That’s all you need to know. One of Chicago’s largest and oldest hotels, the Congress was originally named the Auditorium Annex when it was built to house visitors to the Columbian Exposition—the transformative World’s Fair of 1893. But the ghosts of the Congress are not generally those of headline-grabbers. These days the old girl is … The security team reports strange sounds and objects moving by themselves at night. Most leave agreeing that they would rather be alone almost anywhere but in the hallways of this storied monument to Chicago’s troubled past, full of sorrow and secrets, with always room for one more. The south tower was constructed between 1902 and 1907, desig… The Congress Plaza Hotel is known to this day as being one of the most haunted places in Chicago. The Florentine Room, an ornately painted ballroom, was originally also used as a roller rink when the hotel opened to World’s Fair visitors in the 1890s. In its prime it would have been a stunning and majestic hotel. Rather, they are wisps of memory, glimmers of the hundreds of thousands of ordinary guests who have glided through its halls for more than a century, often embroiled in personal drama, heartache and tragedy. Rumors have long flown that it was a room here at the Congress Plaza that partly inspired writer Stephen King to create his short story, 1408, a gripping tale of a professional—and skeptical—ghost hunter who meets his match in a mysterious hotel room (1408) said to be too haunted to lease. Its eleven story edifice was originally designed by architect Clinton J. Warren as an annex to the Auditorium Theater across the street. I chose this particular hotel because it was close to a race I would be running in the morning. A number of drug overdose deaths have also occurred here, and in such rooms guests have reported dark figures, disembodied voices and the dishevelment of their clothes and belongings, often while they are in the bathroom. I booked a night in the Congress Plaza Hotel in Chicago. The Congress Plaza Hotel was built on the corner of Congress Parkway and South Michigan Avenue in 1893 in anticipation of another big festival- the World’s Fair. And perhaps it should come as no surprise since with most hotels in the city there have been a number of deaths involving guests (while they were on site or nearby the hotel). The lintel above the old doorway is, indeed, still quite visible. I think that these days, every time someone calls and asks which room is the most haunted, they tell them a different room number. Copyright Chicago Hauntings Tours. The hotel is quite old and it looks old, you can hear it creak in some areas. © 2020 City Pass, Inc. All rights reserved. The South Tower construction included a magnificent banquet hall, now known as the Gold Room, which would become the first hotel ballroom in America to use air-conditioning. The Congress Plaza Hotel & Convention Center: Haunted? One former hotel operator who worked the property in the 1940s remembers a resident with a wooden leg who always had a big smile and a big tip, who suffered a heart attack at breakfast during his residency and died. CHICAGO, IL — The iconic landmark Congress Plaza Hotel is considered the most haunted spot in Illinois. The name referenced the Auditorium Theater across Congress Parkway, an acoustically magnificent structure designed by blockbuster architectural duo Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan. Even future president Barack Obama and Illinois Governor Patrick Quinn walked their picket line, while the skeleton crew that continued to punch the clock was reported to have pocketed wages of more than thirty percent below the national standard. , a gripping tale of a professional—and skeptical—ghost hunter who meets his match in a mysterious hotel room (1408) said to be too haunted to lease. That said, though, even my general skepticism, I’ve been known to say that if the Congress Hotel isn’t haunted, no place is haunted. An unexplained temperature zone, 20 … And no wonder. They actually host a Haunted Halloween Ball at the Congress at 520 Michigan Avenue. It is said that he was an elderly gentleman—a longtime resident–whose son had come to take him to a nursing home many years ago. If it still had a number, the room would be–believe it or not– number 666. This hotel in Chicago is one of the most prestigious hotels. It wasn't always that way. He went to his room, cut the dry cleaners identification tags out of his clothes, burned his papers, walked to the Lake and shot himself. 