Haunted Illinois M to Z

In Bayliss Hall of Western Illinois University, there is Room 1117. It has been reported that a girl ,who once lived in this room, still haunts it today. As the story goes a freshman girl was pregnant but didn't want her parents to find out and so she delivered the baby in her room and then threw the evidence (including the child) down the trash chute. The girl then returned to her room and hung herself in the closet. Today the cries of the baby and the moans of the devastated girl can still be heard. December Update: A local ghost hunter believes this room to be haunted.

Now about room 501 in Western Illinois University's Bayliss Hall Macomb. This girl suffered from severe depression. During the weekend, she hung herself in her closet. Her roommate then found her upon returning for the weekend. Strange occurrences now happen such as occasional lights turning on and off, strange noises, and cold spots.

Western Illinois University, Simpkins Hall. This building is the second oldest on campus. At first, it was a grade school, then high school, and now the English building. There is a janitor that haunts the third floor. Many of professors have claimed that the janitor turns off their office light and closes the door while they were still working within. A little girl roams the 1st floor. You can here her little running footsteps and an occasional giggle. If you're lucky she asks if "you want to play".

Western Illinois University, Tanner Hall. In this building, there is a ghost on the 12th floor. In 1972 a young man ran into the elevator door during a water fight. He fell to his death in the elevator shaft down to the fourth floor. Many occurrences such as people being touched and seeing a mysterious male on the floor have been reported.

About 5 miles off the main road, of Carlingville-Moore Cemetery it hold some modern headstones with much older Civil War era stones towards the back. The trees are filled with bats and a lone streetlight illuminates the parking area. It is said that if the spirits don't want you there, the light will go OuT. Odd lights can be seen hovering the older area of the cemetery.

Behind Coles County Airport is Rag Doll Cemetery . A young girl, around the age of nine, was murdered in her home. She would always carry around a doll, with red hair and a blue dress on it. It was referred to as her little "Rag Doll." When she was buried, her parents placed the rag doll in her coffin. The murderer was never caught and the case was mysteriously dismissed. However, to one person the murder was never left alone, "Her Rag Doll." Late at night around midnight you go into the cemetery to her grave there is a tall tree right next to it. Look up and you will see her little "Rag Doll" hanging with a rope around its neck. However, when it becomes daylight the doll disappears. It has been said that the doll is alive and looking for the murderer who killed her best friend so it can get the right REVENGE!!!

The Diverseatech Mental Institute was were many people died because of the sick test the doctors tried on them and when they got caught they had to shut it down. The most scary buildings have tunnels that lead all the way to Chicago.

A long time ago the Riverside Rehab Center use to be a morgue. On the top floor in the nursery, a crazed nurse hanged her self in the shower by the shower head. For many years to this day that tub has been boarded off. Late at night, there has been ghostly reports of a young women's face in the top window. Also, workers have herd strange noises at 12:00 in the morning.

The State Mental Institution is well-known for its experiments consist of a huge complex of multiple buildings connected together via under ground tunnels. The state run facility had been abandoned years ago. The buildings lay empty today. Various sightings have been reported.

The Manteno Insane Asylum has been abandoned. It was opened in 1929 and closed in 1985. Most of the buildings are still there. There was electro shock therapy, cold water treatment, and even lobotomies. Under ground tunnels connect all the buildings together, and go other places.

In the old Maroa Grade School there have been reports by custodians late at night of a little boy that can be seen in the boiler room. He is said to be wearing very old style clothing like 1940's. The School is very old, it was possibly built in the late 1930's to early 1940's. Others have seen the little boy through the 3rd floor windows. The creepy thing is that if you look at the old class photos hanging in the hall dated back from the very first class there is a missing photo of a child. The rumor is that the boy possibly contracted an illness and died, thus his photo was not taken, but he makes himself seen anyway.

Campground cemetery is a small cemetery located adjacent to a well traveled highway (Lake Road) at the corner of Lake Paradise Rd., a few miles southwest of Mattoon, Coles county. Local legend says that on some days, people have passed the cemetery and have seen picnickers in t there dressed in clothing from the late 1800's or early 1900's. When they look back a few seconds later, no one is in the graveyard. Strange lights have been seen coming from the area, and when people have called the Sheriff's department to report vandals, no one has been found.

It is said that late at night, at Lexington Elementary school, the lights in the school flash and loud screeches can be heard.

McClure

It is said that several car accidents have been documented on Grapevine Trail, AKA Dead Mans Curve. One in particular killed a couple of teenagers. On a certain night around midnight you can hear the screeching of tires and a crash shortly after the crash you can hear the screams of a woman and then an explosion.

Their is a guy who walks around the McHenry East High School cafeteria at 3:45 P.M., and every year, on the last day of school, there are over 50 spirits of jail breakers who never got caught walking all over the school. One Reported seen during lunch, Math Class and in the Library. (The School was designed by a man who designed prisons) there are metal detectors in the library and they go off every year for no reason.

The owners of the Putnam County Junior High, John Swaney and Sarah haunt the school. Lockers in the P.E changing rooms at games have been known to open and shut. When people stay after school sometimes you will find yourself being chased by a person in a black cape.

There is a site at 400th Avenue Bridge where hangings took place. The tree, bridge, and fields are haunted. Whisperings, talking, chains, and screams can all be heard. Apparitions have been seen on numerous occasions. If you touch the tree, you sometimes get visions.

MIDLOThIAN'S INFAMOUS

BACHELORS GROVE

There are more ghost stories and legends told about this small, abandoned cemetery than any other place in the Chicago. It's located on the edge of the Rubio Woods Forest Preserve, near the border of Midlothian, Illinois. This disturbed burial ground is said to be infested with ghosts and more than 100 reports of strange phenomena have been collected about this cemetery, including apparitions, unexplained sights and sounds, and even glowing balls of light.
There have been no burials here for decades and as a place of rest for the departed, it has been largely forgotten. But ask any ghost chaser where to go to find hauntings and chances are, Bachelor's Grove will be first on the list.

