Category: 5. Haunted Homes


A Haunted House on Cuba Road

Filed Under: 15. More Illinois, 4. Cuba Road, 5. Haunted Homes, Barrington, Cuba Road, Illinois, Rainbow Road — scottlmarkus — 4 Comments
March 4, 2008

Comment: I lived on Cuba Road for about 25 years. My family moved there from Chicago in 1970. The whole time I lived there, I never heard about a haunted house on Rainbow Road. It was always the haunted house on Cuba Road. The house was located off of Cuba Road, west of Rainbow road. The first and only time I went up there was in the summer of 1980. I was about 17. The house was still standing then and the drive way was still connected to Cuba Road. It was a big house on a small hill. It had the swamp on two sides and field and forest on the other sides. No neighbors lived close to it. The house was set on fire several times and was abandoned. No windows were left in it. I remember cutting across a field to get to it. I didn’t want to park my car on Cuba Road and have the cops tow it away. Nor did I want to drive it up the hill and get stuck. If I needed to leave quickly, I planned on running for my life. I didn’t want to be fumbling for my car keys.

As I was walking up to the house, I suddenly noticed a man standing out in front of it. Just standing there smiling at me. It scared the crap out me. He was up there checking things out like I was. He just said good bye and took off down the drive way. I gave him a wide berth and checked out the house. There was a small pond in front of the house, where a car had been pushed into it. All you could see was the roof of the car sticking out of the water. The rest of the house was empty. But very creepy.

During the 70′s, Cuba Road was not yet developed. Some days you would only see one car drive up or down it. But every Halloween, there would be cars bumper to bumper, filled with high school kids, driving from the Haunted house on one end to the haunted graveyard, White Cemetery, on the other.

I didn’t know Cuba Road was haunted till I went to high school. I was sitting in class one day, when someone mentioned how scary Cuba Road was. I asked him what did he mean and he told name all the scary stories he had heard. I told him I lived on Cuba Road and no one believed me, until I showed them my drivers license. That impressed the hell out of them. Then, they wanted me to tell them scary stories.

At first, I told them that they were just stories, but they wouldn’t believe me, so then I started repeating the stories my older brothers had told me. About the drug dealing son and his “Mason” like gang he hung out with. The father had passed away and the Mom tried to keep the son in line, but eventually had a nervous breakdown and was taken away to a mental institution. Once the Mom was gone, the son ran wild with his hippie friends and started having black masses in the house. Late at night they would run through the fields and swamps with torches. One party got out of hand and they started the house on fire. The house was totaled, but the son and his friends would sneak back there at times for their secret get-togethers and bon fires. All the druggies and burnouts in Barringtion would flock to the house for parties. Finally, the Village had enough and decided to remove the drive way to the house. It was dug up and removed. A berm was made to stop cars from trying to four wheel up to the house. I don’t know if they razed the house at the same time, but I bet they did. The Fire and the Police Departments were getting tired of driving out there every Saturday night.

Things seemed to have settled down. People still drove up and down Cuba Road on Halloween. Over time, people wanted to go to the haunted house. So suddenly, the haunted house was now on Rainbow Road. A house where people could still drive up to and get out of there cars and look around. This happened over the last 15 years, because I never heard of a Rainbow Road haunted house till after I left Barrington and started reading books about haunted places. I was confused why they would talk about the haunted house on Rainbow Road Road, they never got the story right. I guess I should call it the original haunted house on Cuba Road. If you ask anyone in Barrington over 40 where the Haunted house is, they would not say Rainbow Road. They would tell you it was off of Cuba Road.

That is all for now. I do have other stories, about the animals getting killed in the Langendorf Park petting zoo.

About the memorial plaque that is located behind the McDonalds Restaurant, in the Langendorf Park parking lot, where Baby Face Nelson had a shoot out with two FBI agents. –Martin

Response from Slim Pictures: Martin, the most exciting part of your eMail is your mention of Baby Face Nelson. Just recently I decided to look into possible hauntings surrounding the infamous gangster, especially considering his violent life and death. PLEASE do tell me everything you’ve heard!

I am very fascinated by your accounts of a hunted house on Cuba Rd. If you were to look on google Earth or Google Maps today, do you think you’d be able to locate where this ‘original’ haunted house was. It seems like some of the tales of this house have migrated to the Krilich house on Rainbow Rd. I have heard plenty of what I consider legitimate stories about a haunted house on Rainbow Road, so I’m inclined to think that both of these locations are haunted though there have definitely been some blurring between the locations over the years.  It’s a very astute observation to presume that when the ‘original’ haunted house of the area went away, they needed a new base to call home.  I love hearing how the original stories morph into urban legends over time and I thank you for informing all of us Cuba Road ‘newbies’ about where some of these tales might have started.

