Haunted Chicago

Haunted Chicago

During a visit to Chicago, I went on a tour of places that are supposed to be haunted. Here is some of the history of the haunted areas. The tour is called Haunted Chicago.

1915 Eastland Disaster

On the morning of July 24, 1915, the lake passenger steamer Eastland cast off from the Chicago River dock at the Clark Street Bridge with 2,572 people aboard.

Immediately the ship listed away from the dock, righted herself, listed again and slowly rolled over on her side and settled on the mud of the river bottom.

Some of those on board, all Western Electric Company employees and their families, were able to jump into the water and swim ashore, but 844 excursionists lost their lives before rescuers reached them, making the Eastland disaster by far the worst in the city's history in terms of loss of life.

St Valentine's Day Massacre

For a city that is so filled with the history of crime, there has been little preservation of the landmarks that were once so important to the legend of the mob in Chicago. Gone are the landmarks like the Lexington Hotel, where Al Capone kept the fifth floor suite and used the place as his headquarters. But most tragic, at least to crime buffs, was the destruction of the warehouse at 2122 North Clark Street. It was here, on Valentine's Day 1929, that the most spectacular mob hit in gangland history took place -- the St. Valentine's Day Massacre.

The building was called the S-M-C Cartage Company and was a red, brick structure on Clark Street. The events that led to the massacre began on the morning of the 14th. A group of men had gathered at the warehouse that morning, set up by a Detroit gangster who told Moran that a truck was on its way to Chicago.

One of them was Johnny May, an ex-safecracker who had been hired by George "Bugs" Moran as an auto mechanic. He was working on a truck that morning, with his dog tied to the bumper, while six other men waited for the truck of hijacked whiskey to arrive. The men were Frank and Pete Gusenberg, who were supposed to meet Moran and pick up two empty trucks to drive to Detroit and pick up smuggled Canadian whiskey; James Clark, Moran's brother-in-law; Adam Heyer; Al Weinshank; and Reinhardt Schwimmer, a young optometrist who had befriended Moran and hung around the liquor warehouse just for the thrill of rubbing shoulders with gangsters.

Bugs Moran was already late for the morning meeting. He was due to arrive at 10:30 but didn't even leave for the rendezvous, in the company of Willie Marks and Ted Newberry, until several minutes after that.

While the seven men waited inside of the warehouse, they had no idea that a police car had pulled up outside, or that Moran had spotted the car and had quickly taken cover. Five men got out of the police car, three of them in uniforms and two in civilian clothing. They entered the building and a few moments later, the clatter of machine gun fire broke the stillness of the snowy morning. Soon after, five figures emerged and they drove away. May's dog, inside of the warehouse, was barking and howling and when neighbors went to check and see what was going on... they discovered a bloody murder scene.

Moran's men had been lined up against the rear wall of the garage and had been sprayed with machine-guns. They killed all seven of them but had missed Bugs Moran. He had figured the arrival of the police car to be some sort of shakedown and had hung back. When the machine gunning started, he, Marks and Newberry had fled. The murders broke the power of the North Side gang and Moran correctly blamed Al Capone. No one will probably ever know who the actual shooters were, but one of them was probably Machine Gun McGurn, one of Capone's most trusted men.

In 1967, the building was demolished. However, the bricks from the bullet-marked rear wall were purchased and saved by a Canadian businessman. In 1972, he opened a night club with a Roaring 20's theme and rebuilt the wall, for some strange reason, in the men's restroom. Three nights each week, women were allowed to peek inside at this macabre attraction.

Even today, people walking along the street at night have reported the sounds of screams and machine guns as they pass the site. The building is long gone but the area is marked as a fenced-off lawn that belongs to the nearby nursing home. Five trees are scattered along the place in a line and the one in the middle marks the location where the rear wall once stood.

The garage was located at 2122 North Clark Street and the area is now marked by a fenced lawn and five trees. The center tree marks the area where Bugs Moran's men met their deaths.

