Chicago, June 2006
Chicago is a wonderfully, albeit tragically, haunted city, and if you’re ever there, hop on the black “ghost bus” and take a tour of the city. Tours are run by paranormal author and investiagors Troy Taylor and Ursula Bielski, and one folks from their group will be your tour guide. According to Ken, our tour guide, Troy and Ursula’s group is made up of physicists, historians, and other professionals that have at least a master’s degree in their field of study. And some of them, like Ken, are psychic. Ken has helped psychic Irene Hughes with missing children cases before. The expertise on the TT-UB team meant the tours were well-researched and very interesting, rather than a collection of urban legends and cheap thrills (see Atchison, Kansas!) My sister, a ghost skeptic, even enjoyed the history of the city that is presented on the tour.
A lot of people have died some pretty awful deaths in Chicago, and in fact, Lincoln Park was built over an old cemetery that contractors haphazardly “relocated” to another area. Apparently they missed some bodies, because lots of creepy stuff goes on in that area, according to Ken.
During the bloody Fort Dearborn Massacre in 1812, a Native American tribe shot and hacked to death with tomahawks 148 people, including 12 children.
As the city of Chicago grew, construction in the 1980s unearthed the bones of what were discovered to be the victims of the Fort Dearborn Massacre. The bones were reburied in another location, and construction continued. However, soon afterwards, people began to report seeing semi-transparent figures of people dressed in old-fashioned clothing and old military uniforms wandering, running about, or moving in slow motion. Some looked frightened or appeared to be silently screaming. According to Ken, business people still report seeing these apparitions today in the middle of this busy intersection at Michigan & Wacker while sitting in traffic, and more frequently as the anniversary of the massacre approaches in August.
The Chicago Eastland Disaster in 1915 was a case of Titanic-ish arrogance that cost the lives of more than 800 people who drowned in the Chicago River — while the boat was still docked.
The Western Electric Company had chartered a passenger steamer, the S.S. Eastland, to transport employees and their families over to Michigan City, Indiana for a company picnic. The Eastland had a reputation for being top-heavy. In fact, its passenger limit had been reduced several times in attempts to compensate: From 3,300 to 2,800 to 2,400 and then unoffically to 1,125. However, three weeks before the picnic, an inspector amended the passenger limit to 2,500. The morning of the company picnic, 2,572 people boarded. Still docked, the boat tipped and rested on its side; 844 people drowned.
Chicago in 1915 did not have the capabilities to efficiently house 844 dead bodies and handle their funeral arrangements in a timely manner. As a result, the victims’ bodies were housed temporarily all over the city, from department stores to what is now Oprah’s television studio — and many of these places are now though to be haunted.
The intersection of Clark and LaSalle in Chicago, where the Eastland was docked, is also a point of interest. Looking into the river from that intersection, some people have reported seeing faces or people in the water so real that the observers have summoned help for what they believed were drowing victims…not knowing that the victims had already drowned 90 years ago. Ken told us that policemen and firefighters like to trick the new members by sending them to the river to rescue the “victims.” Supposedly, the law enforcement newbies see the faces and are convinced there are people in the water…until their superiors tell them the truth.
More to come soon on Chicago!!!!
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