Tinker Swiss Cottage Museum

The Tinker Swiss Cottage in Rockford was built between 1865 and 1870 for Robert Hall Tinker, who became Rockford's mayor in 1875, and stands on a limestone bluff above the Rock River. It is now a museum with gardens. The SyFy series Ghost Hunters filmed its episode Fear Factory here. Visitors and investigators describe the smell of cigar smoke, disembodied voices, children's humming and full apparitions, and the second-floor bedroom where Mary Tinker died is considered the most active room, with reports of coughing and a pale woman standing by the window. The stories are visitor and investigator lore.