1) Congress Plaza Hotel. . The King of Haunted Chicago: Ghosts of the Congress Plaza Hotel. The real-life 1408 was always believed to exist on the Congress’s most haunted floor: the 12th floor of the older North Tower. The third floor hallways are home to a one-legged man, often reported to the front desk by guests who think a vagrant has found his way inside. Though no staff member claims to remember why this room was sealed off forever, window washers tell us it was closed up with the furniture still inside, almost as if even the objects in the room were believed to be cursed. - See 3,407 traveler reviews, 1,626 candid photos, and great deals for The Congress Plaza Hotel & Convention Center at Tripadvisor. Your email address will not be published. The Congress Plaza Hotel at 520 S. Michigan Avenue is one of Chicago’s oldest and largest hotels. With visits from America’s first serial killer to a one-legged ghost, the hotel has many ghost stories to sort through. Stay Overnight In A 127-Year-Old Hotel That’s Said To Be Haunted At Congress Plaza In Illinois. Hotel Congress, Haunted Tales. Haunted level 8 – North Tower. Truly, there seems to be no end to the historic tragedy or of its supernatural manifestations. Congress Plaza Hotel Chicago Guests who've stayed overnight in the hotel's most haunted room, Room 441, have reportedly been awakened by an evil spirit kicking them in the night. See original pics - learn ghostly secrets. As for things hotel guests can actually see, the Congress Plaza Hotel has plenty to offer just by stepping outside its front doors. Other less notorious but just as notable names haunting these halls include the homeless hobo, "Peg Leg Johnny," who was said to have been murdered in the hotel many years ago. The Congress Plaza Hotel & Convention Center: Haunted? Required fields are marked *. WELCOME TO THE OTHER SIDE! The hotel has also played host to presidents, celebrities, performers and foreign dignitaries. Those snapped around the grand piano tend to develop with one or more people missing from the pictures, and the doors tend to be found unlocked no matter how often they are securely shuttered. At some point in time, the spot where this room’s door should be was drywalled over, a piece of baseboard patched in to connect the wood where the doorway once stood. Grover Cleveland, William McKinley, Teddy Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Franklin Roosevelt all made the Congress their base of operations while in Chicago, leading to the hotel’s longtime moniker, “The Home of Presidents.” In 1912, President Theodore Roosevelt announced his new “Bull Moose” platform in the Florentine Ballroom, and in 1932 the hotel served as headquarters for Franklin Roosevelt and his hopeful Democratic party. As for others, legend has it that a lone man roams the eighth floor, where the elevator is said to stop frequently, even though no one has pushed a button. January 23, 2013 Jacob Rice. These two famous public rooms combined with the Elizabethan Room and the Pompeian Room to host Chicago’s elite social events of the day. Then there are the top 5 most haunted hotels you can visit. The Congress Plaza Hotel & Convention Center: Haunted & Terrible Stay - See 3,405 traveller reviews, 1,626 candid photos, and great deals for The Congress Plaza Hotel & Convention Center at Tripadvisor. There’s the Baymont Inn and Suites in Aurora, where employees have witnessed balls of white light in the lobby area, and where guests are repeatedly driven from room 208 by a spirit who seeks to strangle them in their sleep. The City's Oldest and Most Acclaimed Haunted ChicagoTour, THE KING OF HAUNTED CHICAGO: GHOSTS OF THE CONGRESS PLAZA HOTEL. But the North Tower? You can easily rent a room for your ghost hunts. In August of 1939, Adele Langer, a Prague native, threw her young sons, Karel and Jan, from a thirteenth floor window in the Congress Plaza. Some point to a room which is padlocked and say that’s the one. Since 1989, I have participated in more than 3 dozen investigations of the Congress Plaza, documenting no fewer than 47 distinctively haunted rooms and at least two ballrooms, as well as common areas such as employee workrooms and public guest areas. And speaking of the Gold Room, it's rumored that some of the bridesmaids in wedding parties who gather around the piano for photographs do not actually show up in the pictures. Room 441? Visiting haunted hotels is not the right pastime for everyone, but sometimes, the urge might hit where you want to test your bravery for one night and one night only. . And there was the night my daughter and I were kept awake, chillingly, by the sound of two men whispering at the foot of our bed: “Are they still awake?”