Chicago is one of the most haunted cities in America — and honestly, it has earned that title. Between the Great Fire of 1871, the deadliest theater fire in U.S. history, a ship that capsized and killed 844 people while still tied to the dock, and America’s first serial killer building a hotel designed for murder during the 1893 World’s Fair, the city has more dark history per square mile than almost anywhere else in the country. These are the 20 most haunted places in Chicago, from infamous crime scenes to eerie cemeteries to a pub where the ghosts are (mostly) friendly.
by Jill Halpin
✶ QUICK ANSWER: The most haunted places in Chicago include the Congress Plaza Hotel (ghostly bride on the 12th floor), Resurrection Cemetery (home of “Resurrection Mary,” Chicago’s most famous ghost), the Iroquois Theatre site and its “Death Alley” (602 killed in an 1903 fire), the Biograph Theater (where Dillinger was shot), and Bachelors Grove Cemetery (one of the most haunted cemeteries in America). Scroll down for all 20 haunted spots, plus ghost tour recommendations.
Chicago’s history reads like a true crime anthology — the Leopold and Loeb kidnapping that gripped the nation in 1924, Al Capone’s gang wars and the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, the Great Fire that leveled four square miles of the city. With that kind of past, it’s no surprise that ghost stories are woven into the fabric of nearly every neighborhood, from Prairie Avenue to Michigan Avenue, from Lincoln Park to the South Side.
Chicago’s Most Haunted Hotels
1. Congress Plaza Hotel — 520 S. Michigan Ave
If Chicago has a single “most haunted” building, the Congress Plaza Hotel is the one. Opened in 1893 to host visitors to the World’s Columbian Exposition, this Michigan Avenue landmark has accumulated over 130 years of ghost stories — and they just keep coming.
The most persistent reports center on a ghostly bride who wanders the 12th floor in a wedding dress, believed to be the spirit of a woman who leapt from a window on her wedding night. Guests have also reported phantom knocking on doors with no one in the hallway, lights flickering without explanation, and cold spots that appear and vanish throughout the upper floors. Staff members have reported seeing shadow figures in the Gold Room, and some housekeepers reportedly refuse to work certain floors alone.
The hotel has also hosted some of the living’s most notorious figures — Al Capone was a regular, and President Theodore Roosevelt gave a campaign speech from a balcony here. Whether or not you believe in ghosts, the Congress Plaza’s faded grandeur is undeniably atmospheric.
2. The Drake Hotel — 140 E. Walton Pl
One of Chicago’s grandest hotels since 1920, the Drake is haunted by a spirit known as the “Lady in Red.” The story goes that a woman in a crimson gown discovered her husband’s infidelity during a New Year’s Eve party at the hotel and jumped from a 10th-floor window. More than a century later, guests and staff still report seeing a woman in red drifting through the Palm Court and the Gold Coast Room, only to vanish when approached.
She’s been spotted so frequently that the Drake has essentially embraced her as part of the hotel’s lore. If you book a stay, ask the concierge about her — they’ll know exactly who you’re talking about.
Haunted Theaters
3. The Iroquois Theatre Site (Now the James M. Nederlander Theatre) — 24 W. Randolph St
This is arguably the most tragic location on this list. On December 30, 1903, a fire broke out during a packed holiday matinee of the musical Mr. Bluebeard at the brand-new Iroquois Theatre — a venue that had been marketed as “absolutely fireproof.” It was anything but. When a spotlight sparked and ignited a muslin curtain above the stage, the asbestos safety curtain jammed, exit doors were locked or opened inward, and a backdraft of superheated air roared through the auditorium when the rear stage door was opened.
602 people were killed — mostly women and children on winter holiday. Bodies piled up at locked exits and at the base of stairways. It remains the deadliest single-building fire in American history until the September 11 attacks. The alley behind the theater, Couch Place (known as “Death Alley”), was used as a temporary morgue where hundreds of bodies were laid out in the snow. The disaster led to sweeping fire safety reforms nationwide, including the invention of the panic bar — the push-bar exit doors you see in every public building today.
If you walk through Couch Place today — a narrow pedestrian alley between Randolph and Washington in the Loop — you may feel a chill that has nothing to do with the weather. Visitors and ghost tour guides consistently report cold spots, unexplained sounds, and a heavy, oppressive feeling in the alley, especially after dark.
