The Congress Plaza Hotel

The hotel was built for the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, but suffered many unfortunate events. America’s first serial killer, Dr. H.H. Holmes searched the hotel for young women to work in his pharmacy. He would meet them in the lobby and murder them in his torture castle not very far away. Al Capone also had a suite on the 8th floor. To this day, legend has it that his spirit still haunts the hotel.

The Chicago Water Tower

The famous landmark was one of the very few that survived the Chicago Fire in 1871. Built in 1869, legend has it that a devoted worker stayed behind during the fire to help manage the pumps for the firefighters. After that he found out there was nothing else he could do and tried to escape the fire. The flames continued to spread and the worker hung himself. There are stories that his corpse is still hanging on one of the tower windows.

Chicago Fire Department District 1 Headquarters

Before it was a fire station, this building was home to a prison. Between 1872 and 1927, about 100 inmates were hung there and one prisoner was even hung himself twice because the rope had broken. Today, there are stories from firefighters who say they don’t like staying at the station. Supposedly, it is still haunted by the hanged prisoners’ ghosts.

The Drake Hotel

It is said that the 10th floor of The Drake Hotel is inhabited by the ghost of a mysterious woman in a red gown. On New Year’s Eve 1920, there was a gala held at at the The Drake Hotel to celebrate the hotel’s grand opening. A lady in a silk gown attended the event with her fiance. Later on that day she found him cheating on her with another woman vanquish with jealousy and overcome with disappointment she jumped off the building, tragically ending her life. Till this day people who visit the hotel claim to see a woman now known as “the Woman in Red”, wandering the halls of the hotel.

– Yuan Liu and Citlali Perez