. It was originally called the Auditorium Annex and it opened just in time for the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago and thousands of people thronged to visit the hotel. Rumors have long flown that it was a room here at the Congress Plaza that partly inspired writer Stephen King to create his short story. For years Al Capone played cards every Friday night in a meeting room overlooking Grant Park, and rumors abound (though most certainly false) that he even owned the Congress for awhile. And then there are the rooms that that I promised the management not to number: the room where the pictures on the wall rotate 360 degrees before the eyes of astonished residents; the room where an impromptu exorcism was held, on some unidentified Chicago winter’s night not so long ago, before the victim was moved to a local convent. In 1904, an elevator operator at the Auditorium Annex fell seventy feet to the subfloor, dying on impact. Still others claim you can’t even place it anymore: it’s been papered over to remove any sign that it was every there. The hotel didn't actually become The Congress Plaza until 1908. This "Landmark of Chicago Hospitality" was originally built over a hundred years ago to accommodate visitors coming for The Chicago World's Fair. 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. Some have ventured that this room was simply put out of use because of its stigmatized number, but there is definitely more to this story. 18 Mystery 12th Floor Room - Congress Plaza Hotel, Chicago, Illinois. "...1. Guests report seeing the same thing: the shadowy outline of a woman. So much is experienced by travelers. In the lavish Gold Room—a hotspot for Chicago wedding receptions—bride and groom are often chilled by photographers’ photos. Truth is, Big Al never actually stayed here, at least not under his name. Langer’s widower described the family’s despair at being forced to flee Nazi influence in their homeland, leaving behind home and family. That’s a different story. Rates for rooms are not outrageous and you can spend as much time as you want to catch pictures of ghosts. Originally constructed in 1893, the Congress Plaza Hotel featured cobbled streets, gaslights The nearby O’Hare Hilton, directly across from the airport entrance, was long rumored to have an “uninhabitable” room—one that just made guests so inexplicably uncomfortable that they literally couldn’t sleep. Louis Sullivan and Dankmar Adler served as consultants during the building phase. The Florentine Room at the Congress Plaza Hotel. The Annex’s original North Tower was designed by Clinton Warren, but Adler and Sullivan oversaw its development, including the addition of “Peacock Alley” (now shuttered), an ornate marble tunnel which runs under the street, joining the theater and the hotel. In July of 1926 a Galesburg woman, Mrs. Harriet Harrison, staying at the Congress with her husband before a planned European excursion, took a wrong step and plunged six stories down an elevator shaft to  the hotel basement. But, over the years, it has also become known as the most haunted hotel on Michigan Avenue, and maybe even the most haunted space in all of the Windy City. Later that same year, an insurance salesman–Andrew Mack–called on a friend at his Congress Plaza hotel room before also walking to the Lake and apparently drowning himself at the foot of Van Buren street. Through the long months and years, the strikers have won countless supporters, their cause garnering momentum around the world. The piano is known to play by itself, and a woman may be heard screaming outside a staff door on the east side of the room. 1 - Congress Plaza Hotel Book 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. Let’s talk about ghosts. before and after the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. For more information, please refer to our Privacy Policy. Over the past thirty years, I’ve had my own harrowing moments at the Congress Plaza. But the biggest scare is saved for the 12th floor, where there is said to be a room so frightening that the door was fastened shut from the outside. Rumors are that it is so haunted and terrifying that it had to be sealed off. In the South Tower, there is the phantom who lingers at the fifth floor passenger elevator, where moaning is frequently heard by guests awaiting its arrival. In Room 759 another erstwhile resident pulls the door shut from inside when guests try to enter. A few days later, however,–broke and staying at St. Mary’s Mission house on Peoria street–she tried to throw herself out a third story window and was promptly sent to a psychiatric hospital. Chicago From a Distance: Virtual Attraction Tour, First Time Visitor’s Guide to Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry, What You Need to Know to Visit Shedd Aquarium, Things to Do in Chicago with Kids : A Guide to Fun Activities for Kids, Art Institute of Chicago: Everything You Need to Plan Your Visit, Visiting Skydeck Chicago: Everything You Need to Know, Learn more about what