The haunted history of the place began in 1844 when the area was set aside as a burial ground. It was originally called Everdon's. The cemetery had its first burial that year and it was in steady use until 1965, when things began to drop off. It should be noted that the last burial here was in 1989, when the ashes of a local resident were interred on the grounds. Since then, the cemetery has not been in use. The cemetery became known as "Bachelor's Grove in the mid 1800's. It's history is a bit cloudy as to how this name came about. Some suggest that near the cemetery was a settlement of immigrants, mostly German, who helped to build the Illinois-Michigan Canal. The settlers lived on small farms and most of the men were unmarried, and had become known as Bachelor's Grove. Some dispute this and say the name came from a family who had lived in the area named "Batchelder", although no real evidence exists to back up these claims.

Trouble began for the cemetery in the 1960's when the road leading back to the cemetery had become "lover's lane". At some point, it was also discovered by vandals, who treated this land unfairly and who left the cemetery itself is in terrible condition, desecrated and forgotten about. It had become so bad that the graveyard was officially closed in 1965. Since then, especially in the 1970's, things have progressively gotten even worse. It's believed that satanic groups have performed ceremonies there, leaving their ghastly remains of their rituals behind.

Vandals have left few of the graves still standing and many tombstones have been stolen, and then returned to the grounds, giving rise to legends that the grave stones sometimes move all by themselves. There have been over 100 paranormal incidents reported there including ghost lights, inexplicable lights and voices, apparitions, strange photos, anomalous recordings and even sightings of unbelievable creatures.

There is no doubt that vandals have not been kind to Bachelor's Grove, but then neither has time. The cemetery could once be reached by the Midlothian Turnpike, but the road to the cemetery was passed by with construction of 143rd Street. People soon forgot about the cemetery and it would have faded into memory, if not for the stories of the GHOSTS.

Access to the cemetery can be accessed by way of a narrow gravel trail. Along this old decrepit road, many visitors to the area have reported seeing a phantom farmhouse that seems to appear and disappear at will. The house is always described in the same way, as a white house with porch pillars, a swing and a soft light burning in the window, but it is never reported to be in the same place. As witnesses near the house, it always disappears. A number of completely independent witnesses have reported the vanishing house, not realizing that it was unnatural (until it vanished) and all of them have pointed to different locations when they spotted it. The house has been reported during both daylight hours and at night, but historical files show no record of a house ever existing there.

Just past the fence, surrounding the cemetery, is a small lagoon that borders the nearby turnpike. Legends say this pond was once a favorite dumping ground for Chicago gangsters during the years of Prohibition. A number of bodies were said to have been found floating here in the past, so it's not surprising that the pond is reported to be haunted. Strangely, one ghost linked to the lagoon, is said to be a two-headed creature that has been reported on many occasions.

The most famous ghost of the Bachelor's lagoon is an old farmer who was pulled into the water by his plow horse in the 1870's. The horse was drowned by the weight of the plow, taking the farmer with him. Two forest rangers spotted the farmer guiding his horse and plow more than 100 years later.

The cemetery itself has its own ghosts, from the image of people dressed in monk's robes to the spirit of a glowing yellow man seen in 1984. Many of these ghosts have been captured on film, like the image of a woman seated on a tombstone that was taken with infrared film many years ago. I think she might be the most famous ghost of Bachelor's Grove. This spirit is known as the "White Lady" or the "Madonna of Bachelor's Grove". She is said to be the ghost of a woman who was buried in the cemetery next to her young son. She has been seen on nights of the full moon, wandering around the cemetery with a baby in her arms.

The ghost lights of the cemetery, and the trail leading through the woods, are well known to researchers. The strange lights on the trail are said to be red in color and move so fast that they leave a streak behind them. The blue balls of light in the cemetery seem to have an intelligence all their own, dancing just out of reach of those who pursue them.

Even the turnpike near Bachelor's Grove is said to be haunted. For a number of years, witnesses have reported phantom cars that disappear and appear along this road. One couple even had an auto accident with a car that vanished before their eyes, leaving their own vehicle untouched . . .despite the sounds of bending metal.

The Ghost Research Society had seen a young woman dressed in old-fashioned clothes perched on a tombstone on August 10,1991. But even though she seemed to be almost transparent, a camera caught her image clearly. If she was a ghost that picture will prove that ghosts ARE real, to people who don't believe in them.

In 1986 a young boy was ran over and killed by a tractor plow in at the Milan Manor Apartment Woods. The farmer who was driving the plow reported seeing a boy. The farmer stated the only description he could give of the second boy was, he was wearing a red t-shirt, blue jeans, and had dark brown hair and was around the age of eight. When the neighbors of the deceased boy, who resided at Milan Manor Apartments were questioned, they reported seeing him last with a young unknown boy fitting the farmers description. There were no reports of the boy in the red t-shirt being seen until 1989. There have been numerous reports of two boys playing in the woods together around dusk. Upon hearing this story a couple of explorers decided to check it out. They took a trip to Milan Manor Apartments parked in the parking lot found a trail that lead into the woods located past the cul-de-sac. They followed the winding trail to a little stream, crossed the stream walking over a piece of lumber, took the path leading to the right, then they came to a fork in the path & decided to take the left path up a hill after we reached the top of the hill we stopped to catch their breath before continuing. As they caught their breath they saw two little boys, one of which was wearing a red t-shirt running into the cornfield as they entered the corn field they vanished. Unable to believe what they had just seen they walked toward the cornfield and was unable to find even a footprint but could still hear the laughter of the boys.

