Some of Illinois’ Creepiest Abandoned Sites

Mile after magnificent  creepy mile....doesn't really have that ring to it that folks in the tourism business here in Illinois might prefer.

Nonetheless, a piece at RebootIllinois.com gives us a look at some of the spookier abandoned places here in the Land of Lincoln.

Places like:

Manteno State Hospital, Manteno, Illinois

Manteno State Hospital opened in 1929 and was the largest psychiatric hospital in Illinois — housing more than 6,000 residents. Ten years later, a typhoid fever outbreak infected 384 patients and staff, 60 of whom died. The institution closed in 1985 and most of its buildings were converted for business, industrial and residential uses. Visitors have reported seeing apparitions of patients and nurses, including the sound of voices over an intercom system — an intercom that no longer works.

 

Sounds charming, in a George Romero "fixer-upper" kind of way. Moving our terror tour right along...

Devil's Gate, Libertyville, Illinois

Devil’s Gate is located in the Independence Grove Forest Preserve off River Road, which once served as the St. Francis Boys Camp until the 1980s, and as an orphanage in 1925. According to local legend, it used to be the site of a private all-girls school in the 1950s. One night, a man abducted several students, killed them and mounted each of their heads on the gate’s spikes. There are various accounts, some of which claim the murderous man was the school’s principal who snapped, others a madman, or an escaped convict. Visitors and people who have stumbled upon the gate at night claim to have seen severed heads reappear on the spikes and blood dripping down the iron supports. Spine tingling.

 

Visitors and people who stumbled upon the gate at night? Who would want to be either one of those things?

Chanute Air Force Base, Rantoul, Illinois

People who have explored the empty halls have described unusual sightings, from an officer working at a desk to pilots strolling down the dilapidated sidewalks. Perhaps the strangest incident occurred just two days after 9/11, when a police K-9 unit arrived at Chanute’s largest building, the White Hall, after reports of trespassing. A canine credited with nearly 1,000 drug arrests chased someone — or something — to the roof, where it inexplicably jumped off and plummeted 15 feet to its death.

 

For a look at the complete list of Illinois' spooky spots, click here.