HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
Gangsters & Ghosts Walking Tour of Downtown Rock Island, Plus Paranormal Investigation Fundraisers
1829 2nd Ave, Rock Island, IL 61201
Research updated August 2026
Age
All Ages for the Gangsters & Ghosts walking tour; the Paranormal Investigation Fundraiser is hands-on and geared toward older participants.
Cost
$
Gangsters & Ghosts from $20 per person; Paranormal Investigation Fundraiser $30 per person. Pricing per the operator's own site.
Access
Limited Access
An outdoor walking tour of downtown Rock Island's historic streets, roughly 90 minutes.
Equipment
Photos OK
Downtown Rock Island's early-20th-century Prohibition-era commercial district · Playcrafters Barn Theatre, Rock Island
QC Haunts & History was founded in 2019 by Minda Powers-Douglas, a librarian and artist who has written three books on cemetery history. Its Rock Island tour, Gangsters & Ghosts, walks downtown Rock Island's streets to tell the story of vice lord John Looney, who ruled an empire of bootlegging, bribery, extortion, gambling, and prostitution during Prohibition and was tied to at least six murders in the early 1900s. Rock Island's downtown retains much of its early-20th-century commercial architecture from that era. The company has been covered by regional television and public radio (KWQC-TV11, Quad Cities NPR affiliate WVIK) and by Quad Cities tourism and news outlets, and it also runs a Soldiers & Spirits tour in the Village of East Davenport, Iowa (see separate HauntBound listing) and periodic paranormal-investigation fundraisers at the historic Playcrafters Barn Theatre in Rock Island.
Sources
The operator's own material frames the tour around the era "when vice lord John Looney ruled" Rock Island, tying the city's bootlegging, bribery, and gambling history to reported paranormal activity along the walking route. None of the specific haunting claims have been independently verified for this listing; they are included here as a description of what the tour covers, not as an endorsement of any specific claim.
Media Appearances
A roughly 90-minute walking tour of downtown Rock Island covering the Prohibition-era reign of vice lord John Looney, tied to reported hauntings along the route. Tickets are $20 per person. Meets at 19th Street and 2nd Avenue, outside El Patron Mexican Restaurant and Bar. Available on demand Tuesday through Sunday.
A hands-on paranormal investigation fundraiser event at the Playcrafters Barn Theatre in Rock Island. $30 per person; contact the operator directly to confirm dates.
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Columbus, OH
Columbus Ghost Tours is a locally owned Columbus, Ohio ghost-tour operator running walking tours of downtown Columbus and German Village, after-hours storytelling tours at the city's historic Green Lawn Cemetery, and paranormal-investigation events at partner venues including Thurber House, the Ringside Cafe, the Cultural Arts Center, and the Central Ohio Fire Museum.
Orlando, FL
American Ghost Adventures (AGA) is a locally owned, Orlando-based paranormal tour company founded by lead investigator Ting Rappa, operating for more than 20 years as Central Florida's longest-running ghost tour agency. Its Orlando program runs eight distinct products through downtown Orlando, the Orange County Regional History Center, and Greenwood Cemetery.
Charleston, SC
Nightly Spirits is a multi-city ghost-tour and haunted-pub-crawl operator running public and private programs in about 20 U.S. cities, including a Historic Downtown Charleston route with a kid-friendly pirate-themed option. The company has been recognized as a top-rated U.S. ghost tour by USA Today in multiple years.