Zingg Road is between Millstadt and Belleville off State Route 163. There are many stories about this road, such as a bridge where someone hung themselves and if you drive by there on the anniversary of this occurrence you can see them hanging from the bridge. Another one is of a house where when you drive by a ghost truck chases you. Another one that is of a house where supposedly a witch lived, that has since been torn down. -

WARNING: If you go on this road, be very careful, it is full of curves and hills. In fact, on the first hill and curve of the road, a car hit the tree just before the bridge and a girl was killed.

Dresden Cemetery is the oldest cemetery in the area. It's believed that the ground is spoiled and the graves did not want to be there. So the cemetery was moved to the current St. Mary's cemetery in Minooka. The only problem was when they moved the cemetery they could not find one grave, one of a little boy. It's said that he wanders the cemetery at night looking for his family, who was also buried there. Numerous cold spots and voices have been heard.

At Aux Sable Cemetery it is said that if you go into the cemetery and go down the path a ways you can see a little girl sitting staring at you and it feels like you can not move but you really can. You can only see her if you get out of your car. There has been a lot more things that happened there. also when you try to leave the gates close but they have put up a big bar in the gate so that you can get out. Sometimes if you stop and turned he car off your windows will fog up. WARNING: No trespassing! YOU Will be arrested.

Haunted hospital - Update: Has been torn down - abandoned about five years ago stuff has been occurring such as stuff flying and such. Many have died in here as it is a hospital with its own church and skywalk. located in the basement , which is caged up, people have heard babies crying and doors slam with no wind.

There are many stories about Snake Road. The stories begin with the bridges on the road. First bridge: A woman had thrown her baby into the creek. Sometimes if you stop and look over the bridge you can hear a baby cry. Around the same area, a woman had hung herself in the trees. You can see her ghostly figure by the trees hanging from a rope. - November 2003 UPDATE: The bridges have all been taken down, and the church is gone as well.

Sugar Tree Grove Cemetery is one of the oldest cemeteries in Warren County. Most of the stones date back to the early 1800's. There is an Indian buried there who was killed by the people trying to settle in the area. Story has it that this Indian was responsible for scalping a white farmer who was working in his field. The community hunted down the Indian and killed him. There has been documented investigations in this cemetery several times in just the past few years. Many uncertain images appear in pictures and audio recordings playback what sounds to be Indian chanting. The area residents discourage anyone from entering the cemetery after dark. This stems from several problems with cult activity in the years past. Many have stated that even on the hottest summer day once you enter the cast iron gates of the cemetery a cool breeze will follow you around. If you travel to the cemetery go to the farthest stone in the southeast corner of the cemetery and you will find the stone of the unnamed Indian.

Morris Community High School is located above coal mines. Students have spent the night their to investigate. They heard voices in the hallway and believe that it is a librarian or someone of that sort. In the boiler room voices are heard and the door closes behind you. No students are allowed in after dark.

Aux Sable Cemetery is located in the countryside between Morris and Minooka. Paranormal activity includes the locking of car doors, fogging up of windows, and the entrance being blocked while attempting to leave. Fires have been started mysteriously. The old grave keepers house has tunnels under it two go to some where and the third has a gate to hell supposedly. There have been many sightings on paranormal activity.

WARNING: No Trespassing or the Police will serve you a summands maybe even arrest you.

The tombstones in Warner Hill glow. There is often an figure of a woman in white seen floating around. It is said it is the ghost of Mrs. Wagner. She killed her husband after he was caught cheating on her. If she catches someone there it's said that she will throw heads at you. If they hit you, it will kill you instantly and the next person that ventures in there will see your body hanging from nearby trees by a rope.

About 40 years ago in the rooms of Carmel High School, the old monks and priests use to perform exorcisms. Most of the time they were fake and nothing happened. But once a young boy was having an exorcism and nothing happened he was still doing all sorts of impossible things. One day after the priests performed this exorcism each priest died a horrible death. A train hit one in a car crash, another in a house fire and the third. After all of the priests died the boy next died. It is said today, that every Friday night you will see the boy walking around out side the school. And every full moon it is said that the priests try to cast out the spirits of the young boy once again.

The first murder in Mundelein took place in this house, now called First Murder House. A wife was having an affair and the man she was having an affair with shot her husband in the front hall of their house. The family that lives there now has reported strange happenings. Every so often they will see a white figure moving and floating at a very high speed through out the house. Unexplained objects move and noises have also been heard.

An old lady named Marie came into the store daily. After she passed away, odd things began to happen at the Old Han-Dee Mart Building. Employees reported odd feelings when in the back room by the cooler, the remote control Christmas lights changing rotation only on second shift and once, a stack of paperwork slid off a shelf, sat in the air momentarily, and then fell to the floor. A customer and two employees once witnessed a loud scream. Customers outside pumping gas heard nothing. Update: The old Han-Dee Mart building was sold and is being converted to an office building.

Kids party at Tunnel Hill and sometimes when your sitting all by yourself you hear growling and feel something rub up against your leg. Sometimes around midnight you can see a silhouette of a dog. It is now called the crazy tunnel dog.

Just a hotbed for paranormal activity. The Sanctuary Golf Course unearthed an Indian burial site a few years back, and who knows what else has been unearthed and possibly ignored in the rapid sub-urbanization of this once quiet rural town. Neighborhoods located on Jackson Creek seem to be especially susceptible for ghost activity that includes strange screams and unexplainable knockings and sounds.

There is an abandon house on Clinton Rd. that at night red and blue glossy lighted objects flash from the windows. Other than the house on this road, you get the feeling that something just isn't right, it could be 90 degrees out and it gets chilly when you pass by the abandoned house. Even in the daytime when you travel on this road there is never any wind, you never hear birds or anything until you get back on the main highway.

