Exploring Some of the Most Haunted Places in Illinois and Wisconsin

Oct 24, 2023

We’re gearing up for Halloween with an incredible road trip guide to the most spirited roadside attractions and haunted destinations in Illinois and Wisconsin!

ILLINOIS

Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site in Collinsville, IL
(345 miles from Classic Kia and Classic Toyota)
This is a historic site once home to an ancient Native American village, and it is rumored to be home to a host of spirits of the Natives who used to reside here. There have been reports of orbs, strange shadows, and balls of floating light.
Greenwood Cemetery in Decatur, IL
(221 miles from Classic Kia and Classic Toyota)
Visitors to the site have reported hearing screams and strange lights from inside some of the mausoleums. Visitors report seeing apparitions of confederate prisoners in tattered uniforms wandering in a daze. You might even come across The Greenwood Bride, a lonely figure in a wedding gown searching for her beloved!
Peoria State Hospital Museum and Cemetery in Peoria, IL
(199 miles from Classic Kia and Classic Toyota)
The grounds are the former sight of a mental health institution, and also home to four different cemeteries. Some paranormal investigators have reported tastes of blood in their mouths, or smelling the pine scent used in cough syrups for ill patients. There have been sightings of patients walking through walls, echoes of footsteps, banging on the walls, and pushing or shoving of the investigators.

Peoria Public Downtown Library in Peoria
(196 miles from Classic Kia and Classic Toyota)
Legend has it that this library was built on cursed grounds! Mrs. Andrew Gray lived in the house in the 1830s, and when faced with financial ruin, she allegedly cursed the grounds for future owners and residents. The house was demolished and the library was erected in its stead in 1894. Shockingly, the first three directors of the library died under quite mysterious circumstances! Staff in the new building have reported feeling cold drafts, seeing apparitions of former directors lurking in doorways, and even whispering their name amidst the stacks.
Bloods Point Cemetery in Belvidere, IL
(88 miles from Classic Kia and Classic Toyota)
This graveyard was founded in 1935, and is famed for sightings of a nefarious woman buried on site named Beaula who murdered all of her children and now haunts the grounds for eternity. Visitors have also reported the site has a very off putting stench.
Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery in Midlothian, IL
(70 miles from Classic Kia and Classic Toyota)
It was originally named the Everden Cemetery after the original property owner Conrintha Everden, who bought the land in 1835. There have been many reports of spooky phenomena such as floating orbs, strange lights, and even sightings of a phantom car! If you are brave you may even witness a farmer with his horse, a white cloaked spirit of a woman with her infant, and a woman sitting atop a tombstone.

The Englewood Post Office and H. H. Holmes
(~62 miles from Classic Kia and Classic Toyota)

This modest post office branch sits on the site once home to serial killer H.H. Holmes and his infamous “Murder Castle” Postal workers at this location have reported hauntings throughout the building. The basement area especially is noted to fill visitors and employees with an intense fear of dread, and it is advised any tasks in that room be quick and timely to avoid anxiety.

The Chicago River and the SS Eastland
(45 miles from Classic Kia and Classic Toyota)

In 1915 the SS Eastland passenger ship was docked along the Chicago River when it suddenly capsized. Sadly, 844 people lost their lives in the incident. Visitors to the area and patrons of local restaurants have reported looking out from the windows or down from the Clark Street Bridge and seeing the ghostly faces or bodies of people in the water reaching for help.

The Couch Tomb in Lincoln Park Chicago
(45 miles from Classic Kia and Classic Toyota)

Lincoln Park sits on the former grounds of City Cemetery, with the Couch Tomb the only remaining tomb surviving the Great Fire of 1871. The tomb was sealed for decades, leaving many to speculate what may lie buried there. In 1998, a team of workers and researchers opened the tomb and discovered around 80 bodies entombed within! Visitors have reported seeing and hearing strange apparitions and experiencing strange occurrences in Lincoln Park and near this tomb.

Graceland Cemetery in Chicago, IL
(41 miles from Classic Kia and Classic Toyota)
From “The Eternal Silence” statue of a hooded cloaked monk to the isolated grave of Daniel Burnham to the imposing architecture of The Palmer Mausoleum, there is no shortage of haunts here! You might hear cries of disembodied voices, or be overcome with an overwhelming sense of dread, or notice the eerie stillness and silence and cold spots.

WISCONSIN
Maribel Caves in Maribel, WI
(184 miles from Classic Kia and Classic Toyota)
The grounds are the former site of the Maribel Caves Hotel aka Cherner Hotel, a site known for its wonderful activities and fine amenities, but which sadly burnt down to the ground with its guests still inside. The hotel has had its fair share of notorious visitors from famed living gangsters and mobsters like John Dillinger to the spectral figure of the former owner’s ghost.
Karsten Hotel in Kewaunee, WI
(170 miles from Classic Kia and Classic Toyota)
If you’re interested in strange spectral encounters, then this is the hotspot (or cold spot…) that ghost hunters like you are just dying to experience! In fact, it’s so haunted that the owners have fully embraced the paranormal experience and accept it. It has been in operation since 1912 and is home to at least three very active specters. Stay for the night, if you can make it that long…
Fork in the Road Mukwonago, WI
(60 miles from Classic Kia and Classic Toyota)
We thought it might be nice to include a restaurant stop off on our trip, and what better than a haunted one! Visitors to this establishment have reported seeing foggy apparitions out back, heard ghostly footsteps in the halls, and even heard the echoes of pool cues hitting pool balls and rolling across the floor.
Pfister Hotel in Milwaukee, WI
(50 miles from Classic Kia and Classic Toyota)
If you’re looking to take a break on your spooky road trip, why not spend the night here if you dare! Spirits here are said to appear in your room and interfere with your television or radio. You may even hear a pounding or knocking on the walls at night, jangling your nerves and your wits. Many MLB players refuse to stay in the hotel due to disturbances, yikes!
Brumder Mansion Bed and Breakfast in Milwaukee, WI
(51 Miles from Classic Kia and Classic Toyota)
If you prefer an even more frightening lodging experience, try this terrifying B&B. Guests have reported disturbing nightmares, apparitions floating in the halls and in and out of rooms, and it’s even been said that blood was found in a bathtub that no one had been using. Guests have been reporting hauntings in this four story building for nearly 100 years. You can read the reports and then decide from there, if you dare!
Kemper Hall in Kenosha, WI
(18 miles from Classic Kia and Classic Toyota)
Once used as a boarding school for young ladies it is now a recreation center, this is considered one of the most haunted destinations in Wisconsin! Rumor has it that the grounds are haunted by the ghost of a headless nun who died when several students cornered her and shoved her down a stairway. Some visitors have also reported apparitions of nuns peeking out of the windows.

If you have been to any of these creepy locations and have a story to tell, let us know! We’d love to hear all about it in a comment! Have a safe and happy halloween!