Haunted Houses & Ghost Tours in Alton, IL

The history

Alton is a Mississippi River city in Madison County, Illinois, about 18 miles (29 km) north of St. Louis, Missouri, with a population of 25,676 at the 2020 census — the basic city facts from the Wikipedia lead collected, which also notes the limestone bluffs along the river north of the city. It sits in the River Bend area of the Metro-East, and its haunted reputation is not a marketing invention of the last decade: the city's own tour operator, Alton Hauntings, frames the pitch on its bus-tour page as a question — "Looking for the REAL story of why Alton is known as one of the most haunted small towns in America?" — and answers it with the town's record: "From its earliest days, Alton has seen more than its share of death, disease, disaster, violence, murder, and even the scars of the Civil War."

The heaviest of those scars has its own Wikipedia lead in the material collected. The Alton Military Prison was built in 1833 as the first state penitentiary in Illinois and closed in 1857; during the Civil War it was reopened in 1862 to hold Confederate prisoners of war, ceased to be a prison at the end of the war in 1865, and was demolished not long after. A second account collected in this batch's research, on the town's prison site today, adds that the dead were buried on the grounds because their bodies were considered too contagious to move, and that the cemetery markers were later relocated while the bodies remained — that is that account's telling, recorded as such. The prison site is now a stop on the town's tours, and its outline — a single surviving wall with a plaque, per the Only in Your State account — is the physical remainder the tours work from.

Alton's other haunted institutions are dated just as plainly. The Mineral Springs Hotel opened in 1914 as a premier hotel and health spa, per the tour accounts collected — built by the German immigrant brothers August and Herman Luer, pork butchers who drilled for ice-making water in 1909, found mineral water deemed medicinal instead, and pivoted to the spa trade, per the ghost-hunt event account in the sources below. And in 1837 the abolitionist Elijah P. Lovejoy was shot by pro-slavery rioters in Alton — a documented event the Only in Your State account places in the Alton City Cemetery's story, where Lovejoy is buried.

The legend

This section is folklore — reported by the sources cited, and never asserted as fact here.

Both are carried here at that strength: a much-repeated attribution, not a verified quotation.

The McPike Mansion's own website is the primary claimant for its own house, and its claims are photographic. "The McPike Mansion has a history of paranormal occurrences, it is known for it's haunting's," the homepage says. "Numerous photos have been taken that add to it's mystery. Balls of light go unexplained by professional photographers, human-shaped outlines appear in the windows, shadowy or glowing, they were not seen by human eyes until photos were developed." The Only in Your State account adds the customary roster — the mansion "is believed that the mansion is haunted by the McPike family and other residents it's had over the years, as well as servants" — as that account's belief-reporting, not as fact.

The Mineral Springs Hotel carries the town's densest legend set, and it comes from the accounts that sell nights inside it. A road-trip account collected alongside it names the hotel's two best-known figures: a girl named Cassie said to linger near the old pool area, and the "Jasmine Lady," recognised by a faint floral perfume in the corridors, with soft footsteps reported on the third floor. The event account also retails the pool's darkest story — a man who sank and drowned while taking swimming lessons, an event it presents with its own split verdict: "Some people think that it was a tragic accident, whilst others feel that it was some other force." All of it is presented here as those accounts present it: reported, not established.

At the Alton City Cemetery, the Only in Your State account reports a girl, a woman in black, and Lovejoy himself among the figures said to haunt the grounds. And the prison's smallpox dead, buried where they died per the account above, anchor the town's origin legend: a city that built part of itself over a prison graveyard, and tells that story about itself on purpose.

Haunted today

Hountix lists 3 places in Alton, IL. Seasonal attractions keep their own open dates, so check each business's own site before you go.

• Alton Odyssey Tours — ghost tour, 112 E Broadway, Alton, IL 62002
• American Oddities Museum — haunted house, 301 Piasa St, Alton, IL 62002
• McPike Mansion — haunted house, 2018 Alby St, Alton, IL 62002

Attraction stories

McPike Mansion

The McPike Mansion's own homepage, collected, is a restoration appeal wrapped around a ghost claim. The house stands "atop Mount Lookout Park, the highest point in Alton," in the site's words, "located in Historical town of Alton, Illinois Just North of St. Louis, Missouri." "It has not been occupied since the 1950's. Since that time, weather and vandals have caused extensive damage to this historic home. Currently listed on the National Register of Historic Places." The current owners, Sharyn and George Luedke, "have been successful at stabilizing much of the structure and continue to make needed renovations," and the site thanks the visitors whose event fees and donations fund the work — the haunting, in other words, is what pays for the roof.

In 1925 the mansion was purchased by Paul A. Laichinger, who lived there until his death in 1945; after that, per the same summary, the house stood abandoned for years, a shopping-centre conversion fell through on zoning, and the empty mansion "was ransacked for what was left behind, including its furnishings, wooden banisters and even the toilets, becoming a victim of vandalism and negligence." The television trail in that summary — appearances on Scariest Places on Earth and on Season 1, Episode 7 of Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files — is how the house reached a national audience.

