Reviewing Ursula Bielski's Haunted Chicago Tours

Anyone who reads Haunt Jaunts on a regular basis probably knows that I am not great at making haunted tours work.  I wrote a blog for her on all the things not to do while traveling and planning a ghost tour.  This trip to Chicago, however,  I made it work.  I went on Haunted Chicago's Ghost Tour.  I was a bit disappointed I didn't get to ride on the wonderful black ghost tour bus, but I was excited none the less to see the dark side of Chicago.

Chicago does have a deep, dark side.  The best part of this tour was the history.  Chicago's history of gangsters and fire leaves a mark of sorrow in the city that lends itself to hauntings.  Our tour guide, Tommy was very knowledgeable about the history of the city and told the stories and history very well.   I was a bit surprised by the two tour guides, because other tours I've been on in the past have had a touch of theatricality about them.  In New Orleans,  our guide looked like something out of interview with a vampire.  Tommy, our guide, was just a guy.    I did have several issues with poor Tommy.   I hate to say bad things about people, but Tommy spent quite a bit of time talking about his theories behind hauntings.   He encouraged picture taking and told travelers that every orb in ever picture was proof positive of hauntings.  He said this tour must bring out the ghosts because everyone was getting so many orbs in their pictures.  Never mind that it's fall and pollen season and that most people believe orbs are actually a product of dust and other particulate in digital photography.   He didn't mention any of these things.  He just said we were all very good ghost photographers.  

Other theories Tommy supports are that haunted cities are "always" by water.   I have heard many haunting theories and surely this one intuitively makes sense, but since I love to follow desert haunted explorers Above the Norm and Autumn Forest I know that there are ample hauntings in the desert and being by a large body of water is not prerequisite. Since I've also travelled quite a bit and looked at haunted locations all over the country and some in other countries,  I know there are many amazing haunted cities that are not on water.  Also,  I enjoy the presentation of theory, but Tommy discussed all of his theories as if they were fact.  He didn't say I believe or according to legend.  He didn't mention there were other theories he merely states, "All haunted cities are located on water."  Tommy had many theories like this he discussed during the tour.  He discussed negative vortexes and other things as if every "ghost hunter"  believed and knew these things as fact.  I did try to talk to Tommy after the tour to try to clarify some of the statements he made or get a feel for why he was so vehement about his beliefs, but he literally ran away from me when I tried to talk to him.  He jumped on the bus and closed the door.  Maybe it was my third eye or I had something on my nose, who knows.

Despite my issues with Tommy,  the tour was nice.  It had some wonderful stops and I got some amazing pictures of Hull House.  I really enjoyed the depth of history on the tour and the choice of stops.  I will be writing about many of these stops this week.  All in all, it was a fun tour,  I just wish I'd gotten a different guide.

My favorite stops that I will go over more this week include:

1.  The City Cemetery:  The remains of a relocated cemetery that still may house unmoved bodies is now a park.  During the great fire many people burned to death in open graves while trying to escape the flames.

2.  Hull House:  Always fun, this haunted location mixes legend with fact to create a wonderful stop.

3.  Excalibur Nightclub:   Beautiful old building with a fascinating history

4.  John Hancock Center:  This was the inspiration for the building in Ghostbusters and you can get drinks there.

5.  Site of Eastland Disaster:  Tragic disaster resulting in 844 deaths left  many ghosts behind.

The picture below is  from Hull House.  Lots of ghostly activity on the stairs I think, but I open to other interpretations.

The Chicago Water Tower that Survived the Fire

I ate dinner at a wonderful French restaurant in front of Chicago's historic water tower last night.  It was Steak au Pouvre with pomme fritte.  Yum.  I could travel the world for no other reason than to eat and look at buildings.  The building behind us, the water tower, is definitely worth the trip as well.   Between October 10, 1871 and October 12, 1871  downtown Chicago was destroyed by a massive unstoppable fire.   Due to its wonderful stone, Gothic construction the water tower was one of the few buildings not destroyed in the fiery inferno.  Apparently, Chicago was made mostly of wood in the nineteenth century and the water tower was one of the rare buildings made entirely of stone.  The water tower and the water pump station across the street are two massive, castle like structures that stand out of down town Chicago like a Gothic cathedral would stand out in Alabama.  The stone structure provided sanctuary to those fleeing the fire on October 10-12th. 

According Dylan Clearfield,  this tower that has born witness to Chicago's long history,  is haunted by those who died during the fires.   He believes that those who tried to reach the safety of the tower and failed still cling to the old structure finding the sanctuary in death there that they couldn't find in life.  According to Clearfield, ghosts have been seen in the windows of the water tower and they are sometimes even seen hanging by their neck.   There is no known reason for the ghosts to be seen in such a state, but the stories remain bearing witness to some haunted past that history has forgotten.    

The Story of Jack O'Lantern

One of the most common Halloween traditions is the placing of a Jack O'Lantern on the front porch.  On Halloween night,  these grinning pumpkins illuminate the street with their devious grins.  But where does this tradition come from?

The Irish brought the story of Jack O' Lantern with them from the old country.  According to legend, Jack was a mischievous man who spent his time playing terrible tricks on all those around him.  He knew his soul was in danger due to his terrible behavior, so he tricked the devil into climbing a tree and then surrounded the tree with crosses.   The devil was trapped and Jack was able to give him an ultimatum, spend eternity in that tree or promise you will never take my soul.  The devil promised he would ever take Jack's soul.

