The Haunted History of Peoria State Hospital

If you have ever driven past Bartonville and felt compelled to look up at the hilltop, you are not alone.

Peoria State Hospital (originally the Illinois Asylum for the Incurable Insane) operated from 1902 to 1973, and it left behind more than old foundations and a few buildings. It left stories. Dark, greif-stricken tales. And a handful of ghostly legends.

Founding Peoria State Hospital

Peoria State Hospital was created at a time when America’s mental health system was more about isolating the less desirables out of society. Labels like “incurable” were not just medical opinions. They were life sentences behind gray walls and gated windows.

And here is one of the twists: the origin story of Peoria State Hospital is often told as an attempt to do better.

According to the Peoria State Hospital Museum, the institution opened in 1902 and was initiated by the work of the Peoria Women’s League, who had seen the “treatments” used elsewhere and wanted something more humane.

Dr. George A. Zeller and the “no restraint” idea

Dr. George A. Zeller became the first superintendent, and the museum credits him with removing bars, eliminating restraints, and using more holistic therapies. (P.S.H.)

A historical review prepared for National Register documentation also describes Zeller as a leader in non-restraint approaches and emphasizes the hospital’s “home type” concepts of care and environment.

In other words, Peoria State Hospital is part of the America’s dark history of institutionalization, but it is also part of the history of reform. Both can be true at the same time, which creates an awkward tension between progressive treatment and repressive institutionalism.

The “cottage plan” and a campus built like a small town

Instead of one massive building designed to warehouse people (like the Kirkbride Plan), Peoria State Hospital was developed along “home type” concepts, with residential buildings arranged in a campus setting. This is also similar to Manteno State Hospital, also in Illinois.

From a supernatural lens: This campus setting matters for hauntings, too. A place built like a community can seem more like home (or at least when compared to a patient’s previous one), and the ghost may not want to move on.

Closure and the slow erasing of the campus

The museum says the hospital closed in 1973 due to a combination of funding and staffing issues, and that many buildings were later demolished. (Wikipedia)

The most famous structure associated with modern “asylum tourism” was the Bowen Building (nurses’ dorm/college). Atlas Obscura notes it was demolished by 2017. Local reporting later tied the demolition to a loan from the Village of Bartonville for the 2017 demolition of the Bowen Building. (wcbu.org)

So when people say “I went there and it was gone,” they are not wrong. This is a location where its history is literally disappearing in chunks.

Spirits linger in the cemeteries

If you ask me what the emotional center of gravity is here, it is not long, dark hallways. Nor cottages. Nor the now erased Bowen Building.

It’s the cemeteries.

Multiple sources describe four cemeteries on the former hospital grounds (P.S.H.) . Atlas Obscura describes them as containing “thousands who died while in residence”. The museum’s tours also explicitly include travel to the cemeteries as part of the historical and paranormal experience.

If you have been in old institutional cemeteries before, you know the feeling. They don’t feel peaceful like a traditional cemetery, where your grandma and grandpa rest. These gravestones feel more administrative than personal. The sense that someone’s whole life got condensed into a number and a date.

Urban legend case file: Old Book and the Graveyard Elm

If Peoria State Hospital has one signature ghost story, it is Old Book.

Who was Old Book?

A newspaper column by Phil Luciano (Peoria Journal Star) describes Old Book as a “dear, mute man” known as A. Bookbinder, who dug graves for asylum funerals and ended each burial by sobbing and leaning against a tree that became known as the Graveyard Elm. (Jacksonville Journal-Courier)

That alone is haunting enough. A gravedigger who mourns every single person who dies, especially the forgotten ones.

The funeral story (the part that turns legend into folklore)

Luciano’s column says that when Old Book died in 1910, the asylum community attended his funeral, and an apparition appeared at the Graveyard Elm. Officials opened the casket to confirm the body was still inside, and as soon as they did, the crying stopped and the apparition vanished.

That is a classic “witnessed by many” legend story.

Why this legend continues

Old Book is not a “boo!” ghost. He is a mourning ghost. Someone who weeps for those pour souls without family.

He haunts the part of the story that is the saddest: how many people died in institutions far from home, far from family, and lost from memory.

Other ghostly claims at Peoria State Hospital

This is the section where a lot of haunted-asylum articles get sloppy, so I am going to label things clearly.

