HAUNTED ALTON ILLINOIS

Subject: HAUNTED ALTON ILLINOIS Tue Sep 25, 2012 11:55 pm

HAUNTED PLACES IN ALTON ILLINOIS

----------------

Mineral Springs Mall

Quote :: The legends of the place claim there are several different ghosts that haunt the corridors and rooms of the Mineral Springs. The first is said to be that of an itinerant artist who was unable to pay his hotel bill back in 1932. His ghost apparently haunts the former hotel bar. This section of the building has served as a shop in recent years but the saloon that once existed here was decorated with fine woods and marble, ornate trim and gargoyle-like figures on the crossbeams. All traces of the bar have since vanished and all that remains behind is the supposedly unfinished mural of the city of Alton that has been painted on one wall. The stories say that the artist who lived here was allowed to paint the mural in exchange for his bill. He died before he was able to finish it and his ghost has remained here ever since.

SOURCE: http://www.altonhauntings.com/mineral.html

--------------------

The Cracker Factory

Quote :: The strange happenings in the building would soon turn out not to be false alarms. As Julie prepared to open the shop for her first day of business, she carefully double-checked to make sure that the doors were locked before she left the night before. She had brand new “open” signs that had been placed in the windows and as she checked to make sure that the doors were locked, she also made sure that the signs read that she was “closed”. She was looking forward to turning them around the next morning. However, someone beat her to it! When she came in the next morning, both of the signs, on both the front and side doors, had been turned so that they read “open”. No one else had been in the building since Julie had left. The only explanation seemed to be that “someone” in the place was happy that she had opened a new antique store in the basement.

SOURCE: http://www.altonhauntings.com/cracker.html

--------------------

The Mc.Pike Mansion

Quote :: The house was built in 1869. The house has not been occupied since the 1950's. It is not uncommon to find in photos of the mansion, orbs, balls of light, even figures appearing in the windows that were not seen by the human eye when the photo was taken. This Grand Ole House is thought to still house many of the spirits that once lived here. Many Psychics and Mediums have felt the presence of what they believe to be McPike family, servants, as well as some of those who resided in and owned the house since 1936. The Cellar has been a focal point of many energies felt in the mansion.

SOURCE: http://www.mcpikemansion.com/

MORE INFO: http://www.altonhauntings.com/mcpike.html

-----------------

The Legends of Alton's Milton School

Quote :: As the years have passed, these questions have continued to be asked, although no answers are forthcoming. Rumors, stories and whispered legends floated about the school for years and while many students would never learn that the building had a dark and tainted past, others would not be so lucky. During the years when the school was still open, many students spoke of strange encounters in the building, odd events, unexplained sounds, and strange shadows that didn’t belong. Many of these stories would be dismissed as nothing more than a creepy old building settling on its foundations, or the overactive imaginations of elementary school students but others would not. Many former students can tell stories of strange experiences in the old school and also tales of their friend’s encounters with “Mary”.

SOURCE: http://www.altonhauntings.com/milton.html

----------------------------------

Hop Hollow Road

Quote :: The spirits of the Civil War in Alton do not confine themselves to this chapter of the book, any more than they confine themselves to the site of the old Alton Penitentiary. As noted already, there are tales of Confederate ghosts who still wander the area that was once Smallpox Island and later on, the reader will also be introduced to an officer who refuses to leave his final resting place. In addition to these haunts, there are also the Civil War spirits whose legend has taken the form of perhaps America’s most popular form of specter – hitchhiking ghosts.

SOURCE: http://www.altonhauntings.com/hollow.html

-------------------------------

The Haunting of Alton's First Unitarian Church

Quote :: The body of Rev. Phillip Mercer, 48, a suicide, was found at 5:15 Tuesday afternoon in the First Unitarian Church of which he had been minister for the last six years and in which his study was located. The church is located at 110 East Third Street.

A piece of sash cord about the neck, his body was found suspended from the transom of a door leading from the Sunday School room at the rear of the church edifice into a hallway from which there is a door leading into the yard of the church.

It is the belief of Deputy Coroner Klunk that the minister had been dead at least 24 hours when his body was found. His neck had apparently been broken, and a chair, standing near the body, indicated that he had stepped from the chair after the sash cord had been affixed.

SOURCE: http://www.altonhauntings.com/unitarian.html

--------------------------

The Franklin House

Quote :: The legend goes on to say that the room where the family of the little girl stayed while in Alton is located on the top floor of the building. During the years when the hotel was still in operation, many guests refused to stay in this room, claiming that it was too cold or that strange sounds kept them up at night. During the period after the hotel was closed down, and while the building was empty for a time, merchant policemen who patrolled the downtown area would sometimes claim to see a light burning in this room, even though the building was locked and empty. After the building was renovated and opened again, employees would report hearing footsteps roaming around in this upstairs room but would always find it empty when they investigated the sounds. They also claimed that when they would go up to check the room, they would find the door mysteriously locked. After retrieving a key and returning to the upper floor, the door would always be found standing open – as if whoever had been inside had decided to leave. The room was never occupied during those brief minutes and no one could figure out why the door behaved in the way that it did.

