Chicago Hauntings Ghost Tour of Archer Avenue

Archer Avenue was built by Irish American immigrants in the mid 19th century, over an ancient Indian Trail, during the building of the Illinois & Michigan Canal. The project was one of the most important in American history, as it opened up water commerce between the East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico, by eliminating the portage that had existed between the Great Lakes and the Illinois/Mississippi Rivers. Slave like conditions existed during the building of the canal, including starvation, lack of fresh water, infighting and disease. It is unknown today how many immigrants died along the canal building route, but most who died were buried where they died, along the road, or here, at St. James cemetery at Sag Bridge. Sag Bridge was a now-vanished community which began during the time of French exploration. It is believed that Fr. Marquette once said Mass on this very bluff, long before the present day church was built. Many believe that the limestone used to build it, hulled from nearby quarries, may have paranormal qualities. Many limestone structures in Chicago, including this church, host paranormal activity. Ghosts are plentiful here, dating back to one of the first pastors, who said he would gaze out of the rectory window at night to see the ground rising and falling, as if it were breathing. Later, phantom monks were seen gliding up the hill toward the church, though no monks were ever stationed here. An old legend also tells of a young couple--a stable hand and housekeeper--who attempted to elope one night here, under cover a darkness. The horse and carriage overturned, killing them both. Another old story tells of two musicians who saw a mysterious woman in white and phantom horse and carriage here in the late 19th century, while they were sleeping in the church hall after performing at a church picnic. An interesting additional note is that the front gates of the cemetery are from the old Hawthorne Works plant in Cicero, Illinois, where most of the victims of the famed Eastland Disaster worked before the terrible river accident of 1915 which killed 844 souls.