man Cemetery' or 'Wolf Skins,' it has been investigated by paranormal groups and documented in folklore collections, though the violent legend attached to it is not supported by documented records.

$ All Ages Family: Low

Mattoon — 1

Campground Cemetery rural burial ground near Mattoon, Illinois

Photo coming soon

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Campground Cemetery

Mattoon, IL

Campground Cemetery is a small historic burial ground located in Coles County, Illinois, adjacent to Lake Road southwest of Mattoon. The cemetery serves as a burial site for early local residents and reflects 19th and early 20th-century burial practices in rural Illinois.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

McClure — 1

Twisting rural Grapevine Trail through the Shawnee National Forest in Alexander County, Illinois

Photo coming soon

Outdoor / Natural Site

Grapevine Trail (Dead Man's Curve)

McClure, IL

Grapevine Trail is a twisting rural road in Alexander County, southern Illinois, near McClure. The road provides access to portions of the Shawnee National Forest and the Horse Creek Hiking Trail. Its local nickname Dead Man's Curve reflects documented accident history on the narrow, sharply-turning route.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Midlothian — 1

Weathered headstones cluster among trees at Bachelor's Grove Cemetery in Midlothian, Illinois

Outdoor / Natural Site

Bachelor's Grove Forest Preserve

Midlothian, IL

Bachelor's Grove Forest Preserve is the Cook County Forest Preserve District designation covering the wooded land surrounding Bachelor's Grove Cemetery. Public access is via the Rubio Woods parking area on 143rd Street; a quarter-mile forest path connects the lot to the historic 1840s cemetery.

$ All Ages — daylight hours only Family: High

Monmouth — 1

Weathered 1800s headstones at Sugar Tree Grove Cemetery

Photo coming soon

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Sugar Tree Grove Cemetery

Monmouth, IL

Sugar Tree Grove Cemetery sits on a gravel road south of the Quad Cities and ranks among Warren County's oldest burying grounds. Settlers built a church on the site in the early 1800s and began burials nearby; the church is gone, marked now by a plaque. Rev. John Scott, a Scottish immigrant who served the pulpit nineteen years before joining Monmouth College, is among the documented burials.

$ All Ages Family: High

Mount Prospect — 1

Mrs. P and Me restaurant photo at 100 E Prospect Ave in Mount Prospect, Illinois

Haunted Dining / Bar

Mrs. P & Me Restaurant

Mount Prospect, IL

Mrs. P & Me has operated at 100 E Prospect Avenue in Mount Prospect, Illinois since 1902, making it over 120 years old. The restaurant describes itself as a neighborhood gathering place blending rich history with American comfort food. It came under new ownership in 2004. The building's more-than-century lifespan as a hospitality venue underpins the paranormal associations attached to the property.

$$ All Ages Family: High

Nauvoo — 1

The 1867 Cambre House saltbox farmhouse on a limestone bluff in Nauvoo, Illinois

Photo coming soon

Haunted House / Historic Home

Cambre House and Farm

Nauvoo, IL

Adolphe Cambre, a French immigrant and member of the short-lived Icarian utopian community, built the saltbox farmhouse in 1867 on 20 acres of Hancock County limestone bluff overlooking the Mississippi River near Nauvoo, Illinois. The farm remained in continuous operation for more than 150 years and includes Mormon Springs — a natural mineral spring — and surrounding woodland. The property has operated as a wedding venue since 1993 and an investigation site since the late 1970s when paranormal activity was first reported.

$$ Check venue for current age requirements Family: Moderate

New Lenox — 1

Gougar Road in New Lenox, Illinois near its intersection with Route 6

Photo coming soon

Outdoor / Natural Site

Gougar Road & Route 6 Intersection

New Lenox, IL

Gougar Road in New Lenox Township, Will County, Illinois, takes its name from the Gougar family — among the area's earliest settlers. John Gougar acquired land in 1830 on behalf of his father William Gougar, who established a post office at the family farm in 1832. The road's intersection with U.S. Route 6 is a practical landmark in a semi-rural agricultural corridor that has weathered the gradual suburbanization of Will County since the late 20th century.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Normal — 1

Historic cottages of the former Illinois Soldiers' and Sailors' Children's School, now One Normal Plaza, in Normal, Illinois

