Haunted Places in Alton, Illinois: 7 Haunted Sites to Visit
An empty mansion on the highest hill in town, a spa hotel turned shopping mall, a church where a minister died and the ruins of a Civil War prison. Alton calls itself one of the most haunted small towns in America; here is what lies behind the stories and how to visit.
Alton sits on the Mississippi bluffs across the river from the St. Louis area, and its history is crowded for a small town. The abolitionist printer Elijah Lovejoy was killed here by a proslavery mob in 1837, Illinois built its first state penitentiary here, and during the Civil War thousands of Confederate prisoners were held here, many dying of smallpox. Since the first ghost tour in 1992 the town has built a reputation as one of the most haunted small towns in America, and its tourism bureau leans into it. We have checked every place below against current sources, so you know which are open, which you can only see from the street and which take part in ghost tours. Haunted Rooms runs its own ghost hunts nearby at the Cheney Mansion in Jerseyville.
Most of Alton’s haunted places are within a few minutes’ drive of each other: the Mineral Springs Hotel and the prison ruins are downtown near the river, the First Unitarian Church is a few blocks up the hill, and the McPike Mansion and Milton School are in Upper Alton. Grafton and the Ruebel Hotel are a short drive up the Great River Road, and Jerseyville is to the north.
Visit on a tourGhost toursHaunted Rooms ghost hunts
Address 601 N State St, Jerseyville, IL 62052
Where to look The basement cistern, Miss Dorothy's room and the upstairs hall
Reported ghosts Miss Dorothy the nursemaid, women's voices, a singing girl
Visiting Museum tours by advance reservation
Tours Historic and haunted tours by reservation
Ghost hunting Yes: Haunted Rooms ghost hunts and visiting teams
The mansion grew around the four-room Red House of 1827, Jersey County’s first frame home, which became a tavern on the Alton to Jacksonville stage line in 1830. Dr. Edward D’Arcy later gave it to his daughter Catherine and her husband, Prentiss Dana Cheney, and three generations of Cheneys enlarged it. After an auction in 1998 the buyers donated it to the Jersey County Historical Society, whose museum it now houses. The society’s marker says it was an Underground Railroad stop, with people hidden in a false cistern.
Investigators have reported an apparition called Miss Dorothy, said to be a nursemaid, in the room named for her, women’s voices upstairs, chairs moving in the dining room and a little girl singing. The Ghost Research Society investigated in 2009. The society offers haunted tours, and Haunted Rooms runs its own ghost hunts here.
Haunted Rooms tip: Call the historical society ahead: tours of the mansion and its haunted tours are by reservation.
Visit on a tourGhost toursParanormal investigations allowed
Address 2018 Alby St, Alton, IL 62002
Where to look The wine cellar, the attic and the front windows
Reported ghosts Paul Laichinger at the windows, Sarah the servant in the attic, voices in the cellar
Visiting Privately owned and under repair; visits limited to the cellar by advance registration
Ghost hunting Occasional events that raise money for the restoration
Henry Guest McPike, businessman and mayor of Alton, built this mansion, which he called Mount Lookout, between 1869 and 1871. Paul Laichinger later rented out its rooms, and it has stood empty since the mid-20th century. Sharyn and George Luedke bought the derelict house at auction in 1994 and are slowly stabilizing it.
The Luedkes say it is haunted by a former owner and a former servant; the usual names are Laichinger, seen at the windows, and Sarah, a maid linked to the scent of lilies in the attic. Visitors talk of voices and mists in the wine cellar, and photos of lights and outlines in the windows. Ghost Adventures filmed here in 2019.
Haunted Rooms tip: Visits are limited to the cellar for safety, so register ahead with the owners; Alton’s ghost tours also stop outside.
Where to look The main staircase, the old pool rooms and the Crystal Ballroom bar
Reported ghosts The Jasmine Lady on the stairs, Clarence by the pool, a drinker in the old bar
Visiting Shops, a ballroom and a curiosities museum open to the public
Hours and season Shops Tuesday to Saturday 10 AM to 5 PM; American Oddities Museum Friday to Sunday noon to 5 PM
Ghost hunting American Hauntings has run ghost hunts here but says those events are ending; the ballroom hosts occasional paranormal evenings
In 1914 the Luer brothers began digging an ice warehouse for their meatpacking business, struck a sulfur spring and built a spa hotel instead, opening the next year with more than 100 rooms, mineral baths and what it called the largest swimming pool in Illinois. It declined from the 1960s, closed in 1971, and reopened in 1978 as a mall of small shops. Ghost author Troy Taylor’s American Oddities Museum is now inside.
Visitors often report a jasmine perfume near one staircase. The old story is of a woman who fell there after a quarrel, but Taylor links the Jasmine Lady to a guest named Pearl Sons, who died in her room in 1965. Clarence Blair, 18, drowned in the pool during a swimming lesson, and people describe a young man in a white shirt and tie at the pool’s end. A drinker who shot himself in the bar is also told of.
Haunted Rooms tip: Browse the shops and the American Oddities Museum on a weekend afternoon, then join an evening ghost walk in Alton.
Reported ghosts Confederate prisoners who died of smallpox
Visiting Outdoor ruin, open at all hours
Ghost hunting No
Illinois opened its first state penitentiary here in 1833 and closed it in the 1850s. The Union reopened it in 1862 to hold Confederate prisoners of war, and conditions were grim: smallpox and other diseases swept through, and at least 1,534 Confederate soldiers died, along with Union soldiers and civilians. Many were buried on Smallpox Island across the river and later in the Confederate cemetery in north Alton.
