McPike Mansion

The McPike Mansion in Alton has sat empty since 1954, but owners Sharyn and George Luedke say they've identified at least 15 spirits from old photographs, including Henry McPike himself, his mother Lydia, and a trickster daughter-in-law named Jenny who pulls visitors' hair. The vaulted wine cellar is the hot spot, producing a purple mist on video and EVP recordings from multiple investigation teams.

Nobody has lived in the McPike Mansion since 1954, but the current owners count at least 15 residents. They just aren't alive.

Henry Guest McPike built this Italianate Victorian on one of the highest points in Alton, Illinois in 1869, naming the estate Mount Lookout. Architect Lucas Pfeiffenberger designed the 16-room house with white pillars, three stories of red brick, and a vaulted wine cellar that would later become the most investigated room in the building. McPike filled the surrounding 15 acres with orchards, rare trees, and specimen shrubs. He served two terms as mayor of Alton, ran a box-making business, won prizes at horticultural exhibitions for his grapes, and died in the house from a brief illness in 1910.

After the McPike family sold the property, it changed hands several times and eventually sat empty for decades. By the time Sharyn and George Luedke bought it at auction in 1994, the house was in rough shape. They've been restoring it ever since, funded partly by donations and partly by the paranormal tours that have made the mansion one of the most visited haunted houses in Illinois.

The Luedkes say they've identified several of the spirits from old photographs and family documents. Henry McPike turns up as a dark shape in the cellar doorway. Sharyn Luedke has pointed to a photograph she took in the cellar that she says shows his silhouette. His mother, Lydia, who actually never lived in the house during her lifetime, has a strong presence in the entranceway. Mary McPike, Henry's first wife (also someone who never lived here), is described as shy and particularly fond of children. Henry's son James and his wife Jenny have both been identified. Jenny is apparently the trickster of the group: visitors report having their hair tugged and their ears touched. Then there's Sarah, believed to have been a personal attendant to the McPike family, whose presence people describe feeling throughout the house.

Three unknown children round out the roster. The Luedkes believe they may predate the mansion entirely, tied to whatever occupied the hilltop before McPike built on it in 1869.

The wine cellar draws the most attention. A vaulted stone room beneath the house, it's where the Luedkes host dark room sessions with a medium during tours. Visitors descend into the cellar, the lights go out, and they wait. A purple mist has been captured on video in this room, appearing to move and interact with people. Investigators from multiple teams have recorded EVPs down there. During a 2026 investigation by Sean Austin Paranormal, his recorder picked up two distinct voices: one that seemed to be asking for freedom from the property, and another that issued warnings to stop.

Ghost Adventures filmed a special episode at the mansion in 2019, and the house has appeared on Scariest Places on Earth, Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files, and Ghost Lab. The Alton Historical Commission awarded the Luedkes in 2017 for their preservation work on the porch and conservatory, recognizing their restoration of a house that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places back in 1980.

The thing about the McPike Mansion is that the ghost story isn't really separate from the restoration story. The Luedkes have been pouring money and labor into a crumbling 1869 house for over 30 years because of what they say lives inside it. The 15 acres Henry McPike once filled with orchards have shrunk to 4.4 acres. The rare trees are gone. But the cellar is still vaulted, the pillars still stand, and if the Luedkes are right, the family that built the place is still here, pulling hair and lurking in doorways, treating the whole house like they own it. Which, technically, they did first.