Photo coming soon

Museum / Historical Site

Illinois Soldiers' and Sailors' Children's School

Normal, IL

The Illinois Soldiers' and Sailors' Children's School in Normal, Illinois, opened in 1865 as the Illinois Soldiers' Orphans' Home for children of Civil War veterans and operated until 1979. Its NRHP-listed Children's Village, eight Tudor Revival cottages built in 1930-31, survives along with other buildings, now redeveloped as One Normal Plaza and Normandy Village.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

North Aurora — 1

The Comfort Inn & Suites North Aurora, formerly Baymont Inn & Suites

Photo coming soon

Haunted Hotel / Inn

Comfort Inn & Suites North Aurora (former Baymont Inn)

North Aurora, IL

The hotel at 308 South Lincolnway in North Aurora, Illinois operated for many years as a Baymont Inn & Suites. The property has since been rebranded as Comfort Inn & Suites North Aurora - Naperville. It is a standard roadside hotel with no notable historical context beyond its hospitality use.

$$ All Ages Family: High

Oak Brook — 1

1880s white frame Evangelical Church and small cemetery in the Fullersburg Historic District of Oak Brook, Illinois

Photo coming soon

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Evangelical Church Cemetery (Fullersburg Historic District)

Oak Brook, IL

The white frame Evangelical Church and its small cemetery, built by German immigrants from Hanover, sit in the Fullersburg Historic District in Oak Brook, Illinois, near the 1852 Graue Mill. The mill was one of three authenticated Illinois stops on the Underground Railroad. John Coe, an Underground Railroad conductor, and his son Samuel are buried in the cemetery.

$ All Ages Family: High

Olney — 1

Mt. Pleasant Cemetery old church exterior in Richland County, Illinois

Photo coming soon

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Mt. Pleasant Cemetery and Church

Olney, IL

Mt. Pleasant Cemetery in Richland County, outside Olney, Illinois, is anchored by an old church at its front that served the rural community through the mid-20th century. Funerals stopped being held at the church in the 1950s, after which the building fell into disuse. The church exterior and cemetery grounds remain accessible to visitors.

$ All Ages Family: High

Palmer — 1

Steel truss bridge over Bear Creek on E 990 North Road in rural Christian County, Illinois, known locally as Witch's Bridge

Photo coming soon

Outdoor / Natural Site

Witch's Bridge (Christian County)

Palmer, IL

Witch's Bridge is a steel truss bridge built in 1916 that carries E 990 North Road across Bear Creek in rural Christian County, Illinois, between Palmer and Taylorville and near the historic Anderson Cemetery. The roughly 104-foot one-lane structure sits in open farmland and has become one of central Illinois' best-known 'haunted bridge' sites, though no documented historical event corresponds to its central legend.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Quincy — 1

Haunted House / Historic Home

Villa Kathrine

Quincy, IL

Villa Kathrine was built in 1900 by George Metz, a wealthy Quincy, Illinois native who spent three years traveling the Mediterranean before returning home with architectural drawings and North African furnishings. Metz hired local architect George Behrensmeyer — in his first professional commission — to translate those sketches into a Moorish Revival villa on the bluffs above the Mississippi River. It is the only example of Moroccan-influenced architecture on the Mississippi.

$$ 18+, or 16+ with a responsible adult for ghost hunts Family: Moderate

Rockton — 1

Open field along Route 75 in Rockton, Illinois, where the Wagon Wheel Resort once stood

Photo coming soon

Outdoor / Natural Site

Wagon Wheel Resort (Site)

Rockton, IL

The Wagon Wheel began in 1936 as Walt Williamson's roadside truck stop and root beer stand near Rockton, Illinois, and grew over the following decades into a 300-plus-acre destination resort with a hotel, bowling alley, ice rinks, swimming pools, a dinner theater, and an airstrip. After Williamson's death in 1975 it declined, suffered a string of fires in the 1990s, and was demolished in 2004.

$ All Ages Family: Low

Shelbyville — 1

Veterans burial ground in Shelbyville, Illinois

Photo coming soon

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Military Cemetery

Shelbyville, IL

Shelbyville, Illinois contains several historic cemeteries including burial grounds for Civil War and other military veterans. The specific cemetery identified in the Shadowlands account as the 'Military Cemetery' in Shelbyville could not be uniquely matched to a single named facility during research. Shelby County maintains multiple cemeteries with veterans interments.

