Chicago Haunted Handbook: 99 Ghostly Places You Can Visit In and Around the Windy City

by Jeff Morris, Vince Sheilds

Overview

Chicago Haunted Handbook is the newest book in the Haunted Handbook line within the popular America's Haunted Road Trip series. The Haunted Handbooks are city-specific travel guides to nearly one hundred places within a major city.

Chicago Haunted Handbook is written with the ghost enthusiast in mind. All 100 chapters contain information on the history as well as the haunting surrounding each location, as well as detailed directions on how to locate each site. Many of the chapters also contain insider information that only a local would know, making it easier for ghost hunters to investigate. Ghost hunters Jeff Morris and Vincent Sheilds explore all the best haunted locales Chicago has to offer, including Resurrection Cemetery, Bachelor's Grove Cemetery, Murder Castle, St. Valentine's Day Massacre Site, and even Wrigley Field.

Each two page entry includes directions from downtown, an historical overview of the haunted place, the story of ghostly doings in that place, and advice on visiting the place yourself--if you dare.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781578605286
Publisher:	Clerisy Press
Publication date:	09/24/2013
Series:	America's Haunted Road Trip
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	15 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Jeff Morris achieved his degree in English from the haunted Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, and spent the early part of his career as an English instructor at a college in Cincinnati. While teaching, Jeff became interested in the ghost stories in the Cincinnati area. In 2005, he started working with his brother, Michael Morris, on their first book, Haunted Cincinnati and Southwest Ohio, which was published in June of 2009 by Arcadia Publishing. Beyond the book, Jeff has become very involved in the paranormal field in the Midwest. In 2006 he and his brother founded Miamitown Ghost Tours, which continues to run year round. In 2009, they joined a paranormal investigation group called CAPER (Cincinnati Area Paranormal Existence Research), and they started an online radio show called "Miamitown Ghost Talk.” In the fall of 2010, both Jeff and Michael published Cincinnati Haunted Handbook. He lives in Cincinnati.

Vincent Sheilds was born in Elgin, IL in 1984. He enlisted in the Marine Corps in 2002 and, upon discharge in 2006, moved to Chicago where his fascination with the paranormal really took form. There he formed ChicagoParanormalInvestigators.org with his teammates Steven Fuller, Frank Rosko, and Tiffany Sawczenko. They started investigating local haunted hot spots, Chicago favorites, and private homes.

Read an Excerpt

ALGONQUIN CEMETERY

Cary Road and Route 31, Algonquin, Illinois 60102

Directions

From the center of Chicago, take I-90 West for about 26.5 miles to the Roselle Road exit. Keep right on the ramp toward Palatine/Little City and merge onto North Roselle Road. After about 1 mile, turn left onto West Algonquin Road and follow it for about 13 miles. Turn right onto Main Street. After about 0.5 mile, turn right onto Cary Road. The cemetery is on both sides of Cary Road.

History

The first settler in the Algonquin area was a man named Samuel Gillilan, who built a log cabin on the site of the cemetery. Eventually, Gillilan passed away, and the site on both sides of Cary Road was used as the cemetery for the village of Algonquin.

There is a story about a man who lived in the area who raped a woman. The man died soon thereafter and was buried at Algonquin Cemetery. Many felt that his burial in the cemetery was too good an end for a rapist and wanted something worse for him. A priestess who lived in the area visited the cemetery and drew a circle around the rapist’s gravesite. She then cast a spell on the gravesite, forever binding the rapist to this spot.

Ghost Story

There are essentially two areas to find ghosts at this cemetery, but the section that borders Main Street, on the north side of Cary Road, houses the more pleasant ghosts. People have seen figures in this section of the cemetery and will often see orbs of light floating through the area at night. Voices are also heard in this part of the cemetery when there is no physical body present.

The other side of the cemetery, on the south side of Cary Road, has a much darker presence. The ghost of the rapist haunts this section of the cemetery but cannot leave the circle that was drawn by the priestess around his gravesite. If you stand on the gravesite of the rapist, you will apparently feel extreme discomfort. People who stand on the gravesite will report seeing figures running back and forth in the adjacent woods. Sometimes the ghost of a small boy will stand at the edge of the forest and watch anyone who stands on the rapist’s grave. Other visitors to the cemetery will see the apparition of a man in a black suit standing on the site of the rapist’s grave, watching any passersby menacingly. Angry whispers are heard in the area, and some people report being pushed by some unseen force or grabbed by the ankles when standing on or near the gravesite.

