Last updated October 2026
The most haunted places in Chicago are the Congress Plaza Hotel, the alley behind the site of the 1903 Iroquois Theatre fire, the Biograph Theater where John Dillinger was shot, Lincoln Park Zoo on the grounds of the old City Cemetery, and Resurrection Cemetery, home of the city’s most famous ghost. Here are 20 haunted spots you can actually visit, with what’s true, what’s legend, and how to get there.
by Jill Halpin
In a Nutshell
- Most haunted hotel: the Congress Plaza Hotel on Michigan Avenue, open since 1893.
- Most tragic site: Couch Place, the alley behind the former Iroquois Theatre, where 602 people died in 1903.
- Most famous ghost: Resurrection Mary, the hitchhiker of Archer Avenue in suburban Justice.
- Best haunted cluster: Lincoln Park, where the Biograph, the Red Lion Pub, the zoo, and the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre site are walkable.
- Need a car: Resurrection Cemetery and Bachelors Grove Cemetery are in the suburbs.
Chicago’s ghost stories aren’t random. They grow out of real events, from the Great Fire of 1871 to Prohibition-era gang wars and the Leopold and Loeb case, and that history is what makes a haunted walk here feel different from a haunted house. My roundup of Chicago history facts covers more of the backstory. Below, I’ve noted which details are documented and which are legend.
Chicago’s Most Haunted Hotels
1. Congress Plaza Hotel — 520 S. Michigan Ave
If you visit only one haunted place, make it this one, because you can walk right in. The Congress opened in 1893 to house visitors to the World’s Columbian Exposition, and over more than 130 years it has collected more ghost stories than any other building in the city.
The lore includes a ghostly bride on the upper floors, phantom knocking on doors with no one in the hall, cold spots, and a one-legged spirit nicknamed Peg Leg Johnny. Al Capone and H.H. Holmes are both said to have spent time here. The original Chicago Hauntings ghost bus tour meets inside the hotel’s Congress Lounge, which is the easiest way to see the place: grab a drink in the lobby bar and soak it in. It sits at the south end of the Loop across from Grant Park, a short walk from the Harrison Red Line stop.
2. The Drake Hotel — 140 E. Walton Pl
The Drake, at the top of the Magnificent Mile in the Gold Coast, has been one of Chicago’s grand hotels since 1920, and it comes with its own legend: the Lady in Red. As the story goes, a woman in a red gown caught her husband with another woman at a New Year’s Eve party and jumped from an upper-floor window. Guests and staff have reported a woman in red drifting through the Palm Court and nearby rooms, then vanishing.
Haunted Theaters
3. The Iroquois Theatre Site and Death Alley — 24 W. Randolph St
This is the most tragic place on this list, and the history is all documented. On December 30, 1903, fire broke out during a packed holiday matinee of Mr. Bluebeard at the brand-new Iroquois Theatre, which had been advertised as “absolutely fireproof.” A stage light ignited a curtain, the safety curtain jammed, and exits were locked or hard to open. 602 people died, most of them women and children, making it the deadliest single-building fire in U.S. history. The disaster drove sweeping fire-code reforms, including the push-bar exit doors now found in public buildings everywhere.
Couch Place, the narrow alley behind the theater between Randolph and Lake streets, is where many victims died trying to escape, and it earned the name Death Alley. Ghost tour guides and visitors describe cold spots and an oppressive feeling there after dark. The site is now the James M. Nederlander Theatre in the Loop theater district, steps from the Washington and Lake L stops. My guide to Chicago’s historic theaters covers the rest of the district.
4. The Biograph Theater — 2433 N. Lincoln Ave
On July 22, 1934, FBI agents shot bank robber John Dillinger, then Public Enemy No. 1, as he left the Biograph after watching Manhattan Melodrama. He’d been set up by Anna Sage, remembered as the “Woman in Red,” who tipped off the FBI. Dillinger died in the alley beside the theater, and his ghost is said to linger there.
The 1914 building still stands on Lincoln Avenue in Lincoln Park, and the Red Lion Pub sits right across the street, so pair the two in one stop. The Fullerton L station, served by the Red, Brown, and Purple lines, is a short walk north.
Chicago’s Haunted Zoo
5. Lincoln Park Zoo — 2001 N. Clark St
Here’s the fact that changes how you see Lincoln Park: much of the park, including the zoo, sits on the old Chicago City Cemetery, the city’s main burial ground in the mid-1800s. When the city moved the cemetery after the Civil War, many graves were never relocated, and remains have turned up during construction over the years.
The ghost lore includes figures in Victorian clothing that appear and vanish, and a woman said to show up near the old Lion House. The zoo is free and open every day, and in October it runs Haunted History Tours with author Adam Selzer for ages 16 and up.
Haunted Churches and Cemeteries
6. Resurrection Cemetery — 7200 S. Archer Ave, Justice, IL
If you know one Chicago ghost story, it’s probably Resurrection Mary, one of the best-known “vanishing hitchhiker” legends in the country. As the story goes, a young woman was killed in a hit-and-run in the 1930s after leaving a dance at the Oh Henry Ballroom (later the Willowbrook Ballroom) and was buried at Resurrection Cemetery. Ever since, drivers on Archer Avenue have reported picking up a young woman in a white dress who asks for a ride and disappears as they pass the cemetery gates.