$ All Ages Family: High

Spring Valley — 1

A two-lane rural roadway through agricultural land in Bureau County, Illinois

Photo coming soon

Outdoor / Natural Site

Route 6 / Help Road

Spring Valley, IL

Route 6 is an east-west Illinois state route through Bureau County in north-central Illinois, passing the small communities of Spring Valley and DePue along the Illinois River. The so-called Help Road, identified in regional retellings as a connector route between Route 6 and DePue, anchors a local variant of the widely circulating bloody-HELP urban legend.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Springfield — 1

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Oak Ridge Cemetery

Springfield, IL

Oak Ridge Cemetery in Springfield, Illinois, was established in 1855 on a wooded ridge north of downtown. Mary Todd Lincoln selected the site for Abraham Lincoln's burial after his April 1865 assassination, and the 117-foot Lincoln Tomb was completed in 1874. The cemetery is one of the most-visited in the United States.

$ All Ages Family: High

St. Charles — 1

Haunted Hotel / Inn

Hotel Baker

St. Charles, IL

Colonel Edward J. Baker commissioned the Hotel Baker on the site of a garbage dump at St. Charles's Main Street bridge in 1926. Built at a cost of approximately $1.25 million in Spanish-Moroccan architectural style, the hotel opened on June 2, 1928, with rooms at $2.50 per night. Its Rainbow Room featured the first lighted dance floor of its kind — 2,620 lights in red, green, blue, and amber — and hosted performers including Louis Armstrong, Lawrence Welk, and Tommy Dorsey. The hotel is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

$$$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Streator — 1

Moon Point Cemetery historic headstones in rural Livingston County, Illinois

Photo coming soon

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Moon Point Cemetery

Streator, IL

Moon Point Cemetery takes its name from Jacob Moon, who in 1830 settled along a winding creek in what is now Livingston County, Illinois. The cemetery's earliest documented grave dates to the mid-19th century, and Civil War veterans are interred within. The site became an object of local folklore during the late 1960s and 70s when teenagers began gathering there after dark.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Wadsworth — 1

Weathered 19th-century headstones at Old St. Patrick's Cemetery in Wadsworth, Illinois

Photo coming soon

Cemetery / Burial Ground

Old St. Patrick's Cemetery

Wadsworth, IL

Old St. Patrick's Cemetery in Wadsworth, Lake County, Illinois, was consecrated in 1849 and originally known as Mill Creek Cemetery before being renamed in 1864. Many of the early settlers of Newport Township (now Wadsworth) are buried here. It is administered today by Catholic Cemeteries of the Archdiocese of Chicago.

$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Watseka — 1

Exterior of the Vennum House on South Belmont Avenue, Watseka, Illinois

Photo coming soon

Haunted House / Historic Home

Vennum House

Watseka, IL

Modest 19th-century home in Watseka, Illinois where Lurancy Vennum, age 14, in 1878 entered the months-long trance state that produced the case known as the Watseka Wonder, an important early document in American spiritualist and psychical-research history.

$$ All Ages Family: Moderate

Willow Springs — 1

German Church Road in Willow Springs, Illinois near the Grimes sisters discovery site

Photo coming soon

Other Dark Tourism Site

Indian Head Park / German Church Road Site

Willow Springs, IL

On January 22, 1957, construction worker Leonard Prescott discovered the nude, frozen bodies of Barbara Grimes, 15, and Patricia Grimes, 12, beside German Church Road in unincorporated Willow Springs, approximately 200 feet east of County Line Road near Devil's Creek. The girls had disappeared from Chicago on December 28, 1956, after attending a movie. Police questioned 300,000 people and conducted serious interrogations of approximately 2,000 individuals. The case remains unsolved.

$ All Ages Family: Low

Woodstock — 1

Theater / Performance Venue

Woodstock Opera House

Woodstock, IL

The Woodstock Opera House was built in 1889 on the historic square in Woodstock, Illinois, to house the city's library, council chambers, court, fire department, and second-floor auditorium. Designed by Elgin architect Smith Hoag for $25,000, the venue is one of the oldest continuously operating theaters in the United States and contains the stage where Orson Welles trained as a student in the 1920s and 1930s.

$$ All Ages Family: High

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