1. Documented lore (strongest)

Old Book / Graveyard Elm (newspaper-documented legend)

2. Place-based haunting themes (common, but hard to prove)

These are the types of reports that show up repeatedly at large institutional sites, and Peoria State Hospital is no exception:

• Footsteps that seem to follow you on the hilltop paths
• Voices or knocking near older structures
• A “someone is behind me” feeling in transitional spaces (doors, stairwells, tree lines)

3. Tour-guided paranormal hotspots (reported by operators)

The Peoria State Hospital Museum describes guided investigations of “paranormal hotspots” across locations, grounds, and cemeteries, and offers both public and private paranormal tours.

That tells us two things:

1. The site has an active paranormal-tour culture today.
2. The operators have specific areas they consider repeat-active.

4. Media investigations (fun, but treat as entertainment)

The location has been featured in paranormal TV culture, including Ghost Hunters (“Prescription for Fear,” aired Jan. 30, 2013) and related episode listings across major platforms. (IMDb)

Rhoda Derry & the dark side of treatment

Peoria State Hospital’s hauntings are not only legends. Some are tied to real human lives that were brutalized by the systems of their time.

One of the names connected to the Peoria State Hospital cemeteries is Rhoda Derry. Atlas Obscura points visitors toward the cemetery where she is buried. (Atlas Obscura)

Rhoda’s story is often told as a tragic example of inhumane institutional care in Illinois in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and it has been covered by regional public media and radio. (PBS)

I am not going to sensationalize her life here. The short version is this: When you walk those cemetery rows, you are not walking through “a haunted set.” You are walking through outcomes of a negligent mental healthcare system.

Visiting today

The best starting point: the museum

The Peoria State Hospital Museum positions itself as a “true history” organization and offers historical tours and paranormal tours. (P.S.H.)

Their tour descriptions include:

• Historical walking tours that include the cemeteries and conclude at Cottage B1
• Public history/paranormal tours that may travel to the cemeteries (weather permitting)
• Private paranormal tours for experienced teams, including cemetery access

Basic ethics for ghost hunters here

• Do not trespass. Ever.
• The cemeteries are not “props.” Keep voices down, leave nothing behind, and do not move stones.
• If you are filming, avoid filming identifiable graves in a way that feels disrespectful.
• Get more on ghost hunting ethics.

Side note: If you need a refresher, check out this post on ghost hunting in cemeteries.

Bibilography

Atlas Obscura. “Peoria State Hospital in Bartonville.” Atlas Obscura, 17 May 2016, https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/peoria-state-hospital. Accessed 25 Feb. 2026.

Deacon, Joe. “Peoria men sentenced on fraud charges related to demolition of historic Bartonville building.” WCBU, 28 Oct. 2024, https://www.wcbu.org/local-news/2024-10-28/peoria-men-sentenced-on-fraud-charges-related-to-demolition-of-historic-bartonville-building. Accessed 25 Feb. 2026.

Edwards, Tom. Peoria State Hospital and Dr. George A. Zeller: A Historical Review. 18 Feb. 1980. Alpha Park Library, PDF, https://www.alphapark.org/files/d7eb62a21/Peoria%2BState%2BHosp%2Band%2BDr.%2BGeo%2BZeller.pdf. Accessed 25 Feb. 2026.

Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Historic Preservation Division. National Register Listings in Illinois (June 2023). PDF, https://dnr.illinois.gov/content/dam/soi/en/web/dnrhistoric/documents/National%20Register%20Listings%20in%20Illinois%20%20Website%20June%202023.pdf. Accessed 25 Feb. 2026.

Kennedy, Laura. “Local Author Reveals True Tale Of Madness.” WGLT, 10 Oct. 2016, https://www.wglt.org/arts-and-culture/2016-10-10/local-author-reveals-true-tale-of-madness. Accessed 25 Feb. 2026.

Luciano, Phil. “The path to 200: State boasts hair-raising history of legends.” Peoria Journal Star, 8 Dec. 2018. Republished by Jacksonville Journal-Courier, https://www.myjournalcourier.com/news/article/The-path-to-200-State-boasts-hair-raising-13451509.php. Accessed 25 Feb. 2026.

PBS. “Peoria Shoeshine Legend | Pinball | Tale of Rhoda Derry.” You Gotta See This!, season 2, episode 15, 17 Jan. 2023, https://www.pbs.org/video/lcf2bf/. Accessed 25 Feb. 2026.

Peoria State Hospital Museum. “PSH History.” Peoria State Hospital Museum, n.d., https://www.peoriastatehospital.com/psh-history. Accessed 25 Feb. 2026.

Peoria State Hospital Museum. “Tours.” Peoria State Hospital Museum, n.d., https://www.peoriastatehospital.com/tours. Accessed 25 Feb. 2026.

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Have you investigated at Peoria State Hospital? If so, let me know what happened in the comments below.

Thanks for reading Ghostly Activities. Much appreciated and take care!