AMERICAN HAUNTINGS GHOST HUNTS
NIGHT AT FRANKLIN MASONIC LODGE
NIGHT AT FRANKLIN MASONIC LODGE
ALTON, ILLINOIS
8:00 PM TO 2:00 AM | $48 PER PERSON
SEE AVAILABLE DATES BELOW:
OCTOBER 18, 2024: CLICK HERE FOR RESERVATIONS!
NOVEMBER 2, 2024: CLICK HERE FOR RESERVATIONS!
Mysterious footsteps when no one is there.
Strange figures moving in the shadows.
Doors that open and close.
Voices that cannot be explained.
And that’s just the beginning – and you can experience it for yourself. Join American Hauntings at Franklin Lodge in Alton, Illinois, a very haunted place in “one of the most haunted small towns in America.” For nearly a century, the tenets of Freemasonry have thrived in this historic building, and it’s never been without an undercurrent of the mystical that plays host to masons of the past.
Freemasons existed in Alton before Franklin Lodge. Members of the fraternal organization formed their first lodge in the river community in 1822, joining a legion of men who traced their roots to centuries-old European guilds of craftsmen. The group’s modern history is a little jumbled, but the earliest Masonic organizations in America date to the 1700s, and members still gather for rituals and other activities that celebrate and cement fellowship today.
During the mid-1820s, though, Freemasonry was almost stamped out in America due to tensions about secret organizations and rampant discrimination. A decade later, though, the Masons were back, and they gathered steam. Lodges and temples began springing up around the country. At first, they were humble —maybe a second-floor rental space above a store – but as the groups became wealthier, they got bigger, often installing commercial tenants on the first floor to keep revenue trickling in. Around 1900, the buildings got bigger and more ornate, temples devoted solely to fraternal functions and sending a clear message – they were impressive clubs filled with impressive men.
Masonic temples and lodges became handsome, respectable, institutional-looking buildings that evoked the gravitas of a courthouse or civic building. They needed to show that they were an organization that represented the best people in the community.
The most famous Freemason at Franklin Lodge was hometown hero, Robert Wadlow, the tallest man who ever lived.
Born in Alton in 1918, he weighed just over eight pounds, which was pretty average, but he wouldn’t stay average for long. He grew at an alarming rate – reaching six feet at the age of 8 – and eventually reaching a towering 8-feet, 11 and one half inches tall.
Robert was raised in Upper Alton and when he entered school, he gained the attention of the entire world. Despite his size and celebrity, Robert tried to be a regular kid. He joined the Boy Scouts, ran a soft drink stand in front of his home, attended the local elementary schools and graduated from Alton High School. He became a Freemason, like his dad, and enrolled at Shurtleff College in Upper Alton.
Robert began to realize that his dreams of a normal career were impractical, so, he turned to the only job that was offered -- promotion and entertainment.
He began traveling for the International Shoe Co., which supplied him with his specially made size 37 shoes, and in 1936, he also began making appearances for the Ringling Brothers Barnum & Bailey Circus.
Robert – along with his father, Harold – worked for the circus for the next few years, visiting 41 of the 48 states and the District of Columbia. They traveled more than 300,000 miles and visited over 800 cities.
By 1940, Robert reached his full height, weighed 490 pounds, had to wear braces on his legs, and often was forced to walk with a cane. That summer, he was making personal appearances in Manistee, Michigan for July 4. Robert and his father were stuck in a parade route when Robert became sick.
He was rushed to the hospital with a high fever. It turned out one of his leg braces had rubbed off his skin and the wound became infected. Robert had poor sensation in his legs and didn’t feel the problem caused by the brace.
His fever climbed to 106 degrees, and he spent the next few days in terrible pain from the infection. As Robert’s condition worsened, doctors performed emergency surgery on his foot but by then, it was too late. On the morning of July 15, 1940, Robert died in his sleep.
Robert’s body was returned to Alton for burial and huge crowds came to the Streeper Funeral home – next door to Franklin Lodge -- and lined the streets in his honor. A special casket was built for him that was 10 feet long and 32 inches wide – too wide to fit through the doors of the church.
Robert was buried with full Masonic honors in the Upper Alton Cemetery. It required 12 pallbearers and an additional eight men to manage his casket.
THE HISTORY….
Alton’s Franklin Lodge was chartered in 1836, and while membership was initially small – only eight members at the time – it began to grow. By 1848, they purchased a lodge and opened a school within the building, marking their dedication to education and gaining a reputation for charitable acts toward the community. The school remained in operation until a public school opened in the neighborhood.
In 1860, Franklin Lodge caught fire and was destroyed, with most of its records and relics destroyed. But the Masons quickly recovered, opening a new lodge on College Avenue, where they remained until the current building was constructed in 1930.
That year, the cornerstone was laid at Washington Avenue and Edwards Street, and Franklin Masonic Lodge No. 25 opened the following year. It has been in operation ever since, boasting not only a long list of dedicated members but contributing greatly to the needs of the Alton community.
Over the years, the lodge has hosted numerous events in addition to those conducted by the Masons. They’ve included wedding receptions, parties, and even theater productions, and with all that happiness, grief, excitement, and pain played out within these stone walls, it’s become apparent that some of those memories have remained behind.
… AND THE HAUNTINGS
Stories of hauntings have been around Franklin Lodge for decades. There had been many rumors of the kinds of things you might expect from an old building with ghosts – doors opening and closing, lights turning on and off, water faucets turning on, and more. There were repeated accounts of footsteps on staircases, cold breezes passing by, and the feeling of being watched, especially in the main meeting hall upstairs.
A secretary at the lodge quickly realized that something unusual was happening at Franklin Lodge soon after taking over the position. In the evenings, he often stopped in to handle paperwork and would hear the sounds of doors opening and closing up and down the hallway – but knew he was in the building alone. The next time, it was footsteps, going up and down the hall outside his door. There was no one there. Unable to ignore the strange sounds, he reached out to the former secretary to see if he had experienced anything strange and received an eerie reply:
“There was a reason I didn’t do my paperwork in the building at night.”
Many of the encounters in the building occur in the previously mentioned meeting hall, a room that exudes history in so many ways. Few who have come to this historic building – and entered this room – have left without the sensation that the past is always present at Franklin Lodge.
Do you have the nerve to join us at this eerie Alton spot where history refuses to stay in the past? We’ll be locking ourselves behind the doors of the lodge and giving our guests the chance to experience this spot for themselves.