Posted in Illinois May 05, 2020 by

The Story Behind The 1900s Haunting Of Illinois’ Police Stations And Prisons

The history of Illinois’ haunted police stations is fascinating and marvelous. This outstanding, little-known story will blow your mind. Scroll on to learn more about our state’s creepy past.

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By 1907, it was deemed that at least six police stations in Chicago were haunted due to constant paranormal activity experienced by staff and inmates.
Wikimedia Commons
Those stations were the Stockyards, Hyde Park, Grand Crossing, Englewood, New City, Des Plaines, and the Old Cook County Jail.
One story tells of an officer who was sleeping overnight at the station. He became so startled by a phantom that he shot six holes in the plaster with his gun.
Flickr/Herr S. Loeffler
Many men were driven insane by the things they experienced at these haunted locations.
One of the oldest tales of the haunted police stations comes from the Stockyards and happened in 1902. A soldier asked to stay the night at the station there and died overnight. The next morning, an officer believed he saw a figure of the soldier standing in the snow, and officers have reported this sighting each year since.
Wikimedia Commons/Theodore Peiser
An officer sleeping at the Hyde Park station felt the covers of his blanket being pulled, and simply pulled them back up, thinking it was a prank. Expecting the prankster to reappear, he grabbed his gun but instead, a ghost in the shape of a woman with one glowing eye appeared.
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The ghost approached the bed, tugged the blanket down to the end of the bed, and then retreated back to where it had come from. The man stared at it in horror for some time before finally gaining the will to shoot. Those who heard the commotion came to his aid and saw the bullet holes, and all the officer could say to explain himself was, "ghost!"
Another story tells of a couple of females who got into a fight while being let to rest for the night at the station. One was killed, and it had been rumored ever since that inmates could feel someone choking them when they stayed there.
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There was a jail that had a ghost of an attempted escaped convict. This apparition was known to file the cell bars and make all sorts of odd noises.
Wikimedia Commons/Michael Coghlan
One of the most haunted places in Illinois was the Old Cook County Jail. Home to a gallows and overflow holding, this place had seen more death than most of the other stations combined.
Wikimedia Commons/Patrick Feller
Spirits carried out their own executions, the sounds of hammers were often heard when no construction was taking place, and things fell suddenly.

Have you ever heard of these haunted police stations? Share your thoughts with us below in the comments.

For more like this, check out these 13 haunted landmarks in Illinois that are super spooky.

Address: Hyde Park, Chicago, IL, USA
Address: Grand Crossing, Chicago, IL, USA
Address: Englewood, Chicago, IL, USA