In October 2010 I lead a Chicago ghost tour from the city’s northside through Lake Forest. We visit the following haunted locations: Red Lion Pub, Biograph Theater, Dillinger’s alley, Montrose Cemetery, Bohemian National Cemetery, Barat College, Calvary Cemetery.
Category: 14. Northside & Beyond
Questions: I emailed you several times last year about your book and you were very kind to send it quickly to me. I now use that as my bible of haunted locations.
All summer long I have been doing extensive archaeological work up and down the Des Plaines area and have found many sites at Robinson. I have the precise location of the Boettcher house (with many artifacts) and two locations for both of Robinson’s daughter’s houses. I have even met people who knew the Boettcher’s personally. This not only helps with the archaeology of the area but helps with the ghost hunting as well. I am hoping that next week brings promising pictures.
I have several questions this year regarding several of the locations. How far along are they with the development of the Rainbow Road house site? I saw the pictures on your site and I am guessing that people should be living in their new houses by now. What a shame! It was a favorite hunting ground for me.
Has anyone ever caught any apparitions at the White’s Cemetery location?
Will you be updating your site with updated stories?
Does anyone live in the Stickney mansion? Who could we contact to do an investigation? Have you or anyone that you know ever been inside and recorded or photographed anything? I have looked on the internet and can find nothing but the same story over and over.
My last question is about The Unexplained World website and their cable show. Is it still being aired? I live in Chicago and cannot find it anywhere on my Comcast.
Thank you for your time and help and keep up the good work on your end! Thanks –Dan Melone
Response from Slim Pictures: Dan, long time no talk. I finally photographed some old, somewhat hard-to-find foundations of “the Gate,” in Libertyville, IL. I would love to see the foundations you’ve found at Robinson Woods. I’ve visited the location a lot over the past few months. While I can’t say that I’ve specifically made it a mission to seek out the foundations, I did think that I’d stumble across it eventually, but haven’t yet. If you want to meet up and explore the area soon, let me know.
To answer your other questions:
* Check out a pretty up-to-date video about the House on Rainbow Road here:
Though the house is gone and new houses are currently going up in the area, I still think it’s a fairly interesting site for ghost research – the actual location where the house was, isn’t being built upon (at least not yet).
* As for apparitions at White Cemetery – there are many orbs and mists on film, but I’ve never heard of any full figure apparitions on film (some pictures have been submitted to me claiming to be of figures, but nothing really solid. I also haven’t heard of any interesting video being shot there).
* After a long time away, I’ve finally been updating my site with stories submitted from readers. I’ve also made a few small videos with fellow author Mary Czerwinski. I plan to use the web site to further update the book.
* Bull Valley uses the Stickney House. No one lives in it. You won’t get a chance to officially do an investigation. The best chance you’ll have to do anything with permission is by posing as a regular passer-by who has heard the story and would like to look around (very casual). If there happens to be an officer there alone, they may open up a bit, however, they’re not actually allowed to. I’ve been in the front reception room/office. I don’t know anyone who’s made it further than that. Let me know if you make any progress.
* To the best of my knowledge, “The Unexplained World” is still on the air, though I cannot get it either. I’ve even been a guest on the show once, but don’t think I ever saw the episode. Fortunately, they have posted a few videos on YouTube (www.youtube.com/profile?user=MagickTv).
Please feel free to send any pictures you’d like to share with the world and I’ll post them on the site with credit going to you.
I hope to hear back from you soon, but good luck with everything. Also, the compliment that you use my book as your “bible of haunted locations” means the world to me. Thanks a ton!
Dan comes back with an old aerial shot of “The Gate”: The Gate is located in the bottom left corner. You will have to zoom in however it will become distorted.
Story: I happened upon your site and I noticed you had an article about the house on rainbow road. I was there about five or six years ago and at that point the buildings were still there. We went at night of course. After jumping the gate, you had to walk a short distance down a paved driveway until it inclined a bit then curved. At that point the house was right there. There was a large concrete in-ground pool in the back though we did not see it until we were inside the house looking out the back. It was a rather large house though by our standards I would not call it a mansion. If I remember correctly there was a main floor, second floor, small third floor by way of a cramped staircase, and basement.
The front door had a roof over it in such a way that it almost looked like a commercial building in a way, perhaps a hotel, though I can’t be sure. After walking in there was a large sweeping staircase to the left and beneath the loft that it reached there was a bar with broken mirrors behind it. This also added to my suspicion that the building may have been used commercially to entertain. As I said the mirrors behind the bar were broken and there was some spray paint on that as well. On the right there was a large open room and a fireplace on the wall of that room. Upstairs there were a few interconnecting bedrooms with some intact and very nice furniture. Just a few dressers and cabinets. I do remember being able to climb on to the roof from the windows on either the 2nd or 3rd floor. There was also a basement via another cramped, but this time concrete, staircase.
None of us spent much time down there due to a terrible smell. There was one strange thing there. Now I did not see this happen I was turned the other way but it seems that someone found a “secret” room behind the fireplace. The wall next to it seemed to collapse and I did get a look back there and noticed a mattress which may have been torn up and a lot of stuffing about. Also the smell of damp rot but not to the extend of the basement.
Outside of the house was pretty much an estate. There were Tennis courts and also a few small two story houses, one of them burned out. Also there was the barn and stables. We remember there being a somewhat modern lawn tractor in the barn and some old stuff on the second level, mostly clutter. We also found in the middle of the yard a hatch that opened into the ground. There were stone stairs that went down below a mans height and this seemed to be access to some sort of plumbing. There were large and small pipes at the bottom and pressure gauges on many.
