The Story Behind The Crenshaw House - Closed For The Public

The Crenshaw House (also known as the Crenshaw Mansion, Hickory Hill or, most commonly, The Old Slave House) is a mansion and alleged haunted house located in Illinois. The house was built in the 1830′s. This house served as the main residence of John Crenshaw, his wife, and their five children.

John Crenshaw, a landowner and slave trader, was known for his involvement in the salt industry, which was essential for survival in the early American frontier economy. He leased the state-owned salt works and two saline springs. During this time, Illinois was a free state, however the law permitted slaves at the salt works since the labor was so hard that they could not find a free man that wanted to do it. Therefore he was the only Illinois resident that was legally entitled to keep slaves. He became very wealthy and used this money to build the mansion on Hickory Hill.

This house was a 'station' on the Reverse Underground Railroad that transported escaped slaves back to servitude in slave states. But it didn't stop there. Kidnapping of free blacks and transporting them into slavery also occurred as well as 'leasing' slaves to work the salt mines Crenshaw owned.

The mansion's 3rd floor attic contained 12 rooms, where it was believed that Crenshaw operated a secret jail for kidnapped free blacks and captured runaway slaves. Torture and beatings were reported. The terrible fates of these slaves as well as the slaves forced to work in the salt mines are the basis for tales that the mansion is one of the most haunted buildings in America.

The house was opened as a tourist attraction in the 1920's. That was the time when tourists started reporting sounds of people weeping and wailing coming from the attic, cold chills, and whispers. Things got worse when Hickman Whittington, a ghost hunter, went to the attic shortly after it opened and spent a couple of hours there. He was in perfect health at the time but died a few hours after leaving the house.

Reportedly, a lot of people tried to spend the night in the attic after the incident but they left and felt terrorized before morning. Finally in 1978, a reporter spent the entire night in the house, but not without incident. He heard numerous strange noises and his recorder picked up voices talking that even he could not hear while he stayed there.

As of this writing, the mansion is now owned by the State of Illinois and is currently closed to the public as the state determines the fate of this history place in history, The Old Slave House. Plans for restoration are underway and maybe in the near future, ghost hunters will be able to once again find themselves touring one of the most haunted places in America.


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