4. The Biograph Theater — 2433 N. Lincoln Ave
On the evening of July 22, 1934, FBI agents gunned down bank robber John Dillinger — then Public Enemy No. 1 — as he stepped out of the Biograph Theater after watching Manhattan Melodrama with Clark Gable. Dillinger was set up by Anna Sage (the “Woman in Red”), a brothel madam who tipped off the FBI in exchange for help with her deportation case. He was shot three times and died in the alley beside the theater.
Dillinger and his gang had robbed 24 banks and four police stations across the Midwest, and his death made front-page news worldwide. The Biograph is now home to the Victory Gardens Theater (which reopened in 2025 after several years of going dark), but the building retains its original 1914 red brick and terra cotta facade and is a designated Chicago Landmark on the National Register of Historic Places. Dillinger’s apparition is said to still linger near the alley where he fell. The Red Lion Pub, one of Chicago’s most haunted bars, sits just a block away at 2446 N. Lincoln — making this stretch of Lincoln Avenue a one-two punch for ghost enthusiasts.
Chicago’s Haunted Zoo
5. Lincoln Park Zoo — 2001 N. Clark St
Here’s a fact that changes the way you look at Lincoln Park forever: the zoo, the park, and much of the surrounding area were built on top of the old Chicago City Cemetery, which was the city’s main burial ground from the 1840s through the 1860s. When the city decided to relocate the cemetery after the Civil War (partly due to health concerns about groundwater contamination), most of the estimated 35,000 bodies were supposed to be moved. Most were not.
An estimated 12,000 or more bodies still rest beneath the zoo and park grounds. Construction projects in Lincoln Park have occasionally unearthed human remains — including as recently as the last few decades. It’s no surprise, then, that the zoo has long been a hotspot for paranormal reports. Visitors have described seeing figures in Victorian-era clothing who appear suddenly and vanish just as quickly. One particularly persistent ghost is a woman who appears near the Lion House, strolling calmly past visitors who don’t realize she’s not quite of this world. Her reflection has been spotted in restroom mirrors near the exhibit — and when people turn around, no one is there.
Other reports include flickering lights, doors that open and close on their own, and an unsettling feeling in certain corners of the park after dark. The zoo is free to visit (it’s one of the last free zoos in the country), but some of its oldest residents may not be listed in the exhibit guide.
Haunted Churches and Cemeteries
6. Resurrection Cemetery — 7200 Archer Ave, Justice, IL
If you know only one Chicago ghost story, it’s probably this one. Resurrection Mary is Chicago’s most famous ghost and one of the most documented “vanishing hitchhiker” legends anywhere in the world.
According to the legend, a young woman named Mary was killed in a hit-and-run accident in the 1930s after leaving a dance at the Oh Henry Ballroom (now the Willowbrook Ballroom) in Willow Springs, Illinois, following an argument with her date. She was buried at Resurrection Cemetery on Archer Avenue. Since her death, dozens of motorists driving Archer Avenue at night have reported picking up a young woman in a white dress who asks for a ride and then vanishes as the car approaches the cemetery gates.
The sightings are remarkably consistent across decades — she appears at night, she’s always in white, and she always disappears near the cemetery. Some drivers have reported her appearing directly in their headlights on the road. In 1976, a passing motorist noticed a young woman gripping the cemetery’s iron fence gates from the inside — when police arrived, they found the bars bent and scorched where her hands had been. The cemetery’s caretakers eventually replaced that section of the fence, but the story persists.
Because so many credible witnesses have come forward over the years — including taxi drivers, police officers, and ordinary commuters — Resurrection Mary remains one of the most compelling ghost stories in American folklore.
7. Holy Name Cathedral — 735 N. State St
Holy Name Cathedral has been the seat of the Archdiocese of Chicago since 1875, but its spiritual significance extends into darker territory. The cathedral sits in the heart of what was once Chicago’s most notorious gangland territory. In 1924, North Side gang boss Dion O’Banion was shot dead in his flower shop directly across State Street from the cathedral. Two years later, his successor Hymie Weiss was gunned down on the steps of the building next to the cathedral — you can still see bullet-pocked stonework on the building’s facade.
Some visitors report a sense of unease or the feeling of being watched in and around the cathedral, which has been rebuilt twice (after fires in 1871 and 1874) and is a stunning piece of Gothic Revival architecture worth visiting regardless of its ghostly reputation.
8. Bachelors Grove Cemetery — 143rd St & Midlothian Turnpike, Midlothian, IL
If Resurrection Cemetery has Chicago’s most famous ghost, Bachelors Grove has the most ghosts, period. This tiny, abandoned cemetery in the Rubio Woods Forest Preserve southwest of the city is regularly cited as one of the most haunted cemeteries in America — and possibly the world.
