Chicago is known for being one of the most bustling metropolises in America, but it is also a bit of a paranormal hotspot with a growing reputation as the most haunted city in the country! There are lots of famous spooky tales linked to the windy city, including America’s first serial killer HH Holmes. With so much paranormal activity going on, it is only right that there is also going to be at least a couple of extremely haunted hotels to be found!
Join us in exploring the most haunted hotels in Chicago, IL.
1. Drake HotelStay Here
According to local legend, the tenth floor of Chicago’s historic Drake Hotel is haunted by ‘the lady in red’. The legend states that the woman was attending the New Year’s Eve party at the hotel in 1920. However, she happened to catch her fiance with another woman and in her despair she ran to the tenth floor and leapt to her death from one of the windows. The tragedy marred what was to be the hotel’s historic opening night gala!
Ever since the woman took her own life, guest of the Drake Hotel have reported the apparition of a woman in a vibrant red dress in the Gold Coast Room, in Palm Court, Wandering the top floor and also up on the roof. She seems doomed to repeat her tragic demise forever and is the reason why the Drake is one of the most haunted hotels in Chicago, IL.
Learn more about the hauntings at the Drake Hotel…
2. Congress Plaza HotelBook a Room
Without any doubt, the most haunted hotel in Chicago, IL has to be The Congress Plaza Hotel – known simply as ‘The Congress’ to locals. It should come as no surprise whatsoever that the hotel is a hub of paranormal activity if you have taken a look at the hotel’s history. This is certainly one place with a very colorful past!
The hotel was originally constructed for the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893 – now better known as the World’s Fair. The idea was that the new hotel was going to demonstrate how the city had managed to recover from the Great Fire of 1871.
Unfortunately, America’s first serial killer Dr. HH Holmes ended up using the hotel as a place to meet young ladies under the guise of offering them a job in his pharmacy. What he would actually do is take them to his torture castle a few blocks from the hotel!
He wasn’t the only shady character to frequent The Congress It is also believed that Al Capone called the hotel home and kept a suite on the 8th floor of the North tower. Guests say that Capone is still hanging around the hotel – especially around his former suite.
Al Capone is not the only spirit that is said to be haunting the Congress Plaza Hotel! In fact, we have barely even scratched the surface! Other spooks in the North tower of the hotel include a mischievous little boy on the 6th floor. It is said that in the 1930s his mother, a young polish woman, was waiting at the hotel for her husband. He never arrived and she became increasingly more depressed until she threw her two sons out of the 6th floor window before jumping to her own death. However, one of the boys’ bodies did not make it to the morgue and it is him who is believed to be sticking around playing pranks on the living!
In the Gold Room there is an apparition known as ‘’The Hand of Mystery’. It is said that an employee was trapped behind the wall when it was plastered and ended up suffocating. Now his hand is seen reaching out of the wall! The Florentine Room also has a spirit, this time in te form of a female who whispers in the ear of anyone sitting alone in the hall. There are also reports of her moving the chairs at nighttime.
Meanwhile, Peg Leg Johnny is the spirit of a hobo who died at the hotel. He roams the halls and likes turning lights and appliances on and off!
The creepiest spirit at The Congress seems to inhabit Room 441 in the South Tower. A disproportionate number of reports stem from this particular room. The spirit is female and appears as a shadow at the foot of the bed before kicking the guest to wake them up. Nobody knows who she is or why she is haunting the room – just that she wants it all to herself!