Some have said to have seen a headless ghost walking on the north side of Gougar Rd. The story has it that the man lived in the farmhouse on Gougar Rd., he committed suicide in the barn by hanging.

Messenger Woods Forest Preserve has strange, uneasy feelings that occur to people as they drive pass this place. Some even say they've heard screams and have seen unexplainable shadow-like objects pass in front of their vehicles as they have drove by.

Soldiers and Sailor's Home was a placed where from what i understand, soldiers and sailors left children in times of war. Though some of the buildings have been renovated for offices, the theatre and select buildings still remain. At night glowing yellow orbs can be seen in buildings. Overwhelming feelings of depression can be felt whilst driving by the old infirmary. Also if you go into some of the buildings they have been left as they were then. A few years back some friends of mine went into the theatre. They said that everything is still backstage.

Atkin-Colby Hall, at Illinois State University, is 10 stories tall plus penthouses' what we call the eleventh floors. The building opened in the fall of 1962. The elevators only go up to the tenth floor; you have to take stairs from there to the eleventh floors. The eleventh floors are generally locked and used for storage. I believe people originally lived in them, although nobody has for years. The eleventh floor of Atkin has a presence in it. Nobody seems to know what could have caused a haunting up there, and I don't think a ghost has ever been sighted. But there seems to be a very strong negative presence. You can even feel it on the landing outside that locked door. I know people who won't go up there alone at night.

A girl was said to have died in the back stair well of the Fraternity House at Illinois State University. Her bedroom was on the second floor and mysterious whispers and footsteps can be heard in the stairwell and in her old bedroom.

Illinois State University Williams Hall was once the first library when ISU was originally built. Angie Milner was the first librarian there. When ISU expanded, they erected a new library, Milner Library, in her name. However, the old librarian prefers her original home in the first library, now Williams Hall. Workers and visitors say that you can hear footsteps in the small room in Williams where rare and expensive books are still kept. The only way into this room is thru sign-in. So nobody can be in there without the on duty worker's permission. Sometimes, books are shipped-out to be rebound, and after they are placed back in the old room, they are found just as tattered as they were before. She stacks books in odd fashions, and has been sighted by a handful of workers and students. There have been many occasions where books have been mysteriously pushed one by one onto the floor and people have seen a white object out of the corner of their eye. The library was scanned and measured and the results were that there was some type of energy or spirit was present.

St. Johns Methodist Church is an old church with many rooms upstairs. People have seen an old lady in the basement area. They have a pool table in the basement. Some people were playing pool once, when one of them sank a shot and went to get the ball. He reached for the ball and the ball wasn't in the pocket. He looked up to the others and asked where is the ball. When he said that the ball fell from the ceiling onto the table. There are norrow winding stairs that lead to a room. In the secluded upstairs room, there are words written on the wall with red crayon in a little child's handwriting. The writing says, "Be kind in God's house."

Evangelical Church Cemetery is in a small town called behind the old Graue Mill underground railroad station. Behind this church lies the most haunted cemetery in the entire world. It has been rumored that the church has been around since the early settlement of the Chicago area. The church was certainly around during the time of the fugitive slaves and was the church of the mill owners and the mill's surrounding inhabitants. Buried in the cemeteries grounds are the bodies of the slaves which never achieved true freedom and died on their trek to Canada. On some late summer nights it's been said that one can see the slaves not at rest, but stirring about in the cemetery and the church. The cemetery is most defiantly haunted by these restless souls as well as many other ghouls and probably monsters. Just joking about the monsters but for real the place is haunted and is defiantly worth a trip out to see.

Peabody Mansion is right off of 83. There is this massive gothic looking structure, that is quite creepy. This massive structure is Peabody'ss mansion. Peabody reportedly died of a heart attack and shortly after that his family moved out of the house. The place is truly creepy and locals often see apparitions.

Pecks Cemetery, is in Oakley Township where glowing dots have been seen floating in mid air, wolfs howling, and sounds of feet running and when you look there isn't anything there.

WARNING: There is a NO TRESPASSING here.You MUST have permission. You could get shoot. so absolutely DO NOT GO AT NIGHT.

The legend is so old that nobody really knows what happened to the man on Green Lantern Rd.; but, as the story goes, if you travel down this road late at night you will see a green shining lantern light quickly float behind your car, your car lights will shut off and the car will die, then a man in a trench coat ends up holding the lantern and walks out in front of you to the cemetery and disappears in the woods' where as, your car starts up again.

At Mt. Pleasant Cemetery there is old church that stands at the front. This church is said to be haunted. When the front door is knocked sounds are heard within the church, sometimes choirs, footsteps and strange lights. On some nights funeral sessions are seen at the church. Although no funerals have taken place there since the 50's.

The Salvation Army is haunted by a ghost of a small boy who fell out of his mothers shopping cart and was killed. He spooks people in the back room with hats and books and magazines.

Alexis Phelps House - In the old days when slaves were being traded, Alexis Phelps kept slaves hidden from traders. It is said that slaves walk around the lower levels and crawlspaces of the house. Alexis Phelps is said to be walking around the entire house.

A long time ago, on Cherry Rd and Help Rd. there was a girl and her boyfriend driving down the road after prom. Towards the end of the road, there is a sharp curve and at night you can't really see it. Supposedly they went off the road and the girl died instantly. The boy crawled out of the road and wrote help in his own blood. He died right after that. On some nights, you are supposed to see it written in the road and you can see the girl walking down the road. This is rumored to be a HoAx. It is said the road crews find it fun to write ?Help? in the tar when resurfacing them.

