Alton, Illinois is one of the most haunted small towns in America

By Heidi Glaus

KSDK -- Alton, Illinois is a beautiful little river town where you're welcome to discover the town's rich history, but consider this your warning, some of it might haunt you.

Alton, Illinois is a beautiful little river town where you're welcome to discover the town's rich history, but consider this your warning, some of it might haunt you.

Because behind several creaky doors awaits more than just an old dingy building.

"Well, it has a lot of history," explains Gary Hawkins, a paranormal investigator. "There was an incident that occured where a little girl was raped and murdered her body left in the school apparently by a former janitor."

It was something that happened at the Milton School in the 1930's, but it's thought by many that both the little girl and the janitor still roam the halls.

"She was right over there in those stands pretty much walking in between those two i-beams," Gary points out.

Now it's one thing to take Antoinette's Haunted History Tour

"There's the old bathroom, this is where the attack began," Hawkins says as we walk down the hall.

It's another to call this place your home.

"I had a ton of stuff knocked off the shelve the other day in a very mischievious manner," says Meredith Elston, who now lives in the old school.

But these are the stories, and there are a lot of them throughout Alton, that have made this town one of the most haunted small towns in America.

"This I believe, is one of the reasons why the building is so haunted; it is because of all the limestone back here," points out Antoinette Eason.

"Limestone is a wonderful receptacle for psychic residue," Eason adds.

And Alton has a lot of limestone.  The town has also experienced a lot of tragedy.

"During the Civil War there was the confederate prison where a number of people caught smallpox and died," Eason says.

Of course, there are other less spine-tingling stories. It was the site of a Lincoln-Douglas debate and the Alton giant, Robert Wadlow, attended the old Milton school.

But since it's late October, it's only appropriate to share the ones the will make your skin crawl.

You can see and hear more stories on Antoinette's Haunted History Tours which run through November 14th.  To learn more about the tours click on the link to the right.

ORB?

NewsChannel 5's Heidi Glaus and Randy Schwentker noticed what appears to be an orb that appeared in the video.  It shows up on a beam that is next to some stairs.  The camera they were using did not have a light on it.

 

Click on the video link to the right to see video of the possible orb. 

 

 

KSDK