Our Story

Aura Haunted House is located in the old Peoria State Hospital Historic District in Bartonville, Illinois at the historic Pollak Hospital Building.

A psychiatric hospital operated by the State of Illinois from 1902 to 1973. It was completed under the direction of Dr. George Zeller as a cottage system plan of 63 buildings. Among the buildings were patient/caretaker housing, a store, and the Pollak Hospital Building.

The Pollak Hospital was added to the state hospital campus in 1949, although tuberculosis deaths on the grounds dated back to the earliest days of the asylum. By 1906, it was the leading cause of death at the Peoria State Hospital. The high number of deaths convinced Dr. Zeller to try and control the spread of the illness by segregating the sick.

The Pollak Hospital Building was built to care for patients with tuberculosis. The northern wing was for female patients and the southern wing was for male patients. It was named in honor of Dr. M. Pollak, who carried out the exhaustive research at the asylum in 1937.

Aura Haunted House is brought to you by a family of seasoned haunted attraction professionals! While lending their talents to other haunted events in Illinois, like Spook Hollow, an opportunity of a lifetime presented itself to the Little family. Scott, Dale, & Steve Little were given a chance to take over a chilling piece of the old Peoria State Hospital. In an instant, distant dreams of producing nightmares within their own quality haunted attraction became a reality. It was then that a sinister seed was planted, and the intensely thrilling Aura Haunted House was born.