After a devastating fire in the old Iroquois Theater in Chicago around 600 people died trying to escape the flames. Even after the Oriental Theater was built in its place, some still believe the ghost from the fire is haunting the stage.
The Oriental Theater in the windy city of Chicago is a grand venue that has been entertaining audiences for over 90 years. But behind the grandeur and glitz lies a dark and eerie history, filled with ghostly legends and supernatural stories.
Many people believe that the Oriental Theater is one of the most haunted venues in Chicago, with a long list of ghostly sightings and unexplained phenomena. What sets this ghost story apart though is how the haunting origin story is more scary than the haunting itself. And the most deadly haunting happened as soon as this spot in the city was turned into a theater.
The Nederlander: The theater has had many names and is today called The Nederlander. Before this exact theater were built, another one who burnt is said to have caused the haunting said to go on inside of the building.
The Fire of the Iroquois Theater and Death Alley
The Oriental Theater, formerly known as the Iroquois Theater, opened its doors in 1903 at 24 W. Randolph Street. It was a grand venue, with a seating capacity of over 1,700, and was designed to be the most luxurious theater in the world. The newspaper also advertised with it being fireproof. But just as Titanic was unsinkable, the theater would catch fire as soon as it opened.
Just five weeks after its opening during a performance of a comedy-musical called Mr. Bluebeard starring Eddie Foy, tragedy struck when a fire broke. The show had been a success and the theatre were sold out with extra standing tickets being issued. Most of the spectators were women attending with their children.
A spark from the stage lights hit the very flammable muslin backdrop and it burst into flames quickly. First, they weren’t too panicked, as they all believed it when they said it would be safe from fire. But then the fire started to spread, and none of the fire prevention equipment seemed to be working.
When the spectators tried to flee the theater, they were unable to locate the exits as they were not labeled and doors were locked. In the staircase people were trampled, crushed or asphyxiated to death.
When the crew and actors escape in the backscene doors, the cold air caused a fireball that shot out from the stage onto the crowd. Those who managed to find a window or get to the roof jumped to their death.
There were no fire-alarm box in the building and when the fire department finally arrived, it was already too late. 602 people lost their lives in the 30 minutes blaze, making it one of the deadliest theater fires in history and was remembered as The Great Chicago Fire Disaster.
Hundreds of bodies were piled up in the theater of mostly women and children. It reportedly took over five hours to gather them all, the amount of bodies raging six feet above the ground. The next door space turned into a temporary morgue and hospital. Soon, the alley right next to the theater was called the Death Alley and was remembered as such for a long time.
Ever since there have been rumors about it being haunted and the spirit of the dead lingering in the alley now known as Couch Place. Whispers in the night as well as people feeling the ghostly touch on the shoulders.
So some say that the theater was cursed from the start, but it was certainly not the end though.
Couch Place: Commonly called the Alley of Death, was the place they place the bodies after the fire and many have experienced strange things in this backstage place of the Chicago theater district. // Source
The Start of Oriental Theater
After the fire, the theater was rebuilt and renamed the Oriental Theater in 1926. In 1988 the Oriental Theater closed down and fell into disrepair, but it was restored in 1998 and is now a popular venue once again.
However, the history of the Iroquois Theater fire has left a lasting impact on the theater, and many believe that it is responsible for the ghostly sightings and unexplained phenomena that occur there.
Ghostly Legends and Reports
There have been many reports of ghostly activity at the Oriental Theater over the years. The ghosts of those who perished in the fire is also said to haunt the newly built theater and people claim to have seen their spirit leaping out from the window onto the street as a death loop. There is also the smell of smoke coming from nowhere that people claim is a remnant lingering from the deadly fire.
When actors are on stage they report about seeing shadows moving on the balconies. In the fire, they perhaps had it worse, as they were the ones locked inside and were unable to open the doors leading down to the first floor.
The Wicked Incident
One of the stories told was during a production of the musical Wicked. Ana Gasteyer had the role of Elphaba. In the end of Act I, there is a scene where she learns to fly and smog and fog comes from the auditorium and filling the stage. She told in the writing Celebrity Ghost Stories that she looked to the sides in the wings. They were filled with people, more people than the stagehands of the production used to have there.
The people didn’t look like crew either, they looked like families, but when she landed and the smoke cleared, there was no one there.
