Marching in lockstep Our creepiness rating 💀💀💀💀💀
Ghost author Troy Taylor says people who went into the derelict building reported voices, screams and weeping, and that 1889 newspapers reported the sound of inmates marching in lockstep inside. Source: Riverfront Times, 2023.
Facts below are drawn from the linked sources.
Real history
Built in 1833 as the first Illinois penitentiary. Sources differ on when it closed: Wikipedia gives 1857, when Joliet replaced it (Wikipedia), while the Illinois Department of Corrections and the Madison County Historical Society say the last prisoners moved to Joliet in 1860 (IDOC; MCHS, 2016); a state marker says transfers began in 1857 and ended in 1860 (HMdb). It reopened in 1862 for Confederate prisoners and closed on July 7, 1865; more than 11,000 prisoners passed through, and the buildings were torn down in the following decades (MCHS, 2016; Wikipedia). In the 1863 smallpox outbreak the sick were sent to an island in the river, where up to 300 were buried. Sources differ on the monument: the Riverfront Times says it names 1,354 dead (Riverfront Times, 2023), the historical society 1,534 (MCHS). The site was listed on the National Register in 1974 (Wikipedia).
Ghost stories
These are reported legends, not verified events. The creepiness score (1–5) is Spook Atlas's own editorial rating, not a measurement.
Then and now
Public access
Open to the public The surviving wall is maintained by the State of Illinois as a historic site (Wikipedia). Last checked: Nov 1, 2026.
Explore more
- More places in Alton and Illinois
- More haunted & abandoned ruins
- More haunted & abandoned prisons
- Nearby: Mineral Springs Hotel (Alton, IL), McPike Mansion (Alton, IL), Lemp Mansion (St. Louis, MO), Zombie Road (Rock Hollow Trail) (Wildwood, MO)
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