you'll receive from us. Sure enough: some websites and blogs dubbed the Congress Plaza Hotel "The Most Haunted Hotel in Chicago". Step 1 : Introduction to the question " In our list of 10 of the most haunted cities to spend a weekend, we discover the Congress Plaza Hotel in Chicago, reported to be overflowing with ghosts. The Congress Plaza Hotel & Convention Center: Haunted & Terrible Stay - See 3,405 traveler reviews, 1,626 candid photos, and great deals for The Congress Plaza Hotel & Convention Center at Tripadvisor. Which they did quite a bit. See why 23 million travelers have chosen CityPASS. What is true is that Jake “Greasy Thumb” Gusik phoned Capone in Palm Island, Florida, from a phone in the Congress Plaza . In May of 1966, Rockford attorney Frederick Haye was found naked and strangled with his shirt, his wrists and feet bound with his own socks. The 14-story property (or maybe 15-story, as another mysterious rumor suggests a hidden, closed off 15th floor) is located in the heart of the city and is just a few feet from nearby classic Chicago attractions and things to do such as the Art Institute of Chicago, Shedd Aquarium, Adler Planetarium and the Field Museum, which are all included in your Chicago CityPASS, and, by the way, are not anywhere near as haunted as the Congress Plaza Hotel. But it's not all about ghosts at The Congress Plaza. Indeed, the ghosts of the Congress are everywhere. But, over the years, it has also become known as the most haunted hotel on Michigan Avenue, and maybe even the most haunted … Located on South Michigan Avenue, the hotel has been around for more than a … There is the old Leland Park, also in Aurora, haunted by a number of guests who have reportedly checked in, not to stay the night, but to throw themselves into the Fox River from this, one of the tallest buildings in the city. On June 15, 2003, members of the UNITE HERE Local staff at the Congress began a strike after the hotel froze employee wages and revoked key benefits, including health insurance and retirement plans. If so, then we have the perfect historic hotel. And "voices" are heard in ballrooms even though no one is there. Open to new experiences and cut free for a day, a week, a month from routine, those away from home seem somehow open to truly alternate realities, especially at the site where they lay down to sleep. There is the room fled by two Marines in 1989, running through the lobby in their boxer shorts at 3 a.m., with the later explanation that a towering black figure had entered the room from the closet and approached their beds, and the room where a woman slit her wrists in the bathtub after a night on Rush street in the 1970s, who is said to still be glimpsed during the night by weary boarders. Also in the South Tower, a young boy of about ten has been a prolific presence, running up and down the halls in knee breeches and high button boots. Step 1 : Introduction to the question "Which room in the Congress Plaza Hotel in Chicago is thought to be the most haunted?". The room I was assigned to was on the 4th floor I think. The sheer variety of phenomena reported and experienced at this massive structure is mind-boggling. The 871 guest rooms and suites of The Congress Plaza Hotel are notable for providing posh accommodations—and incredible views—for visitors to Chicago. Design by GoDo.io, Lincoln Park Hauntings Chicago Ghost Tour & Ghost Hunt. In the summer of 1916, mining investor Morse Davis and his wife were believed to have formed a suicide pact when Davis was found dead in their Congress hotel room 312 of cyanide poisoning. The night before I went up, I finally got around to reading the reviews, and I was very surprised to learn that it had the reputation of being one of the most haunted hotels in America. While the Congress Plaza Hotel reigns supreme in the world of Chicago’s haunted hotels, The Drake Hotel (140 E. Walton Place) is a strong second. Visit The Shared Wall on Rent.com now! WE ARE SO HAPPY TO SEE YOU! Room 441? Research has not turned up the room number. Constructed during an era when it was common for Chicago’s elite to permanently reside in a hotel, the 871 rooms and suites at the Congress Plaza Hotel & Convention Center offer a grand bridge between The Windy City’s legendary past and cosmopolitan present. Among the multitude of haunted hotels in Chicago, however, none–or even all of them together–can touch the granddaddy of them all: the Congress Plaza. She claimed they had taken the cyanide by accident, having confused it with epsom salts. But, it seems, the more ghostly apparitions are the ones that people come to see—or not see. Don't book room number 441 if you plan to stay at the Congress; security is called there than any other room. What is said to be on the 