She also claimed to have seen a woman in the hallways with a boy and a girl, all wearing period clothes. It was first when she asked her dresser about it that she thought they might have been ghosts, as Dec 30. was coming up.
Could this have been one of the performances she claimed to have seen the ghosts?
Spooky Events and Experiences at Oriental Theater
The Oriental Theater in Chicago is a grand venue that has entertained audiences for over ninety years. In 2018 it was renamed to the James M. Nederlander Theatre, after the founder of Broadway in Chicago.
But behind the glamour and glitz lies a dark and eerie history, filled with ghostly legends and supernatural stories and the danger of fire.
Blue lights twinkling between the graves, ghostly figures and even phantom houses appearing and disappearing are only some of the ghost stories from Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery. What really happened to this abandoned cemetery?
Hidden deep within the Rubio Woods Forest Preserve, about twenty-four miles southwest of Chicago, lies Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery—a place that has gained infamy as one of the most haunted locations in the Midwest.
Time and nature have overtaken this once-respectable burial ground. A murky quarry is next to it and trash is thrown on the ground. Next to the gravestone of a couple of infants are small toys littered next to it. Something else lurks in its overgrown paths and broken headstones. For decades, visitors have reported eerie encounters, strange lights, ghostly apparitions, and even brushes with the spirits of the long-departed.
Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery: A group of monuments on southeast quadrant. The cemetery is now abandoned and only ghost stories live on in this place. // Source
A Cemetery with a Dark Past
Established in the early 1830s or 40s, Bachelor’s Grove is the oldest cemetery in Cook County, Illinois. The first burial was that of Eliza Scott in November 1844. Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery housed the Scottish, English and Irish immigrants that came in the 1820s. The name comes from both the Batchelder family who used to live there as well as a group of unmarried men calling themselves the Bachelors.
Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery was once a peaceful final resting place for early settlers, but as the years passed, it became the target of vandalism, decay, and something far more sinister.
By the Prohibition era of the 1920s and 1930s, the Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery had reportedly become a dumping ground for Chicago’s notorious organized crime syndicates. Rumors persist that the mob used the nearby lagoon as a watery grave for those who had crossed them, their bodies weighted down and left to disappear beneath the murky depths.
Aside from the rumors of being a dumping ground for the mafia, it was said to be a peaceful place until the 1950s when the Midlothian Turnpike was rerouted and left the grove far away from everything. Teenagers started using Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery as a lover’s lane, a place to drink and party and ghost stories and fantastical legends took hold.
Today, most of the eighty graves are unmarked due to rampant vandalism, the headstones either stolen or toppled over, and the grounds left in disrepair. Some of the coffins were even dug up and robbed. But while many of the gravestones are gone, the spirits remain.
Encounters with the Supernatural
Since the 1960s, countless visitors, ghost hunters, and paranormal investigators have reported chilling experiences at Bachelor’s Grove. Some claim to hear whispers carried on the wind, see floating orbs of light in blue or red, or experience an overwhelming sense of dread.
On the entrance there is a large black and tan dog sitting or running down a path. People realize it’s a ghost first when the Others have reported near-collisions with phantom vehicles that appear out of nowhere on the nearby roads, only to vanish without a trace.
The Madonna of Bachelor’s Grove
Among the spirits said to roam the Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery, none are as well-known as the “Madonna of Bachelor’s Grove.” This spectral woman, dressed in a flowing white gown, is often seen wandering the grounds, cradling an infant in her arms. Many believe she is the spirit of a grieving mother, doomed to wander the Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery in search of her lost child. The legend claims that she is seeking something, or perhaps someone, although no one knows what.
Her story got known when a group of investigators explored the cemetery in 1979 and apparently took a photograph of her in a hooded robe with her baby cradled in her arms. Later it seems the Madonna of Bachelor’s Grove attire changed from story to story, wore only a white dress and had no baby.
The Madonna of Bachelor’s Grove: This picture of what appears to be a ghost sitting on a grave in Bachelor’s Grove Cemeterybecame quite famous after it was taken in 1991 by Judy Felz, and so did the legend of the Madonna of Bachelor’s Grove.
In 1991, a famous photograph taken by Judy Felz from the Ghost Research Society captured what appears to be a semi-transparent woman in period clothing sitting on a broken headstone. The infrared image remains one of the most popular pieces of paranormal evidence associated with the cemetery.
