Illinois Park School

Illinois · United States · School

A demolished Elgin school with a well travelled ghost story, and a documented history that contradicts almost every detail of it.

Illinois Park School in Elgin, Illinois generated a familiar set of reports before it came down. Children heard crying or laughing near the kindergarten area. A sound from the basement like someone hammering metal. Teachers who preferred not to walk to their classrooms alone. Odd events reported by anyone in the building after dark.

The legend rested on the claim that the school was around a hundred years old. It was not. An update posted in August 2005 established that the building dated from the 1940s, and that it was demolished for entirely ordinary reasons: asbestos, and a site too cramped to expand on. The replacement was built higher up the same hill around 2000, and closed again not long after opening. Where the old school stood there is now a car park.

We list the place with the correction attached rather than dropping it, because the story is still repeated in Elgin. The building was real and the demolition was real. The century of history that the haunting depended on was not.

FAQ

Where is Illinois Park School located?

Illinois Park School is in Illinois, United States.