Ashmore Estates
Brief History
The actual Ashmore estates building that stands today was built in 1916, and was in operation until 1959. However it was just a new addition to the Coles County poor farm which had been operating on the site since 1870.
The first building on the site was a small brick and timber building which was to house the workers of the poor farm. It was a way of running a farm very cheaply since the workers received little to no pay in exchange for their board.
The current building was simply a more modern and longer lasting housing unit and housed all of the farm workers, who were more than just the area's poor. The site was also somewhere to send people who were considered mentally ill, mostly as a way to just get them out the way instead of treat them. They were housed all together with all the other workers and no effort was taken to treat or restrain them.
In February of 1959, the property was sold to Ashmore Estates, Inc. They opened it as a psychiatric hospital the same year, but it closed in October of 1964 due to debt troubles.
After this the property was sold to another company who opened it again as a psychiatric hospital, and then after this it was sold on again to another company who used it for the same function. In 1986 all of the residents had been moved to other care homes and it closed it doors for the last time.
Are the Ashmore Estates Haunted?
When the site first started as Coles County poor farm it was not the ideal place to end up. It was however better than being homeless and in no way any kind of punishment or prison facility, but it was for people who had nothing or for the mentally ill that others wanted "out the way".
Official records from the superintendent at the time counted 32 deaths out of around 250 residents who lived at the farm between 1870 and 1879, which is a death ratio of almost 1 in every 8 people. The deaths were so high for the facility that a cemetary was built on site.
It wasnt so much a case of neglect as to just low budgets and the lack of proper treatment for the people staying there. It is the past patients who are thought to still linger there to this day.
The site has recieved alot of media attention for its hauntings, such as being featured in 2 documentaries and having a haunted house attraction based their in 2006.
A local paper called "The Daily Eastern News" wrote the following about the place, "Full body apparitions, black mists, and a death-filled history. There couldn't be a more perfect place for a paranormal investigation than Ashmore Estates."
People have made claims of everything here from orbs and ghostly sounds to actually being touched by spirits. Today thought the house is in very poor condition and is thought to have been purchased by a new owner who has made the property private.
Below is a video from an investiagtion team who visited the building a few years back.