Joliet Prison Will Become Evil Intentions Haunted House

JOLIET, IL - For more than 15 years, the Joliet Prison along Collins Street has sat empty and been the target of late-night vandals and repeat fires that kept the Joliet Fire Department extremely busy and frustrated. But this year the old Joliet Prison is springing back to life, and it promises to be scary as hell.

Evil Intentions, which operates one of the premier haunted houses in the Chicago area, revealed on its website Wednesday that it will be opening a second haunted house at the world-famous limestone prison in Joliet. Evil Intentions already operates an award-winning haunted house in Elgin. The 1858-era limestone fortress along the entrance to Joliet was the backdrop of The Blues Brothers movie.

"Evil Intentions is opening the doors to the terrifying Old Joliet Prison," the company's website boasts. "Walk the hallways of Chicago's most notorious killers like John Wayne Gacy, Richard Speck, Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb. Descend into the hellish basement where inmates were left to die in pitch-black cells."

Evil Intentions says it will be open this Fall in time for the 2018 Halloween season, and the city of Joliet is on board with the project.

The proposed haunted house venture is slated to be on next week's meeting agenda of the Joliet City Council. The council agenda does not typically come out until Thursday afternoons, city officials said.

Over the past several months, Mayor Bob O'Dekirk and city economic development director Steve Jones have been strong proponents of having the city of Joliet take a proactive role in rejuvenating the old Joliet Prison property as a huge tourism attraction for Joliet.

The property is already a tourism magnet for travelers who come through Joliet as part of the historic Route 66 corridor.

In October, the city of Joliet public works division conducted a massive weekend cleanup, cutting down trees, clearing landscaping and cutting back overgrown debris around the prison property, which is owned by the Illinois Department of Corrections. In recent weeks, the Joliet City Council approved an agreement with the state of Illinois. Joliet can lease the property and pursue redevelopment and revitalization efforts that will center around tourism and drawing more visitors to Joliet and Illinois.

In October, Joliet conducted a massive cleanup at the old prison.

The Evil Intentions haunted house project, however, is only one piece of the city's grand puzzle for the Joliet Prison — albeit a big piece.

Joliet also envisions running bus tours inside the walls of the main prison property. There's also talk about opening a hotel, restaurants and souvenir shops for visitors.

The Evil Intentions haunted house will occupy the old women's prison building on Collins Street. The two-story building is across the street from the main limestone prison where Dan Aykroyd picked up John Belushi in the classic flick.

To learn more about Evil Intentions' plans for Joliet, visit its website here.

Images via Joliet Patch