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Page UPDATED on 1/14/08 - Keep the questions and stories coming - they will be addressed!

Add your story or respond to the ones posted by eMailing me!

Title: From a graduate of Antioch High School - Haunted Movie Theater? Date Submitted: 5/31/05
Location of Haunting: Antioch High School* Date of Haunting: 1992 (though still current)

Story/Question: I received the book today. Although I have not finished it yet, I will add that Antioch High School, is now remodeled, but when I was there (class of 1996), I used to be in the art classes and pottery class. Very strange things always happened in that hallway. It was also always was the coldest part of the school. My locker used to be in that hallway freshman year. I would find my locker open eventhough I had closed it. I switched lockers against principal rules, but told him I could and would not be in that hallway any longer than I needed to be.

Do you know anything about the movie theater in Antioch, which, I read is haunted as well?

Response from Slim Pictures:  As strange as your story is, it is also very similar to the one from my key interview, a student who graduated around '99. I don't know anything specifically about the movie theater. I will mention, however, that the entire town of Antioch seems to be an untapped treasure for ghost hunters. Since writing the book I've had a number of people tell me about their haunted homes and businesses in Antioch.

Title: 2 Lesser Known Hauntings Date Submitted: 7/28/04 & 7/30
Location of Haunting: St. Mary's Convent, Libertyville, Il & Alcyon Theater, Highland Park, Il Date of Haunting: (ongoing)

Story: It's a real long-shot case to investigate because there isn't much to the haunting activity; usually only the workers know of it: The "Lady in Red" at the old Alcyon Theater (now the Highland Park Theater). She walks down the right-hand balcony aisle and if anyone makes fun of her, she gets back at them by playing pranks; when I worked there, we heard a loud noise like the sound of a boiler pinging (the theater has no boiler) in the main theater. We found nothing when we walked the aisles and when we apologized for the disturbance to the moviegoers, no one had heard a sound!! The Alcyon was a Vaudeville theater so we felt that she had simply returned to happy memories after she died. Perhaps the owner might have more information, I don't know. Might be worth looking into.

There's also St. Mary's Convent on St. Mary's and Old Rockland Rd. in Mettawa (east Libertyville) that I've been investigating....a white figure has been seen in the south wing of the old building.  The statue of St. Mary "entrances" people who stare into her eyes. The son who restored it is not the nicest of people, but his father, who lives in the main house off to the side of it, is afraid of the place, hardly ever taking his eyes off of it. -- S. Frumin

Response from Slim Pictures:  Great stories!  Thanks for your submissions.  The tale about Alcyon Theater is a new one to me, but sounds very much like stories I've heard about the Woodstock Opera House in Woodstock, Il.  Seems there are a few actresses out there waiting for one last curtain call.  I'd be interested in hearing anything more you might find out about St. Mary's Convent.  Libertyville already has more than its fair share of hauntings (St. Sava's Serbian Monastary, "The Gate," plus several haunted houses), and I'm sure the best stories haven't been told yet.  Please do keep us posted!

Reply:  Where's St. Sava's??

One quick question about the Gate.....when you did your research, did you find any concrete evidence of a school having been there (like an old map, church records, etc.) and if you found a diocese it belonged to, which one?  Someone challenged me to find out about the REAL place (not the ghost story) and I've had bum luck finding any factual evidence.

I do plan to purchase your book and DVD this coming week (payday) to hear more of the ghost stories of The Gate!

response from Slim Pictures (2):  First off, St. Sava's is on Route 21 (Milwaukee Ave) near to the border of Gurnee.  You can practically see Six Flags from the driveway.  (it's covered in the book - that story alone will be worth the pay day you have coming up!  It's one of my personal favorites...still gives me chills!)

Next, some of the research on "The Gate" came from Ursula Bielski's "More Chicago Haunts."   When I lived in Mundelein I was in the unique position of giving speeches about haunted sites near to where the sites actually were.  Often, after a speech people would come up to me telling me of their experiences.  When giving one speech in Libertyville, a man came to me and told me that when he bought an older used car, a sign was left in the trunk.  The sign was for the orphanage that was back in that area.  It also helps that my family was among the first to settle in Lake County, so after all these years, the family has accumulated quite a bit of local history knowledge.  I also got testimony from a woman living next to "The Gate," who could vouch for the hauntings from her own accounts.  I have a lot of confidence in Ursula Bielski's research, she is one of the best in the business at finding historical fact.

 

Title: Touhy Mobile Home Park & the Crash of Flight 191 Date Submitted: 3/9/04
Location of Haunting: Touhy Mobile Homes Park, Des Plaines, IL* Date of Haunting: ongoing

Story:  I was looking at your site.I love it. only one thing. you guys have one of the sites listed as the flight of 191... des plaines mobile home park. wrong! it was actually touhy mobile homes park. i know because i live there. the plane had crashed in the field next to the park.  The engine was laying on the ground down the street from where i now live. between trailer 67 & 66....... it was a horrible crash. I was not living here at the time. however i- like you guys live to find ghosts.