There a Shopping Center at Smith and Route 14, right on the northeast corner of this intersection. In front of the shopping center stood the old Browns Chicken & Pasta restaurant, site of the infamous Brown's Chicken Massacre of 1993. On a cold January morning in 1993, police found seven murdered people stuffed in freezers in the back room of the restaurant, apparently victims of a robbery. The building had stood empty until the following year, and then it became a dry cleaning establishment. It was then when some people experienced very violent, and angry vibes that were not their own, and some had felt sudden decreases in temperature even during the height of the summer. Nearby residents even claimed they had heard the sounds of faint shots and screaming during the evening hours, often repeated time after time. The cleaning establishment finally went out of business in 1999, and the building was torn down the following year. The oddities still continued. In May of 2002, the two killers were finally apprehended after nine years of little or no leads or progress in the case. Since then, there have been no more reports of any odd feelings or ghostly sounds. It would seem the spirits have been able to rest.

In the 1970's a girl drowned in the deep end of the pool at Freud High School. There has been reports of a swim suit floating in the water, and when people go in to retrieve it, the water is freezing cold where the suit is. The lockers in the Girls Locker room are also known to open and close all by themselves.

There are three California Roads in Pekin. The one which connects Sheridan Road with Broadway Road is haunted. (This is the one you can get to by traveling on Veteran's Parkway and continuing at the light). At night, one can see bright lights in the trees ahead as if someone is shining a police spotlight on them and there will be no police in the area. Also, on Sheridan Road, there is a "wall" of mist that never disappears.

The theatre at Pekin High School is haunted by Sid, who used to be a stage manager. He would sit upon the catwalks and do the lights. He died of a heart attack in the dressing room.

An apparition of a man in a brown suit has been seen in the Bradley University Theatre, accompanied with the smell of cigar smoke and cologne.

"Players", AKA Peoria Players Theatre is supposedly haunted by Normie the friendly ghost. He died on stage during a performance a long time ago. This is possible because Players is the third oldest theatre in the country (I think). Normie has been seen backstage several times and has even helped a few people out with lighting. The toilets have flushed themselves. He supposedly likes the women's dressing room too. A painting of him hangs in the bathroom.

At St. Frances Hospital there are rumors of two ghosts, of two nuns, that were working a hundred years ago. They have been seen sometimes in the hospital in various places.

An outdoor swimming pool was once located at the site of Woodruff High School parking lot. Sometime after it was built, some kids climbed the fence for a midnight swim. A teenage boy drowned, almost pulling his girlfriend down with him. Teenage girls who drive across the spot sometime feel a hand at their ankles, pulling their foot hard onto the gas pedal.

Zeller Mental Hospital - Update: Was closed by the State in 2002 and reopened in 2003 as a Community College. - voices, noises, and apparitions are heard and seen. Unseen cars can be heard driving up and headlights of cars that disappear when you go out to check to see who's there. Police or ambulance sirens can be heard driving up but none appear.

In 1956 a librarian, at Peru Washington School, always got made fun of by kids, got her car egged. On April 12, 3 kids went upstairs to the library after school, where the librarian killed all 3 students, then herself. Sometimes if you go to the library after school, you'll hear screaming.

At Humiston Woods, behind one of the larger creeks, there is an Indian Burial site where there are still remains of Indians. Many of them being children bones. When children play around this area, they tend to feel a pull at their legs as if someone is trying to use them to get out, or someone is trying to pull them in.

On Cherry Street there used to stand a home, which is now torn down. It used to be a hospital back in the war. Then later was a nursing home. There has been a man in a hat called "the man in the hat" that has been seen roaming around in the home. Seen by residence and visitors. Smoke in the dining room when no one was smoking. Very strong presence , eerie feelings, once someone heard there name called and no one else was in the home. Very strong eerie feelings even from the street.

Between 11 pm and midnight, on every 4th of July that falls on a Friday, a phantom funeral procession forms at Fort de Charles. There are about 40 wagons and additional riders on horseback who escort a casket lying on a wagon. This was first witnessed in 1889. Last sighting 2003!

There are lights in the back corner of the Greenwood Cemetery at nighttime. When you walk forwards you can see something hanging in a tree and if you blink it will disappear. Up in front of the mausoleum you can see and hear little children playing, and when you walk towards them and smile they will smile back at you wave and disappear.

In the early 1900's, a house stood in the place of where the Madison School is today. A woman, living alone was murdered and the killers were never found. It is told that she was dragged down the large staircase, then stabbed until her screams stopped. They then hid her body in the closet at the base of the stairs. The bloodstains were never able to be removed completely.

The Quincy Junior High School was built over forty years ago. A student had lost his girlfriend and hung himself in the bathroom over the loss. Most students now were never told about this incident, so they wouldn't get any ideas. The boy is heard by teachers and staff after school crying faintly and they hear footsteps to the bathroom, mumbling and then it all stops. It replays on the day the kid died. Teachers had tried to figure out natural causes but when ever they went to check for something that was within a short distance from the haunting, it would stop.

Quincy University- The fourth floor of Padua Hall is haunted by a former student that committed suicide by jumping out of the window. The floor was eventually closed down, but reopened earlier this year. People have reported hearing the boy screaming.

In the rear of Reynolds cemetery there is the small grave of a baby boy. The baby was abandoned and found weeks later and the mother was never caught. On a full moon at exactly midnight you can feel his heartbeat if you lay your hand on his stone.

Back in the early 1900's The Villa was a school for girls, like dormitories. It was a Catholic School. The legend has it that the priests would have intercourse with the nuns, then when the nuns were pregnant, they would physically take the baby out of the womb and burry them into the walls. If you go there at night, you can here the aborted babies knocking on the walls, trying to get out. Toilets flushing for no apparent reason, footsteps, and women screaming. There have also been many suicides that have occurred at The Villa on the 4th floor.

Corn field sightings of white orbs, a strange man who disappears once you leave the corn field, off of bell school rd close to the new condos just built

Blackhawk - it is said that in this house down the road a black man was shot in the basement and now the people that live in that house have seen a black shadow wander around their house during the night.