The first burials here date to the 1830s, but the cemetery was largely abandoned by the 1960s and fell into disrepair, with headstones vandalized and toppled. That’s when the reports started pouring in. The most famous apparition is the “White Lady” (sometimes called the “Madonna of Bachelors Grove”), a sorrowful woman in a flowing white gown who floats near the cemetery’s lily-covered pond. She’s been captured in what many consider one of the most convincing ghost photographs ever taken — a 1991 image by the Ghost Research Society that appears to show a translucent woman sitting on a tombstone.
Other reported phenomena include the “Phantom Farmhouse” — a two-story house that materializes in the woods and then vanishes — mysterious orbs of light, shadow figures moving among the headstones, and phantom cars that appear on the Midlothian Turnpike before dissolving into nothing. The cemetery is accessible via a half-mile trail through the woods, which adds significantly to the atmosphere.
9. Graceland Cemetery — 4001 N. Clark St
Graceland is one of Chicago’s most beautiful cemeteries — the final resting place of architects Daniel Burnham and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, retailer Marshall Field, boxing champion Jack Johnson, and detective Allan Pinkerton, among many other luminaries. It’s also where many victims of the 1903 Iroquois Theatre fire were buried.
The most famous ghost here is “Inez” — the spirit of a young girl named Inez Clarke whose monument features a life-size statue of her under a glass box. According to legend, the statue has been found outside its protective case during thunderstorms, and night watchmen have reported seeing a child running and playing among the headstones. Graceland also offers periodic walking tours of its grounds, which are worth visiting for the architecture and landscape design alone — sculptor Lorado Taft’s hauntingly beautiful Eternal Silence statue (also called “the Statue of Death”) is one of the most striking cemetery monuments in the country.
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. The Red Lion Pub is widely considered the most haunted bar in Chicago, and it leans into the reputation with enthusiasm. Founded as an English pub by former RAF pilot John Cordwell in 1984 (and continued by his son Colin), the Red Lion sits in a building with a history that predates it — and a cast of spectral characters that rivals any theater.
Reported ghosts include a bearded man, a young woman named Sharon who enjoys playing tricks, a woman in 1920s attire, and (improbably) a cowboy. Patrons have reported being trapped in bathroom stalls by unseen forces, plates flying from servers’ hands, and cold spots that move through the bar. The pub’s three fireplaces, dark wood interior, and British memorabilia give it an atmosphere that’s perfect for ghost stories — whether the ghosts are present or not. Open Wednesday through Sunday, with 14 drafts on tap and a locally sourced menu.
11. Hull House — 800 S. Halsted St
Founded by Nobel Peace Prize winner Jane Addams in 1889 as a settlement house for immigrants, Hull House is one of the most important social reform landmarks in American history. It’s also deeply haunted — or at least, people have believed so for over a century.
The most famous tale is the “Devil Baby,” a story that circulated so widely in the early 1900s that Addams herself wrote about it in frustration — hundreds of people showed up at the door demanding to see the demonic infant that rumor said was being kept inside. Reports of a “Lady in White” wandering the upper floors have persisted for decades. The Hull House Museum (now part of the University of Illinois Chicago campus) offers evening ghost tours called “The Haunting of Hull-House” that explore these legends with a museum educator — it’s one of the best and most historically grounded ghost experiences in the city.
12. Chicago Water Tower — 806 N. Michigan Ave
One of only a handful of structures to survive the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, the Water Tower stands on Michigan Avenue’s Magnificent Mile as a limestone monument to the city’s resilience. It’s also said to harbor the ghost of a man who was trapped inside during the fire.
According to the legend, a pump worker stayed at his post inside the tower trying to keep the water flowing as the fire raged, and was found hanging inside after the flames had passed — whether from suicide or accident depends on the telling. Late-night passersby have reported seeing a figure silhouetted in the tower’s windows. Whether fact or folklore, the Water Tower is a powerful physical reminder of the fire that killed approximately 300 people and destroyed 17,000 buildings across four square miles.
13. The Eastland Disaster Site — Chicago River, between Clark and LaSalle Streets
On the morning of July 24, 1915, the excursion steamer SS Eastland rolled onto its side while still tied to the dock in the Chicago River, killing 844 passengers and crew — more passengers than died on the Titanic. The victims were mostly working-class employees of the Western Electric Company and their families, including 22 entire families wiped out in minutes, headed to an annual company picnic across Lake Michigan.