Visiting

The cemetery is open from dawn until dusk, so it is closed at night. Your best bet for experiencing the ghost of the rapist is to go into the cemetery just before it closes at sunset. Many of the ghost legends surrounding this site occur at night, but you should not enter the cemetery after it closes or you will be subject to arrest for trespassing. The grave of the rapist is reportedly the one closest to the woods on the south side of the road that loops through the dark side of the cemetery. Some say that you can still see the vague imprint of a circle in the ground surrounding the gravesite.

The balls of light on the north side of the cemetery can be seen from Cary Road, which is, of course, open to the public throughout the night.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments x

Foreword xii

Introduction 1

Section I cemeteries

Algonquin Cemetery 3

Archer Woods Cemetery (Mount Glenwood Memory Gardens West) 5

Bachelor's Grove Cemetery 7

Bluff City Cemetery 10

Burr Oak Cemetery 12

Calvary Cemetery 14

County Farm Cemetery (Joliet Potter's Field) 16

Evangelical Church Cemetery 18

Graceland Cemetery 20

Holy Sepulcher Cemetery 23

Mount Carmel Cemetery 25

Mt. Thabor Cemetery 27

Naperville Cemetery 29

Oak Hill Cemetery and the Demon Butcher 32

Oak Woods Cemetery 34

Queen of Heaven Cemetery 36

Read Dunning Memorial Park 38

Resurrection Cemetery 40

River Valley Memorial Gardens 42

Rosehill Cemetery 44

St. James Sag Cemetery 47

Tyrell Road Cemetery 49

White Cemetery 51

Woodlawn Cemetery 53

Section II bars and restaurants

Al Capone's Hideaway and Steakhouse 56

Bucktown Pub 58

California Clipper 60

Cigars and Stripes BBQ, Lounge 62

Clark Street Ale House 64

Country House Restaurant 66

The Drinkingbird 68

Edgewater Lounge 70

Ethyl's Party 72

Excalibur Nightclub 74

Fireside Lounge 76

Gold Star Bar 78

Green Mill Cocktail Lounge 80

Hooters on Wells Street 82

The Irish Legend Pub and Restaurant 84

Ivy 86

Liar's Club 88

Metro and Smart Bar 90

Tonic Room 92

Webster's Wine Bar 94

Willowbrook Ballroom 96

Section III roads and bridges

American Airlines Flight 191 Disaster Site 99

Archer Avenue 101

Axeman's Bridge 103

Blood's Point Road 106

Camp Douglas 108

Clarence Darrow Memorial Bridge 110

Cuba Road 112

Death Corner in Little Hell 114

Eastland Disaster Site 116

Fox River Grove School Bus Accident Site 118

Frank "The Enforcer" Nitti's Suicide Site 120

German Church Road 122

Munger Road Train Tracks 124

Randall Road and State Route 72 Intersection 126

Shoe Factory Road 128

Square Barn Road 130

St. Valentine's Day Massacre Site 132

Section IV parks

Channing Park and School 135

Covered Bridge Trails 137

Dead Man's Creek 139

Emmerich Park 141

Fort Dearborn Massacre Site 143

The Gate 146

Joliet Arsenal 148

Magic Hedge 150

Maple Lake 152

Raceway Woods 154

Robinson Woods Forest Preserve 156

Sunrise Park 158

Trout Park 160

Wrigley Field 162

Section V museums, theaters, hotels and other buildings

Antioch Downtown Theater 166

Arcada Theatre 168

Baymont Inn and Suites 170

Biograph Theater 172

Cantigny 174

Chicago Water Tower 176

Colonel Palmer House 178

Congress Hotel 180

Edgewater Athletic Club 183

Ford Center for the Performing Arts Oriental Theatre's Death Alley 185

Hotel Baker 188

House of Blues 190

Huntley Grease Factory 192

Jane Addams' Hull House Museum 194

John Hancock Center 197

Leland Tower Suites 199

Manteno State Hospital 201

Murder Castle 204

Museum of Science and Industry 207

O'Hare International Airport 209

Polish Museum of America 211

Rialto Square Theatre 213

Sheraton Gateway Suites Hotel at O'Hare 215

Appendix 1 Chapters Organized Geographically 217

Appendix 2 Daytripping (Or in This Case… Nighttripping) 219

Appendix 3 Places That Did Not Quite Make the Book 221

Appendix 4 Local Paranormal Groups 223

About the Authors 226