Visitors of the old cemetery, called Bloods Point, get chased by a ghost truck which will follow you with no headlights then suddenly flip them on and chase you then disappear. An old bridge where three women were hung is a site for more activity. It is known if you stop your car at the end of the bridge and try to start it again it will not.

It is said that several stores in the Cherryvalle Mall are to be haunted. Several mall employees have reported being followed through the mall by unseen forces after hours. Things moving on their own, hangers swinging, clothes mysteriously falling off racks, strange voices, bathroom doors being held shut when no one was there, and occasionally a store would be rather messy the next morning when it was cleaned quite well the night before.

It is said that an old theater lover that worked for the East High School died many years ago. An old employee of the school saw the figure of a woman walking on the auditoriums balcony. He later identified the woman as Addy (or Haddy as the thespians called her) the woman who had died. To this day people have heard footsteps in an empty auditorium, exit lights flashing when the wiring had been check several times, faint singing after school hours were closed, doors slamming shut, things being moved around, and several other strange occurrences

At Jefferson High School a girl fell off of ladder on stage by props balcony. You hear he cries and moans only when a show is on. Sometimes the tech theatre students see her shadow trying to get up off of the ground.

An interesting place is our Rockford Board of Education building at 201 S. Madison St. in Rockford. The head custodian there has for many years told stories of the evening shift custodians and the basement. The building was at first built as Rockford Central High School near the turn of the 20th century. It has two buildings attached to it and an underground hallway that my mother (deceased) used as a student and they called that passage "rat alley". The hallway connected the first building to the second building. The basement of the "haunted" area used to be the "shop" area and housed small machines for the male students to practice machine skills. It is not clear what happened down there, but the custodians DON'T like to go down there at night, the lights will turn on after being turned OFF. Many a morning the head custodian will arrive for his day shift and find all the lights on in the basement. The lights seem to have a will of their own. A former secretary thought it was strange to hear grown men sound afraid of the basement. They hear noises down there, voices, all kinds of things.

The only surviving remnant of Rockford Colleges' original campus, is reported to echo with the laughter of young women late at night. it's Adams' Arch.

Rockford College/ Burpee Building - Students and staff members working late in the basement of the Burpee building have reported seeing doors rattle violently or slam shut, hearing footsteps in the hallway, and a male voice in the old radio station rooms. - November 2003 Update: Haunting believed to be caused by a guy who committed suicide. A person reportedly was working late one night and saw a reflection of him in the window. When he turned around and looked at the sound room, there was no one there. Then the papers the guy was working on blew off his desk, and the only paper that was left on the desk was an old archive article about the guy's death.

The Clark Arts Center at Rockford College- is said to be haunted by the ghost of the Theatre Arts professor who designed the building. Flickering lights, piano music, and echoing footsteps on catwalks are just some instances of this; in particular, Cheek Theater, Maddox Theater (as well as the hallway outside of it) and the green room (actors' dressing room) seem to be hot spots.

McGaw Hall, at Rockford College (5th floor), is where an epileptic girl died in the bathtub over a Thanksgiving break some years ago is reported to have ghost activity. August 2004 additional information: A cheerleading squad has just came back from a four day cheerleading camp at Rockford College and they stayed on the 6th and 7th floor. In many cases, as they took their showers, they would hear a girl singing. Also in the bathroom, one cheerleader heard a man talking yet could not understand what he was saying, when there were no men in the building at anytime during the four days (the janitors were all women). Also, in room 607, many times everything on the third shelf from the top fell for no reason, sometimes when no one was in the room, everything on the shelf was: a box of tissues; sandals laying flat; and towels. Two cheerleaders stayed in room 603 and they heard walking and the chair sliding across the floor above me in room 703, when no one stayed in that room and the unoccupied rooms are locked and they did not have a key to that room.

At Maddox Theatre, Rockford College, in the dressing rooms, lights sometimes flicker. They once went off in a storm and a face seemed to appear in the mirror. Often, in different parts of the theatre, loud screaming noises can be heard, even though nobody is around. The area around the building always seems to be windy. Also In the prop room in Maddox theatre, there is a bell that supposedly rings on it's own. It was taken years earlier for a girl that was ill in her room and anytime she needed anything, she was to ring the bell. A couple of days later, she died in a car accident. It is said that a man several years later had the bell for the same purpose, and he would wake up in the middle of the night to the sound of the bell ringing.

Rockford College - Talcott Hall - Room of a student who hung himself in the early nineties.

Rockford - Twin Sisters Park Woods - If you walk by the willow tree it is said that you have a strange desire to go into the woods. There is an old hanging tree with some odd carvings on it. A little girl is said to be seen walking around.

Wagon Wheel Lodge is an old resort which is said to be haunted by a bell hop who mysteriously disappeared one night and of a man who was a guest in lodge who hanged himself in his room. The wagon wheel has since burned down 3 different times, the last was 4 years ago and has not been opened since. If you drive by you can see what appears to be a "face" in the window and you can see lights on through the windows but, the lodge has no electricity. - February 2005 Update: Has been torn down. !!!WARNING!!! - This area is patrolled by police, and you will be arrested if you trespass. You MUST get permission to investigate any of the places on this Website!

There have been many events leading to paranormal activity in The Brookwood condos complex playground. When the buildings were first built many years ago, a construction worker brought his two children to the job site and they were killed by a falling temporary wall. These children are often seen or heard playing by the playground.