Are there ghost stories related the the petting zoo? Thanks a million, Scott

Do any readers out there know anything about an abandoned haunted home on Cuba Road (not Rainbow Road) in the ’80s and before?

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Growing Up Near Cuba Road

Filed Under: 4. Cuba Road, 5. Haunted Homes, Cuba Road, Illinois, Rainbow Road, White Cemetery — scottlmarkus — Comments Off
October 11, 2006

Story: Hello Scott, this is actually the first time I have stumbled upon your page. I am from Lake Zurich. Lived there all my life ’til I went away to school. My parents still live there. I currently live in Kalamazoo and if you ever get a chance you should really look into it cause it is an amazing place to search for what some call ghosts. I like to think of them as spirits but I suppose that is the same thing. Anyway to the point. My family is from the area and I can tell you that the house with the gates on Rainbow Road is a house owned by Capone. He used it for business meetings and as a hide out. If you go into the town center in LZ you can actually look up articles from the very start of LZ and find deeds for common knowledge. I also happened to know some people who lived in LZ when it first became a town and when i was little i would sit and listen for hours to the stories of the area. It is believed that there were many people killed at this estate. I remember when I was in high school i wanted to check the place out. Not so much as a way to see ghosts but as a way to see a part of history since i love the story of Capone. I went with two friends and on the road when we got to the house i slowed down. I did not think it was too great since all i could see was the gate. I did not dare go in because for one i knew that the cops had this place heavily guarded mostly cause the town has a lot of teen vandals probably due to lack of things to do at night, and two if i got caught my dad would have killed me for being there when I was supposed to be at a friends house. As we were pulling away a car came from around a corner with no lights on and got on my tail. It then turned on its lights and flashed them on and off until we got to RT 22. It was a old car looked like it was from the 20′s and it disappeared as soon as we hit the main road. I remember being really scared. Some friends think it is just people in the area trying to scare the ghost seekers but they were not there. They did not see it.

I live a mile away from Cuba Road, and I have friends that live by White Cemetery. It has always been really creepy to go past there at night. In the day I have not really experienced anything. My favorite story is of the girl that hung herself on a tree there. That she appears in the road. Oh and the spot where you can get hand prints on your car. I have yet to do that. I actually work with a woman who heard of Cuba Road and she was so excited to hear that I lived near it.

I actually believe that my parents house is haunted. My stepmom died in there and not in a glamorous way. No not murdered but some strange things have happened there. But I suppose it could just be my imagination. If you ever want to hear about that or how before she died I knew exactly how it would happen in a dream I had, I would love to share it. But I thought I would share my knowledge of Rainbow Road. It is too bad they are turning it into a development now. Thanks for your time. –Elizabeth

Response from Scott Markus: Elizabeth, I have to say, the most fascinating part of your eMail revolves around your dream and your stepmother. Please do pass it along to us. I’m sure many of us would like to hear more. This whole area is full of lore and it really is remarkable how many stories come out of Cuba Road. I will have to point out that one of the stories you heard about is from a vary famous urban legend (you wrote, “My favorite story is of the girl that hung herself on a tree…and the spot where you can get hand prints on your car”). The legend I’ve always heard takes place in Texas, though, according to Barbara Mikkelson of Snopes.com, the actual event took place in Utah in 1938. Rather than reinvent the wheel, check out the real story (no ghosts after all) at: http://www.snopes.com/horrors/ghosts/handprint.asp

Elizabeth Writes back: I would love to share what happened in my dream. When I was 10 I went away to a summer camp. My mother died on a Wednesday before I was to come home on Saturday. The day she died, I was mad at her because all the kids there were getting care packages and I had not gotten one yet. Of course I was being stupid and it came that day.

I talked to her on the phone, thanked her and thought nothing of it. That night I had a dream of her dieing. I dreamt that she collapsed in the bathroom and my sister was there screaming. I woke up screaming. The counselor had to come in and check on me. I went home with a girl who was my best friend at the time. I knew something was wrong when my dad dropped her off at her house and left her mom with a note that told her not to read it before we left. We drove the two blocks to my house and my dad was very quiet. We got to the driveway and all my relatives were over. My first reaction was my dad surprised me with a party, but he had me go around to the back yard to talk to me.

He told me that my mother died. I knew it was coming. My dad told me part of the story and I knew it was not right. It was only when I was older that I was told the truth of what happened. I told my dad that I knew because I dreamt. it.