12th floor of this haunted hotel? Read about the Congress Plaza Hotel, one of Chicago’s most haunted places. The Congress Plaza Hotel is located on South Michigan Avenue across from Grant Park in Chicago at 520 South Michigan Avenue. Your email address will not be published. There was the night my worst fear as a ghost hunter came true: the sheets and blankets were peeled off me by unseen hands as I slept. But residents still see him from time to time, walking these hallowed halls with the rat-ta-tat of his two-tone wingtips. Accidents, too, have left their mark here. There was the morning I was awoken by the sound of the shower blasting full force, steam filling the bathroom, though I could get barely a trickle and little warmth when I’d tried to take a bath. Subscription to our newsletter open soon. A few years later, Benny Goodman broadcast his wildly popular radio show from the hotel’s Urban Room, a posh nightclub that drew the city’s most coveted clientele, and in 1971, President Richard Nixon addressed the Midwest Chapters of the AARP and National Retired Teachers Association, speaking before no less than three thousand members and guests in the hotel’s Great Hall. It even inspired Stephen King, the world’s most prolific horror writer, to pen 1408 , a short story about a cursed hotel room notorious for suicides. The Drake Hotel, jewel of Lake Shore Drive, is home to the famed “Woman in Red”–a tragic young woman who jumped off the roof on the hotel’s opening night in 1920 after discovering her fiance in the arms of another woman. Another ballroom, called the Florentine Room, was added to the North Tower in 1909. This room has a troubled past, and guests have reported ghostly experiences while staying in it. Enjoy unparalleled value and gracious hospitality at one of downtown Chicago’s most legendary hotels. The strike went on to claim the fortunate honor as the longest hotel strike in history, leaving in its wake a hotel haunted by pulled proms, boycotted conventions and an estimated loss of 700 million dollars in revenue. But guess just what type of "guests" are checking in—and not checking out—of one of Chicago's most prestigious places? Then there's the workman who supposedly got buried behind the walls when the hotel was being built, but who is now just referred to as the "hand of mystery," referring to his gloved hand that supposedly sticks out of a wall in the closets behind the balcony in the Gold Room (what is up with all the displaced body parts floating around this hotel?). The Congress Plaza has seen better days. Later, in the early twentieth century, the firm of Holabird & Roche designed the South Tower, completing the current structure, which houses more than 800 rooms. Often cited as the most haunted hotel in America, ... Congress Plaza Hotel, Chicago. The Congress Plaza Hotel, or just ‘The Congress,’ was built around 1893 for the World’s Fair in Chicago. The Hotel Florence, in Chicago’s historic Pullman district, is rumored to be haunted by a woman who lived in the hotel at one time, and the hip House of Blues Hotel is home to a number of phantoms in the larger ghostworld of Marina City, including that of a young girl believed to have died in the hotel structure when it was an office complex. The Congress Plaza Hotel in Chicago was originally constructed in 1893. In Room 474 a once-resident judge eternally changes the channels on his cherished television set. Security guards say that, on their wee-hour rounds, cheerful organ music can still be heard from outside the locked doors, as well as the sound of old wooden skate wheels against the wooden floors. The 871 guest rooms and suites of The Congress Plaza Hotel are notable for providing posh accommodations—and incredible views—for visitors to Chicago. Like many such buildings, a number of past guests have reportedly committed suicide by throwing themselves over the atrium railings; since one such incident in the Fall of 2001, the victim has been seen—in suit and tie—gazing over the east side of the atrium rail. Congress Plaza Hotel Hidden Room 2018 World S Best Hotels ... Congress plaza hotel haunted chicago frightfind congress plaza hotel 12th floor you the king of haunted chicago ghosts congress plaza hotel congress hotel ghosts just the facts mysterious chicago tours. Share this: We use cookies to give you the best possible experience on our site. It was also one of the tallest buildings in Chicago for a time. That was about twenty years before one of its most notable (and notorious) residents, gangster Al Capone, was said to have lived here; some reports are that he owned the hotel for a while and used it for his headquarters. Wanting to stay put at the hotel, he mustered the strength to try to keep his son (and security