A Halloween Inspired Road Trip from Illinois to Wisconsin That Will Surely Haunt Your Memories!
Grab your best ghouls and goblins and let’s end October on an exciting note with some great suggestions for spooky road trips! Hop on in your new car from Classic and let’s hit the road, because we’re going on an epic quest to find the most Haunted Places in Wisconsin and Illinois.
Travel Most Haunted Illinois up to Haunted Wisconsin
- 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. Remains of the Native Peoples have been found on site. Archaeologists believe the location coordinated with a stellar event involving a supernova shining day and night for a three year duration. - Peoria State Hospital Museum and Cemetery in Peoria, IL
(199 miles from Classic Kia and Classic Toyota)
In its prime, the mental illness institution campus contained 63 buildings on site. Many of the buildings have since been demolished, but the Bowen Building was the last one standing. The grounds are also home to four different cemeteries. Some paranormal investigators have even 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 financial troubles ultimately led to foreclosure, she allegedly cursed the grounds for future owners and residents. The house was eventually demolished and the library was erected in its stead in 1894. Shockingly, the first three directors of the library died under quite mysterious circumstances! Eventually the old library was demolished and a new improved building was built in its place in 1966. Staff have reported feeling cold drafts, seeing apparitions of former directors lurking in doorways, and even whispering their name amidst the stacks. - Greenwood Cemetery in Decatur, IL
(221 miles from Classic Kia and Classic Toyota)
It is believed that prior to the 1820s this was the site of a Native American Burial Ground until colonizers took over the site and used it as a graveyard from the 1820s on, becoming an officially recognized cemetery in 1857. 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! - Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery in Midlothian, IL
(70 miles from Classic Kia and Classic Toyota)
The local area was originally settled by English colonizers and homesteaders who relocated from New England in the 1830s. 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.
- 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 hearcries of disembodied voices, or be overcome with an overwhelming sense of dread, or notice the eerie stillness and silence and cold spots. You’ll just have to visit and see for yourself! - 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.
- 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.
- 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! - 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 spectres. Stay for the night, if you can make it that long... - 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. - High Cliff State Park in Sherwood, WI
(182 miles from Classic Kia and Classic Toyota)
If you like spending time in the great outdoors, you may enjoy the challenge of pitching a tent on one of the most haunted campgrounds in Wisconsin! It’s considered a hotbed of supernatural and paranormal events, which some attribute to the fact that there are Native American burial grounds nearby the camping ground. Some folks report strange figures and apparitions and otherworldly sounds in the dead of night. - West Cove Lanes in Ladysmith, WI
(341 miles from Classic Kia and Classic Toyota)
Stop in for a bite to eat or explore the nearby campgrounds. But be on the lookout for the ghosts that frequent this bowling alley. Folks have reported hearing footsteps with no figure in sight, and peals of laughter when no one is there. Others have seen an apparition of a man in a flannel shirt. Will you strike the big time and see a spirit or will you roll a gutterball and zero out?
If you have been to any of these spooky 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!