After living here for quite sometime. i can tell you that i feel alot of the horror here in the park from that crash. i just wanted you guys to correct the web page and say that it was touhy mobile home park.... not des plaines. des plaines is the next park over from  here. if you guys ever get the chance please come out here and check out the crash site......... i think you would find it to be interesting to say the least.....

Touhy mobile home park is located right next to the k-9 place.. the park right next to that one is called Des Plaines mobile home park.. I live on that side on the park ( the left side of the park closest to the k-9 place) The park that everyone lists in books is wrong. always has been. The landlord here is totally against bad raps that this trailer park gets from the airplane crash. When the accident happened I was living in Arlington hts. ( not too far away from des plaines ) When I moved here I had heard about the crash and began asking the local residents about the crash. I have always had a sort of "pull" to ghost sites.  After questioning a ton of people in here. I went to go look around the land behind my house. I can feel vibrations and you just " know" this place has several " ghosts."

But I can tell you that someone needs to come out here and check out this whole area. Over 200 people died when this plane went down. Some of the people were never found. My mother in law did clean up there on that night. I guess children were on the plane as well. I believe that these ghosts are what I call "recording ghosts" every year they repeat the same actions.

I am moving very soon. I bought a home in Antioch, IL. Have you guys heard anything about the history out there at all (Antioch H.S. Abbey Woods, etc.)? I do know the town was founded in 1853 or something like that. and that there was a huge fire around the turn of the century, claiming many lives. Also anything thats around water has some paranormal action to it.  Please let me know if you guys have anything on lake county at all. Esp. Antioch. -- Janet

Response from Slim Pictures:  Janet, as far as Antioch High School is concerned, there is no concrete edivence as to why it is haunted. One student died in the gymnasium and another died during a school-sponcered Halloween function, but it is the art wing in the basement of the school that is haunted. The haunting has been acknowledged by students, teachers, and the principal, although the principal is attempting to keep it quiet, ignore what's happening. Abbey Woods is actually the grounds of monastary, so, technically, even visiting the area is tresspassing. From what I've been told through interviews the area was very often used for "Fight Clubs" ever since the movie "Fight Club" came out. Also, I know one Antioch HS teen attempted suicide on the land, however they did not die. The amount of info on the location I've found so far is really not enough. That's why, after doing interviews, we decided not to include it in the book we put out.

However, "The Gate" (a Lake County Haunt), Antioch High School, and the crash of Flight 191 is in the book. I have not come across any Antioch hauntings relating to the fire, but you are absoluetely right that it's worth looking into further. Places like Antioch, Milburn, Waukegan, and Crystal Lake are really overshadowed in the ghost community by places like Lake Forest, Cuba township, and Justice, IL, and overshadowed in the historical community by Chicago and, again, Lake Forest despite the fact that these smaller towns have a long and rich history.  As far as "The Gate" is concerned, I have a page on my site that has pretty much everything I know on it. Check out www.slimpictures.com/thegate.htm.   Lastly, ghost images on film. I can say without a doubt that we've captured images on still photo film and on infrared videotape that we cannot fully explain. On video in Bachelor's Grove we captured strange lights and even the image of a boy on infrared video. In most images of the type it's a far-off blur, but in this case the boy is standing in front of a tree about four feet from the camera. Also, this image was only descovered upon returning home and watching the video again - we did not notice it at the time.  It's a very safe estimate to say we've visited known haunted locations - always with video and photo equipment - at least 500 times, but we never expect to see/experience/photograph anything unusual. It's rare that we ever do. saying this, we've had the most 'success' at Bachelor's Grove Cemetery (Midlothian) and Robinson Woods Indian Burial Grounds (Norridge).  All the best & keep your questions coming!

Response from Faeriesdust74 (a fellow reader): I am responding to a question about Antioch, IL. I attended Antioch High for a couple of years and never heard of hauntings, but that was back in the late '80s/early'90s. However, while I attended Antioch, many students died in crashes, suicides, and there was also a murder committed by a classmate against another classmate. I lived in Oakwood Knolls subdivision and had been to Abbey Woods often. There was many sighting in and around the Abbey itself. Antioch is also known to have been a retreat area for Al Capone. It's said he owned a house in Antioch and that it's haunted.

Haunted Chatsworth:

I currently live in Chatsworth, IL, which is known for one of the worst train wrecks in American history in 1887. I believe this town has many ghosts. It is a very small town of 1300 people. I bought an old house that was built in the late 1800s or early 1900s. I believe this house to be haunted. Often while taking pictures, many strange things show up in them and while walking on the stairs, people often feel as of they are being pushed. Several accidents have happened on these stairs. The attic door opens by itself and things are heard throughout the house as if people are moving about when I am the only one home. Have you heard of any other hauntings in this area?

Add your story or respond to the ones posted by eMailing me!

* Location is covered in the book/CD-ROM Voices from the Chicago Grave.
** Location is also covered in the DVD, "Voices from the Grave."