The ship capsized in about 20 feet of water, just yards from shore, between the Clark and LaSalle Street bridges. Hundreds were trapped below deck. The makeshift morgue was set up in a nearby armory (later the Harpo Studios building where Oprah Winfrey’s show was filmed — that building also had its share of ghost reports). Bodies were also recovered at the Reid-Murdoch Building at 320 N. Clark Street.
Today, visitors and workers in the Riverwalk area between Clark and LaSalle have reported hearing screams coming from the water, seeing figures along the riverbank, and feeling sudden waves of grief with no apparent cause. A memorial plaque at the site marks the location. Despite being Chicago’s deadliest disaster (more died here than in the Great Fire), the Eastland remains one of the city’s least-known tragedies.
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. Herman Webster Mudgett — better known as Dr. H.H. Holmes — built a three-story building in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood in the early 1890s, timed to capitalize on the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition just three miles away. Advertised as a hotel, the building was designed for murder: soundproof rooms, gas lines Holmes could control to asphyxiate guests, trapdoors, hidden passages, and a basement equipped with acid vats, a dissecting table, and a kiln for disposing of bodies.
Holmes confessed to 27 murders (though only nine were confirmed, and some of the people he “confessed” to killing were found alive). He was hanged in 1896. The building — by then known as the “Murder Castle” — was damaged by a suspicious fire in 1895 and finally demolished in 1938. A U.S. Post Office now stands at 611 W. 63rd Street on a portion of the site. Postal workers have reportedly described the basement as unsettling, and visitors to the area have reported hearing screams and feeling an oppressive energy. American Ghost Walks offers a “Devil in the White City” bus tour that visits the site.
15. The Site of the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre — 2122 N. Clark St
On February 14, 1929, four men dressed as police officers walked into a North Side garage and lined up seven members of Bugs Moran’s gang against a wall and opened fire with Thompson submachine guns. The massacre — almost certainly ordered by Al Capone — was the most infamous gangland killing in American history and shocked the nation out of any remaining romanticism about Prohibition-era outlaws.
The garage at 2122 N. Clark Street was demolished in 1967, and the site is now a landscaped lot adjacent to a senior living facility. But the location still draws visitors, ghost tour groups, and true crime enthusiasts. Dogs are said to behave strangely at the site, and some visitors report hearing the sound of gunfire or feeling a sudden, intense sense of dread. The original brick wall against which the men were shot was dismantled and sold piece by piece — some bricks ended up in a Canadian museum, and individual bricks have been sold at auction.
16. The Rookery Building — 209 S. LaSalle St
The Rookery is one of Chicago’s architectural masterpieces — designed by Burnham and Root in 1888 with a lobby later renovated by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1905. Its name comes from the crows (rooks) that roosted on the temporary city hall that previously occupied the site after the Great Fire. The building is also said to be haunted, with reports of ghostly figures in period clothing appearing in the ornate lobby and upper corridors, particularly after business hours. Whether the ghosts are former tenants, fire victims from the 1871 blaze, or something else entirely depends on who’s telling the story.
17. The Site of Fort Dearborn — Michigan Ave & Wacker Dr (approximate)
Before Chicago was Chicago, there was Fort Dearborn — a U.S. Army outpost established in 1803 at the mouth of the Chicago River. On August 15, 1812, during the War of 1812, the garrison evacuated the fort under orders and was ambushed by a force of Potawatomi warriors roughly a mile and a half south, near what is now 18th Street and Prairie Avenue. Approximately 52 soldiers, militia members, women, and children were killed in what became known as the Battle of Fort Dearborn (or the Fort Dearborn Massacre).
The general area of the original fort — near the south bank of the Chicago River at Michigan Avenue — has been the subject of sporadic ghost reports for over a century, with some visitors claiming to see figures in early 19th-century military dress near the river. A bronze relief marking the fort’s approximate location can be found on the south side of the Michigan Avenue Bridge.
18. Ole St. Andrew’s Inn — 5938 N. Broadway
This Scottish-themed pub in Edgewater is said to be haunted by Frank, a ghost who reportedly lived — and died — in the building when it was a residential hotel. Frank is described as a mischievous but harmless spirit who moves glasses, flickers lights, and makes his presence known to bartenders working alone at closing time. The pub leans into its haunted reputation and is a beloved neighborhood institution with excellent Scotch whisky selection.
