Chicago S Street Guide To The Supernatural

An organized and comprehensive guide to Illinois' haunted and legendary places, Haunting the prairie contains 130 mystery sites and 60 individual illustrations and maps, plus a bibliographic timeline of paranormal and folklore research in Illinois. The author examines the sites and the history, as well as the hobbyists and professionals who explore the strange and unusual in the state. Divided among eight distinct regions and listed by county, each location features a description, directions, and information drawn from a diverse variety of books and articles.

Ah, vacations. There's nothing like getting away from it all, taking in a change of scenery, and maybe visiting a museum. Or enjoying animal antics at a zoo. Or scaring yourself silly on a rollercoaster at an amusement park. But the unseen can linger even in these pleasant places. Join award-winning paranormal reporter Sylvia Shults for a look at the darker side of your summer vacation.

Return again to the scene of the crime and visit the secret hideouts of Nazi saboteurs, anarchist plotters, charlatans, fakers, gangsters, and even a love-sick matron dubbed the "Torso Killer." See up close the murdering matrimonial bluebeard Johann Hoch and probe the unsolved mysteries surrounding the disappearance of candy heiress Helen Brach, the sinking of the "Christmas Tree Ship," and dozens of famous gangland "rubouts." This sequel to the best-selling Return to the Scene of the Crime is a provocative travel guide and road map pointing toward more dark and unexplored corners of the Windy City and its surrounding suburbs. The bizarre, the unexpected, and the offbeat are viewed through a kaleidoscope of colorful Chicago neighborhoods populated by outrageous characters. Crime scenes are presented in "then-and-now" perspective with running commentary on the history of the city. Included in the neighborhood tours is a unique collection of side trips--shorter, lighter historical vignettes that spirit out-of-towners to places of interest in Chicago that are not necessarily infamous. Once you have read this guidebook, you will want to return to the scene of the crime, again and again.

From Resurrection Mary and Al Capone to the funeral train of Abraham Lincoln, the spine-tingling sights and sounds of Chicago's yesteryear are still with us-- and so are its ghosts. Selzer pieces together the truth behind Chicago's ghosts, and brings to light dozens of never-before-told firsthand accounts. Take a historical tour of the famous and not-so-famous haunts around town. Sometimes the real story is far different from the urban legend ... and most of the time it's even gorier ...

Established in 1831, Naperville is one of the oldest settlements in the Greater Chicago area. The city's rich and fascinating heritage has been carefully passed down from one proud generation to the next; however, nowhere has Naperville's ghostly oral tradition and haunted history been preserved until now. Most of Naperville's unique legends--compiled for the fi rst time ever in these pages--arose from accounts of actual historic events and from the lives of notable personages in the city's long history. As the tragic events and persons faded from living memory, all that might remain of them would be ghost stories whispered by fi relight and, later, by fl ashlight tucked under a teenager's chin at slumber parties. Some eerie legends in these pages have origins that are lost in time, and still other hair-raising ghost stories included in this work are chilling contemporary, firsthand accounts of paranormal encounters within Naperville's sprawling boundaries . . . perhaps from even just down the street.

This book tells the gripping story of the three murdered Chicago boys and the quest to find and bring to justice their killer. The authors recount the bungled police investigation and a questionable conviction, and present new information concerning two suspects overlooked by police for five decades.

Hauntings are believed to be created from violence and bloodshed. And from the beginning, the Prairie State was a place where death thrived, and mysteries became commonplace. Illinois was the home of ancient peoples know as Moundbuilders whose only legacy is silent graves and many unsolved mysteries. The French left behind their own ghostly stories after their displacement by the Americans in the 1700s and countless slaughters such as the Dearborn Massacre gave birth to tales of horror that live on in the history of Illinois. Eerie occurrences, spooky events, unsolved mysteries, and terrifying specters haunt Illinois. Tales of headless horsemen, haunted castles and a penitentiary occupied by ghosts chill the spines of visitors. Haunted Illinois explores the Prairie State’s paranormal side and serves as a guide to its haunted places.