In one of the most retold versions, a passerby in 1976 reported seeing a woman gripping the cemetery’s gate bars from the inside, and the bars were later said to be bent and scorched. Resurrection Cemetery is in suburban Justice, southwest of the city, so you’ll need a car, and remember it’s an active cemetery where families visit loved ones.
7. Holy Name Cathedral — 735 N. State St
Holy Name’s dark side comes from the gangland history right outside its doors. In 1924, North Side gang boss Dion O’Banion was shot dead in his flower shop across State Street, and in 1926 his successor, Hymie Weiss, was gunned down nearby, a shooting that left bullet marks on the cathedral’s cornerstone. Some visitors describe a heavy, watched feeling around the building, which is a short walk from the Chicago Red Line station.
8. Bachelors Grove Cemetery — 143rd St & Midlothian Turnpike, Midlothian, IL
This small, long-abandoned cemetery in the Rubio Woods Forest Preserve, in the southwest suburbs, is often called one of the most haunted cemeteries in America. Burials date to the 1800s, and after decades of neglect and vandalism the reports multiplied. The most famous is the “White Lady” or “Madonna of Bachelors Grove,” said to appear near the pond. A 1991 photo released by the Ghost Research Society appears to show a translucent woman sitting on a tombstone and is still debated today.
You reach the cemetery on foot along an old road through the woods. Cook County forest preserves close at sunset, so plan a daytime visit; the gray autumn afternoon is the atmospheric choice anyway.
9. Graceland Cemetery — 4001 N. Clark St
Graceland, on the North Side near Wrigleyville, is one of Chicago’s most beautiful cemeteries and the resting place of Daniel Burnham, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Marshall Field, Jack Johnson, and Allan Pinkerton. Its best-known ghost story centers on the statue of a little girl, Inez Clarke, inside a glass case; legend says the statue vanishes from its case during thunderstorms, though historians have questioned parts of the Inez story itself. Look for Lorado Taft’s hooded bronze Eternal Silence, which locals have long called the Statue of Death.
More of Chicago’s Most Haunted Places
10. The Red Lion Pub — 2446 N. Lincoln Ave
If you’re going to be haunted, you might as well have a pint while it happens. London-born John Cordwell opened the Red Lion in 1984 in an 1882 building that had been a Wild West-themed saloon, and the pub became famous for its ghosts, including a bearded man, a playful young woman, and a cowboy. Patrons told of being locked in restroom stalls by unseen hands.
One thing most ghost lists leave out: the original building was torn down in 2008. John’s son, Colin Cordwell, rebuilt the pub from the ground up and reopened it in 2014, with three fireplaces, book-lined walls, and 14 taps. Whether the ghosts moved back in is up to you. It’s across Lincoln Avenue from the Biograph, and you can reserve a table through the Red Lion Pub.
11. Hull-House — 800 S. Halsted St
Hull-House, the settlement house Jane Addams founded in 1889, is one of the most important landmarks of American social reform, and also one of the city’s most storied haunts. Its most famous tale is the “Devil Baby”: in the early 1900s, rumors of a demon child kept inside drew crowds to the door, and Addams later wrote about the episode. A Lady in White is said to wander the upper floors.
The surviving house is now the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum on the University of Illinois Chicago campus. In recent years it has run “The Haunting of Hull-House” night tours each October for ages 16 and up, led by a museum educator, so check its calendar for current dates. Note that the house has stairs and no elevator because of its landmark status.
12. Chicago Water Tower — 806 N. Michigan Ave
The limestone Water Tower on the Magnificent Mile is one of the few structures that survived the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, which killed roughly 300 people and destroyed some 17,000 buildings. The legend: a worker who stayed at his post as the fire closed in was later found hanged inside, and passersby still report a figure in the tower’s windows at night. Fact or folklore, it’s a powerful reminder of the fire, and one of the stops in my guide to Chicago landmarks.
13. The Eastland Disaster Site — Chicago River, between Clark and LaSalle Streets
On July 24, 1915, the excursion steamer SS Eastland rolled onto its side while still tied to its dock, killing 844 people, most of them Western Electric employees and their families headed to a company picnic. Entire families were lost. Victims were taken to a nearby armory that later became Harpo Studios, home of The Oprah Winfrey Show.
Today the site sits along the Chicago Riverwalk, where a historical marker tells the story. People report hearing cries from the water and feeling sudden waves of grief. More people died here than in the Great Fire, yet few visitors know the story.
14. The H.H. Holmes “Murder Castle” Site — 63rd & Wallace St, Englewood
If you’ve read Erik Larson’s The Devil in the White City, you know this story. H.H. Holmes, born Herman Webster Mudgett, built a three-story building in Englewood in the early 1890s and rented rooms during the 1893 World’s Fair. Tales of hidden rooms and trapdoors have grown over the years, and historians say many were exaggerated. Holmes confessed to 27 murders, though some of the people he named turned out to be alive, and he was hanged in 1896.
