Congress Hotel Investigation

Originally built in 1893 for the north tower and 1903 for the south tower. It was built in anticipation of the 1893 World’s Fair or Columbian Exhibition that was coming to Chicago. This was originally called the Auditorium Annex Hotel. Directly across the street is the Auditorium, part of Roosevelt University.

Historically there have been three serious fires that occurred at the hotel. The first fire occurred in 1934 which was considered a serious fire. Folklore attempts to connect this fire to the events surrounding the capture of John Dillinger.

On February 3, 1946 four fires occurred in that one day. The fire caused one death, several injuries and forced the evacuation of around 2,000 guests.

On March 4, 1961a major fire raged through the upper floors of the hotel (then operated as the Pick-Congress Hotel.

Al Capone’s connection to the Congress Hotel is mostly urban legend. There are no official records that showed he lived there but did possibly visit from time to time. Some lore state that he maintained a suite on the 8^th Floor of the North Tower.

Some accounts note that Ralph Capone and associates operated or congregated in spaces within the building. Some believe that Al haunts the upper floors, due to reports of people seeing and hearing footsteps often described by the sound of his signature two-tone wingtip shoes clicking down the hallways.

Address: 520 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60605

Phone: 312-427-3800

Website: www.congressplazahotel.com

Hauntings: There have been many suicides here throughout the years. The first one occurred April 8, 1900, a Spanish-American War Veteran by the name of Captain Louis Ostheim. He was staying in his room on the eve of his wedding. He shot himself in the head. There was no suicide note or explanation why he committed suicide a day before he was to be wed. Two wedding rings were discovered alongside his body.

He has been seen as a shadow figure throughout the hotel. He is sometimes called “The Shadowman of the Congress.” He has been seen in the hallways, bar and restaurant but is often reportedly encountered in people’s closets.

There was an old Chicago city judge. Once he retired as a judge, he lived in a suite at the Congress. He used to love playing pranks on people when he was alive. He used to walk the hallways with a TV remote, randomly changing channels on guest’s TVs. It is claimed that after his death, he continues to walk the hallways and messing with TVs on various floors.

There is a ghost of a vagrant called, “Peg Leg Johnny.” Nobody seems to know who he is but research indicates that there was a Peg Leg Killer Clown who actually lived just a short distance from the hotel. He was arrested for killing a woman and was sent to the Joliet Prison and later escaped. History does not know what happened to this killer but there is a distinct possibility that he eventually changed his name and checked into the hotel.

Legend has it that a little boy haunted the 12^th Floor. A long-time security guard by the name of John has worked here for several decades and always said that he doesn’t believe in ghosts. He had an encounter on the 12^th Floor one night with the little boy. The hotel had gotten some calls that a little boy was running around on the 12^th Floor, so he went up there to check for himself.

Initially he didn’t see anything, but then he glanced down the hallway and saw a little boy. The boy was wearing older clothing; not from this era for sure. John pointed at the boy and asked him what he was doing up here. The boy simply smiled and then disappeared. It is said that John even encountered this little boy in his own home. John was relaxing with some soft music and a book he was reading. He happened to glance up, saw the boy, who then vanished without a trace. He never saw him in his house again but he has seen him several times at the hotel.

Perhaps the sighting of this little boy goes back to a murder/suicide that happened August 3, 1939. A mother and her two sons came here from Czechoslovakia; a six and four year old.

The mother, Adele Langer (sometimes registered or identified as Mrs. Della Frank or Adale Langanger), a 30-year-old Czech immigrant or refugee who had recently arrived in America with her family after fleeing Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia.

After returning from a day visiting Lincoln Park Zoo, Adele took her sons to their upper-floor room (reportedly the 12^th floor in the hotel’s North Tower. She then proceeded to throw her two young sons out the window and then jumped to her death.

Paranormal investigators and local ghost lore claim that the spirit of Karl Langer (the “Ghost Boy”) and his mother still haunt the upper floors specifically, the 12^th Floor of the North Tower.

A shadowy figure of a woman allegedly haunts Room 441 in the South Tower. Many guests of the hotel have reported a female apparition or shadow figure that paces around the room, shakes the beds, pulls blankets off sleeping patrons, or aggressively kicks or pushes them awake. The activity is reported so frequently that some hotel security and housekeeping staff refuse to enter the room alone.

Strange photographs seem to show an uninvited guest dressed in Victorian-era clothing standing near the back wall of The Gold Room, or floating past the grand chandeliers only to disappear from plain sight.

The Florentine Room is rumored to host the spirit of President Theodore Roosevelt. There have been reports of whispers, cold drafts and the sudden activation of appliances that are unplugged at the time.

Room 666 has been permanently sealed and boarded up by hotel management. The doorway to the room has been covered over and blended into the hallway wallpaper. According to ghost lore, the room was a hotbed of activity including violent poltergeist activity, aggressive entities and guest disturbances that the hotel eventually decided to remove access to it entirely.

There was a story going around for quite some time that author Stephen King was inspired by the Congress Hotel and specifically the haunted Room 441 for his short story, “1408”was nothing more than an urban legend.

The Ghost Research Society investigated The Congress Hotel on June 12, 2026. Team members included: Charles Williams, Kim Aguirre and Dale Kaczmarek.

Equipment set up: Only hand-held equipment including Melmeter, digital recorder and a 4k camcorder were used.

Experiments performed: A single EVP session using a Ghost Box was conducted outside of the infamous Room 666.

Personal experiences:

Kim Aguirre: I had an awkward feeling while investigating the area around Room 666. Nothing I could put my finger on, just a strange kind of feeling. I was able to hear the “Capone” name come through the ghost box during a short EVP session.

Dale Kaczmarek: I personally did not feeling anything unusual while touring the building for the tour and mini-investigation on the 6^th Floor. I believe we could have come across something of a paranormal nature if we had more time in the building and were able to see and perhaps investigate the haunted rooms and corridors of the building.

Evidence collected:

Go Congress.MP4 – while conducting a Spirit Box session near Room 666, a question was asked, “Do you want us to stay or leave?” The device replied with, “Go.”

Capone Congress.MP4 – while conducting a Spirit Box session near Room 666; the device blurted out, “Capone.”

Yes Congress.MP4 – while conducting a Spirit Box session near Room 666, a question was asked, “Did you know Al Capone?” A faint male voice was heard to reply with, “Yes.”

Get out get out Congress.MP4 – while conducting a Spirit Box session near Room 666, the device said, “Get out” in a male voice, followed closely b a female voice saying “Get out “much clearer.

Words spoken by the Spirit Box: yeah, go, Capone, yes get out, fire.

Conclusions: This was an interesting location with loads of history, tragedies and hauntings. I wish we could have seen more of the building especially Room 441 and the 12^th Floor where so much visual apparitional encounters had taken place in the past.

I thought the session near Room 666 was very interesting with lots of intelligent responses to the questions posed to the spirits. It would have been very interesting to have used the Phasma Box there. I’m sure we would have received much more responses since Room 666 had so many paranormal events happen inside that the room was eventually closed and sealed off by hotel management. That doesn’t happen very often, in fact, the only other room where people used to be stay overnight was aboard the Queen Mary – Stateroom B340.

I would like to return here soon to conduct a more thorough investigation including the places that I wasn’t able to see during our June visit – maybe even book a room here.