By now, most Chicagoans know you don’t want to pick up young hitchhikers wearing a ball gown named Mary on Archer Avenue, it’s best to steer clear of Bachelors Grove Cemetery in south suburban Midlothian after dark (probably during the day, too) and never, ever book a room on the 12th floor at the Congress Plaza Hotel.
Unless, of course, you’re looking to be spooked, and in that case, good luck.
Chicago is one of the most haunted cities in America (currently at No. 3 on Travel & Leisure’s list) where legendary ghost stories like Resurrection Mary run as deep as our pizza.
But if you think you’ve heard them all, not so fast, says Adam Selzer. The Chicago tour guide, author and historian has been researching the city’s ghosts and ghouls for more than 20 years, writing books on infamous people and places like Graceland Cemetery, the “White City Devil” H.H. Holmes and serial killer Johann Hoch. But he’s also uncovered more underground stories, like mummies shrieking at the Field Museum and someone terrorizing the Lion House at Lincoln Park Zoo — two of the tales he shares below.
“I’m in microform rooms all the time,” Selzer said of how he finds these lesser-known stories. Libraries, universities and city records departments have become part of his ghostbusting process, where Selzer often looks for firsthand accounts and primary source data to verify or debunk what comes across his desk.
“My job is to be the historian and make sure the stories check out,” he added. “I like going around looking for ghosts too; I just don’t necessarily expect them to show up. They never come when you’re looking for them.”
Still, he says, “I’ve seen some weird stuff.” One instance was inside the basement of the Englewood Post Office (which was built over part of where Holmes’ infamous murder castle used to be) where Electronic Voice Phenomena (EVP) equipment picked up a recording of a little girl singing loud and clear.
There are many theories as to why Chicago is so haunted but Selzer likes to think “we’re just really good at telling the stories.”
Below, he shares five surprising tales. If you want to hear more, Selzer hosts ghost tours year-round, including during the week of Halloween; find more details at adamchicago.com.
Marina City Towers, 300 N. State St.
The famous corncob towers have been the topic of more paranormal activity in recent years, not surprisingly picking up after the 2021 reboot of horror movie “Candyman,” which was filmed at the River North residences. A few construction workers died when the buildings were first erected in the ’60s, which could be one source of activity.
But Selzer has a second theory. The East Tower, where residents and visitors have reportedly seen most of the shadow figures or felt icy drafts, just so happens to be the final resting spot of a mobster named Murray “The Camel” Humphreys.
“He’d been with the mob since the Capone era but in the ’60s, his luck finally ran out. He was arrested and when he made bail, he came home and dropped dead, apparently of natural causes. … But when a mob guy dies right after getting arrested, I have my doubts.”
Liar’s Club, 1665 W. Fullerton Ave.
Before it was the watering hole for punk acts like Pegboy and Naked Raygun, the Lincoln Park dive bar had a torrid past that involved not one but two documented murders. In 1986, then-bar owner Frank Hansen killed his pregnant wife, Julia, with an axe in their third-floor apartment above their Factory Ltd. bar, the Sun-Times reported at the time. She was left there for nearly a week before cops were called.
Before that, in 1968, the second floor was occupied by roommates John Parlea and Samuel Castell Jr., who got into a deadly fight over a pair of allegedly stolen pants, according to Selzer. Castell Jr. bludgeoned Parlea with a broken bottle and shoved him out the window. Both are said to haunt the bar now.
Selzer has taken tour groups inside where “bartenders say they can hear screams or all of the electronics will turn off and go right back on.”
The women’s bathroom at Lincoln Park Zoo’s Lion House, 2400 N. Cannon Dr.
Selzer hears a lot of stories about the women’s bathroom at the Lincoln Park Zoo’s Lion House. “Cleaning staff say that they don’t like to go down there alone and security guards have told me they’ll be sitting in a stall when there’s nobody else there, and they’ll see feet go by.”
So why is the zoo so haunted?
It sits atop a portion of the old Chicago City Cemetery, which operated from 1843 to 1866. Many bodies were eventually moved to spots like Graceland, but thousands of unmarked graves were left behind. Adding to the cryptic energy is the fact that there used to be a span notoriously known as the “Suicide Bridge” above the Lincoln Park Lagoon where 100 people took their lives between 1893 and 1919, the year it was dismantled.
Field Museum, 1400 S. DuSable Lake Shore Dr.
With all the artifacts inside the 133-year-old museum, it’s not a stretch to think the building is haunted. But there’s one bone-chilling story Selzer likes to tell.
“There was a story years ago [in the 1930s] of a janitor who was working overnight and heard a shriek coming from one of the mummy cases. He went to the exhibit thinking he was going to find teenagers making out or something. What he found was a mummy lying face down,” said Selzer.
It was such an intriguing occurrence that Marshall Field’s grandnephew, the anthropologist Henry Field, investigated the circumstances himself. “Even he couldn’t figure it out — an earthquake shouldn’t have been able to knock that mummy over,” said Selzer.
The case was also locked and filled with noxious fumes to keep bugs out, meaning human interference was unlikely. “He shrugged it off as one of those things that we just can’t explain,” Selzer said.
Chicago Fire Department Engine Company 42, 55 W. Illinois St.
Many moons ago, the River North fire department was the site of the old Cook County Jail, “and between 1872 and 1927, about 100 people were hanged there,” said Selzer. “There were a lot of stories about it being haunted when the jail was still there.”
Nowadays, some firefighters have reported interesting occurrences, including hearing a male voice singing when no one was there, which Selzer believes may be one of the men who died at the jail: Carl Wanderer, the mastermind behind “The Case of the Ragged Stranger” in 1921, when he orchestrated the killing of his pregnant wife, Ruth, and fatally shot the assailant, making it look like a botched robbery.
“Right before they hanged him, Carl sang a little parlor song [‘Dear Old Pal O’ Mine’] on the scaffold,” Selzer said.
A few of Selzer’s favorite haunted intersections
It’s not just buildings that have the stories — intersections across Chicago also are known for reported paranormal activity.
49th Street and Loomis: The railroad tracks are supposedly haunted by a headless horseman, believed to be a cavalryman from the 1894 Pullman Strike.
Roosevelt Road and Michigan Avenue: The southeast corner is where Abraham Lincoln’s funeral train would have pulled in during 1865 and became the site of the first Lincoln ghost stories. “They said you could see Lincoln himself dancing around the coffin with the flesh dropping off of his face,” Selzer said. “He’d been embalmed several times by the time he got here, but it’s still an irresistible image.”
Ridge Avenue and Broadway: In the 1800s, the Edgewater neighborhood was spooked by a guy in a hooded robe running around terrorizing people. Selzer talked to staff at the now-closed Hexe Haus nearby who said they still saw him roaming.
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