On Lebanon Road just outside of Collinsville, Illinois stands the infamous Acid Bridge.  Known to be a paranormal hot spot, the urban legends surrounding the bridge are as varied as one’s own imagination. 

Belleville, Illinois

   In June 1988, Audrey Cardenas’ decomposed body was found in an overgrown creek on the Belleville East High School Campus.  Audrey a 24-year-old native Texan, was working as a newspaper intern at the Belleville News-Democrat. Her disappearance was reported to police after she missed two days of work.   A massive manhunt was organized to find Audrey.  After several days of searching her body was found by a jogger in a creek bed located on the Belleville East High School Campus.   It is believed the cause of Audrey’s death was a massive throat laceration. 

Lebanon, Illinois

According to urban legend, Rhoda was the mother of a teenage witch that was caught practicing witchcraft.  Being a devout Christian she saw this as an abomination.  Fearing that her daughter had made a pact with the Devil, Rhoda decided to cleanse her daughter of her sins.

Chesterville, Illinois

Like all good urban legends, there are several versions of the story, and the legend of the Chesterville Witch is no exception.  The basic premise is that a lady for some reason was accused of witchcraft, and subsequently murdered/executed due to the fear generated by the accusation. 

Chesterfield, Missouri

Across from the Cemetery is a stone foundation of an unknown building.  Some visitors have claimed to have heard voices and crying coming from inside the stone foundation.

Across I-55 from Six Flags, Near Eurkea, Missouri

Located along Old Route 66, the City of Allenton was once a booming railroad community. As the economy shifted, Allenton became primarily a community of low-income houses.  In 1973 St. Louis County declared Allenton blighted and in 1985, the neighboring City of Eureka annexed the struggling community.  In 2006, the City of Eureka used imminent domain to force the Allenton residents from their homes.  s item about? What makes it interesting? Write a catchy description to grab your audience's attention...

Ralston Purina Parking Lot, St. Louis, Missouri

   The Gratiot Union Military Prison was once located at the intersection of Eight and Gratiot.  Before the Civil War the building was used as a medical school and was somewhat was notorious for purchasing freshly dug up corpses from body snatchers.  After the war the building was left to ruin and rumored to be haunted.

Outside of Carrollton, Illinois

In the 1800’s almost every county in Illinois had what was called an Almshouse, or a poor farm.  Over time the almshouses in Illinois became basically the dumping grounds for the unwanted.  If you were indigent, mentally ill, old, physically or mentally handicapped, and had no one to care for you, a county almshouse is where you would most likely spend the rest of your life.  Conditions in the almshouses were miserable at best.

Millstadt, Illinois

.   An Urban Legend about farmer that was seduced by the infamous Saxtown Witch.  The two had an affair and the witch demanded that he leave his wife and abandon his children.  The farmer refused and the witch placed a curse that made him hang his family from the covered bridge that once passed over the creek.  On a full moon, you are supposed to see the shadows of their dead corpses in the creek below.

Cahokia, Illinois

Nicholas Jarrot completed his mansion in 1807.  Most of the construction was performed by slave labor and the primary building material brick was made on site.  During recent restoration efforts, several walls were opened, and evidence of voodoo rituals were found hidden inside.  It is believed that the Jarrot slaves performed these rituals and hid these cursed items throughout the mansion in an attempt to curse the family. 

St. Louis, Missouri

    Several people have also claimed to have witnessed ghostly apparitions in Lafayette Park.  Lafayette Park was once a Union Army Garrison during the Civil War and a place where the homeless would gather to sleep during the Great Depression. 

    The Martin Boismenus House in North Dupo, Illinois was built in 1790 and is one of the oldest structures in Southern Illinois. The simple two-room French log cabin has been shuttered for decades.   Currently owned by the State of Illinois, the structure is starting to fall into disrepair due to the lack of upkeep caused by the state's ongoing budget crisis. 

St. Genevieve, Missouri

The first grave in St. Genevieve’s Memorial Grave Yard dates back to 1796.  Due to the varied history of the area, the cemetery over the years has been broken down into three sections, Catholic, Lutheran and Protestant sections.   There are rumors that the graveyard sets on top of a sacred Indian burial ground.  Gravediggers have claimed to find human remains when opening up new graves. 

   Nearly forgotten on the outskirts of Granite City, Illinois is the Haunted Odd Fellows Cemetery.  For decades this cemetery laid in ruin, with many of its beautiful monuments toppled and overgrown.  My first visit to the Odd Fellows Cemetery was over ten years ago.  Then the area was so overgrown that the only way we could find the cemetery was by the wrought iron arch that marks the entrance.

Belleville, Illinois

   Tucked away in a quiet neighborhood of Belleville, Illinois is South-side Park.  About twenty years ago, some teenagers stole a car and went joyriding.  After they were finished with their antics they decided to ditch the car in the narrow end of the lake in South-side Park.  After driving the car into the lake, they vanished.   Till this day, no one knows who actually stole the car.

Front Street, East St. Louis, Illinois

June 2010 in an abandoned warehouse on Front Street, East St. Louis Police found a makeshift torture chamber.  Two men would lure the homeless into the abandoned warehouse by offering food and liquor.  Once inside the two men would subdue their potential victim and tie him to a chair.  Once restrained the two men would begin torturing the person to death.