• The Vishnu Springs Ghost Town

    A few miles west of Macomb, Illinois, deep in the woods outside the small village of Colchester, sits the remnants of Vishnu Springs. Since its final abandonment in 1982, this ghost town has attracted curious college students who have heard stories of the crumbling old hotel and weed-choked natural springs. Headlines like “Vishnu Springs: Is…

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  • Calvary Cemetery and Seaweed Charlie

    Compared to Chicagoland’s more notorious haunts, Evanston’s Calvary Cemetery is barely a footnote, yet it is not so obscure as to escape the pages of most books on Chicago and Illinois ghost lore. This picturesque resting ground along the shore of Lake Michigan is home to a tale too strange to resist even brief mention.…

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  • Many Mysteries of Willow Creek Farm

    Willow Creek is an unassuming farm in rural Carroll County, Illinois, just outside the town of Shannon. In recent years, it has been the subject of at least a dozen different paranormal investigations, all of which have uncovered a treasure trove of mysterious phenomenon both of the visual and auditory variety. The farmhouse itself is…

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  • Bishop-Zion Cemetery’s Ghostly Guardian

    Nearly a half-century ago, the smoldering embers of a rural church gave birth to a legend—a legend that has since been passed down among the residents of Mason County, Illinois. The church’s former preacher, it is said, was buried in the nearby cemetery under a tree, where he could forever tend his flock. Anyone brave…

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  • Monmouth’s Crybaby Bridge

    This steel bridge three miles northwest of Monmouth, Illinois is one of many christened a “cry baby bridge” because of its alleged connection to infanticide. Click to expand photos Many years ago, as lightning flashed and storm clouds swirled overhead, a young unwed mother—driven mad by the pain of abandonment, regret, and the fear of…

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