Welcome to Jacksonville, One of the Most Haunted Towns
on the Illinois Prairie!

Join the Illinois Hauntings Tours and American Ghost Society Representative Loren Hamilton for a Historic, and Haunted, Tour of Jacksonville, one of the most famous towns on the Illinois Prairie. Jacksonville had its humble beginnings in 1819 at the north fork of the Mauvaisterre river and became a town in 1825. She has been home to three Illinois governors, Joseph Duncan, Richard Yates and Richard Yates, Jr., along with presidential nominees and attorneys, Stephen A. Douglass, and William Jennings Bryan. Capps Woolen Mills established in Jacksonville in the 1850s, supplying materials to the Union Army during the Civil War.

In 1919, the Eli Bridge Company relocated to the city. W.E. Sullivan, who owned the bridge building business, was so impressed by his ride on the first Ferris Wheel at the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago that he designed the first portable Ferris wheel that could be moved from place to place. The "Big Eli" wheel debuted in Jacksonville's Central Park in 1900. It was a great success and Sullivan incorporated his company to take on investors and mass produce the wheels.

The Haunted Jacksonville Tour begins at the haunted Illinois Theatre and other stops on the approximate two and half hour walking tour include the 1800s building which is now home to the Noir Art Emporium and the old Jacksonville High School. This 1920 brick and stone edifice has been the home of great loves and multiple deaths and now one of Jacksonville’s premier restoration projects becoming very unique apartments. Experience the ghosts here for yourself!

In the mid 1850s, John Hockenhull and his family, left England coming here to Jacksonville, opening an apothecary on the downtown square. This venture proved to be so successful and that second building was added behind the original to act as a warehouse to overflow of additional merchandise that was offered for sale. In 1966, a fire claimed the lives of 7 people in the second floor of the original building. Since that time numerous activities have been reported both up and downstairs.

From 1928 to 1978, the Emporium Department store, called another Hockenhull building home. This store was privately owned by Eddie Goldstein for many years and offered fine clothing. During a routine maintenance inspection of the elevator system in the 1950s, a tragic event occurred when a repairman was killed, falling three floors from the second floor to the basement. 

And this is only the beginning... you'll also experience Ours Saviors Parish Rectory, MacMurray College, Morgan County Court House, Old Norris Hospital and Jacksonville Theatre Guild and more.