1911 Illinois courthouse with a basement county jail that closed in 2004 — four distinct spirits reported by staff over decades
500 Illinois Avenue, Mound City, IL 62963
Research updated June 2026
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All Ages
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Free
Public government building; exterior viewable at no cost
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Wheelchair OK
Government building with paved entry; interior access limited to public business hours
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Photos OK
Est. 1911 · National Register of Historic Places · Last hanging in Pulaski County · County jail in operation 1911–2004 · Civil War-era southern Illinois history
Pulaski County, in the far southern tip of Illinois between the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, constructed its brick courthouse in 1911. The building served simultaneously as an administrative center and a detention facility — the basement held the county jail, which remained operational until 2004 when it was finally shuttered.
Mound City itself has an older and grimmer distinction in regional history. During the Civil War the town operated as a Union naval depot and hospital, and its proximity to the confluence of the two great rivers made it a significant military and commercial point. The courthouse, built forty-five years after the war, inherited a county still shaped by that history.
The facility's role as a jail gave it the extended catalog of incarcerations and at least one documented execution: the last man legally hanged in Pulaski County. His identity and the circumstances of his execution are referenced in regional reporting but not confirmed in the Wikipedia courthouse article, which focuses on the building's architecture and NRHP status. Cleo King, a courthouse employee with over thirty years of service, was among those who reported the most detailed observations of anomalous activity in the building.
Sources
The Southern, a regional downstate Illinois newspaper, profiled the Pulaski County Courthouse's reputation in depth, relying primarily on the testimony of Cleo King, who worked in the building for more than three decades. King described four separate figures she and colleagues had encountered.
The first and most externally documented was an apparition on the courthouse lawn: students at the nearby Lovejoy School reportedly observed a figure they described as swinging from a tree, consistent with the manner of execution by hanging. This figure was attributed to the last man legally executed in Pulaski County.
Inside the building, King described an elderly woman seen on the upper floors, a figure in a rustling taffeta dress said to have died in an automobile accident, and the recurring smell of cigar smoke in areas where no one was smoking — the attributed presence of a former attorney whose identity was not specified in the reporting. No physical harm has been attributed to any of the reported presences, and no formal paranormal investigations appear to have been conducted.
The 1911 Richardsonian Romanesque courthouse building is viewable from public grounds. The lawn area adjacent to Lovejoy School is where witnesses reportedly observed an apparition of the last man hanged in Pulaski County. Interior access limited to county business hours.
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