It is said there are many reasons spirits of the departed refuse to pass from this world into the next. Some may have been so religiously devoted in life that they do not want to abandon the people and places they love. At the Legends and Lore of Illinois, we have found examples of some of the most religious ghosts in Illinois. But which ones will prove to be the most haunting?
10. Phantom Organist
Lebanon, Illinois
Founded in 1828 by the United Methodist Church and originally known as Lebanon Seminary, McKendree University is the oldest college in the State of Illinois. Bothwell Chapel, one of the oldest buildings on campus, is home to a phantom organist whose otherworldly tones echo through the corridors. A former security guard claims to have heard this organ or piano music playing in the sanctuary after hours. Also, according to legend, a student hung himself in the bell tower, and to this day his ghost can be heard pacing the upper floors.
9. St. Anthony’s Ghostly Nun
Alton, Illinois
St. Anthony’s Health Center began in 1925 when five Sisters of St. Francis traveled from Germany to America and settled in Alton to establish a hospital there. After raising donations, they purchased the Nazareth Home, a combination orphanage and infirmary, in 1925. This became the core of St. Anthony’s, with several additions over the next few decades. The physicians at St. Anthony’s are independent practitioners and not directly employed by the hospital. At least three ghosts are alleged to roam its halls, but one seen most frequently is the ghost of a former member of the order of nuns in residence at the hospital, the Sisters of St. Francis of the Martyr St. George. She has been spotted wandering the third floor near the sterile processing department.
8. Lourdes’ Ghostly Schoolmarm
Chicago, Illinois
Richard T. Crowe, Chicago’s most respected authority on local ghost lore, taught English and journalism at Lourdes High School in 1972/73. During that time, he heard stories about a nun who haunted the third floor. Tales of the phantom nun had been told for decades. Heavy footsteps were sometimes heard echoing down the empty corridor, and a ghostly specter was seen on more than one occasion. Stitch Hall, an auditorium added during the 1950s, also reportedly experienced this activity. Several years ago, Lourdes closed and John Hancock High School opened in its place. It is unknown whether the ghostly activity has continued.
7. Brother Otto
Peru, Illinois
St. Bede Academy has a tradition of academic excellence dating back to 1890. For a century, this Benedictine school and abbey has prepared young men and women of the Illinois valley to enter college upon graduation. According to longtime campus legend, there are two eternal residents at the school. “Brother Otto” is the ghost of a monk who is sometimes seen on the third floor. His mortal life ended in a tragic accident, but now he is free to watch over his students for eternity. The second ghost to haunt St. Bede is named “Val.” Val was a janitor who stayed in a room above the stage. After his death, his room was used for storage, but his ghost is believed to turn lights on and off, open doors, and move furniture.
6. The Sisters of St. Francis
Peoria, Illinois
For more than 130 years, the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis have been caring for Peoria’s sick and infirm at St. Francis Medical Center. Some say that a few of those dedicated women have remained at their posts long after passing from this world. The hospital began in 1877, when five Catholic nuns purchased a two-story framed house along the Illinois River to provide care for area residents. Today, their hospital has over 600 beds and employs more than 800 physicians. Over the years, patients and staff have reported encountering two nuns who appear to comfort the sick before mysteriously disappearing. No one knows who they were in life, but their presence is appreciated.
In 1905, Jacob Beilhart moved his utopian commune known as the “Spirit Fruit Society” to a 90-acre site along Wooster Lake near the Chain O’Lakes. They valued hard work and free love as a road to salvation. Jacob died in 1908 and the group left after six more years at the farm. During the 1940s and ‘50s the property was converted into a health spa called Wooster Lake Health Resort. It was soon abandoned. “Urban explorers” took over the site and began to bring back stories about the abandoned camp. It became known as “
For more than 130 years, the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis have been caring for Peoria’s sick and infirm. Some say that a few of those dedicated women have remained at their posts long after passing from this world. The hospital began in 1877, when five Catholic nuns purchased a two-story framed house along the Illinois River to provide care for area residents. Today, their hospital has over 600 beds and employs more than 800 physicians. Over the years, patients and staff have reported encountering two nuns who appear to comfort the sick before mysteriously disappearing. No one knows who they were in life, but their presence is appreciated.
This former hospital has a complicated history that no doubt contributes to its paranormal activity. Originally the Kelso Sanitarium, Mennonite Church leaders purchased that building in 1919 after their first hospital became overcrowded. The sanitarium was renamed Mennonite Hospital, and specialized in adult long-term care. In July 1984, Mennonite Hospital combined with two other area hospitals to create the BroMenn healthcare system. In 1998, the old Mennonite Hospital building was sold to a vacuum cleaner company called Electrolux. Something from its years as a hospital remained, however. Old photographs and writing on some of the walls left by former patients has 
Like many poor farms and mental hospitals in Illinois, the Cook County Poor Farm (and the asylum built upon it) had a tragic history. This tragedy spawned a diaspora of ghost stories as the modern City of Chicago spread around it and, eventually, over the site itself. The original poor farm, established in 1851, occupied over 150 acres. The Cook County Insane Asylum was built there in 1858 and housed nearly 600 patients by 1885. When much of the complex was finally demolished a century later, the real estate developer who purchased the land was shocked to discover that her construction crews were digging up bodies. Archaeologists conducted an excavation and discovered three cemeteries on the property. The bodies were removed and reburied in a 3-acre park now called 
Chicago, IL
Stories of prohibition-era gangsters are common around Chicago, but it is rare when an establishment can claim a legitimate connection. That is the case for this restaurant along the Fox River, which, during the 1920s, was known as Reitmayer’s Beer Garden and was fought over by the likes of Al Capone and Bugs Moran. Its isolated location made it the perfect place for a speakeasy, and relics from those bygone days are still uncovered during renovations. The ghostly activity at the Hideaway primarily centers on one table on the second floor. The place setting at this table frequently appears “messed with” and napkins have fallen on the floor for no apparent reason, while none of the surrounding tables were similarly disturbed. The door between the bar and the dining area also swings back and forth as though someone is walking through it. According to staff, none of this activity has felt threatening.
A restaurant known for its buxom waitresses may seem like an unusual place for a haunting, but ghosts have found a home here as well. According to Richard Crowe, it started with a string of bad luck. Every other business to occupy this particular location at the corner of Erie and North Wells had failed in a short period of time. Hooters even briefly painted a mural in homage to its predecessors. Perhaps the restaurant’s employees were a little better at tolerating its ghosts. In the storage room, waitresses would often feel like they were being watched. One even heard someone call her name. There are also electrical disturbances, and the jukebox has a tendency to turn on and off on its own.
New Holland, IL
For many years, a small stone cabin with a long, brick chimney stood along the road near a bridge not too far from Anderson Cemetery. It was rumored to be guarded by a zombie dog, and to be the home of a family of murdering thieves. According to local 
The headless horseman of 
According to legend, an old dirt road once passed through Effland Woods. One day, an accident befell a group of travelers on the road and they all died. In some versions of the story, this was a car accident. People stopped using the road, and it became swallowed up by the woods. Now, visitors to the woods claim to see floating balls of light zipping between the trees. Others have heard whistling and low voices, and felt like they were being watched or followed by something unseen. According to authors Chad Lewis and Terry Fisk, the son of a woman who lived nearby went to hunt raccoons in the woods and returned home early in a state of shock. He was unable to recount what happened, but he refused to go hunting in Effland Woods again.
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