Spectators can’t go to haunted houses in Illinois due to COVID-19 this year but some people can still satisfy their thrill of the creepy. A northern Illinois venue is offering a different type of fright.
The Freeport Masonic Temple is having a ghost hunt on Halloween. Bill Leser is a member and said they started doing these types of investigations in December of last year.
“This last investigation we got a really, really good picture of an entity, spirit -- whatever -- walking past one of the doors,” Leser explained.
“We've heard noises you know, loud unexplained noises.”
Leser said GH Andrew Helton and Holly Minor are hosting the event and, in the past, professional ghost hunters have participated.
“They bring their own equipment, of course,” he said. “They've got everything from dowsing rods, to fancy infrared cameras and all kinds of exotic equipment that you see on like different TV shows.”
Leser mentioned that the Temple tries to do these each month. He said COVID-19 put a few of the investigations on hold. Members of the Temple are making sure everyone is safe by having fewer participants than normal, requiring facial masks, and providing plenty of hand sanitizer.
The show starts at 7:30 p.m. Leser said there are only a fewticketsleft. Proceeds go toward restoration of the 92-year-old building. Participants must bring their own equipment.
- Yvonne Boose is a 2020 corps member for Report for America, an initiative of the GroundTruth Project. It's a national service program that places talented journalists in local newsrooms like WNIJ. You can learn more about Report for America at wnij.org.