The building was damaged by fire in 1895 and demolished in 1938, and a U.S. Post Office now stands on part of the site at 611 W. 63rd St. There’s no memorial, and it’s a working post office, so look from the outside rather than treating it as an attraction.
15. The Site of the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre — 2122 N. Clark St
On February 14, 1929, men dressed as police officers lined up seven men tied to Bugs Moran’s North Side gang against a garage wall and opened fire with submachine guns. The killing is widely attributed to Al Capone’s outfit and remains the most notorious gangland hit in American history. The garage was torn down in 1967, and the site in Lincoln Park is now a quiet lawn beside a senior residence. The bullet-scarred bricks were bought by a Canadian businessman and are now displayed at the Mob Museum in Las Vegas. Visitors report dogs reacting strangely here and a sudden sense of dread.
16. The Rookery Building — 209 S. LaSalle St
The Rookery, designed by Burnham and Root in 1888 with a lobby remodeled by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1905, is one of the Loop’s architectural treasures. Its name comes from the crows that roosted on the temporary city hall that stood here after the Great Fire. The ghost stories here are thin, mostly figures in period clothing in the lobby after hours, but the light court alone is worth the detour. My guide to the Loop’s lesser-known stops has more nearby.
17. The Site of Fort Dearborn — Michigan Ave & Wacker Dr
Before Chicago was a city, Fort Dearborn stood at the mouth of the Chicago River. On August 15, 1812, during the War of 1812, the garrison and settlers evacuating the fort were attacked by Potawatomi warriors to the south, near what’s now 18th Street and Prairie Avenue, and dozens were killed. Markers at Michigan Avenue and Wacker Drive show where the fort stood, and some visitors claim to see figures in early-1800s military dress by the river.
18. The Couch Tomb — Lincoln Park, behind the Chicago History Museum
Want proof the old City Cemetery was real? Here it is. The stone Couch family tomb, built for hotelier Ira Couch, is the last marked grave left from the cemetery, standing alone in Lincoln Park just south of the zoo. It’s free to see any time, and an easy add-on to a zoo visit; my guide to Lincoln Park’s parks and gardens covers the rest of the park.
19. The Former Chicago Historical Society Building — 632 N. Dearborn St
This Romanesque stone fortress in River North was built in 1892 as the Chicago Historical Society’s second home; its first building on the same spot burned in the Great Fire. From the 1980s it housed a string of nightclubs, most famously Excalibur and later Castle, which closed in 2015, and the building has been the subject of paranormal reports for decades. Many believe it’s haunted by victims of the Great Fire.
20. The Origin Site of the Great Chicago Fire — 558 W. DeKoven St
On the evening of October 8, 1871, fire broke out in or near the barn behind Patrick and Catherine O’Leary’s home on DeKoven Street, southwest of the Loop. It burned for two days and leveled more than three square miles of the city. The Chicago Fire Academy, a working fire department training center, now stands on the spot, and some visitors report smelling smoke with no source.
Recently Closed
Ole St. Andrew’s Inn, the Scottish pub at 5938 N. Broadway in Edgewater with a resident ghost named Frank, has closed. If you see it on older haunted lists, skip the trip.
Plan a Haunted Route
Most of these spots fall into two walkable clusters, and the CTA gets you to both. In Lincoln Park, the Biograph, the Red Lion, the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre site, the Couch Tomb, and the zoo are all within a short walk; use the Fullerton L station or the #22 Clark bus. Downtown, the Congress Plaza, Death Alley, the Rookery, the Eastland site, and Fort Dearborn are all in or along the edge of the Loop. My Chicago CTA guide explains fares and lines.
Pro tip: Do the Loop sites at dusk, when the alleys get atmospheric, then end at the Congress Plaza’s lobby bar. Save Resurrection Cemetery and Bachelors Grove for a separate daytime drive, since they’re in the suburbs and the forest preserve closes at sunset.
Prefer a Guide? Chicago Ghost Tours
A good guide fills in the stories you can’t get from a plaque. Gangsters and Ghosts runs daily walking tours from Wacker Drive through the Loop, including Death Alley and the Congress Hotel. American Ghost Walks runs the Lincoln Park Hauntings ghost tour, a two-hour walk past the old City Cemetery site and the zoo, plus the Saturday-night ghost bus that leaves from the Congress Plaza. For prices, ages, and the October-only options like the zoo’s tours and a haunted river cruise, see my full guide to the best Chicago ghost tours to book.
In town for Halloween itself? My guide to things to do in Chicago for Halloween has the 2026 parades and events, and after a night of ghost stories, the city’s Halloween pop-up bars keep the mood going.
The Chicago Weekly
Chicago’s history shows up in places you’d never guess, and its haunted tours and events change with the seasons. I send one email a week with what’s happening in the city and what’s worth your time. Come along.
Whether you believe in ghosts or just love dark history, these places hold the stories that shaped Chicago. Walk Death Alley at dusk, stand by the river where the Eastland rolled over, and see whether you start looking over your shoulder. Then, if you’re here in autumn, round out the trip with my picks for fall in Chicago.