Years passed after the hotel closed down and the location was eventually remodeled and renovated, then turned into several stores and a restaurant and tea room. After all of this time though, the haunting continued and employees once again began to tell stories of spirited pranks and glimpses of a little girl in a white dress. In the tea room, silverware would often move around on its own, glasses would inexplicably spill and kitchen items would sometimes mysteriously disappear. A number of guests who came to the place and went upstairs to view the Lincoln bedroom would often ask about the little girl who was playing on the nearby staircase. No one wanted to tell them that there was no little girl present in the building at the time!

SOURCE: http://www.altonhauntings.com/franklin.html

-----------------------

The Enos Sanatorium

Quote :: The Enos Apartment building, located on Third Street in Alton, is perhaps the best known Underground Railroad station that remains in the city. This former mansion is unique in that it was designed to serve as a hiding place for escaped slaves when it was constructed by Nathaniel Hanson back in 1857. According to the stories, Hanson, who was a wealthy farm implement manufacturer, was closely involved with the abolitionist movement in Alton. When work began on his home, which is located on a bluff overlooking the Alton riverfront and the Mississippi, he asked that tunnels be added to the basement of the house so that runaways could be hidden there in safety. The tunnels, although bricked off at the end, still extend from the lower basement of the house and outward under Third Street. The foundation of the structure is fifteen feet below the level of street and there are numerous rooms and narrow passageways carved into the limestone.

Legend also has it that the ornate cupola on the roof of the mansion was used as a signal post for escaped slaves coming from across the river. One light that was placed in the window was said to have been a signal that all was clear and two lights meant that there was danger afoot. The cupola, which towers over the downtown area, could be easily seen from the Missouri side of the river. The house saw quite a lot of activity during the busiest years of the Underground Railroad movement but there are no records to say just how many runaways may have passed through the house’s clever hiding place.

Some believe that the former slaves who passed through the house may contribute to the haunting that has been reported here for many years. There were a number of tragedies that took place during the years when the Underground Railroad was in its heyday, when slaves were killed, sometimes just before reaching freedom. The Underground Railroad was filled with peril and death and many slaves never reached the north. Because of the danger of capture, sickness and hunger, a number of places associated with the Railroad have been considered haunted over the years.

The lingering spirits of escaped slaves may explain some of the odd things that occur in this building but it cannot explain them all. The old mansion seems to have two very distinct types of hauntings, one located both in the basement and another among the upper floors of the house. The weird activity beneath the earth very well may be connected to the Underground Railroad but the ghosts upstairs are likely a part of a later era in the house – a time period when scores of people actually perished within the walls of this stately mansion.

The Enos Apartment building, located on Third Street in Alton, is perhaps the best known Underground Railroad station that remains in the city. This former mansion is unique in that it was designed to serve as a hiding place for escaped slaves when it was constructed by Nathaniel Hanson back in 1857. According to the stories, Hanson, who was a wealthy farm implement manufacturer, was closely involved with the abolitionist movement in Alton. When work began on his home, which is located on a bluff overlooking the Alton riverfront and the Mississippi, he asked that tunnels be added to the basement of the house so that runaways could be hidden there in safety. The tunnels, although bricked off at the end, still extend from the lower basement of the house and outward under Third Street. The foundation of the structure is fifteen feet below the level of street and there are numerous rooms and narrow passageways carved into the limestone.

Legend also has it that the ornate cupola on the roof of the mansion was used as a signal post for escaped slaves coming from across the river. One light that was placed in the window was said to have been a signal that all was clear and two lights meant that there was danger afoot. The cupola, which towers over the downtown area, could be easily seen from the Missouri side of the river. The house saw quite a lot of activity during the busiest years of the Underground Railroad movement but there are no records to say just how many runaways may have passed through the house’s clever hiding place.

Some believe that the former slaves who passed through the house may contribute to the haunting that has been reported here for many years. There were a number of tragedies that took place during the years when the Underground Railroad was in its heyday, when slaves were killed, sometimes just before reaching freedom. The Underground Railroad was filled with peril and death and many slaves never reached the north. Because of the danger of capture, sickness and hunger, a number of places associated with the Railroad have been considered haunted over the years.

The lingering spirits of escaped slaves may explain some of the odd things that occur in this building but it cannot explain them all. The old mansion seems to have two very distinct types of hauntings, one located both in the basement and another among the upper floors of the house. The weird activity beneath the earth very well may be connected to the Underground Railroad but the ghosts upstairs are likely a part of a later era in the house – a time period when scores of people actually perished within the walls of this stately mansion.

SOURCE: http://www.altonhauntings.com/enos.html

» The Legends of Alton's Milton School
» Anyone Heard of Alton Illinois?
» 'Haunted Collector': In A Haunted Bookstore, A Child's Ghost Speaks And Moves Toys
» Haunted Roads
» A Few Haunted Places