NIGHT AT THE ROSSVILLE OPERA HOUSE: 108 North Chicago Street -- Rossville, Illinois June 29, 2013 / 8:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. Join us for our First Private Ghost Hunt at this Haunted building -- a 1904 Masonic Temple and Opera House! Join American Hauntings & Guide Loren Hamilton for an eerie ghost hunt at one of downstate Illinois' most intriguing haunted spots -- the Rossville Opera House! Discover the history and hauntings of this 1904 Masonic Hall and opera house and find out if the spirits of the past are still making their presence known in this building, as so many claim! Spend the night in search of these restless spirits during a private ghost hunt with American Hauntings and perhaps come face to face with one of the former patrons of the opera house or members of the Masonic Lodge that used the structure! The evening will include a tour of the opera house, followed by a ghost hunt that lasts into the early morning hours!  $40 per Person for this PRIVATE American Hauntings Event! Click Here to Make Reservations for this Event! The Rossville Opera House building, and current antique store, has seen many uses over the years and has a more than century-long history in this small, Illinois town. It's original purpose was as a Masonic Lodge, planned in 1903 by Freemasons in the area. Land was purchased on Chicago Street and construction in the brick building was completed in 1904. The Freemasons owned the entire building, with the Lodge on the third floor, but they leased out the lower floors to various individuals and businesses until 1947, when the Freemasons moved to another location in town. The Opera House was located on the first floor of the building and began operating in 1904. Local shows and traveling performers appeared at the opera house during its first eight years in business, but in 1912, the owners ran into financial problems and it was closed down for the next two years. In 1914, the opera house re-opened and went through its greatest period of activity, hosting operas, musicals, lectures, plays, burlesque and even silent films on weekends when no live performances were booked. In 1904, the building was used as a Masonic Lodge and the lower floors were rented out to the local opera house for shows, plays and silent films. The opera house remained in business until 1929, when it closed for good. But during this period, the building was being used for other operations -- illegal ones. The farm community around Rossville provided plenty of product for the distilling of corn liquor, which was well-received in the city of Chicago. The liquor was made behind the building and then packaged on the opera house's first floor. Local legend has it that mobster Al Capone himself once visited the place to oversee the transportation of a liquor shipment from Rossville. When his car broke down, Capone had it repaired in a local shop.  The building saw other uses over time. During the 1930s, the first floor was used as a Ford auto dealership  and after that as a poultry and feed business. The chickens were kept on the second floor and sold on the first floor, where the feed store was also located. Around 1945, an apartment was built in the front part of the second floor. In the 1970s, a local man bought the property with plans to put in three more apartments, but only one was completed before the property was sold again. Today, the first floor is home to an antique store. Over the course of the last few years, reports have begun to circulate about strange activity at the opera house, from ghostly footsteps to knocking sounds, whispers, disembodied voices, doors opening and closing, mysterious shadows, eerie recordings, inexplicable photos and more. Is the opera house as haunted as the stories seem to imply?? Find out for yourself during our PRIVATE ghost hunting event!