peoria asylum

We stopped in as we had a wedding to attend in Peoria and were looking for local attractions to kill time at. This popped up so we thought we'd stop by. First, the address takes you right by it if you're relying on your iPhone to take there, so be aware. Parking is a bit of a disaster (no parking lot) and you park on the street behind the building on a side road that is not intuitively accessed. When called ahead for the tour. It is obviously a pet project, not a full time tour operation. The building is quite cluttered and not well kept. There are many neat aspects to the building, especially he tunnel entrances in the basement. Some of the stories and building history really take you back, and that's the highlight of the tour, is taking in the history. Hopefully they can continue to get visitors, raise a little money, and renovate the place into something special, because the potential is certainly there.

It was cool that we actually got to go inside the building. I've been on countless ghost tours in various cities and most of them won't actually take you into the buildings. But man, this building is in BAD shape! I was afraid that stuff would fall off the ceilings and hit me. Anyways, my family and I did a ghost hunt with the staff and it was interesting to explore the entire building (every floor including the basement). Wonder what this place looked like when it was at it's prime. Anyways, it's really dark in there, so if you're afraid of the dark, perhaps you should skip this tour/ghost hunt. The staff were quite informative in terms of giving info about the building etc. However, some of the facts they gave were incorrect. For example, they were explaining how lobotomies were performed by pulling part of the brain through the nose, but part of my group works in healthcare and they said that that's not how lobotomies are performed. Perhaps the staff member wanted to give a fantastical account, but it does nobody any good to give out false information. Also, some of the staff were being really rude and condescending to the spirits that they were trying to communicate with. I mean, I think they should a bit more respectful. Overall, it was an interesting experience, but I think it could've been better.

The old mental hospital has been closed for as long as I have been alive. It is legendary with the graveyard and few old buildings left. Growing up, friends parents would tell stories of the old weeping willow tree and the tunnels under the buildings linking each other. As horrible of a place as it was, it is sad to see that there isn't much left of the place.

I wanted to do something really different from usual tourist attractions when visiting Peoria, and saw the asylum tour mentioned in a brochure. We booked a several-hour building tour plus the cemetery tour.Now, I'm 95% a skeptic when it comes to anything ghost-related. (This asylum has been featured on the SyFyChannel show "Ghost Hunters.") While I don't believe everything that the asylum owners and tour guides do when it comes to ghosts, I believe **they** believe it, if that makes sense. That is, they're not making things up to sway or scare tourists. Plus, I did have one very odd and inexplicable thing happen to me on the tour that was quite spooky.Several tips: the building is not heated so dress warmly, depending on the time of year. Some people had to leave the tour because they weren't dressed right. Also, there are stairs but no power and therefore no elevator. Finally, this tour is not for young children.