Haunted Carbondale

For a comparatively small town, Carbondale has a number of haunted locations within a short distance of the Town Square. We offer walking tours of Haunted Carbondale Friday nights during October (Check the store calendar for dates). Tours cost $20 per person (no charge for children 6 and under when accompanied by a parent or guardian) are wheelchair and stroller accessible and take about an hour to an hour and a half to complete. Tours are outside so be sure to dress for the weather. Tours are available at other times of the year by reservation, minimum of 2 people, and cost $20 per person, refundable with 24 hours notice. You may pay with credit card by calling the store or via Paypal at castlep@aol.com Email castleperilousgames@gmail.com for more information or to reserve a tour.

If you would rather go on your own, here are directions for a self-guided tour starting at the Carbondale Town Square

1.  Old Train Depot—There have been reports of shadowy figures passing through the passenger area of the depot. Lights have turned on and off and paranormal investigators recorded instances of temperature variations and EVP.
2. Take West Marion Street west to the Carbondale Public Library. The founder of Carbondale, Daniel Brush, owned this property prior to his death. People have reported seeing a male figure dressed in Victorian era garb on the grounds and paranormal activity has been reported in both the library and the old Brush School, now a storage facility for overflow books.
3. Continue west on Marion to Poplar, then right on Poplar to Main. Turn left on Main and proceed to Hundley House. In  December of 1928, the most famous  murder in Carbondale took place there. The murder remains unsolved and the victims are said to still haunt the property. You can see a short documentary about the haunting here.
4. Retrace your steps east on Main  Street to Memorial Hospital. A woman dressed in the garb of a hospital volunteer of the 1950s has been reported walking the halls of the first and 2^nd floors of the building, occasionally peering and entering patient rooms as if checking on them. 
5. Continue east on Main to Biomat USA at the corner of Main and University. No one knows why the former post office building is reportedly haunted but, among other events,  there have been reports of doors opening and closing and a disconnected phone ringing, as well as sightings of a woman in a long dress. Return to the town square  and have dinner at one of Carbondale’s restaurants (Cristaudo's and Buckwater Brewworks both have reports of paranormal activity) while discussing what you saw.

If you would like more information about these and other haunted sites in Southern Illinois, the Southern Illinoisan has a list here.  Happy Haunting!

WSIL 3 showed several of the spots in a story in October 2020

Here are links to a series of articles on Haunted Carbondale that originally appeared in the Carbondale Times:

Hundley House

Shryock Auditorium

Faner Hall

Oakland Cemetery

Rain House