Fickle Food

My husband and I decided to get into the spirit of Halloween and go a haunted Alton ghost tour. We chose Antoinette’s because this year they got permission to go down into the Mcpike Mansion wine cellar, which has never before been available to the public. The Mcpike Mansion was built in 1869 for Henry Guest McPike. It was constructed in the ornate Italianate-Victorian style and has sixteen rooms, plus the aforementioned extremely cool and spooky vaulted stone wine cellar–if I was a ghost the Mcpike mansion is where I would choose to haunt. We also visited the federal cemetery and the old Milton school. The school is supposedly haunted by a little girl who stayed late to finish a school project and never made it home. As the story goes, her body was found later in the girl’s restroom, she had been viciously raped and murdered. Weeks later the school janitor’s body was found hanged, with the message “I did it”.

Mcpike mansion during the day.

Mcpike Mansion Wine cellar

Stairway at Milton school…see the orbs?

Girl’s restroom

Janitor room

You don’t have to believe in ghosts to have a great time on these tours, I love getting to snoop around in the old historic buildings and watching the reactions of the other people. I never saw what I would say was definite evidence of the paranormal, but some of the others did see one really scary thing…

Me! And my rendition of the Phantom of the Opera…” That fate which condemns me to wallow in blood has also denied me the joys of the flesh. This face; the infection which poisons our love. This face which earned a mother’s fear and loathing, a mask: my first unfeeling scrap of clothing. Pity comes too late, turn around and face your fate, an eternity of this before your eyes! ”