19. Excalibur Nightclub — 632 N. Dearborn St
The building that housed the Excalibur nightclub (now operating as Castle Chicago) was originally built in 1892 as the home of the Chicago Historical Society. It’s a Romanesque stone fortress designed by Henry Ives Cobb, and it has been the subject of paranormal reports for decades. Multiple paranormal investigation teams have documented cold spots, electromagnetic anomalies, and unexplained sounds — particularly in the basement areas. The building’s history as a morgue overflow during the Eastland disaster in 1915 adds to its haunted credentials.
20. The Origin Site of the Great Chicago Fire — 558 W. DeKoven St
On the evening of October 8, 1871, a fire started in or near the barn behind Patrick and Catherine O’Leary’s home at 137 DeKoven Street (now 558 W. DeKoven). The fire spread north and east, burning for two days and killing approximately 300 people while destroying 17,000 structures across 3.3 square miles. The Chicago Fire Academy now stands at the approximate site where the fire began, and while the building itself is a working fire department training facility, the surrounding area has long been associated with ghost sightings — figures in 19th-century clothing, the smell of smoke with no source, and an oppressive heat that some visitors report feeling even on cool days.
💡 PRO TIP: Many of these haunted spots are concentrated in a few neighborhoods. You can visit the Biograph Theater, Red Lion Pub, Lincoln Park Zoo, St. Valentine’s Day Massacre site, and Graceland Cemetery all in one Lincoln Park walking tour. Downtown, the Congress Plaza Hotel, Iroquois Theatre/Couch Place, Eastland disaster site, Rookery Building, and Fort Dearborn site are all within walking distance of each other in the Loop and along the Riverwalk.
Plan Your Ghost Tour of Haunted Chicago
The best way to experience Chicago’s haunted side is with a guide who knows the stories — and where the ghosts are most likely to show up. Here are some of the most popular ghost tour options:
American Ghost Walks offers several Chicago tours, including the Lincoln Park Hauntings Ghost Tour (a 2-hour walking tour past the old City Cemetery, Lincoln Park Zoo, and the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre site), the Original Chicago Hauntings Ghost Tour by bus, the Devil in the White City Bus Tour (visiting the H.H. Holmes Murder Castle site and World’s Fair grounds), and the Resurrection Mary Tour — a 4-hour bus tour to Archer Avenue’s most haunted landmarks. They also run a St. Valentine’s Day Massacre Ghost Tour Pub Crawl around Valentine’s Day each year.
Gangsters and Ghosts runs daily walking tours from the Loop (meeting near the Royal Sonesta Hotel at 71 E. Wacker Drive) at 11 AM, 1 PM, 4 PM, and 8 PM, covering ghost stories, mob history, and Chicago’s dark side in one tour.
Nightly Spirits offers a Haunts and Hooligans Pub Tour — a ghost walk combined with a pub crawl through some of Chicago’s most haunted bars. Great for groups, date nights, and anyone who prefers their ghost stories with a cocktail.
The Haunting of Hull-House is an evening ghost tour led by a museum educator at the Hull House Museum. It’s one of the most historically grounded ghost experiences in Chicago — less theatrical, more genuinely eerie.
Choose Chicago maintains a comprehensive list of all available ghost tours, including seasonal options and special Halloween programming.
💡 PRO TIP: Chicago ghost tours run year-round — not just at Halloween. In fact, winter tours can be even more atmospheric. There’s nothing quite like walking through Death Alley behind the Iroquois Theatre on a bitter January night when the wind is howling and you’re the only ones in the alley. Most tours run rain or shine, so dress for the weather.
Whether you believe in the paranormal or just love dark history, these 20 haunted spots offer a glimpse into the stories that shaped Chicago — the fires, the disasters, the crimes, and the tragedies that the city has absorbed into its bones over nearly two centuries. Walk through Couch Place at dusk. Stand at the Eastland site along the river. Visit Bachelors Grove on a gray autumn afternoon. Even the most committed skeptic may find themselves looking over their shoulder.
Watch out for cold spots — and happy haunting.
More to Explore in Chicago
- A Brief History of Chicago
- Historic Theaters in Chicago
- 15 Must-See Art Institute of Chicago Exhibits
- 12 Best Restaurants Near the Art Institute of Chicago
- Best Things to Do With Kids in Lincoln Park
- 40 Best Romantic Date Ideas in Chicago
- Navy Pier Fireworks 2026: Schedule, Viewing Spots & Special Events
About the Author
Journalist Jill Halpin is a Chicago-based travel expert who has walked through Death Alley after dark more times than is probably advisable, visited Bachelors Grove on a foggy October morning, and once may or may not have seen something unexplainable at the Red Lion Pub. She recommends the winter ghost tours.