The Eastland steamship disaster remains the deadliest Great Lakes maritime catastrophe. More than 800 Western Electric employees and their family members died when the overloaded, top-heavy ship fell on its side in 20 feet of water at the Clark Street bridge. The immediate site and several nearby sites are believed haunted by ghostly cries and moans.

The Excalibur's hauntings are tied to the nearby Eastland Steamship disaster. The Excalibur served as a temporary morgue for some of the 800+ that perished. Which leaves us with some fun apparitions as 'The Lady in Red' and reports of various paranormal activity. Party hard!

When your moniker is "Attorney for the Damned", it's almost guaranteed some will claim to have seen your ghost. That's the case with Clarance Darrow, defense attorney for Leopold and Loeb. Darrow's ashes were spread around Jackson Park's lagoon, and visitors to the museum have reported seeing his ghost sitting on the back steps.

[Photo: Flickr/Penfold the Hampster]All cemeteries have their hauntings, but Rosehill is notable for the tomb of Bobby Frank, victim of Leopold and Loeb. Enter the case of the restless spirit, which has seemingly vanished since the death of Nathan Leopold in 1971.

This haunting began rather benignly-- with the ghost of Mrs. Hull pestering Jane Addams. But then things went off the deep end with rumors that Addams took in a severely deformed orphan, dubbed "The Devil Baby". Addams denied this, but passerby claimed to see the little monster in an upstairs window. This became the inspiration for "Rosemary's Baby".

The St. Valentine's Day massacre was Capone's big coming out party. Dressed as cops, his henchmen stormed a garage at Clark & Dickens, gunning down a rival gang. Apparitions of men walking the now-empty lot and the barks of the dog that witnessed the slayings are the chief hauntings.

[Photo: TonyTheTiger/wikipedia commons]This site's dilemma stems from the Fort Deaborn Massacre of 1812. Eighty-six soldiers, women, and children were mowed down by a Potawatomi Indian ambush as the fort was being evacuated. Hauntings are par for the course. A plaque on today's London Guarantee Building commemorates the fort.

"Chicago's only castle", as the Irish Castle is sometimes known, sits pretty on a hilltop in Beverly. Built in the 1880s as a single-family residence, it has long since adopted a church function. The principal haunting is the apparition of a young girl who died of the flu on site in the 1930s. Many speculate it was the girl's confused state at the cusp of death that led her spirit to linger.

The Congress Plaza Hotel played host to a lot of gangster capers, including the some Capone shenanigans. The sheer volume of gore has produced several regular apparitions. Watch out for room 441-- A woman's shadowy outline has been observed many times.

[Photo: Flickr/Creative Commons]You'd think "death alley" might be another Capone-induced name, but its actually the passage behind the old Iroquois Theater-- the one that burnt to a crisp in 1903, along with 602 people. Bodies were stacked in the alley, and faint cries, cold spots, and the touch of unseen hands are the keepsakes. Oh, and never trust an 'absolutely fireproof' claim.

The Red Lion opened in 1984 and closed in 2008. But as our Eater brethren report, the owner held on to the property and is partly demolishing the old building to make way for a rebuilt and redefined Red Lion-- still British but less divey British. When the pub reopens next year Chicagoans can once again visit the seven distinct manifestations, products of violent acts that went down on site or nearby in the address' 130-year history.

[Photo: Flickr/Brule Laker]This is some creepy shit. A serene statue of Inez Clark, boxed in by glass panes, sits atop the six year old's tombstone. Killed by lightning, her stone likeness is said to self-animate and walk around the Graceland Cemetery during thunderstorms.

Some believe the Hancock's laundry list of fatal accidents, murders, and suspicious deaths trace back to Cap Streeter's deathbed curse on the neighborhood. Streeter, embroiled in development fights, promised no one will find happiness in what is now Streeterville.

[Photo: VHT]The Marshall Field Mansion was the site of Field, Jr's suspicious suicide in 1905. Claims of showy figures, footsteps and "inhuman cries" rendered the mansion uninhabitable. No word on the experiences of the new condo owners.

The Water Tower survived The Fire intact. But that's not what makes it haunted. A suicide years later has passerby seeing ghosts-- namely, a hanging man through one of the windows.

The historic Glessner House is thought to be inhabited by the ghost of its architect, Henry Hobson Richardson, who died just before the mansion's completion. A portrait of Richardson hangs in the entryway and visitors and museum staff alike report visible white apparition and a cold presence lurking the house from time to time. One theory is that Richardson is claiming the house as his own. Spooky!

Present day Profiles Theater and former National Pastime Theater occupy the spot of a secret ballroom and Prohibition speakeasy. The building is an ordinary housing block with ordinary storefronts, except that the theater's entry leads to a back ballroom that once lent itself to illicit use. The hauntings, however, are happy ones: "merry spirits" who participate in theater productions, tamper with lighting, and reportedly help move furniture around. For some visitors it's all about the positive aura.

The Art Institute of Chicago is a pure and almost-holy edifice. Claims of paranormal activity are restricted to select works of art such as Carl Andre's "Steel Aluminum Plain". Once again, violent life circumstances are to blame for the "heightened electrical activity" measured near certain works.