The lore the house publishes itself is the photographic lore quoted in the city story above: balls of light unexplained by professional photographers, and human-shaped outlines in windows that nobody saw until the film was developed. The site leans into the evidence-gathering — it invites visitors who have taken photographs to email them in — and its events are sized by the building: "Due to the size of the cellar, all tours are limited to 40 attendees. Please Pre-register to hold your seat." Practically, per the homepage: tour and event dates were set for 2026, including a September 25–October registration draw for a chance to spend the night; visitors are welcome to walk the grounds and take photographs from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., while "THE MANSION ITSELF IS NOT OPEN TO THE PUBLIC" outside its events. One gap is recorded rather than filled: the collector found no separate lore or history page at the usual paths on the mansion's site — the homepage carries the whole story above.

*Website: http://www.mcpikemansion.com/*

American Oddities Museum

The American Oddities Museum publishes no haunting lore of its own, and this story says so plainly: nothing on its homepage, collected, claims the museum building is haunted. What it sells is the haunted object — a collection, in its own words, of "Strange History, Haunted Objects, Supernatural Items, Sideshow Relics, Medical Quackery, True Crime and Serial Killer Memorabilia, Funeral and Mourning Artifacts, Magic and Witchcraft, and Much More!" The museum is a cabinet of other places' ghosts.

Its own homepage is specific about its current circumstances, and those specifics correct its partner site. "NEW LOCATION AT 301 PIASA STREET IN ALTON!" the homepage announces — the museum is now at 301 Piasa Street, open 12–5 p.m. Thursday to Sunday every week, with tickets at $7 per person, children 10 and under free, and the last admission of the day sold at 4:30 p.m. It is the "HOME OF THE AMERICAN HAUNTINGS INK BOOKSTORE," home to Troy Taylor's Dinner and Spirits events, and it runs "Museum After Dark" events and an annual pass with unlimited visits. It notes, as its own credentials, a listing on Atlas Obscura and a recommendation by the Illinois Office of Tourism. One discrepancy is recorded rather than resolved: Alton Hauntings' homepage still describes the museum as located within the haunted Mineral Springs Hotel — "Located within the haunted hotel, the American Oddities Museum features dozens of exhibits that highlight Alton history, haunted objects, supernatural history…" — while the museum's own site announces the 301 Piasa Street location as new.

The museum is therefore best read as the tours' headquarters and gift shop raised to an attraction: the bookstore, the relics, and the bus-tour departure point under one roof at 301 Piasa Street, phone 217-791-7859 per its own homepage. Confirm current hours on the museum's site before going, as its own page stresses the new location.

