Congress Plaza Hotel
Chicago's 1893 'most haunted hotel': Peg Leg Johnny, a self-operating elevator, and an unnerving 12th floor.
Case File No. 035
FILE 01 The Legend
Chicago's Congress Plaza Hotel (1893, built for the World's Fair) is the city's haunted-hotel flagship: Al Capone-era legends, the 'Piano Man' ghost, and — its signature — the sealed Room 441, said to be the site of a shooting and left unrented for decades. Built by plutocrats for the Fair, it declined into a lore-rich faded grande dame on South Michigan Avenue.
FILE 02 The Sightings Log
Room 441: guests report a woman's scream and a presence — the room was reportedly kept off the market; the hotel now rents it (at a premium for ghost hunters). The Piano Man plays the mezzanine. A boy ghost (a child said thrown from a window by his mother in the 1930s-era legend) appears near the gold elevator. The hotel's own ghost tour packages the file.
FILE 03 The Skeptic’s File
The Congress's file is classic big-city hotel folklore: every legend is a death unverified in the record, polished by the tour economy. The hotel is candid that the stories are tradition. Chicago's ghost industry is mature and the Congress is its anchor hotel. A 'B' for the volume and persistence of the file, thin on verified deaths — the standard trade.