Time past and Jack spent his terrible life doing one bad thing after another.  When he died,  he went to heaven but St. Peter would not let him in.   Jack was desolate, so he went to the devil, but the devil honored his promise and turned him away.  Jack was left to wander the earth in darkness with only an ember he stole from hell to light his way.  He hollowed out a turnip and placed the ember in the turnip.  He became Jack O' Lantern who wasn't wanted by heaven or hell.

The Irish carved out turnips and beats every Halloween to scare away bad spirits like Jack O'Lantern and even gave the turnips his name.  When they cam to America,  they found pumpkins were much easier to carve than turnips and thus the modern Jack O' Lantern was born.

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5 Forgotten Halloween Traditions to Bring Back

Halloween is my favorite Holiday.  It has a very long history that is often forgotten.    Although Halloween's roots can be traced back to pagan practices,  it's name came from Christians.  Halloween was the time of year when the ancient Celts believed that the veil between this world and the "otherworld" became thin allowing for spirits to have more access to our world.  This was, naturally, quite terrifying to the Celts.  In order to protect themselves from the spirits,  people built enormous bonfires and cast bones into them to scare the spirits away.  They also dressed up as terrifying spirits to confuse wicked spirits into believing they were spirits themselves.  The Celts called Halloween Samhain.   It was the Catholics that came up with the name Halloween.  The early Christians were masters at taking local pagan holidays and integrating into their own Christian days.  Even Christmas was stolen from Saturnalia.   Catholics took Samhain and made it All Saints day, a day to celebrate the spirits of all the deceased saint.  All Hallow's Eve was the night before All Saints day.  The term All Hallow's Eve was eventually shortened to Halloween. 

Through Halloween's long history there have been many traditions that have been simply left behind.  This saddens me.  So here are some I think we should bring back.

1.Colcannon:   This is an Irish dish made with cabbage, kale, and potatoes.  Small coins and prizes are usually hidden in this dish making it a little treasure hunt.   I admit,  this dish sounds repugnant, however,  if altered slightly to regular potatoes the treasure hunt in dinner form is great fun for kids and adults.  Just don't swallow the pennies.

2. Barmbrack:   This is another food tradition.  It is a tradition Irish fruitcake baked into a ring.  Items are placed within the cake that for tell the future.  For example,  if you find the wedding ring, you'll be married soon. Finding coins predicts great wealth. 

3.  Tricking:  Back in the old days the trick in trick or treating had meaning.  People would hit the streets causing mayhem and playing tricks on people in their costumes and the only way to avoid the "tricking" was to give out treats.  What happened to the tricks?  Not saying  you should set your neighbor's lawn on fire or anything, but if stingy old Ms. Brown isn't giving out candy this year, some fake poo on her porch might be perfect.

4.  Bonfires:   Why not scare bad spirits away with fires?  Fires are fun.  I'm building a fire in my fire pit this Halloween.

5. Fortune Telling:  There are many types of fortune telling done on Halloween night, but one's fortune was always believe to be most easily predicted on Halloween.  Whether you were reading tea leaves, apple peals, or gazing into mirrors to see your future, a prediction made on Halloween was always accurate.

I'm Hoping this Haunting is My Imagination

I fully believe in attribution bias.  I believe that we see what we want to see and hear what we want to hear and when we believe in ghosts and hauntings,  evidence will present itself that supports our beliefs because we are specifically looking for evidence to support our belief.  I am very aware of these biases and try to look for rational explanations before I leap to conclusions.  I also admit that I am forgetful and may do things and forget I have done them.

However,  tonight I came home from cub scouts with my sons and every faucet was on in the bathroom.  I can't believe I would turn on the shower, both sinks, and the bathtub before I left.  I can't imagine why  I would do such a random act, nor can I imagine any rational explanation as to how this would  happen.  I could let this go, however.  I probably forgot turning everything on, right?   But later on I was sitting at the computer working on tonight's blog, which was supposed to be about Halloween, when the sink turned on again.  I'm sitting here.  I can see the sink.  There was no one there.  So  I ask all my readers,  is this just the product of my very active imagination and a passion for ghosts or should I be concerned.  I'm hoping its my imagination.

The Ghosts Beneath

I discovered something faschinating today.  Apparently,  there is an entire city beneath the streets of Chattanooga, TN.   In march of 1867,  the city of Chattanooga was completely flooded.   The city streets were totally submerged and everything grinded to a halt.   In order to get from one building to the next,  residents and tourists had to travel by boat.  This was a disaster on an epic scale, dozens of people died, livestock was lost and homes drifted away in the water.   It was a catastrophe and during these times there was no help.  Residents had to wait it out and pray that none of their loved ones vanished with the constantly moving waters.

According to Chattanooga writer, Cody Maxwell, sometime during this disaster the city came up with the idea of raising the streets of the city.   It seems that the flooded and waterlogged citizens decided that if they just raised half the city streets up 20ft it would take care of the flooding because the water would be under the streets.  Not only did they imagine this idea, they did it.   All of this was very poorly documented and it wasn't until one gentleman noticed that the top parts of windows and doors were sticking out of the street  that anyone remembered that a large portion of Chattanooga was under the street.  Twenty feet beneath Market street there is an entire city waiting to be discovered.

This underground city is a regular stop on the Chattanooga ghost walk.  According to the Chattanooga Ghost Tours,  there is an entire city of ghosts under the streets of Chattanooga buried beneath the roads like part of the lost city.  Their website  says, "We have had several guests get photos of orbs, faces, and even horses in underground Chattanooga"  

I'm hoping to go up to Chatanooga sometime in November and explore this underground city of ghosts.  There is nothing more fascinating than secret city buried in mystery and haunted by its past.