The Elgin Mental Hospital Cemetery

13 January 2021 | Haunted locations, Your Stories, Your True Encounters

I heard about abandoned Elgin Mental hospital cemetery online and I read stories about hearing old hound dogs and chains from the former grounds keeper. I also heard that there are three bodies to every grave and have seen websites been were forced to remove this information. I’ve even seen websites saying that no cemetery exists. Well, if you have seen my independent film “Whom I Fear”, that is the cemetery.

One day my then fiancée, (now wife), and I went driving around to find this cemetery. (A year before I filmed the movie there). We actually had to drive around the Elgin mental hospital and ask about 25 people where it was located. It took forever. Hours went by and 24 of those 25 people said there isn’t one. We were about to give up, until I drive towards the old closed down part of the mental facility. We see a fence chained up, and a road leading to nowhere. Finally, the last person confirms there is one…and it’s off of an entirely different road (not state street), but McLean blvd. Hidden away behind a golf course and children’s baseball fields. So, we hit the road, finally with a lead. We get to the long winding road, go past the golf club entrance, go past the baseball fields, searching everywhere. Suddenly, my fiancée notices four big garbage cans, and a small road. I think nothing of it, but she convinced me otherwise, and turn left. We drive down past the cans.
Past some trees, then bam! The cemetery! Like we unlocked a secret door to the past.

Immediately the feeling turned from excitement to sadness. Intense sadness. Some of these people were apparently buried with others. They were mental patients. Myself truly being sensitive to the paranormal…I can feel the pain and suffering. We let our team know, and the following night,  we do our first investigation. Mind you, it is private property and I do not recommend going there after dark. We found it during the day. When we went back for the first investigation, it was night. And the feeling changed from loss and sadness to pain, and anger. The driver was my paranormal partner Andre…and he didn’t even want to get out of the car.

It was like something was staring right at us…or many things staring at us. So we stood outside the car, took some pics, and left. We caught orbs, and a face. We return a week later, and finally went into the cemetery. We record and do an EVP. In which, clear as day, my wife’s name was said. Truly haunting. 15 mins go by, then we hear sirens. Thinking it’s the cops, we run back to our car…to find no one there. No cops. Nothing. We play back the EVP  over and over until we realize it was an old ambulance sound…the sound of the coroner bringing the body’s to throw in the graves. The graves do in fact have multiple numbers on them…proving the three to five bodies per grave. Ding ding! We have a winner on why the Elgin hospital didn’t want people figuring it out.

When we arrive back at HQ, we review the EVP even more confirming what we caught…plus, after slowing down a sound, we find an almost demon sounding dog barking with chains rattling, and a big yelp. We stood still for about 5 mins before anyone said a word. We then planned a big investigation. Two weeks later, my team and I, four members, along with 5  crew go back. From 10pm-12am. We leave an EVP recorder in the middle of the cemetery and we all walk to the other side where we also find an old rotted wooden Hearst. We could shine our flashlights towards the graves, and we see shadow people running back and forth.Now the feeling is more like “Thank you for visiting us.”

Myself and a former friend head back to pick up my EVP recorder, (which later during listening, we hear breathing sounds and the same dog barking). Remember this, we are far from any main road. About halfway to picking up the recorder….we see a white light start to hover. We all freak out and take pictures….I continue to walk towards the light….it is a police officer. Again, I do not suggest trespassing. The officer is very cool, letting us stay an extra 10 mins. As we fill him in to what has happened. He too had witnessed spirits there. We joke around, but eventually have to leave.

We go back many more times after that usually during the day…leaving flowers, and actually getting Elgin to cut the grass once a month. I never feel unwelcome like some of my other team mates do. Like I’ve been told, I’m sensitive. I know they like me there. The same officer escorts me there to film for my indie film, and till this day, I still visit. They even have become playful as full packs of cigs have disappeared from us. Some nights, when with others, we still get the feeling that that night just isn’t a good night to go in.

Visit during the day. Experience the sadness there. Leave gifts. They deserve it. I just recently brought my friend Luigi to the cemetery and he felt sick to his stomach with sadness. But after a while…they enjoy the company. Sure, it had dark history. And the cemetery needs some renovation. The worst thing to happen to me is scratches on my stomach. Like from a dog. A guard dog just doing his job.

Submitted to Weird Darkness and My Haunted Life Too by Randy

 

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