Everywhere is Haunted journeys to the Congress Hotel in downtown Chicago, IL
Al Capone – he’s the stuff that mob legend is made of. And, it would seem, a resident of the Congress Plaza Hotel (520 S. Michigan Ave.) to this very day. Yes, patrons of the 122-year-old, 871-room hotel have reported seeing the ghost of old Scarface roam the halls. In 2016, in fact, Leisure + Travel magazine declared the Congress Plaza Hotel the most haunted place in the State of Illinois, noting that Capone set up his headquarters here, and his ghost is most frequently seen near his old suite on the 8th floor.
Capone isn’t the only ghost taking up residence at the hotel, however. Our favorite phantom is the loveable Peg Leg Johnny. Little is known about this spooky hobo ghost, but the Internet tells us that the incorrigible spirit has an urge to turn room lights and electronics on and off, and generally cause havoc for guests.
However, ghost experts report that the hotel’s most haunted spot is Room 441, where a female ghost reportedly kicks guests awake from the foot of the bed. As you can imagine, it’s a frequently requested reservation.
Not to be outdone, the ghost of a boy also reportedly haunts the Congress. Lore contends that his mother, distraught over her immigrant status, became increasingly troubled and threw both her children from a hotel window in despair, jumping out herself straight afterwards. The boy’s ghost, like Peg Leg Johnny, causes mischief, but his shenanigans are largely limited to rearranging furniture and the like. That’s obnoxious but forgivable, right?
While the Congress Plaza is clearly teeming with apparitions, the hotel’s most enduring creepy legacy, perhaps, is connected to one of its real-life patrons, America’s first serial killer, Dr. H.H. Holmes. Holmes is known to have loitered around the hotel lobby in search of new victims. He was remembered most recently in the book Devil in the White City, where a retelling of Holmes’ story reveals that the psychopath would lure young women back to his pharmacy — and a hidden torture chamber.
Special thank you to ChooseChicago.com for information on the Congress Hotel.
The premise of Everywhere is Haunted is that if what paranormal researchers tell us is true then everywhere people live, die and travel through should be leave energy and be possibly haunted. We take our camera, REM Pod, EMF meter and microphone out to random locations to find out if there is any paranormal activity.