The Sheraton Gateway Suites Hotel is an atrium style hotel with 11 floors, and several people have killed themselves jumping off the balcony. There have also been drug overdose deaths in two of the rooms and in the parking lot. Guests have reported that they have seen figures moving through their room at night, hearing strange noises that cannot be the neighbors because all the rooms are soundproof since the hotel is across from the OHare airport. One guest said that after she took a shower she came out of the bathroom to find her clothes thrown all over the room, and no one could have gotten into the room because she put the latch on the door. you can also see a man dressed in a suit looking over the top floor balcony on the east side of the hotel, the same spot where a man jumped off, in the fall of 2001. A worker at this hotel that has worked the overnight shift, 11pm to 7am, heard noises such and typing and talking, when no one is there. This place definitely has problems.

There is a legend of an angel statue the sits on top of a grave near the park side entrance of the Calvary cemetery. Supposedly, she turns around and weeps when it is late, or on a certain date, or something like that. Also, there are several large, old trees in the cemetery that move and sway, even if there is no wind.

Since Panther Creek was founded, reports of mysterious footprints of a large cat have been reported at the Panther Creek Subdivision. Also, people have claimed to have seen a large leopard or such in the wooded area around the area. Growling and sometimes roaring can be heard near the creek itself.

There have been strange happenings at Prairie Capitol Convention Center such as doors slamming and seats slamming shut. The convention center is haunted by a young boy that was killed in the convention center while watching a tractor pull. Boy was killed by flying engine parts from a blown tractor engine. He died instantly and is still their wondering the convention hall at night.

Joe supposedly haunts the Theatre Center. He was one of the best actors there one night when he was coming out of the building he was pulled be hind an alley and was murdered! He has haunted the theatre ever since.

There can be voices heard coming from the balcony & thought the Arcada Theatre building. A strange smell along with coldness sometimes floats through various parts of the theatre.

Haines Middle School is haunted by different teachers said to roam the halls in the early morning hours.

Various interpretations have been given for the mysterious moans and noises coming from the hotel's sixth floor, at Hotel Baker. Once serving as the employee dorm, it is now a large storage area. Some say that the floor is haunted by a chambermaid who drowned herself in the nearby Fox River, sometime in the 1970`s. She is rumored to have been left at the altar. Investigators found evidence, but no trace of the woman was uncovered.

A haunted road, Munger Rd., were many car lights have been seen and then disappeared. Also old insane asylum which is haunted. December Update 2003: the insane asylum has been knocked down. however, the rail road tracks are the big spot. rumors are that weird things happen on those tracks.

At night you can see bright white figure standing on a curb, on Prairie St., looking for someone. About five minutes later a shadowy car pulls up and they both vanish.

At St. David Grade School a young girl was ran over while she was running across the street right in front of the school. She haunted the third swing from the right on the big swing set in the playground. Also, a janitor hung himself in the girl's restroom in the basement. In the classroom next to the restroom, there were doors slamming and papers flying off a desk when windows were closed. Since the occurrences, the school has been closed and someone lives in the abandoned school building.

At Rock River on 7th Avenue, many ghosts have been sighted along the Rock River along the bluffs and railroad tracks where many have died on the "blind corner" near the Dillon Museum hit by trains and also drowned in the river's strong currents. On the dead end road of Seventh Avenue it is said that you can hear a mother calling for her children and that a woman can be seen walking along the tracks and disappears in thin air.

On Pershing Rd. it is known that a group of children (not sure what kind or how many) were murdered in the preserve. Almost every time entered, the unsettled spirits make some kind of contact.

Hanover Countryside Elementary School, is supposedly haunted by the ghosts of several teachers that have passed away in the years. Sounds have been heard ranging from bells to chains, to voices. Also Lights seem to turn on and of by themselves.

Streamwood High School's auditorium is supposedly haunted by a ghost named "Elvira", a girl who died there many years ago. This reporter is a skeptic, but there have been numerous sightings of this spirit by a few reliable sources.

Moon Creek Cemetery is located just South of the city and has been known to have a "hatchet lady". Many years ago, her daughter died. The tragedy caused her to go insane and each night of a full moon a spirit is seen running around the cemetery, tossing hatchets. An Alternate story is that she was a widow who lost her son in a war. She was rumored to hang around Moon Creek until her death. Also, colored mists were seen back in the 1980s. People's vehicles have also been known to die as soon as they drive through the gate. Mysterious fires have also started when visitors have been present.

Andersons Cemeteryis cemetery filled with creepy paranormal activity. There is an old part of the cemetery that in the daytime is unreachable. Only after dark will the trees part and the path appears again to the ancient tombstones. Also haunted by a specter wolf that is said to chase trespassers.

It is said that if you go out to the Stone Cabin you will see a dead dog and it's said to be sitting at the front entrance of the building only it's head. And there is a bridge right after it that if you walk across it you have brought bad luck upon yourself, and a girl was hung out there on that bridge. If you go into the back room of that cabin know matter how cold it is it becomes very warm. - Warning if caught trespassing you could get arrested.

In the 1800's a woman was hung off the side of Witch's Bridge for being a witch. Since then, it is said that if you stop on the bridge late at night you will hear footsteps. If you stay too long, it might take a minute to restart your car. Also, strange lights flicker over the creek below.

A cult lived at The Oaks Trailer Park in 1985 and tortured 54 civilians. There has been numerous reports of people being chased by shadow figures.

Screams and white blurs of light heard and seen at the railroad tracks. Every other week the "ghost train" comes at 1:59 am and leaves at 2:01. Some times (I've seen this once) people wander down to THE TRACKS and a week later you would see missing signs up.

Clements Cemetery Formerly listed as Woodlawn Cemetery. Legend states that the road beside Woodlawn Cemetery is haunted by a ghost that locals call "The Blue Man." Witnesses have seen him walking the road, swinging a lantern from side to side. Most of the sightings seem to occur at twilight.

