Crest Hill haunted house's name came from owner's fear of nearby prison

CREST HILL – Paul Siegel grew up looking across the open fields at prison guards on horseback roaming around the Stateville Correctional Center.

“Like most Americans, I was raised believing that incarceration was a scary place,” Siegel said. “The fear was designed for you to stay on the straight and narrow.”

That fear is what led him to name his famous haunted house, Statesville Haunted Prison, after the real prison – albeit with an extra “s.”

Stateville, the maximum security prison of Route 53, housed inmates like mass murderer Richard Speck and was the center for executions in Illinois when legal, including the execution of John Wayne Gacy.

“They were on the other side of the fence, but we always knew there were a lot of nasty people there,” Siegel said.

Siegel also grew up with a story that added to the fear.

He said about 10 years before he was born, two inmates escaped and arrived at Siegel’s father’s house. One inmate knocked on the door and demanded his father hand over the keys to a new car.

Before his father could respond, the other inmate found the keys and the two fled north on Weber Road.

Siegel said his cousin saw the car speeding and knew his father didn’t drive like that. So the cousin followed the car until it crashed at a right turn bend on Weber Road, injuring one inmate.

But when Siegel’s cousin approached the car, the other inmate took him hostage at knife-point and took him into the corn fields. His cousin was safely rescued after authorities surrounded the two.

“We heard the story and it did influence us,” Siegel said.

The extra “s” in the haunted house’s name came from a mispronunciation from prison visitors who stopped by Siegel’s farm to ask for directions.

“We got accustomed to people coming to the door asking us how to get to ‘Statesville,’ ” Siegel said.