Haunted Rock Island Roadhouse Ghost Hunt, Rock Island, Illinois

Haunted Rock Island Roadhouse Ghost Hunts

Where a century of secrets never left the building.

Join Haunted Rooms America for exclusive overnight access to the Haunted Rock Island Roadhouse — a 50,000-square-foot former YMCA with ties to Prohibition-era organized crime, brothels, unsolved death, and over a century of restless energy. Once a community center, speakeasy, and boarding house for soldiers and railroad workers, this sprawling four-story building in the heart of historic Rock Island has been producing documented paranormal activity since investigators first entered in 2018. Equipment provided. Limited places available.

Built in 1912 and opened to the public in 1913, the Rock Island YMCA was designed as a beacon of community — a handsome brown brick building offering a gymnasium, a swimming pool, a reading room, game rooms, and lodging for up to 100 people across the third and fourth floors. For railroad workers passing through, soldiers stationed at the nearby Rock Island Arsenal, and men who simply needed a place to stay, the YMCA was a reliable stop in a city that was still shaking off its reputation as a frontier town.

But behind the civic respectability, something darker was taking root. Rock Island in the early twentieth century was a city under the grip of organized crime — and the YMCA building sat at the center of it.

A History Written in Vice and Violence

By the 1920s, Rock Island was controlled by John Looney — an attorney turned crime boss whose empire of extortion, gambling, bootlegging, and prostitution stretched across multiple states. Looney’s influence was so total that it would later inspire the graphic novel and film *Road to Perdition*. His operation corrupted the city from the inside out: the mayor, the police chief, and the city attorney were all eventually indicted on charges tied directly to Looney’s criminal network.

Operating within this network was Helen Van Dale — known as the “Queen of the Looney Underworld.” Born Catherine Helena Lee in rural Illinois, Van Dale arrived in Rock Island as a teenager and built one of the most extensive prostitution operations federal agents had ever documented, controlling over 300 women across establishments in Rock Island, Davenport, Cedar Rapids, and Peoria. Government agents who tracked her for years described her as “one of the most interesting madams in the annals of prostitution.”

Van Dale ran brothels along 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Avenues — the same blocks where the YMCA stood. The building itself, according to local accounts, served at various times as a front for a speakeasy and a brothel during the Prohibition years. In a city where the line between legitimate business and criminal enterprise had been deliberately erased, the YMCA’s role extended well beyond community recreation.

The violence that accompanied this era was not abstract. William Gable, who ran an establishment adjacent to one of Van Dale’s brothels, was gunned down with six bullets in front of his business in 1922 after attempting to provide evidence to federal authorities. Van Dale’s boyfriend — Rock Island’s own Police Chief, Thomas Cox — was charged with planning the murder alongside Looney. A young woman working in one of Van Dale’s establishments was beaten so severely by Cox with a glass bottle that she was transported to Peoria, where she later died.

The YMCA building also housed a boarder named John Dickerson, who committed a murder during his stay. The details remain murky — one of several unsolved mysteries connected to the building, alongside the question of who drowned in the YMCA pool, and what other illegal dealings took place within its walls during the decades of Looney’s reign.

The YMCA continued operating as a community center until a devastating fire in 1976 forced its closure the following year. The building was later purchased and converted into Dan Vinar Furniture, a furniture store and storage company. During renovations, the pool and gymnasium were removed to make way for showroom space, and many of the upper-floor lodging rooms were converted to storage lockers. But remnants of the YMCA’s past survived — including the old running track, sections of the original gym floor, and, as the new owners would soon discover, residents who had never checked out.

Documented Paranormal Activity

The owners of the building attempted to ignore what was happening for years. But the activity became undeniable. In 2018, the building was opened to its first paranormal investigators, and since then, a consistent body of reported phenomena has accumulated across all four floors and the basement.

The building — now officially known as the Haunted Rock Island Roadhouse — has drawn investigators from as far as Greece and Pennsylvania. Local paranormal researcher and tour operator QC Haunts & History has described it simply: “It’s four floors and a basement full of ghosts.”

The Second Floor Classrooms

In the old YMCA classrooms on the second floor, several distinct spirits have been identified by investigators. One is a woman who reportedly refuses to speak — described as elusive and unresponsive to most questions. Another is said to be a nurse who responds to liquor-based trigger objects, interacting when alcohol is placed in the room.

The Upper Floor Lodging Rooms

The third and fourth floors — formerly the YMCA’s boarding rooms — are among the building’s most active areas. Loud, unexplained bangs are regularly heard. Phantom footsteps echo through the hallways, and shadow figures have been observed moving from room to room. On the third floor, visitors have reported the unmistakable smell of phantom cigarette smoke in areas where no source can be identified.

Room G5

On the fourth floor, Room G5 contains a spirit that reportedly hides whenever anyone approaches. Investigators who attempt to make contact report that shadow figures appear in the hallway just outside the room — seemingly there to intimidate the spirit hiding within. The dynamic between these presences remains one of the building’s most unsettling mysteries.

Room 431

Also on the fourth floor, Room 431 has earned a reputation as one of the building’s most dangerous locations. The spirit occupying this room has been reported to physically assault visitors. At least one investigator was forced to leave the building entirely after an experience in this room.

The Trunk Elevator Stairwell

One stairwell, built around a central trunk elevator, has become a focal point of activity. EVP recordings captured here include the sound of screams and loud, violent door slamming — with no physical source. Visitors have reported the stairwell door being pulled by unseen forces. A spirit has been identified in an attached storage room that may be responsible for the disturbances.

The Old Pool Area and Basement

An apparition has reportedly been photographed near the location of the original pool — now filled in and converted to storage. In the old basement locker rooms, visitors report being touched by unseen hands. Strange light anomalies have been documented repeatedly, and in certain basement bathrooms, EVP recordings have captured voices speaking in German — possibly connected to the building’s history of housing European immigrants and workers.

Your Investigation

We are offering exclusive overnight access to the Haunted Rock Island Roadhouse for a guided paranormal investigation. This is not a theatrical haunted house experience. This is a serious investigation of a location where over a century of documented history — organized crime, violent death, mysterious fire, and the daily lives of thousands of transient boarders — has left an imprint that hundreds of investigators have independently confirmed.

You will have access to all four floors, the basement, the former lodging rooms, the old classrooms, the stairwells, and the areas where the pool and gymnasium once stood. Our team will provide professional-grade paranormal equipment and experienced investigators to guide your session. With 50,000 square feet of investigable space, this is one of the largest and most varied locations in our portfolio.

The Haunted Rock Island Roadhouse sits on the banks of the Mississippi River in the heart of a city that was once ruled by gangsters, corrupt officials, and women who operated in the shadows. The building has absorbed all of it. The spirits here are not passive — they interact, they hide, they follow, and in at least one documented case, they attack.

The only question is whether you’re ready to find out for yourself.

Secure your place. The Roadhouse is waiting.

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TICKETS ARE EXTREMELY LIMITED