H.H. Holmes, the Eastland disaster, and Resurrection Mary. Chicago's 13 haunted stops. 3 free, self-guided.
On December 30, 1903, the Iroquois Theatre fire killed 602 people in fifteen minutes — locked exits, a jammed fire curtain, bodies stacked ten feet high. Chicago's dead don't rest quietly. This 13-stop self-guided ghost tour walks you through the city's most violent history, and every stop is free. At Resurrection Cemetery on Archer Avenue, a blonde hitchhiker named Mary Bregovy has been vanishing from backseats since 1934 — handprints burned into the cemetery's iron gates in 1976 were bent from the inside. FBI agents gunned down John Dillinger outside the Biograph Theater on July 22, 1934; staff still see a man in 1930s clothes pacing the lobby. And Bachelor's Grove Cemetery, abandoned since 1965, has produced more documented ghost photographs than any graveyard in Illinois.
In 1874, Lincoln Park Zoo purchased its first animal: a bear cub for ten dollars. The bear became famous for escaping its cage and roaming the park at...
The Drake Hotel opened New Year's Eve 1920, a monument to Chicago's Gilded Age. But its most famous ghost checked in decades later. In the 1920s, a wo...
Jane Addams founded Hull-House in 1889 as a settlement house for Chicago's poorest immigrants. She lived and worked here until her death in 1935, feed...
The Congress Plaza Hotel opened in 1893 for the World's Columbian Exposition. Al Capone kept a suite on the eighth floor. Rooms 441 and 875 are the mo...
Bachelor's Grove Cemetery closed in 1965 after a century of burials and vandalism. It sits abandoned in the Rubio Woods, surrounded by forest, forgott...
December 30, 1903, 3:15 p.m. The Iroquois Theatre was packed with 2,200 people, mostly women and children, watching a matinee of Mr. Blue Beard. A sta...
Since the 1930s, young men driving down Archer Avenue have encountered the same hitchhiker: a beautiful blonde in a white party dress and dancing shoe...
On July 24, 1915, the SS Eastland capsized while still docked on the Chicago River, drowning 844 passengers in 20 feet of water—mostly Western Electri...
This 119-acre Victorian cemetery is the final resting place of Chicago's elite: Marshall Field, George Pullman, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. But it's the...
This Romanesque castle was built in 1892 as the Chicago Historical Society, housing artifacts from the Great Chicago Fire—including charred remains an...
Founded in 1857 by Jesuit priests, Holy Family Church survived the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 thanks to a vow: Father Arnold Damen promised seven perp...
On July 22, 1934, bank robber John Dillinger walked out of this theater after watching "Manhattan Melodrama." FBI agents led by Melvin Purvis were wai...
The Chicago ghost tour includes 13 documented haunted locations.
The first 3 stops are completely free — no account required. To unlock all 13 stops, a History Nearby premium subscription is $4.99/month or $49.99/year.
No. This is a self-guided walking tour. Each stop includes the address, a map pin, and the full haunting story. Walk at your own pace, start anytime, and take any route you like.
Plan for approximately 2.5 hours. This accounts for walking between stops and reading each haunting story. You can also split it across multiple evenings.
The most visited stop on our Chicago tour is Lincoln Park Zoo at 2001 North Clark Street, Chicago.
3 stops free in Chicago. No guide, no schedule — walk at your own pace after dark.
Last updated February 22, 2026. Researched by the History Nearby editorial team.