But What An Asset!
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By Megan McKinney
The Congress Plaza Hotel is one of the great historic Chicago buildings that appeared in 1893 with the sudden influx of visitors brought to the area by the World’s Columbian Exposition. It was originally designed by architect Clinton J. Warren as an annex to the Auditorium Theater across the street, to the point that it was referred to as the Annex in contemporary writings—both non-fiction and in at least one novel—before later general use of its proper names, Congress or Congress Plaza.
But there’s more. And there has always been—an eeriness, with reports of ghosts lurking about the property. However, in a way, that is something that goes with the great hotel territory.
The Drake has certainly had its eerie stories. You’ve read them here. There was the Lady in Red, who was wearing a stunning red gown when she found her fiancé with another woman on New Year’s Eve 1920. Devastated, she jumped to her death from a tenth story window; however, it is in the Gold Coast Room and the Palm Court where her ghost is said to be seen.
The Drake Hotel Gold Coast Room—pretty good place to be a ghost.
There is also the Lady in Black, not a ghost but thought to have been the murderess of one. And this writer knew a woman whose mother was murdered in her suite while a “guest” at The Drake. However, the Congress Plaza surpasses all other Chicago hotels as the city’s scariest and was singled out by the publication Travel & Leisure as “The Most Haunted Place in Illinois”! Let’s have a look.
Every ghost story has a ghost, or maybe ghosts. And before they were ghosts, they were people. Who were these people? The most famous at the Congess was gangster Al Capone, who various patrons have reported seeing roam the hotel’s halls—hat on, cigar between his fingers—particularly near his old eighth floor headquarters.
Rumour is that the haunting of the Congress began during the hotel’s construction when the ghost of a workman was plastered behind a wall. Periodically, through the years, his hand has pushed through the wall just long enough to frighten those strolling nearby. But they love it.
Items we have read report that if you do stay at this hotel, avoid the fourth floor, or at least Room 441. That is where a lady from the other side lurks at the end of the bed, kicking the feet of guests who attempt to sleep there. And those guests are attempting to sleep there because they want to have the hauted experience. Don’t ask.
The Congress is also reported to be home to the ghost of a little boy who runs down a hallway, grinning. His mother fled the fascists during World War II—with the child and his brother. When their father failed to follow them to Chicago, she took the boys to the Lincoln Park Zoo one day, then back to the Congress Plaza, where she hurled both from a window and jumped herself.
Then there is the unseen hobo, Peg-Leg Johnny, who was killed in an alley behind the hotel decades ago. He terrifies living guests by playing with the light switches, clicking them on and off. They love that too.
Ever read Stephen King’s horror short story “1408”? The Congress Plaza is said to be its inspiration and a portion of the source that has brought Mr, King’s net worth to $500 million.
Author Photo: Robert F. Carl
