Spooky Places to Visit this Halloween Season

👻Haunted Indiana👻

Indiana is home to many different ghost stories. Several authors have written books to help tell these haunted tales If you are in for a fright this fall, check out these haunted places.

1. The Avon Haunted Bridge. This ghost story takes place in a bridge located in Avon, Indiana. Some say that many years ago, a woman was walking the bridge with her infant on the tracks, when suddenly both tragically fell to their deaths. Some claim that you can hear the wailing cries of the mother calling out to her child. The legend states to honk before you go under the bridge to decrease the sound of her screams.
2. James Allison Mansion is a beautiful home that harkens back to the lavish lifestyles of the rich and famous of the early 1900s. James Allison was an influential name in the auto and plane industries. Today, you can find the home on Marian University’s campus. Visitors to the home recall witnessing strange ghostly presences, seeing furniture move, random objects disappearing and then reappearing, and even the spirit’s “love keys!” Some say that it is common for your keys to disappear for a while and pop up in a different spot while there and if you are not scared of the dark, you might hear the cries of a little girl from the basement.
3. Indiana Central State Hospital was a former mental institution that opened in 1848 and closed back in 1992 after many civil lawsuits. Visitors and employees report hearing the screams of a woman coming from the basement, the boiler turning on and off suddenly, and shadows of bodies. The hospital is now a museum.
4. Dog Face Bridge is a tale of a woman with a dog face who haunts the area where a bridge once stood in San Pierre, Indiana. The story says a honeymooning couple saw a dog and swerved to avoid it and then, the car flew off the bridge and unfortunately the bride was instantly decapitated.
5. Reeder Road, in Griffith, tells the tale of a woman named Elizabeth Wilson who drowned in a swamp nearby. Locals say her ghost waits on the side of the road for someone to pick her up and once she is in the car, her ghostly figure will disappear once the driver passes Ross Cemetery where she was buried in 1955.

If you are looking for some spooky adventures this fall, be sure to visit these locations and decide for yourself if these spooky stories are true.

👻Haunted Illinois👻

Here are some ghost stories from around the state of Illinois.

1. St Omer Cemetery, located in Ashmore, is home to a local witch legend. One gravestone inside this cemetery is a ball that sits atop a pyre. Legend says that this ball is actually a crystal ball and on moonless nights it glows. Some claim that should you try to snap a photo of the grave and print it, the image will not show. The cemetery is small, but features other old gravestones that may be worth perusing.
2. Congress Plaza Hotel, in Chicago, was once where Al Capone called home – though he never stayed under his real name, so no records exist to confirm. Guests at the Plaza report sightings of Capone’s ghost roaming the halls and near his old room on the 8^th Another ghost at the Plaza named “Peg Leg Johnny” turns electronics and lights on and off. The hotel is connected to America’s first serial killer – H.H Holmes – where he searched for his victims. Take your chances with any of these ghostly tales and give the Congress Plaza Hotel a visit.
3. The Mineral Springs Hotel, in Alton, has a long history of legends and ghost stories. Some of the most famous stories involve Lou Harwood and Pearl Sans. A couple years after the hotel opened, Lou committed suicide in the hotel bar. Pearl died in one of the rooms at the hotel and people report feeling negative energy when they enter the hotel bar and the hotel room where Pearl died. Today the hotel is an antique mall, but the staff still report seeing unexplainable entities.
4. At Ridge Cemetery, in Williamsburg Hill, some report seeing creepy lights, shadows and a disappearing older man. There are stories that Native Americans cautioned settlers from choosing that hill to make home because of the evil spirits located there.

Take a weekend visit this Halloween season where you may possibly cross paths with a ghost.