Most Haunted Places in Chicago

Chicago is a famous city for many reasons. Frank Sinatra sang about his love for Chicago, after all it was his kind of town. Chicago is home to deep dish pizza, legendary gangsters, corrupt politicians, the blues and of course, Wrigley Field. The city also boasts one of the most famous sky lines in the world. President Obama served as an Illinois Senator and Oprah Winfrey called Chicago her home for decades.

Chicago is rumored to be a haunted city. Some believe the city is cursed due to the events of the Fort Dearborn Massacre. Episodes such as The Great Chicago Fire and The St. Valentine's Day Massacre have also left their mark on the city. Whether you believe in ghosts and hauntings or not, I'm sure you will find this to be an interesting read. Enjoy!

According to Dan Gordon, co-writer of the book, Haunted Baseball: Ghosts, Curses, Legends, and Eerie Events, Wrigley Field is the most haunted ballpark in the world. He and many others believe that Wrigley Field is haunted by Harry Caray, Charlie Grimm and the singer / songwriter of the Cubs anthem 'Go Cubs, Go', Steve Goodman.

Charlie Grimm was a player and former manager of the Chicago Cubs. It's been said that his ashes are buried in left-center field. His ashes are not the only ones buried in the park. Steven Goodman's ashes are also buried in the park, under home plate. Fans have been known to scatter ashes of loved ones around the park as well.

According to ball players and fans, balls that have been hit into the ivy tower have vanished on numerous occasions. Harry Caray's ghost has also been seen along with other dark figures in the bleachers. There are unexplained cold spots throughout the ball park.

Security guards have reported that the bullphone will ring late at night. The bullphone is a direct phone line from the dugout and cannot be dialed from anywhere else. Marty Moore, who was a security guard for seventeen years backs up the story and believes Wrigley Field is haunted. He had said the ballpark is quite frightening when there alone.

Located on Dearborn Street on the north side of Chicago, Excalibur is a three story gothic style building that was built after the Chicago Fire. The building became a club in 1989. Years before it was the site of the Chicago Historical Society. Excalibur is three stories and is one of the largest clubs in Chicago.

Rumors of hauntings began after the Eastland disaster on July 24th, 1915. The ship was still docked in the Chicago River when it tipped over. 800 people perished. The building that is now Excalibur served as a temporary morgue for the people who had died on the ship.

During The Great Chicago Fire of 1871, two women had taken refuge in the building that was standing before Excalibur was built. Many believe the two women died in the building and their spirits have remained.

Some of the paranormal activity includes glasses and beer bottles breaking by themselves, cold spots and ghostly apparations like 'The Lady In Red'. Present and past employees claim to have heard screaming in the club. Some of them say the screams sound like a familiar voice calling their names. The Dome Room of Excalibur is said to be the most haunted place inside the club. The club exploits the rumors of hauntings by having a 'Houdini Sceance' on Halloween and allowing ghost tours inside the building. Excalibur Night Club has been featured on the TV shows Sightings and America's Most Haunted Places.

Bachelor's Grove Cemetary is considered the most haunted cemetary in the United States. Located in the Rubio Woods in the Chicago suburb Midelothian, Bachelor's Grove is a very old, abandoned cemetary. Tombstones date as far back as 1838. The last burial was in 1989.

One of the first caretakers of the cemetary went mad and butchered his family with an axe.  Realizing what he had done, he had hung himself from a tree inside the cemetary.  Some believe the caretaker was haunted by voices within Bachelor's Grove that told him to massacre his family.

There have been hundreds of documented reports of paranormal activity in the cemetary. People report seeing orbs, ghostly figures and phantom cars and a phantom horse. It's rumored that Al Capone disposed dead bodies in the cemetary back in the 1920s. During the 1960s, vandals began coming to the cemetary. Satanic rituals have also been performed inside the cemetary. Dead animals have been found and headstones have been spray painted and even stolen. Caretakers also started finding graves opened and caskets removed. Human bones have even been found around the area.

Many people have seen a farmhouse that seems to appear out of nowhere. When walking near the house it vanishes into thin air. Phantom monks are commonly seen and so is a black dog that guards the gates. A famous apparation is of a girl that sits on a headstone looking out into the woods. In 2006 a reporter from The Chicago Tribune and ghost hunter from Weird Chicago went to investigate. The ghost hunter ran into a little boy crying about lost money. Sure enough, the ghost hunter found a 1942 half dollar coin near the pond, in the exact area the little boy told him to look.