But who was the Madonna of Bachelor’s Grove?
There have been many speculations about who the woman in the graveyard could have been. For a long time they believed she could have been Luella Rogers because of the stone placement as she was the one buried next to the headstone just marked: “Infant Daughter” in number 15. But over the years the “Infant Daughter” stone has been moved and is actually on top of another woman.
Infant Daughter: A lot of the details of the haunting of Madonna of Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery is connected to this tombstone. Source
The “Infant Daughter” headstones actually belong to the daughter of Bertand Fulton and Kathryn Vogt. Could this be the origin of the ghost? Or could it be someone else?
Could Madonna of Bachelor’s Grove possibly be Amelia Patrick Humphrey? Amelia was the first wife of Senator John Humphrey of Orland Park, a prominent politician from the mid 1800’s. Their third child Libby May died when she was only 11 months and 6 days and buried in the Patrick family lot (#44) in Bachelors Grove. Could this be the mother then, who is eternally visiting her young daughter’s grave?
The Phantom House Appearing in the Mist
One of the stranger legends from Bachelor’s Grove is the story about the disappearing house. It is said to be a white one-story Victorian house. On the porch there is a swing and a picket fence encircles it. When people claim to see it, they describe it more transparently. In the windows there is a flickering yellow light, as if a candle is lit.
Many people have come back from the Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery, talking about a house they were unable to find again. Many have sketched the same type of house from the legend, claiming they had never heard about the stories from this place.
A mist is often closing in on the house as well, and one story even claims that a line of people were waiting by the front door. When people try to approach it, they say that it shrinks and when you get close enough, it simply vanishes.
What or where the legend comes from is uncertain, but the story goes that if you actually are able to reach it, you will never be able to return.
But did a house even exist in this area? Some claim that there was nothing of the sorts built on this land, but maps from so long ago are not the most reliable. According to different maps there used to be around four homes and other structures close to the cemetery. There are pictures however that have resurfaced with buildings from the early 1900s looking like they used to be there, one of them is even said to really look like the descriptions of the story.
The Phantom House: The photograph, which was provided by ancestors of the Schmidt family who used to own the property surrounding the Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery found a picture from 1914. Source
The Murdering Caretaker Following You
The most commonly told version of the Caretaker the Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery caretaker and his family living in a house in the woods. The house is said to be located a short distance west of what is now the roped-off entrance to the main path leading to the cemetery off of 143rd Street, across from the Rubio Woods Forest Preserve parking lot. This path is also known as a portion of the Midlothian Turnpike that was unofficially closed to vehicle traffic in the 1960s, with the official closure occurring in 1977.
All is normal with him and his family until one day out of nowhere he becomes enraged and kills his entire family. It is said that he was overcome with “evil spirits” that told him to kill his family. After he realized what he had done, he took his own life. At some point down the timeline of the story the townspeople burn down the caretaker’s house to erase all memory of this tragic story.
Now, people encounter him walking around the cemetery grounds, often with an oil lamp in his hand, telling people to leave the place. If they don’t listen to him, he is following them on the trail, the light shining behind them before he suddenly vanishes.
The killing is said to have happened in the 70s, but there is no proof for this. In fact, the Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery never had a caretaker at all. Still, there are plenty of people claiming to have encountered him over the years.
The Hook Man Legend Comes to Bachelor’s Grove
Another well-known story in the area is about a stranded couple, a local version of the Hook Man legend. It tells of a young couple who park by Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery. When they decide to leave, the boyfriend finds the car won’t start due to being out of gas or a stalled engine. He tells the girl to stay in the car while he goes to get help. While waiting, she hears a scratching noise on the roof that continues for a while. Curious but frightened, she remains in the car. Eventually, she sees blue lights and a siren behind her. An officer approaches, opens her door, and urgently instructs her not to turn around. Overcome with curiosity, she looks back and sees her boyfriend hanging from a tree above the car, his throat slit, his fingers barely touching the roof, scratching it. This horrific sight drives the girl into madness.
Now, this is a common story, but it gained new interest when a policeman shared it as real during an interview. In Halloween 2012, a group of paranormal researchers met a retired Bridgeview police officer who claimed to have seen official police reports of the incident. He mentioned baby-sized footprints on the roof of the car and stated that the murdered boy’s girlfriend was in a mental institution in Tinley Park. He spoke strongly about the report’s existence and the truth of the story, but later he recanted and stopped further communication, making it difficult to distinguish between tale and fact.
