Apparition Tales Helped Revive Alton and Attract Ghost Hunters

by

John J. Dunphy

(Originally published in the 3/14/20 edition of The Telegraph of Alton, IL)

Antoinette “Toni” Eason died on March 1 at age 84. She founded Antoinette’s Haunted History Tours, which helped to make Alton a destination for ghost-hunters from across the nation and even other countries. Any number of other ghost tours now compete in the search for specters, but Antoinette founded the first such tour back in 1992.

Even scoffers must admit that Antoinette’s ghost tours played a role in Alton’s successful revival. Like so many other Midwestern cities, Alton in the latter quarter of the past century lost the industries that had comprised its economic base. Its population decreased significantly as families moved away to find good-paying jobs.

Unlike other heartland communities that spiraled downward to the point of no return, however, Alton successfully reinvented itself. We possess an extraordinarily rich history and worked at getting out the word to the public that Alton had been home to celebrated abolitionists such as Elijah Lovejoy and Thaddeus Hurlbut. Houses still stood that had served as stations on the Underground Railroad. We also have a Confederate cemetery — well, two cemeteries if one counts the Lincoln-Shields Recreation Area — as well as the ruins of a prison that housed Confederate prisoners of war. Lincoln and Douglas held the last of their great debates in Alton. Robert Wadlow, the world’s tallest human, was born in our city as well as jazz legend Miles Davis.

Alton had lost its industries, but such a fascinating history was like a gold mine that was just waiting to be opened. Community leaders drove a deep shaft into that mine, and the city of Alton was reborn as a post-industrial tourist destination.

Paranormal aficionados came to regard Alton as especially populated with spirits. Antoinette saw the potential and organized her haunted tours. Alton acquired a reputation as the most haunted city in America. Ghost-hunters descended on Alton, which helped to revitalize its economy.

My book store from 1992 to 2002 was located in the Mineral Springs Mall, a site allegedly teeming with spirits. When ghost hunters entered the book store and requested I share stories of any eerie occurrences with them, I mentioned a few curious incidents. However, I always concluded by noting that there were undoubtedly logical explanations for the phenomena. The mall’s other tenants joked that I excelled as a wet blanket.

The Mineral Springs’ reputation as a kind of convention center for spirits ensured that a steady stream of ghost hunters would enter my book shop. When I moved the shop to its current location, that stream pretty much dried up. Oh, once in a while someone will stop by to make an inquiry. I formerly replied, “Oh, looking for spirits? Try the bar next door. They have plenty of spirits.” I thought it was clever and funny. Unfortunately, the humor often went over their heads. I had to correct their misperception that Mike’s Ten-Pin is busting at the seams with ghosts, who are very eager to communicate with humans.

It’s interesting to speculate why ghost tours — both in our city and elsewhere — are so popular in this day and age. Science continues to unlock the mysteries of our world and the universe we inhabit. We’re becoming more jaded and church attendance has sharply dropped. Why this fascination with ghosts?

Humans crave reassurance that death isn’t the final chapter in their existence. Encountering a ghost is one way of obtaining that reassurance. Delivering a eulogy at a child’s burial, Robert Ingersoll said, “We do not know whether the grave is the end of this life or the door to another, or whether the night here is not somewhere else a dawn.” Ghost-hunting is simply a quest to learn whether death is an open door that reveals a new dawn.

I say keep an open mind and let the ghost-hunters come here to continue their quest for reassurance. After all, it’s good for Alton’s economy.

John J. Dunphy is the author of Unsung Heroes of the Dachau Trials: The Investigative Work of the U.S. Army 7708 War Crimes Group, 1945–1947 and Abolitionism and the Civil War in Southwestern Illinois.