By:  David Johnson

Managing Editor

Bartonville State Hospital, located close to Peoria, Illinois, was a mental health hospital opened at the start of the 20th Century.  Ultimately, it was abandoned in 1973.  The hospital still stands as a feature of Bartonville skyline, but the building is clearly a ghost of its former self.
The history of the hospital is interesting.  Opened in 1902, the hospital offered some of the most progressive treatment available at the time to the mentally ill.  Most accounts say that the staff and doctors were quite kind to the patients.  But kindness doesn’t make for a good ghost story.  Hence, rumors of deaths, abuse, and unorthodox experimentation are abound.  Whether or not they are true is unlikely, but it has been over a century since the clinic first opened its doors.  As an interesting side note, the site still has four cemeteries on the premises.  However, like the building itself, these cemeteries have fallen into disrepair; victims to both time and vandals.  It is not surprising, then, that the adventurous have reported ghosts all over the hospital property.
Ghost stories for the hospital tell of “Old Book.”  Book was a patient who dug graves for the institution until his own death.  One legend says his spirit is still seen wandering the graveyards, from time to time.  However, another tale says that, upon Book’s death, he took on the physical form of an Elm tree located in one of the cemeteries.  For years the tree has stood on the hospital property, and for years ominous feelings of dread and despair have emanated from it.  These ghosts are not limited to only patients, although many ghost hunters speculate the vast majority of the paranormal activity present at the hospital comes from these spirits.  Perhaps the only way to know for sure is to go investigate.  You had better hurry though, the hospital is bound to be demolished any time now.

David Johnson is a 2L and can be reached at forum@valpo.edu.