Some believe that the spirits have awoken because of the vandals and the disrespect that has been done towards the dead inside the cemetary, but nobody really knows for sure why it is haunted.

It's late at night and you are driving down Archer Avenue in the south side suburb of Justice. In the distance you see a young girl, walking down the street along Resurrection Cemetary. She is blonde and wearing a thin white dress and shawl. It's cold out. Being a good samaritan, you stop and offer her a ride. In the car she tells you her address. As you are driving she tells you to stop by the gates of the cemetary. You stop the car. Confused, you tell her not to leave. She gets out of the car, walks toward the gates and disappears right before your eyes. You've just met Chicago's most famous ghost, Resurrection Mary.

As the legend goes, Mary was a young girl from the 1920s. One night, she attended a dance with her boyfriend at the Oh Henry Ballroom (now known as the Willowbrook Ballroom). Mary had a fight with her boyfriend and stormed off. As she was walking along the cemetary on Archer Avenue, she was struck by a car. The driver did not stop and Mary was left to die. Her family buried her at Resurrection Cemetary in a white dress, shawl and dancing shoes.

Since her death, people have reported seeing her walking down Archer Avenue. Sometimes she disappears as you get closer to her and she has also been known to jump in front of cars.

Many people have offered her a lift, like Jerry Palus back in 1939. Jerry was leaving a dance and saw Mary walking. When Mary was in the car, Jerry had touched her and found that she was icy cold. She was also very pale. She shouted for him to stop the car when they reached the gates. She walked out of the car and vanished. Having taken down her address, he decided to go over to the home the next day to make sure she was okay. Mary's mother had opened the door and said it was impossible that he had given her a ride. Mary had already been dead more than ten years.

In 1976 a driver going down Archer Avenue, saw a girl inside the cemetary grasping at the bars of the gate. Thinking the poor girl must have been accidentally locked in, he went to the police. When the police arrived they saw that the bars were bent and hand prints were burned into the bars of the gates. Nobody could find a logical explanation as to how hand prints can be burned into metal. Even after being painted several times, the hand marks never went away. Eventually the gates were replaced, but reports of Mary being seen continue to this day.

The Museum of Science and Industry is located in the Hyde Park neighborhood off Lake Shore Drive. The museum is one of the city's most recognizable landmarks. Opened in 1933, it is the largest science museum in the western hemisphere.

Clarence Darrow was a famous defense attorney from the 1920s and 1930s. He was dubbed The Attorney for the Damned, due to successfully defending murderers.

Clarance Darrow died in 1938 and requested his ashes be scattered in the Jackson Park lagoon near the museum. The Clarence Darrow bridge located in the park was dedicated to him and every year a ceremony is held in the park to honor him.

Ever since his death, his ghost has been seen wandering the grounds of the museum. He usually sits on the back steps and is harmless. He is dressed in a 1930s suit and camel hair coat. Pictures taken outside the museum contain fog and orbs that cannot be explained.

The museum has always dismissed claims of hauntings as nonsense despite the fact that Darrow's ghost continues to be seen decades after his death.

Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb were rich and very intelligent young men who grew up in the 1920s. Both graduated college before turning 20. One day, the friends decided to commit the perfect crime. They kidnapped a neighborhood boy named Bobby Frank, who was only twelve years old. They drove to the border of Indiana, beat him and sexually abused him. After killing him, they dumped his body and drove off.

The 'Perfect Crime' wasn't so perfect after all. They were caught. The people of Chicago were outraged and looking forward to seeing the young men hang. Attorney for the Damned, Clarence Darrow, took the case. Leopold and Loeb were spared the death penalty and instead were sentenced to life in prison.

Richard Loeb was killed in prison. After serving decades in prison, Nathan Leopold was released and moved to Puerto Rico to avoid the press. He died of cancer in 1971.

Bobby Frank was buried at Rosehill Cemetary. His spirit remained restless and he was often spotted playing and running around the cemetary.  Many believe that Bobby Frank's spirit could not rest until both men died. After the death of Nathan Leopold, Bobby's ghost was never seen again.

