Haunted Illinois Mental Hospital Opens To Public This Weekend

BARTONVILLE, IL — One of Illinois’ ghostliest haunts will soon reopen to the living.

The Peoria State Hospital Museum opened July 12 following an extensive renovation, according to WGN, and the first of several paranormal tours of the old hospital grounds is set for Saturday.

Established in 1902 as the Illinois Asylum for the Incurable Insane, the hospital was groundbreaking in its time for its humane treatment of those with mental illnesses. Superintendent Dr. George Zeller changed the name to Peoria State Hospital, took the bars off the windows and did away with restraints, opting instead for holistic therapies, according to the museum website.

The hospital closed more than 70 years later due to dwindling funds and staffing, and all but 12 of its 63 buildings were destroyed. The museum opened in 2013.

Peoria State Hospital has a long history of haunts. In 2021, Almanac published a 1910 account from Zeller himself about a patient who mourned loudly at his own funeral before going on to haunt a tree on the premises. The hospital was also featured in season 3 of the Travel Channel’s “Ghost Asylum.”

“The other day, I was in our cottage, we were working, and I literally saw the top half of a torso walk by,” Jeff Pirnell, who operates the museum with his wife, Christina Morris, told WGN.

The couple hopes to turn the hospital’s old gymnasium, known for its ghostly laughter, into a community center, WGN reported.

Museum hours are 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday at 4204 W. Pfeiffer Road in Bartonville. The upcoming public paranormal investigations rapidly sold out, but the events will resume in November. For more information, visit www.peoriastatehospital.com.