Old Joliet Prison

Designed by architect W.W. Boyington and built largely by inmate labor beginning in 1858, Old Joliet Prison operated as the Illinois State Penitentiary for 144 years before closing in 2002. Its notorious former inmates include Richard Speck, James Earl Ray, and serial killer John Wayne Gacy. Ghost stories here date back nearly a century, to 1932, when prisoners and nearby residents began hearing singing coming from the prison's convict cemetery. Visitors on the site's official Haunted History Tours, run by the Joliet Area Historical Museum, report ghostly figures moving through the cell blocks and the sounds of prisoners crying out from empty cells.