It was a Thursday morning on February 14th, 1929 when a group of men in police uniforms barged into a garage on Clark Street on the north side of Chicago. Thinking it was a raid, the men inside of the garage lined up against a wall and were shot and killed.

The men that were killed were part of the north side Irish gang in Chicago. The men dressed as policemen weren't really cops, they were from the rival south side gang led by Al Capone. The day is known as the St. Valentine's Day massacre and is what made Al Capone a legend.

In the 1960s, Chicago mayor Richard J. Daley had the garage torn down. It is now an empty lot. Apparations of men walking throughout the lot have been reported. People walking by have heard screams and a barking dog that comes from the empty lot.

The barking dog belonged to one of the men who was murdered inside of the garage. The dog was chained up and witnessed the brutal murders. His cries were unbearable and alerted people to the scene. It's been said that the dog was so hysterical and traumatized after the murder of his owner that there was no other choice than to put the dog down. People walking their dogs have reported their dogs barking furiously at the empty lot.

The Hull House is a mansion located on the west side of Chicago. The area was once very trendy and a very affluent part of the city. After The Great Chicago Fire, the rich had abandonned the neighborhood. The area was replaced with Jews, Italian and Greek immigrants. The area was poor and many saloons and brothels were built in the area, which helped raise the crime rate. Crooked cops and gangsters were also a big part of the problem in the neighborhood.

Jane Addams, an activist from a privileged background, bought the Hull House and turned it into a community center that provided for the immigrants. Poor residents in the area frequently came to the Hull House for food and shelter.

Jane Addams learned quickly that the bedroom she slept in was haunted. She would hear footsteps late at night and would often see ghostly figures in the room. Other people started noticing that the mansion was haunted. It was discovered that Mrs. Hull, the original owner of the Hull House, had died in the bedroom that Jane Addams slept in. The ghost was actually harmless and the people inside the Hull House learned to live with Mrs. Hull's ghost.

A rumor had spread that Jane Addams had taken in a deformed orphan. The baby was believed to have horns, hooves, scaled skin and a tail. The people in the area called the child "The Devil Baby" and was the inspiration for Roman Polanski's 1960s cult movie "Rosemary's Baby". Rumors ran wild about this child and people claimed to have seen him in an upstairs window. Jane Addams denied there was an orphan child in the Hull House but people continued talking about the mysterious baby in the window.

Today the Hull House is a museum and historic site. The University of Illinois is built around the mansion. To this day the fire alarm frequently goes off in the empty house. Nobody can find a logical explanation as to why.

John Wayne Gacy lived in the quiet suburb of Harwood Heights which is right on the border of Chicago. He was active in his community, involving himself in politics and even dressing as a clown to cheer up sick children in hospitals. He helped many people in need. Imagine the shock to learn that a man so well liked in his community was leading a double life.

In 1978, a fifteen year old boy who worked for Gacy went missing. Police eventually came to his home and noticed a perculiar stench. Police began a search. By the end, they had discovered twenty-eight corpses of missing teenage boys. Police also found more bodies in the Des Plaines River.  The death toll reached thirty-three. Gacy was arrested and after a few decades was finally put to death.

The home of John Wayne Gacy's became a tourist attraction. The house was in ruins after being torn apart in the search for victims. After a year, the home was finally knocked down and all that remained was an empty lot. This did not stop people from coming to the site.

The eerie thing about the lot was that the grass never grew back. In fact, nothing grew on the lot, not even weeds. Nobody could understand it. Some suspected that the police used lime when digging up the bodies but that proved to be false. It was as if the land was cursed or a mark of the evil killings were somehow left behind. To the neighbors, it was a constant reminder of the unspeakable horrors that happened on the land.

After several years the land was purchased and a new house was built on the lot. The new residents even changed the address of the home. Once they were moved in, the grass slowly began to grow back. No hauntings were ever reported by the homeowners.

Read more about hauntings. Check out my hub on the most haunted places in the U.S:

http://amymarie5.hubpages.com/hub/USAs-Most-Haunted-Places

Learn about the ghosts that haunt the White House:

http://amymarie5.hubpages.com/hub/The-Haunted-White-House