Disappearing Cars of the Cemetery
It’s not only houses and people that disappear into the night at Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery, but cars as well. A legend that really took off in the 1970’s was the stories told about the disappearing cars. According to these stories, drivers would pass the desolated roads by the Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery. According to them, they kept seeing a car pulled over on the side of the Midlothian Turnpike close to the cemetery. Although what type of car it was, changes from each retelling, although most often described as an older looking car, perhaps from the 40’s or even older. But when they went to double check in their rearview mirror, there was no car there anymore.
Some stories even said that night drivers ended up colliding with these phantom cars. A couple was at the corner of Central Avenue and Midlothian Turnpike. Checking in both directions, they saw it was all clear and made the turn. Out of nowhere, a “speeding brown sedan” as it’s often described as came hurling in the direction of the cemetery. The car crashed into the couple and they could feel the impact, hear the glass shattering and the metal crunching.
When they exited the car, the brown car simply faded away, and when they looked at their own car, it didn’t even have a scratch.
Although a popular story to tell about the place at the time, it seems like the legend of the phantom cars is not the most told anymore.
The Farmer and Horse in the Pond
Right next to the Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery there is a little pond that is also said to be haunted. The story is that in 1870 there was a farmer plowing in a nearby field. His horse became startled and set off. The farmer, tangled in the reins, was dragged with the horse who jumped into the pond. Both drowned as the weight of the metal plow was so heavy it dragged the both to the bottom.
Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery Pond
It is said that the farmer and the horse can be seen on the surface of the pond as well as appearing on 143rd Street right behind the cemetery.
But did this really happen though? According to historians it couldn’t have been in 1870 at least, as the pond didn’t even exist until after 1900. Was it another pond further away from the Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery? Another year? Did it happen at all?
The Lingering Spirits of Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery
From shadowy figures darting between the trees to ghostly apparitions of monks, mobsters, and misty forms hovering above graves, the spirits of Bachelor’s Grove refuse to be forgotten. Paranormal investigators continue to explore the site, capturing electronic voice phenomena (EVPs) and anomalous readings, adding to the growing legend of this haunted graveyard.
For those brave enough to visit, Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery offers more than just a glimpse into Chicago’s past— But you must visit Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery at day. From sunset to sunrise the cemetery is closed off and patrolled. To keep teenagers and those up to mischief out? Or to keep something in?
Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago offers one of the more haunted places in the city as this is the place where thousands of people were buried in the old cemetery. The park and the zoo were built on top of it and it is said ghosts from the remaining bodies are haunting at night.
Lincoln Park Zoo, one of Chicago’s most beloved attractions, has a darker side that many visitors may not know about. According to legend, the place is haunted because of the many thousands of people who are buried underneath the ground.
Read More: Check out all ghost stories from the USA
The Lincoln Park Zoo was founded in 1868 inside of Lincoln Park and is one of the small zoos that have free admission where you can see penguins, gorillas, lions and tigers. And if we are to believe the rumors, ghosts as well.
The Old Chicago Cemetery
Lincoln Park is one of the oldest neighborhoods in Chicago, watching it rise through the settling times, gang violence to the big city of today. From 1843 to 1859, the land where the zoo now stands was once the city’s main cemetery on the southern end of the Lincoln Park, home to around 35,000 bodies. This number is what is mostly put out, but some historians claim that it is more likely between ten and twelve thousand.
Most of the remains were eventually moved due to concerns about water contamination of cholera. Caskets were buried close to the water and marsh land and would wash to shore every time the water rose. It was also contaminating the drinking water.
The cemetery itself was also almost completely burnt the ground during The Great Chicago Fire on the night of October 8 in 1871. After this, they decided to build a lakefront park above it and didn’t move the remaining people from the underground.
Chicago Old Cemetery: Rush of fugitives through the Potter’s Field toward Lincoln Park; Based on a Sketch by Theo R. Davis, from Harper’s Weekly, November 4, 1871.
Bones from the graves did reemerge from the ground though and workers would collect the bones to a shaman who would rebury them to keep the spirits from haunting the place. But did this even help at all?
