A Spooky Chicago Story

Last January I snagged a three week contract at a small ad agency downtown. I worked for a very attractive young blonde named Melanie (which made my time there quite pleasant) on the Glaxo Smith Cline business.


The building I worked in is called the Reid Murdock Building. Its location is on the Chicago River on the north bank between LaSalle and Clark St. This building was once a shipping warehouse and now serves as business lofts. It has a lot of old Chicago charm being all brick and topped with a distinctive clock tower. Surrounded by boring metal and reflective glass high rises it is an architectural oasis in a desert of blah.

In the lobby of the building and in the corridors, large framed old photo murals of this building and the river location are on display and dated. There’s a lot of history to this building and whoever manages it does a fine job of relaying this information visually.

Melanie and I worked late a few times. One night I departed about 8pm and Melanie was the only one left in the office. My departure was swift, hoping to catch one of the few trains back to the free world of Indiana.

The next day I arrived early, which is not only my business commitment but a habit of over 30 years. Melanie arrived an hour or so later at 8:45.

She sat in the same cube farm just over a divider. She stood over the divider and asked if I knew of the building folklore. Recalling all the images in the building I said yes. Then she asked If I ever witnessed anything odd while working there late and alone. I replied with a simple no. That’s when Melanie related what she had seen after I left the building the night before.

She told me the story about the building being haunted but until the night before she thought it to be, in her words, "poppycock". Melanie described these foggy human apparitions that moved slowly into her peripheral vision and when she turned to look more closely they would slide away as if they were spying on her. This happened to her about three times before she ran out of the office without logging off the server (a huge no-no) and turning off her computer. Her pale look and buggy eyes told me she was now a believer. Freaked me out.

I asked her if this occurrence had anything to do with the Eastland disaster. She just gave me a wide-eyed nod.


The Eastland was a Great Lakes steamer that was docked on the river in front of the Reid-Murdock building. It was being loaded with passengers that were employees of Western Electric and were bound for a company picnic across the lake in Michigan City Indiana. While leaving the dock the ship listed over and capsized killing hundreds of passengers and crew.

You can find more Eastland info here.

While working late at night in this office the apparitions never came to me. I was told they were never visible when more than one person was in the office, always appearing to lone individuals. Many others have reported similar occurrences and swear by them.

I may never know for sure but would love to have the opportunity to find out for myself.

This came to mind to me since today marks 96 years since the Eastland disaster happened.