I went back again recently and the property is now being turned into a subdivision. There is a paved road and curbs are already in place. The only thing left from the old estate as of about 2 months ago is an old silo and some of the original electic poles.
I was at Sunnybrook a few years back as well. This was also at night. There were small white buildings there at that time but that was all. We searched for a foundation but there was none. Upon a recent daytime visit I found the small houses to be gone but there is a mowed path there not big enough for a car that leads to a brown house previously unnoticed at night. This house is in good condition though old and locked up. There was a new ADT sign by the front of the house facing the lake. This house is locked up and is in good condition. I assume anyone would use discretion and not vandalize this site as someone IS taking care of it. There does seem to be a path going to the lake and there is a small footbridge on the way. — Ken
Response from Scott Markus & Mary Czerwinski:
Story: I am 18 years old, and I reside in Waukegan, Illinois. I used to live in Park Ridge until last March, when me and my family moved out here to Waukegan. I am e-mailing you because I would like to share with you my experiences at the house on Rainbow Road, and give you a little update about that “glass house” that someone talked about in a post on your website.
About a year or so ago, (I can’t give you an exact date because I don’t remember, but it was during my Junior year of high school around winter time) my uncle who lives in Barrington, told me about the house on Rainbow Road, and how it is haunted. So of course, curiosity killed my cat and I got some friends to come with me to check it out. What I saw there, absolutely freaked me out. What’s interesting is none of my friends saw it. I was the only one that experienced it.
As you know, you go over the gate and walk down a long road that eventually leads to a fork. It takes you to what I remember to be a silo to the left, and another road to the right. You keep walking down that road to the right and there is the mansion. We had seen boarded up windows that had “keep out, police order” spray-painted on there. The door had been chained, so we could not get in that way. On the side of the house, there was a window that had no glass or wooden board covering it. We entered through there, and what I saw next scared the crap out of me. There was a wooden table in the corner, and two chairs. There was nothing there for a second, and when I reached into my pocket to look at my phone to see what time it was, my phone had shut off, which I thought was odd considering I had it on the car charger the whole ride over there. When I looked up, I saw two figures sitting at the table, what appeared to be a mother and a daughter. They were looking at each ot her, not saying anything. They then turned and looked at me, and just stared at me. And it wasn’t a friendly stare. It was a cold, hateful stare, like a “get away from us” kind of stare. I turned to my friends, and told them that it was freaking me out. My buddy asked me what I was talking about, because they didn’t see anything. I was like, “DO YOU NOT SEE THESE TWO PEOPLE STARING AT US?!” That’s when it happened. I felt behind me, what felt like some kind of pressure. Then, a ghostly figure walked right through me, and it from what it seemed like, he was the father. He lit up the whole room with his glow, and once again, my friends didn’t experience any of this. He then turned around, looked at me, and in an evil, deranged voice, stared at me and said, “get out.” I grabbed my friends and told them to jump out the window and run. We hauled out of there, and as we ran, I heard screaming. A loud, painful screaming from the room that we were in. We hopped the gate and went back to my car. As I sped off and out of there I told my friends what I saw, and they said they didn’t see any of it. I reached into my pocket and took out my cell phone, which was no longer turned off, but back on with a full battery. I did not turn it back on. We went home, and I said I would never go back there again.
What happened that night has never happened to me before, and I’ve never had a supernatural experience since. But I will tell you this, what I saw that night was ghosts. They were ghosts that were very deranged and cruel. They looked just like human people, but very lightly transparent, and they were glowing. But by the way they stared, I could feel the hatred. The man who told me to get out said it in such a deep, deranged voice, it seemed as if it was satanic. And the painful, ear jarring screams I heard when I ran away, it was almost unreal.
Can you explain to me what happened? Have you ever heard any stories like this at Rainbow Road? What I experienced there does not match the story behind that house, about the mafia or whatever. I would just like to know what I experienced, and if I am in any danger for telling you this story. –Alex Gratys
P.S. ~ About that glass house, it is not haunted. My cousin’s (the son of my uncle that lives in the Braemar subdivision) girlfriend lives in that glass house. She says that she has never experienced anything in her house, but has seen things when walking home at night.
Response from Scott Markus: Alex, Can you tell me about the house you went into? Is it the image shown here:
From Alex: Yes that is absolutely the one.
Response from Scott Markus: I cannot explain exactly what you saw as, as you put it, it doesn’t go along with the house’s backstory (which, so far doesn’t actually include the Mafia). The likely scenario is that your subconscious and fears bled into letting you see something that wasn’t truely there.
However, let’s go along for the ride and find a supernatural answer/theory! The actual mansion, which was burned as part of a fireman training exercise in the mid-to-late ’90s contained a storm cellar. (this is all true, by the way…this isn’t the theory part). In that storm cellar of the abandoned mansion, people broke in to be able to practice some dark arts in the privacy of the cellar. This is according to trustworthy eye witnesses who visited and can attest to finding strange markings on the floor, burned-out candles and animal remains, presumably the result of animal sacrifice.
Perhaps, much like the story behind the Stickney House, someone opened a ‘door’ that they didn’t know how to close. I bring this up mainly due to your use of the word Satanic to describe the feel you had when seeing these phantoms. I would love to see if anyone else comes forth with similar stories, but as of now, this is the first I’ve heard of anything of the sort.
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 Scott Markus: 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 Monastery, “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 Scott Markus (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 historical 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.