Haunting at the Lincoln Park Zoo
Disturbing burial grounds has long been a trope in horror stories, and Lincoln Park is no exception. Since the cemetery’s relocation, countless reports of paranormal activity have arisen from the Lincoln Park Zoo grounds. Famed parapsychologist Ursula Bielski, who has conducted investigations at the site, called it “without a doubt the most active site” she’s ever explored.
This reputation is reinforced by numerous sightings of apparitions, shadowy figures, and inexplicable events over the zoo’s 150-year history. From 2013 there have also been a ghost tour in the zoo that have reinforced the belief that this place is indeed haunted.
People have experienced cold spots, feelings of being watched, and strange disembodied whispers. Some claim to see ghostly figures wandering the grounds, especially at night. Phantom shapes, believed to be the restless souls of those whose bodies were never moved, are said to occasionally be spotted near the zoo’s edge, gazing forlornly into the distance.
The Haunting in the Lion House
One of the more prominent stories that comes from the Lincoln Park Zoo is the ghost that is apparently lingering by the women’s restroom in the Lion House. The lion house was built in 1912 at the heart of the zoo close to the entrance.
Women using the bathroom keep reporting about seeing the ghosts of people in Victorian clothing when looking in the mirrors. When they turn back, there is no one there. There are also stories coming from the staff members hearing voices, someone even hearing the words: “Get out”.
The Lion House: This part of the zoo is said to have a lot of paranormal energy. Especially the women’s bathroom. //Source: Richie Diesterheft
Some ghost hunters claim this is because of the mirrors themselves, lined up on two lines facing each other. They claim that this traps the ghosts inside of the mirrors.
The Haunting of the Barn
In 1962 the Lincoln Park Zoo was building a barn and was digging in the ground. They then found a body, most likely from the cemetery. They discussed at length what to do with it, and the zoo director, Dr. Lester Fisher decided to return the body. The building didn’t stop though and they simply built the barn on top of it.
According to people visiting, there is supposedly paranormal activity going on there as well and paranormal hunters frequently investigate these parts.
The Suicide Bridge
Lincoln Park covers more than just the zoo, and there are more places around it that are said to be haunted. In the late 1800s there were also rumors about the park being haunted, but not from the cemetery. Most reports told about the High Bridge that was nearby from 1894 to 1919 just passed the zoo’s parking lot today. It was initially built for sightseeing in the park, but got a much more ominous reputation.
They called this the Suicide Bridge and it is said around 50 to 100 people ended their life from this bridge.
The Suicide Bridge: Postcard from Chicago were they even called the bridge by its local name, the Suicide Bridge. This was said to be haunted right after it was built and people started to spot something more ominous than the beautiful scenery.
The sightings of the ghosts were so common that newspapers started to publish stories about it and cops that were working in the Park in the night kept asking for transfers because of all the scary paranormal experiences they had.
The Couch Tomb
There was also the case of the Couch Mausoleum. A strange mausoleum left untouched by the fire near the Chicago History Museum. This is the tomb of businessman Ira Couch who died in 1857. But is he really inside? According to official records, the tomb has never been opened. There was once a man who claimed he went inside it when he did some work. He claimed that it was empty. Couch’s grandson saw the news articles about it and claimed that it should be around seven people inside of the grave. Who is right? We simply don’t know.
The Couch Tomb: Couch Mausoleum in Lincoln Park, Chicago October 2013. A lot of mystery of what and who actually is buried there remains. It is also the only mausoleum remaining. Why wasn’t it removed together with the rest of the tombs that used to stand next to it? //Source: Wikimedia
In the 1880s there would be reports in the newspaper about a local legend that people told about the tomb. It said that at the stroke of midnight you had to face the tomb as you looked up at the name Couch. Three times you had to say: “The graves belong to the dead, not the living,”
If you did this, the door would open and a big white ghost would come out of the tomb and greet you.
The Haunting of The Lincoln Park and the Chicago Zoo
Whether you’re watching the playful antics of the animals or strolling through the park, be aware that you may not be alone. The spirits of those buried long ago still seem to have a presence in Lincoln Park Zoo, making it not just a center for animal life but also for paranormal activity. So, next time you visit, keep an eye out for more than just the zoo’s famous lions and tigers—there might be more eyes watching you than you think.
An online magazine about the paranormal, haunted and macabre. We collect the ghost stories from all around the world as well as review horror and gothic media.