guards) from opening the door. As for sleeping rooms, only one guest room in the South Tower is reported to be haunted: Room 905, where constant phone static has bedeviled guests for years. There was the salesman who threw himself down an elevator shaft, the drifter who jumped off the roof of the north tower and the troubled family man who hanged himself from a cupboard hook. Unbelieving, the young man convinces the hotel’s manager to let him have the room for a night, though the previous tenants all took their own lives during their stays in it. Even now he remains, determined to live at the Congress forever. But it’s not on the 12th floor. - See 3 404 traveller reviews, 1,634 candid photos, and great deals for The Congress Plaza Hotel & … I booked a room at the Congress Plaza Hotel because of its accessibility and reasonable rate. His wife was also at death’s door but alive. It’s on southern Michigan Avenue across the street from Roosevelt University’s Auditorium Building. Congress Plaza Hotel – Haunted Florentine Room Congress Plaza Hotel – Haunted Florentine Room. The Haunted Congress Plaza Hotel Built for the World’s Fair in 1893, the Congress Hotel’s famous, and spooky, history lays claim to many ghastly stories. Visiting haunted places allows us to experience the real horror. According to Choose Chicago, the destination marketing organization for Chicago, Room 441 is one of the most requested rooms at Congress Plaza because it’s rumored to be the most haunted… If you are someone who loves learning about ghosts and mysteries? Located near Grant Park on Michigan Ave., with views of Lake Michigan, the Congress Plaza Hotel & Convention Center has been a Windy City icon since 1893, playing host to U.S. presidents, international celebrities and performers, foreign dignitaries and elite travelers from around the world. Since 1997, this small, family-owned company has never wavered in our mission to make travel easier and more affordable by giving you access to an easy-to-use, discounted bundle of remarkable attraction experiences in 14 destinations. We found dozens of ghost stories that gave me chills. Whatever the beliefs of others, my own experiences have firmly rooted this enigmatic spot at the pinnacle of my “Most Haunted.” Escorting in thousands of tour guests of these 15 years, I have observed that, whether they walk in believing or not, most who enter the Congress today are struck by a peculiar feeling: something “not quite right,” something “menacing” or “sinister” as it’s variously described. The ghost of the famed Lady in Red still creeps around the hotel, nearly 100 years after her tragic death on New Year’s Eve. In Chicago, the Sheraton Gateway Suites Hotel is an 11-story atrium hotel in O’Hare Airport’s Rosemont convention hub. Over the years, there have been countless additions, renovations, closings, and re-openings. You’ll get to see the very best attractions at a savings, skip select lines and get some extra discount offers—all with our mobile travel guide to help you navigate. It was close to subways where I could go with ease to a Sox's game at Comiskey Park and to O'Hare for my flight home. By continuing to browse, you consent to our use of cookies. In August of 1950 a guest shot a Congress employee and then himself when the staff member came into the guestroom to collect on a $104 hotel bill for the jobless and distraught boarder. Its illustrious history and many uses over the years have laden the site with the dark reputation as Chicago’s most haunted hotel, as well as one of the most haunted hotels in the country. This room does, in fact, remain. All Rights Reserved. Whats people lookup in this blog: Then came the Night of Incessant Knocking, as we came to christen it: More than a dozen times through the night, someone rapped three times on our door, but no one stood by. Room 242: The Lady in the White Dress You can get the chills by just stepping into room 242. via Travel Weekly. The Congress Hotel has graced the Chicago skyline since 1893. Congress Plaza hotel is one of the most haunted hotels in the U.S. Others say it’s the one that’s been boarded up. Noxious odors and disembodied voices are reportedly rife in the building, now an apartment development. Zombies, werewolves and vampires might be filling the movie lots and soundstages of Hollywood. R.H. Southgate was the hotel’s developer but the first section of the hotel was designed by Clinton Warren. Endless, it seems are the stories that echo the tale of James Kennedy, a New York man who checked in, alone, in May of 1910. The women’s restroom is likewise haunted by a female presence, who appears in the mirrors, staring at the living and following them out down the hallway.

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