It is said that the ghosts of a student and a teacher haunt the fourth floor of Urbana High School, supposedly they were involved and the husband of the teacher found out and ended the relationship, the two lovers in a final act of undying love hung themselves together. It is also said that there is a wall in one of the boarded up classrooms that will always leak red paint/blood. The wall has been painted twice every year and has never failed to leak the mysterious red substance. There are also sightings of strange lights in the fourth floor tower after hours at the school. The fourth floor has been boarded up and students and staff are not allowed access, excepting some janitors that use the floor for storage.

There have been sightings of strange animals and colorful orbs seen in the Woodsedge Woods and sometimes at night if your walking through the trails you will see a horse and carriage appear and vanish and you always get the feeling of being watched

A long time ago Youth Detention Center was a monastery used by monks who slept in the attic (4th floor) and a couple of monks hung them selves and now on stormy nights the phone rings on the control desk and is from an ex. That doesn't exist and breathing is heard in either side of phone also noises are heard and a white figure has been seen.

At Big Bear Lake there's a girl who was killed and thrown in the lake and you can find baby hands in the lake because she was having a baby at the time and now she haunts everyone

A new 711 is built on an old cemetery, the workers there report hearing chains rattle and people talking real late at night when no one is there.

St. Patrick's Cemetery had heavy satanic activity. There was a house, barn, and animal shelter through the woods. Story is that a witch killed her husband and burnt the house down. The barn and "kennel" stood for some years before they too mysteriously burnt down. Mostly known for a cult hang out, but people have complained of glowing tombstones and chills. Located on Mill Creek rd. Wadsworth.

There is a pond over in Larkdale where it is said that a little boy drowned. If you drive by the pond past midnight, you will see the little boy standing next to a 'no swimming' sign near the pond.

Shimer College is a small school and the classes are held in old historic houses. Some of the students giving the tour explained their personal encounter with some of the spirits in the houses.

One 20 Ocean Place. This restaurant use to be a funeral Chapel, & now itis a restaurant. The lights towards the back of the restaurant on the right side of the kitchen tend to dim down all by themselves. When someone is walking up the back staircase, (usually only used by employees) you can hear someone walking behind you. In the women's bathroom, as an employee was washing their hands, they felt someone looking at them, so they glanced out of the corner of their eye & saw someone, but when they turned their head to look there was nothing there. In the elevator you can get a sort of uneasy feeling.

At Loyola Academy High School Theatre there has been a legend that a blue light appears in the "little theatre" of Loyola Academy high school when all the lights are out. It is said that a young male student died in the theatre from falling from the catwalk years ago before the school went co-ed.

Those are creepy looking woods, Ryders Woods, in Woodstock. It is said that a man in black used to rape children and then murder them and throw them in the pond. He then went mad and killed himself. Now if you go to the woods at night, you see a lot of activity by the pond. Steam will rise and you will see orbs, children laughing has been heard, and sightings of the man in black have been seen.

The Woodstock Opera House was built almost a 100 years ago, in the old, northern Illinois community of Woodstock. It is a local landmark, found right in the middle of Woodstock's old town square, among Victorian homes and buildings.

This old opera house can't be missed, as it is a four story theater, with a story and a half belfry on top of that. A winding staircase inside the theater leads up to the belfry. The Woodstock Opera House has been used from its beginning as a classy place for theatrical shows, much enjoyed by the local community. In various productions, the people of Woodstock have enjoyed the performances of such stars as Geraldine Page, Paul Newman, Betsy Palmer, Shelly Berman, and Tom Boseley, to name a few.

Manifestations:

The opera house has an in-house actress, patron and sometimes critic from the spiritual world. The story is told that in the early 1900's, a distraught, young actress, in a fit of emotion, ran up the inside winding staircase, and threw herself from the belfry portal, falling 5 and a half stories to her death, after she didn't get the role in a production, that she most desperately wanted.

1) She has been seen by the living. Known as Elvira, people have described her as being a beautiful entity, "whose blond hair hung below her slim waist," and who was wearing a "filmy, dancing gown."

2) When young actresses are in the theater to try out for a part in a production, the staircase is watched diligently, because sometimes, on occasion, a young actress has the irresistible urge to travel up the staircase to the open portals, probably under the influence of Elvira. So far, all such actresses, in this hypnotic state, have been pulled away from danger.

3) Elvira likes to move props, and untie scenery flats so they fall over, to let the living know that she is there, and needs some laughs as well.

4) Seat DD113 is Elvira's favorite seat in the audience seating area. All the seats are spring-loaded; meaning that they stay in the upright, folded position, unless someone is sitting in them. Actors, actresses and stage hands have often seen seat 113 in the down position, as if some unseen presence was sitting in it, watching the rehearsal. After examining the seat 113, it is always found to be working properly, staying in the upright position.

5) Whenever a performer misses a cue, or bungles a line, a low, deep sigh is often heard, coming from seat 113. Elvira expects high standards to be maintained by the cast of any production.

6) In the 1940's, while Shelly Berman was working on some scenery for an upcoming production, late one evening, he heard a noise from the audience seating, which made him look in that direction. He saw that not only was seat 113 in the down position, but several seats in the same row as 113 as well. Perhaps Elvira, and a few other ghostly patrons of the arts were watching his efforts on stage. Berman ran quickly over to the seats, but by the time he got to them, all were up in the correct, upright position.

Still Haunted? Yes, despite the denials of the current management, others say that Elvira and a few other ghostly patrons still play tricks on the living and enjoy the activities happening at the theater.

Address: 121 Van Buren Street, Woodstock, Il. 60098.

(815) 338-5300

Zion Moose Club #667 - The land that the Moose now stands on was the previous site of a home, which burned down in the 1940's. A young girl 8 years old died in the house fire -- patrons of the Moose have repeatedly seen the ghost of a young blonde haired girl playing in the facility, have experienced lights flickering, doors slamming, and have heard strange, giggling noises from a child that isn't there. Members have named their resident ghost "Mary" and acknowledge her upon entering and exiting the facility.