From it's earliest days, the city of Decatur gained a reputation as a place where ghost stories were common -- from tales told by the settlers to haunted houses and hotels. But Decatur's dark origins can be traced back to the earliest days of the city, when the original settlers built over the top of Native American burial grounds that were scattered throughout the downtown area of what would become Decatur. The destruction of these burial mounds cast a mysterious pall over the city -- a darkness that continues to linger today.
In 1854, Colonel Dan Conklin started a whiskey distillery, racetrack and brothel on the outskirts of Decatur, which would earn the city its first unflattering nickname of "Hell's Half Acre." It would go on to boast others, including the "Second Most Corrupt City in Illinois." During the 1920s, Decatur would gain infamy as a place where murder, bootlegging, prostitution, kidnapping, gambling, corruption and, of course, ghosts, were commonplace. Now, join us for our award-winning tours of Decatur as we journey back in time to uncover the "other side" of the city's history and reveal not only the scandals and sins that haunt Decatur, but the many ghosts that linger here as well!
Decatur's sordid reputation also added to the ghostly stories of the city through incidents of murder and death. Crime truly came to Decatur in the 1850s with the arrival of the railroads. Vice districts, gambling parlors and brothels sprang up in the wake of the railroads and the Civil War, bringing bloodshed and violence to the city.
From lost burial grounds to haunted theaters, the Haunted Decatur Tour is much more than just a run-of-the-mill ghost tour! This is not just a collection of ghost stories, but a true history of how the city became so haunted -- which means we also include local sites of death, unsolved murders, strange crimes, gambling parlors, vice districts and more plagued the city in days gone by. We can promise that you'll never look at the city of Decatur in the same way again.