Hull House

Hull House was constructed by Charles J. Hull at Halsted and Polk Streets in 1856 at a time when this was one of the most fashionable sections of the city. After the Chicago Fire of 1871, the "better classes" moved to other parts of the city and the Near West Side began to attract a large immigrant population of Italian, Greek and Jewish settlers. By the 1880's, Hull House was surrounded by factories and tenement houses and soon after, became one of the most famous places in Chicago.

Although it was never intended to be known as a "haunted house"... it would not emerge from its heyday unscathed by stories of ghosts and the supernatural.

Hull House has long been known as a pioneering effort in social equality. Jane Addams and Ellen Starr Gates opened the house in 1889 to educate and improve the lot of the newly arrived European immigrants. At that time, the overcrowded tenement neighborhoods west of Halsted Street were a jungle of crime, vice, prostitution and drug addiction. Jane Addams became the "voice of humanity" on the West Side, enriching the lives of many unfortunate people at the house.

Exiled criminals from other parts of the city sought refuge on the west side, attracting the "lowest of the lowly" hoodlums. Prostitutes beckoned openly from open doorways to the string of whorehouses that operated between Monroe and Lake Streets. In addition, cocaine, laudanum and over-the-counter patent medicines spiked with opium were available to purchase in district drugstores.

It was a horrible place, and amidst it all were the broken-down refugees and immigrants. It was to this people that Jane Addams' Hull House appealed.

Jane and Ellen took control of the property in September 1889 and opened the settlement house. Addams was granted a 25 year, rent-free lease by Hull's confidential secretary, Helen Culver, and by the heirs to the Hull fortune, who were enthusiastic about Jane's efforts on behalf of the poor. They soon began turning the place into a comfortable house, aimed mostly at women, but affording food and shelter to the homeless and hungry as well. The house also provided education and protection for many and the staff worked to better the lives of the local people for many years to come.

At the time when Jane Addams took over Hull House, several years had passed since the death of Mrs. Charles Hull, but this didn't prevent her from making her presence known. She had died of natural causes in a second-floor bedroom of the mansion and within a few months of her passing, her ghost was said to be haunting that particular room. Overnight guests had their sleep disturbed by footsteps and "strange and unearthly noises".

Earlier tenants of the house, which included the Little Sisters of the Poor and a second-hand furniture store, believed the upstairs of the house was haunted as well. They had always kept a bucket of water on the stairs, believing that the ghost was unable to cross over it.

Hull House received its greatest notoriety when it was alleged to be the refuge of the Chicago "devil baby". This child was supposedly born to a devout Catholic woman and her atheist husband and was said to have pointed ears, horns, scale-covered skin and a tail. According to the story, the young woman had attempted to display a picture of the Virgin Mary in the house but her husband tore it down. He stated that he would rather have the Devil himself in the house than the picture. When the woman had become pregnant, the Devil Baby had been their curse. After enduring numerous indignities because of the child, the father allegedly took it to Hull House.

After being taken in by Jane Addams, staff members of the house reportedly took the baby to be baptized. During the ceremony, the baby supposedly escaped from the priest and began dancing and laughing. Not knowing what else to do with the child, Jane kept it locked in the attic of the house, where it later died.

Local legend insists that a disfigured boy was hidden away on the upper floors of the house. On certain nights, the image of a deformed face could be seen peering from the attic window.... and that a ghostly version of that face is still seen by visitors today!

The Oriental Theatre

The alley behind the Oriental Theatre is supposed to be haunted. Our guide had us hold out our hands so that we could feel the vibrations from the spirits. Some people who took photos also had orbs on the pictures.

The Iroquois Theater Fire in Chicago, Illinois, claimed 602 lives on December 30, 1903. It is, as of 2008, the most disastrous single-building fire in U.S. history with the most fatalities, claiming 100 more fatalities than the Coconut Grove fire in Boston.   Over 1,900 people were in attendance at the Matinee showing of the popular musical Mr. Bluebeard.
 “Death Alley” can currently be found behind the Oriental Theatre, which replaced the Iroquois.  It’s said that, at times, you can smell smoke, hear screaming, feel cold spots and even actually see apparitions. This is where about 100 of those that perished jumped to their deaths. When they reached the window, they expected to see a fire escape but it hadn’t been installed yet.