All that survives is a fragment of stone wall, kept by the state as a historic site. It is a regular stop on Alton’s ghost tours, and Troy Taylor’s Alton Hauntings runs a dedicated penitentiary tour, but ghostly reports here are tied to the town’s legends rather than to a building you can enter.
Haunted Rooms tip: Pair the wall with the Confederate cemetery and the Lovejoy Monument for a short history walk.
Where to look The basement, the minister's study doorway and the sanctuary piano
Reported ghosts Reverend Philip Mercer, voices and shadow figures in the basement
Visiting Working church; see from the street or on a ghost tour
Ghost hunting No
The church stands on the foundations of St. Matthew’s, a Catholic church of about 1830 that burned in the 1850s. The Unitarian Society rebuilt on the site, lost that church to fire in 1901 and finished the present building in 1905. Alton’s tourism bureau says it was a stop on the Underground Railroad. In November 1934 the English-born minister, Philip Mercer, who had been ill, was found hanged in the doorway of the minister’s study.
It is one of Alton’s best-known ghost stops. Stories tell of voices and shadowy figures in the basement, a piano that plays itself and doors that open and close, and many say Mercer has never left. It is a working congregation, so see it from Third Street or on Troy Taylor’s Alton Hauntings tours, which stop here.
Haunted Rooms tip: Join an Alton Hauntings walking tour, which tells the Mercer story outside the church.
Where to look The hallways, the lower back rooms, the restaurant
Reported ghosts Abigail, a little girl said to wander the halls
Visiting A working hotel; book a room to stay
Michael Ruebel opened his hotel on Grafton’s Main Street in 1879, where the Illinois and Mississippi rivers meet. That building burned in 1912 and the brick hotel you see today went up in 1913 with 32 rooms at a dollar a night. It is the only historic hotel left in Grafton, it is on the National Register of Historic Places, and it still has a restaurant and bar downstairs.
The resident ghost is Abigail, a little girl who is said to play tricks on guests. The hotel’s own history page says the owners first noticed soft footsteps early in the morning, unusual smells and small things going missing, and guests have shared photos with unexplained orbs. Local retellings disagree on who she was: some say she died of tuberculosis, others link her to the 1912 fire.
Haunted Rooms tip: Book an upstairs room facing Main Street, eat at Abigail’s downstairs, and walk the quiet hallway late in the evening.
Visiting a haunted place by day is one thing. Investigating one after dark is another. On a Haunted Rooms ghost hunt our team takes you through a historic building with professional ghost hunting equipment, runs EVP sessions and vigils, and gives you time to explore on your own. These are the nearest ones we run.
Where to look The stairs to the old gym and the girls' locker room
Reported ghosts A girl called Mary, footsteps and voices
Visiting Shops and apartments; public areas only during business hours and events
Ghost hunting No
Milton School in Upper Alton opened in 1904, grew with new classrooms, a cafeteria and a 1937 gym and stage, and taught local children until it closed for good in 1986; Robert Wadlow, the tallest man in recorded history, went to elementary school here. In the early 1990s it became a factory for Intaglio Design, a decorative glass maker, and for a time a haunted house attraction. Meredith Elston bought it in 2008, and today it is a business hub with shops and a coffee shop below and apartments upstairs.
The best-known story is of Mary, a girl said to have been attacked one autumn evening and found the next morning in the basement girls’ shower room, with a janitor suspected and later found hanged. The story is told without names, dates or any record, and the tourism bureau itself says many of the rumors are myth. Glass factory workers reported footsteps, things that go missing and return and a small girl’s figure. Ghost Hunters filmed here in 2010, and the Ghost Research Society investigated in 2011.
Haunted Rooms tip: Visit during an event at the shops inside, or see it on an Alton ghost tour; the apartments upstairs are private.
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Frequently asked questions
Why is Alton called one of the most haunted small towns in America?
Its tourism bureau and ghost tour operators use the title, pointing to the town’s history of disease, violence, the Civil War prison and the Underground Railroad. Ghost tours have run here since 1992, and author Troy Taylor’s Alton Hauntings tours are based on his book Haunted Alton.
What is the most haunted place in Alton?
The McPike Mansion, the empty 1869 house on Mount Lookout, is the most famous, with the Mineral Springs Hotel a close second. Both have been on Ghost Adventures.
Can you go inside the McPike Mansion?
Only the cellar, on tours booked with the owners, because the house is still being stabilized.
Are there ghost tours in Alton?
Yes. Alton Hauntings runs walking, bus and dinner tours, and Alton Odyssey Tours runs trolley tours that stop at the McPike Mansion and the city cemetery.
Where can I go ghost hunting near Alton?
Haunted Rooms runs its own ghost hunts at the Cheney Mansion in Jerseyville, north of Alton.
What happened at the Alton prison?
Illinois’s first penitentiary opened here in 1833. In the Civil War it held Confederate prisoners, and at least 1,534 died, many from smallpox. Only a fragment of wall survives.
Sources and how we research
Every place in this guide is checked against its official website, historic register listings and news coverage, and we confirm whether it is open, closed, private or gone before we list it. Ghost stories are reported as staff, visitors and local historians tell them; we say so where records contradict a story.
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About the authors
The Haunted Rooms Team runs public ghost hunts and overnight investigations at historic venues across the United States. We research every place in our guides using official sites, historic registers, local archives and news coverage, and we report ghost stories as the stories they are. We review each guide regularly so you are not sent to a place that has closed, changed hands or banned visitors. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
