Peoria State Hospital

Authorized by the Illinois General Assembly in 1895 as the Illinois Asylum for the Incurable Insane, construction of Peoria State Hospital began on a high bluff overlooking the Illinois River in Bartonville. Initial construction was delayed when the original main building was condemned and demolished due to mine shaft instability beneath the foundation. The hospital officially opened in 1902 under the direction of pioneering superintendent Dr. George Zeller. Dr. Zeller instituted revolutionary, humane psychiatric reforms, abolishing mechanical restraints, solitary confinement, window bars, and mechanical locks, while implementing outdoor occupational therapy, art programs, and dignified care. Under Zeller's visionary leadership, the facility grew into a self-sustaining cottage-plan community featuring over 60 majestic Victorian, Romanesque Revival, and Tudor-style brick structures, housing over 2,800 patients at its peak. The hospital operated continuously for seven decades until state mental health consolidation forced its permanent closure in 1973. Following its abandonment, many historic cottage wards were demolished or repurposed into commercial industrial parks. However, the magnificent Bowen Building, administrative headquarters, and patient cemeteries were saved, earning a listing on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.

The most famous and heartwarming ghost story in American folklore originates at Peoria State Hospital: the legend of 'Old Book.' A patient named A. Bookbinder—a mute former grave digger nicknamed 'Old Book' by staff and fellow patients—spent decades at the asylum voluntarily assisting groundskeepers with burial services in the patient cemetery, crying mournfully at every funeral. When Old Book passed away in 1910, hundreds of hospital staff and patients attended his funeral service beneath a large weeping elm tree in Cemetery No. 1. During the graveside service, dozens of shocked mourners, including superintendent Dr. George Zeller, witnessed the spectral figure of Old Book standing beside the weeping elm tree, crying openly as he watched his own coffin being lowered into the ground. Dr. Zeller attempted to investigate, but the phantom vanished into thin air before the eyes of the crowd. Shortly after Old Book's funeral, the weeping elm tree began to wither and die, eventually struck by lightning and removed by hospital staff. Another prominent legend involves the 'Bowen Building,' where the ghost of a nurse in a vintage 1920s uniform is frequently seen walking the grand central staircase, checking empty patient wards, adjusting phantom curtains, and turning hallway lights on and off late at night throughout the building halls to watch over the historic grounds, patient wards, and remaining visitors.

Peoria State Hospital is widely considered by professional ghost hunters and paranormal researchers to be one of the most active historic districts in the Midwest, featured on major television series including *Ghost Adventures* and *Ghost Hunters*. Investigators and tour groups routinely document compelling Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVPs), including disembodied male crying near Old Book's burial plot, phantom music box melodies in the Bowen Building, and soft female voices whispering in empty corridors. Full-bodied shadow figures are regularly spotted gliding across the grounds between historic cottage foundations, particularly near the former solitary dining hall and mortuary vault. Sudden and severe temperature drops, electromagnetic field (EMF) spikes, and light anomalies such as glowing white orbs are frequently recorded during evening investigations. Visitors exploring the grounds report physical sensations, including feeling an invisible hand resting gently on their shoulders or hearing faint footfalls following closely behind them along the paved asylum roads during night tours.

The Peoria State Hospital Historic District encompasses 63 surviving historic structures built primarily in the Romanesque Revival, Tudor Revival, and Victorian Gothic architectural styles. The campus was designed around Dr. Richard Dewey's innovative 'cottage-plan' layout, replacing traditional monolithic asylum blocks with detached, residential-style brick cottages surrounding central dining, administrative, and medical facilities. The architectural centerpiece of the district is the monumental Bowen Building, constructed in 1902 with red brick, limestone accents, a slate hip roof, and grand stone archways. The surrounding grounds contain three historic patient cemeteries containing thousands of numbered stone graves, mature oak groves, and stone retaining walls overlooking the Illinois River valley.

Peoria State Hospital Historic District is located in Bartonville, Illinois, just south of Peoria. While portions of the grounds house active commercial businesses, key historic structures and cemeteries are managed by the Bartonville Historic Preservation Society. The society conducts regular ticketed historical walking tours, flashlight ghost walks, and private overnight paranormal investigations throughout the spring, summer, and autumn months. Tickets must be booked in advance online through official preservation channels. Visitors are required to remain on public roads and designated tour paths, respecting private property boundaries, safety regulations, and historical preservation rules at all times while exploring the historic campus grounds.

Peoria State Hospital's legendary reputation stems from its unique historical legacy as a beacon of humane psychiatric treatment, combined with the world-famous, eye-witness-backed ghost story of 'Old Book' documented by Dr. George Zeller himself. The impressive Romanesque architecture and extensive media coverage have cemented its status as a premier dark tourism location, paranormal research site, and historic landmark across the Midwest.