The Ghost and Mr. Crowe

'Only professional ghost hunter in the Midwest' leads historical tours of Chicago's supernatural side

By Jamie Webb
The Daily Northwestern

On a cold, gusty night with a crescent moon in the background, two Northwestern students wait on a deserted street corner in Lincoln Park.

As they shiver in their coats, they anxiously peer down the street. They breathe a sigh of relief as a bus pulls up and a lone passenger gets off.

The two students follow the man, who they have never seen before, to his dark, sleek car and get in, hoping he will take them where they need to go. The man pulls out of the parking lot and begins to drive slowly down the street leading the students to their fate...

...a ghost tour through Chicago.

The stranger is Richard T. Crowe, the only professional ghost hunter in the Midwest, who leads approximately 200 tours per year around Chicago. The two NU students are simply the reporter and photographer for this story.

Crowe shared several stories he tells tourists as he drove through and around downtown Chicago, like the tale of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, as well as his theories on certain happenings in the city.

The Valentine's Day Massacre happened in 1929, during the heyday of gangster Al Capone and Prohibition. Although Capone is the most famous Chicago gangster, he was not the only one. George "Bugs" Moran and his gang also supplied the city with illegal alcohol, which did not please Capone.

"(Moran) was not about to give up his territory, so Capone took it by force," Crowe said.

While Capone was in Florida, he ordered his men to kill Moran's gang. Disguised as police officers, Capone's men entered the S.M.C. Cartage Co. Garage located at 2122 Clark St., lined Moran's men against the wall and shot them left to right. People say they still hear moans.

"It is the space itself that stays haunted," Crowe said. "As far as (the ghosts) know, it is still a garage floor and always Feb. 14."

But the Massacre is not the only gangster ghost story Crowe knows.

On July 22, 1934, bank robber John Dillinger was killed by police in the alley next to the Biograph Theatre, which still operates today. Dillinger, who was turned in by his girlfriend's landlady, was coming out of the movie theater when the FBI identified him and began to fire. Dillinger ran into the alley where he was shot and still remains, said Crowe.

"He died physically, but not psychologically. Many still think he's there in the alley," Crowe said. "(Today) people don't take the alley. In the alley there is a cold spot and your hair stands up."

Another supernatural story Crowe tells is that of the totem pole located on Lake Shore Drive. J.L. Kraft, of Kraft Foods fame, fell in love with the totem pole while traveling in Canada and had it brought to Chicago. The totem pole, which features a whale on its nose and a warrior holding a spear, generated a lot of attention and many people came to photograph it.

"When comparing photographs, they noticed the guy with the spear seemed to move around," Crowe said.

Crowe said this change of position coincides with Native American mythology.

"Native American mythology would have you believe that the totem pole can come alive and do good or bad deeds and freeze up again," he said.

The unexplained phenomenon does not end there, said Crowe.

The original pole was eventually sent back to Canada and copied. The copy was erected 14 years ago, but it cracked in the same position as the original. It was painted and the cracks had to be sealed.

"The totem pole acts like it is 114 years old, not 14 years old," Crowe said.

The pole's proximity to Addison Avenue might also explain why the Chicago Cubs have not been in the World Series in more than 50 years.

"This totem pole is nothing but trouble for the Cubs," Crowe said. "It is meant to face east to bring good luck to the area, but this guy faces west, which brings bad luck. Whenever you take items away from other cultures and don't know how they work, it's like playing with fire."

Crowe has more stories, such as the Eastland Steamer disaster on July 24, 1915, when 835 people died after the ship turned over in the Chicago River. Most people were crushed to death and did not drown, said Crowe. Because the dead were not given proper funeral procedures, their spirits still linger, he added.

"If the dead are not given a proper send off, they have psychic unrest," he said. "People hear sobs and moans at night. People think someone is drowning in the water. By the time the rescue team gets here, there is nothing there."

After the bodies were recovered, they were taken to the building now known as Harpo Studios, which has a special significance, said Crowe.

"The first few bodies were taken to the Reid Murdock building, which was across the street (from the studios), but they soon realized they needed to have a bigger building, so they took them to the National Guard Armory, the biggest public building whereby they could commandeer and take over," Crowe said, adding that the armory is now Harpo Studios.

"Harpo is Oprah spelled backwards. You know who does things backwards? Witches. Is Oprah practicing some secret science?" he proposed.

Crowe said he has always been fascinated with ghosts, but the problem was "finding a commercial application for it." He started doing tours, which consist of 13 locations that have ghosts, jinxes or curses attached to them, in 1970 for his geography professor at DePaul University, where he received his B.A. and M.A. in English literature.

"Back in the '70s, there was no such thing as a (ghost) tour," Crowe said. "I put it together for my professor and saw a demand for it. I turned away 200 people."

He went full time in 1979 and has not looked back since.

"To meet people everyday, to hear new stories beats anything mundane like working nine to five. It's an education all the time," he said. "I find the whole topic fascinating. When you find so much around Chicago, it keeps you going."

He has expanded his business to include weekend trips out of state, day tours, a boat tour during the summer, and a Chinatown tour. He said he would love to eventually to do a tour through Transylvania and Romania.

Crowe said skepticism does not bother him.

"I'm not trying to say I'm a scientist," he said. "I'm not trying to convert people. I just want to be educational, fun and factual."

© Copyright 1999 The Daily Northwestern