Est. 1973 · Former Illinois State Psychiatric Hospital · Adaptive Reuse to Community College
Zeller Mental Health Center operated for decades in central Peoria as part of the Illinois Department of Human Services state psychiatric system. The 200-bed facility was named for Dr. George A. Zeller, the influential reform-era superintendent who had earlier led the larger Peoria State Hospital in Bartonville from 1902 onward. The two institutions are distinct: Bartonville's Peoria State Hospital closed in 1973, while the Zeller Mental Health Center carrying his name in Peoria continued to operate into the early twenty-first century.
Illinois closed Zeller on June 30, 2002, as part of a broader consolidation of state mental health services. The Auditor General's compliance digest for fiscal year 2003 records the closure date and the facility's administrative wind-down.
In 2003, Illinois Central College acquired the campus and reopened it as ICC North Campus, repurposing the buildings and grounds for higher education use. The community college continues to operate on the site, and most surviving infrastructure has been adapted to college functions. Public commentary from local writers has noted the unusual second life of the property — a former state psychiatric facility now serving as a community college.
Sources
- http://martin-wombacher.squarespace.com/blog/2014/9/24/this-used-to-bezeller-mental-health-center-now-its-ilinois-central-college-north-campus
- https://www.auditor.illinois.gov/Audit-Reports/Compliance-Agency-List/DHS/Zeller-MHC/FY03-DHS-Zeller-COMP-digest.htm
- http://www.auditor.illinois.gov/audit-reports/ZELLER-MENTAL-HEALTH-CENTER.asp
- https://www.publicschoolreview.com/zeller-mental-health-center-profile
ApparitionsPhantom voicesPhantom soundsLights flickering
Local Peoria coverage of haunted central Illinois groups Zeller alongside Bartonville's Peoria State Hospital, the larger and more famous Dr. George Zeller institution. Distinct accounts attached to the Zeller Mental Health Center campus itself describe disembodied voices, unexplained noises in corridors, and apparitions glimpsed through windows.
The most distinctive accounts involve sound rather than sight. Witnesses have described the audible approach of cars on the campus drives — engine sounds, gravel under tires — with no vehicle present when staff or students step outside to look. Headlights have been described as visible at a distance, then vanishing as the observer crosses the parking lot. The same accounts mention the sound of police or ambulance sirens approaching the buildings without any responding vehicle ever arriving.
These reports come primarily through Shadowlands-era haunted-places aggregators rather than through investigated case files. Because the site is now an active college campus, contemporary firsthand accounts tend to come from staff, security, and night-class students rather than from paranormal researchers. ICC North Campus does not promote any haunted angle to the property and treats it as a working educational facility.