*Website: http://americanodditiesmuseum.com/*

Sources

• McPike Mansion — official website, homepage as collected (house atop Mount Lookout Park, the highest point in Alton; unoccupied since the 1950s, weather and vandal damage; listed on the National Register of Historic Places; owners Sharyn and George Luedke stabilising and renovating; "a history of paranormal occurrences" — balls of light unexplained by professional photographers, human-shaped outlines in windows seen only after photos were developed; tours limited to 40 attendees due to the cellar, pre-registration required; grounds open to visitors 10 a.m.–8 p.m. for walking and photographs, the mansion itself not open to the public outside events; 2026 tour dates incl. a September 25–October spend-the-night registration; 2018 Alby Street, Alton; the collector found no separate lore/history page at the usual paths): http://www.mcpikemansion.com/
• Alton Hauntings — official website, homepage as collected ("ONLY YEAR-ROUND GHOST TOUR of 'one of the most haunted small towns in America'"; walking tours April–November, Dinner and Spirits tours all year; based on Troy Taylor's Haunted Alton, new revised edition with "double the history and hauntings"; tour line-up incl. Haunted History Walking Tour, Haunted History Bus Tours, Alton Penitentiary Tour, Downtown Pub Crawl, River Road Tour and ghost hunts; American Oddities Museum described as located within the haunted Mineral Springs Hotel — superseded on location by the museum's own site, see below; 301 Piasa Street, Alton, IL 62002; phone 2177917859): https://www.altonhauntings.com/
• Alton Hauntings — Frequently Asked Questions page as collected (walking tour offered since 1999, about 15 blocks of walking over 3 hours, time spent at and inside locations; the only tour actually based on Haunted Alton and created by its author Troy Taylor in 1999; no published list of tour locations — route varies and guests are kept surprised; children 10 and over preferred; advance online purchase, non-refundable, rescheduling with 48 hours' notice by email): https://www.altonhauntings.com/faq
• Alton Hauntings — Haunted History Bus Tours page, via this batch's seed research (three-hour motorcoach tour, $46 per person, departs from the American Oddities Museum, 301 Piasa Street; goes behind the walls of locations the walking tour cannot reach; the operator's framing — Alton's death, disease, disaster, violence, murder and Civil War scars): https://www.altonhauntings.com/bus
• American Oddities Museum — official website, homepage as collected via its current address (NEW LOCATION at 301 Piasa Street, Alton; open Thursday–Sunday 12–5 p.m.; tickets $7 per person, children 10 and under free, last admission 4:30 p.m.; exhibits — strange history, haunted objects, supernatural items, sideshow relics, medical quackery, true crime and serial killer memorabilia, funeral and mourning artifacts, magic and witchcraft; home of the American Hauntings Ink Bookstore; home to Troy Taylor's Dinner and Spirits events; Museum After Dark events and annual pass; listed on Atlas Obscura and recommended by the Illinois Office of Tourism per the site; phone 217-791-7859; the site publishes no haunting claim for its own building): https://www.americanodditiesmuseum.com/
• Lewis & Clark Trail Experience — Alton Hauntings Tours listing, via this batch's seed research (based on the book Haunted Alton by Troy Taylor; three-hour walking tour of the city's most haunted sites incl. the old Alton Penitentiary, First Unitarian Church and Enos Sanitarium; walking and bus tours in spring/summer and fall seasons; private tours for groups of 20+; reservations in advance; phone (217) 791-7859): https://www.lewisandclark.travel/listing/alton-haunting-tours/
• Great Rivers & Routes — "The Official Guide to Alton Hauntings Tours," via this batch's seed research (founder Troy Taylor, author of Haunted Alton; the repeated Mark Twain "dismal little river town" line; three-hour Haunted History Walking Tour; Ghost Hunts at the Mineral Springs Hotel with late-night access inside the hotel): https://www.riversandroutes.com/blog/the-official-guide-to-alton-hauntings-tours/
• Only in Your State — "Paranormal Activity Abounds In Alton, The Most Haunted Town In Illinois," via this batch's seed research (McPike Mansion believed haunted by the McPike family, other residents and servants, with unexplained orbs and shadowy figures in photos; Mineral Springs Hotel opened 1914, once the largest swimming pool in the state, mysterious deaths and suicides in its heyday reported; Confederate prison in Alton — over 11,000 prisoners held, 1862 smallpox outbreak, over 1,400 prisoners died, only a wall and placard remain; Alton City Cemetery — a girl, a woman in black, and abolitionist Elijah P. Lovejoy, shot in 1837, said to haunt the grounds — all as that account's reporting): https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/illinois/small-town-alton-insane-activity-il/
• Mineral Springs Hotel Ghost Hunt — event account via Brown Paper Tickets, via this batch's seed research (the five-story hotel billed as one of the most haunted hotels in America; reported apparitions, disembodied screams, cries and growls, shadows, cold breezes, phantom footsteps, poltergeist activity and physical attacks; location history — built by German immigrant brothers August and Herman Luer, the 1909 search for water, mineral water found medicinal, the pivot from ice-making to a spa hotel; the pool drowning of a man taking swimming lessons, presented by the account as accident-or-something-else; exclusive access to all five levels incl. the underground basement): https://m.bpt.me/event/4443080
• Ever After in the Woods — "7 Haunted Illinois Stops For An October Road Trip," via this batch's seed research (Mineral Springs Hotel opened in 1914 after the Luer brothers discovered natural springs on the site; once the largest swimming pool in Illinois; the building now holds local shops incl. American Hauntings Ink; legends centre on a girl named Cassie near the old pool area and the Jasmine Lady, recognised by a faint floral perfume, with soft footsteps on the third floor; paranormal ghost hunts offered): https://everafterinthewoods.com/7-haunted-illinois-stops-for-an-october-road-trip-full-of-old-legends-abc58103/
• Alton, Illinois — Wikipedia lead collected for this draft (city on the Mississippi River in Madison County, about 18 miles north of St. Louis; population 25,676 at the 2020 census; part of the River Bend area in the Metro-East; limestone bluffs along the river — Wikipedia is a lead, used only for these basic city facts): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alton%2C_Illinois
• Alton Military Prison — Wikipedia lead collected for this draft (built in 1833 as the first state penitentiary in Illinois, closed in 1857; reopened in 1862 during the Civil War for Confederate prisoners of war, ceased to be a prison in 1865; demolished not long after the Civil War — Wikipedia is a lead, used only for the prison's dates): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alton_Military_Prison
• McPike Mansion — Wikipedia-derived summary surfaced in this batch's seed research (mansion, or Mount Lookout, built in 1869 by Henry Guest McPike (1825–1910), architect Lucas Pfeiffenberger, on Alby Street at one of the highest points in Alton; McPike a former mayor, businessman and horticulturist; purchased in 1925 by Paul A. Laichinger, who lived there until his death in 1945; abandoned thereafter, ransacked and vandalised; featured on Scariest Places on Earth and Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files Season 1 Episode 7 — a lead, used for the house's ownership chronology only): http://www.mcpikemansion.com/