Haunted Chicago
an English-accented man’s voice that said, ‘It’s going down.’” Chicago River between Clark and LaSalle Sts (disaster site); 1058 W Washington Blvd (former 2nd Regiment Armory)
H.H. HOLMES’S “MURDER CASTLE” SITE
The Englewood torture palace of the notorious serial killer H.H. Holmes, who preyed upon women drawn to Chicago by the 1893 Columbian Exposition, was demolished in 1938. Bielski contends that the site, now an empty lot, remains charged with evil energy. Next door is a post office that may share part of the castle’s foundation. “In the basement of the post office, they’ve had a lot of poltergeist experiences: things that move around, items of furniture found stacked on top of each other, female voices singing and talking. So there seems to be a lot of residual haunting.”
601–603 W 63rd St
IROQUOIS THEATRE SITE More than 600 lives were lost in a fire
at the Iroquois Theatre on December 30, 1903. The building was razed in 1926 (today the Oriental stands in its place), but Taylor says the rear alleyway (where more than 100 people, many children, died after throwing themselves from upper floors) remains abuzz with supernatural activity: “Theatergoers and cast members talk about encountering ghostly children—laughter, footsteps, cries— and a woman told me she was once passing through and felt a small hand take hold of hers.” 24–28 W Randolph St
RESURRECTION CEMETERY Taylor calls it “not just a vanishing
hitchhiker story, but the vanishing hitchhiker story.” After a night of dancing at the O’Henry Ballroom (now the Willowbrook) circa the 1930s, a woman was fatally struck by a car on Archer Avenue. She was laid to rest at nearby Resurrection Cemetery—but she’s not so restful. Since then, tales have circulated of a woman in ’30s garb who hitches a ride along Archer, only to disappear as the car approaches the cemetery. Once, a passerby allegedly spotted the specter clutching
the cemetery gates as if locked inside; later inspection revealed what seemed to be handprints burned into the iron bars. (The bars were eventually removed.) 7201 Archer Ave, Justice, IL
BACHELOR’S GROVE CEMETERY
After writing a book (Haunted Bachelor’s Grove, due out in October) on this dilapidated southwest suburban cemetery, Bielski calls it “the one place where there’s no doubt in my mind that the paranormal is real.” A vanishing house, a phantom horse and plowman, and a wandering woman are among the specters commonly reported here. Bielski ascribes the site’s high level of activity to “an ancient force, something malevolent,” as well as a spate of occult activity in the ’60s and ’70s that may have involved unsettling practices like animal sacrifice and grave desecration. 6101–6385 W 143rd St, Midlothian, IL
THE CONGRESS PLAZA HOTEL Tales of strange happenings abound at this
atmospheric (read: eerie) 1893 hotel. Particularly notorious is the 12th floor, alleged to be inhabited by the ghosts of two young children whose mother, a Czech immigrant driven from her homeland by Nazi persecution, pulled them along when she leapt from a window. Bielski recalls some less-than-restful nights spent here: “I’ve had the covers pulled off of me. I’ve had incessant knocking on my door all night long. My daughter and I heard two gentlemen whispering at the end of our bed.” Sleep tight, kiddos.
520 S Michigan Ave 37 September–November 2016 Time Out Chicago H.H. Holmes’s “Murder Castle” site
PHOTOGRAPHS (FROM TOP): COURTESY CHICAGO HISTORY MUSEUM; ANDREW NAWROCKI
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