Two Alton landmarks rank among Illinois's ten most haunted places

With Halloween approaching, two Alton landmarks, McPike Mansion and Mineral Springs Hotel, rank among Illinois's ten most haunted places in HauntBound's 2026 index. The index ranks 156 Illinois sites by separate published accounts and how far back they go, not by fame or search popularity.

McPike Mansion ranks #3. Alton mayor and horticulturist Henry Guest McPike built the Italianate mansion beginning in 1869 and lived there until his death in 1910. Three separate published accounts describe activity there. Guides describe a woman named Sarah, believed to have worked as a household attendant, along with cold spots and the smell of flowers with no source nearby in the vaulted wine cellar.

Mineral Springs Hotel ranks #7. The Luer Brothers began building it in 1914 as an ice warehouse; when crews struck a natural spring, the project became a resort hotel, and the building later housed author Troy Taylor's American Hauntings tours. Clarence Blair, 18, drowned in the hotel's pool during a swimming lesson, the hotel's only recorded death. Three separate published accounts describe activity there. Tour groups report a man matching Blair's description at the pool's edge, and a jasmine fragrance near a stairwell, tied to a female apparition Taylor cannot explain.

Statewide, Peoria State Hospital in Bartonville ranks #1, and Resurrection Cemetery in Justice, the state's most famous haunted site, misses the top ten.

"We rank by evidence, not legend: independent published accounts, documented history, and how far back the reports go. We don't claim ghosts are real, or that they aren't. We document where the reports concentrate, and we show our work," said Ben Fineman, editor of HauntBound. The ranking shows each site's documented record.

Visiting:McPike Mansion, 2018 Alby St., Alton, offers paranormal investigation tours weekly through October with pre-registration; the exterior is visible from the street.Mineral Springs Hotel, 301 E. Broadway, Alton, is open Tuesday through Saturday; the walking tours and the American Oddities Museum now operate from 301 Piasa Street.

For media:The full ranking: https://hauntbound.com/most-haunted/illinois/The fact sheet, with Alton numbers and cleared images: https://hauntbound.com/press/fact-sheets/illinois/Photo: McPike Mansion, on the fact sheet.Venue contact: mcpikemansion.com and altonhauntings.comA short version follows.

HauntBound (hauntbound.com) is a family-friendly field guide to more than 6,000 documented haunted and historic places across the United States, ranked by published evidence rather than legend. No venue pays to be listed or ranked.

Media contact: Ben Fineman, Editor, HauntBound, editor@hauntbound.com

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