A year after my stepmother died I was sleeping in my room when I suddenly heard my mother’s radio go off. It was blasting. I knocked on my sister’s door and asked if she had turned it on. She had not, so we went and took a look at it. Not only was it not turned on but it didn’t have batteries in it either. We tried pressing buttons to shut it off but we could not do it. As we thought about what to do, it just shut off.

I tried to go back to sleep and my sister went back to her room. I finally fell back to sleep. Then I woke up freezing. I saw a white figure leave the room and walk down the hall. By this time I got so scared that I start to cry and I woke up my dad. Nothing happened at the house for quite a while after that night. My dad has since remarried and my new mother is convinced that the house has spirits. I do not live with them anymore but I do spend all the holidays there and this thanksgiving the weirdest thing happened.

We were all sitting down to eat dinner when a music box my mom has in the kitchen went off. We all went dead silent and looked at each other. My mom then said looks like one of the spirits is with us now.

My mom’s death was the first one that I had a dream about but I have had other dreams that have come true. It got to a point where I had to take sleeping pills so I could go to sleep and not dream about someone dieing or getting seriously injured. I was so scared that someone else would be in my dreams. I am much better about it now, but I have been dealing with it for years. It is weird, I don’t know how to explain it and most my friends think it is freaky. But some think it is my gift or perhaps my curse.

I like to hope that one day it will help someone not get hurt or die and I also like to think that my mothers are with me. I think it is all fascinating. I love what you do and I hope you keep it up.

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A strange photo and an old White Cemetery tale

Filed Under: 4. Cuba Road, 5. Haunted Homes, Illinois, White Cemetery — scottlmarkus — Comments Off
May 20, 2005

PhotobucketStory/Question: Hi! I am very curious about this picture that was taken in the kitchen of our house by a friend of my daughters that was spending the night. The picture is of my daughter taken with a digital camera. I was just wondering if you could give me your opinion of the picture.

I can, if you would like, e-mail you the details off this location in our home and give you more details about sightings there.

I would also like to include a story about White Cemetery on Cuba Rd. which happened at least 15 yrs ago. Having nothing better to do, a group of us planed a trip to the cemetery (which was our favorite pastime). The gates to the cemetery were open almost like it was waiting for us to come. We were all dressed in dark colors to act as camouflage from passing cars. We had all for the most part split up throughout the cemetery. Me and this other person were in the back left corner of the cemetery. A car had just passed, so we resumed our activities of exploring. I got a very weird foreboding feeling that I should watch this other person. All I could really see was their white gym shoes so I was watching their feet move through the cemetery which then passed behind a head stone only they never came out on the other side. I called everyone over and we immediately began to look for this person. We checked the fence line which gave no indication of having an opening for a person to get through. We searched everywhere. After about half an hour we decided that we needed to go back to where all of our cars where parked.

He was waiting there with a story that we left him there and he walked straight down Cuba Road to 59 to the nearest gas station and called someone for a ride and here he was almost out of nowhere. I’d like to say that this was an elaborate hoax and he had someone waiting there to drive him to the other location, but I really still cannot explain how the white gym shoes disappeared out of my sight. Any direction that he could have gone in I would have seen the shoes. Thank You For Your Time — Jodie

Response from Scott Markus: To state the obvious, that’s a really unusual picture! I certainly can’t say for sure why it turned out the way it did. I’m inclined to wonder if there were a couple real-world conditions that lead to this. For example if there was a bright and reflective object in the frame combined with a harsh lens flare. Your guess is as good as mind though. Please do send more info on the house itself.

The White Cemetery story is a puzzler as well. My only guess is that there was some brush that concealed the white tennis shoes, which is what made it seem like he vanished.

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Touhy Mobile Home Park & the Crash of Flight 191

Filed Under: 1. Legends & Lore, 15. More Illinois, 5. Haunted Homes, 6. Schools, 7. South & West Side Cemeteries, 8. Disasters, Abbey Woods- Antioch, Antioch High School, Bachelor's Grove Cemetery, Chatsworth, Crash of Flight 191, Illinois, Robinson Woods, The Gate, Libertyville — scottlmarkus — 3 Comments
March 9, 2004

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 Scott Markus: 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-sponsored 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 monastery, so, technically, even visiting the area is trespassing. 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 (however, negative energy from this event may still be present). 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 absolutely 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,keep browsing this site as there are metric tons of information on the site.

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. One 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 discovered 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?

Response from Scott Markus: I personally have not, but am now quite intrigued.  If anyone out there knows of any Chatsworth, Illinois haunts, please leave a comment below!

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