Hi gang! Maybe I’m feeling nostalgic, but I wanted to reshare this investigation of The Congress Plaza Hotel. The Congress adventure became one of the first posts on this site waaaaaay back in 2013. I’ve combined all the posts into one, so you can read about all the ghostly goodness we captured. Get the scoop after the jump.

Part 1: 12th Floor, South Tower

Inside the Gold Room at the Congress Plaza Hotel, Chicago, Feb. 14, 2013. Original Material.

We began the investigation at 10 PM on the 12th floor of the south tower.

Ghost Hunting Equipment

• Mel Meter (EMF)
• Digital Camera
• IR Digital Camera
• Digital Voice Recorder (EVP)
• Ghost Meter (EMF)
• Digital Thermometer
• Spirit Box

Our best piece of equipment wasn’t equipment at all: It was psychic medium, Colleen. She connected us to nearby spirits, who guided us to the interesting parts of the hotel.

One of the spirits, Gwinny, died in the Congress during the 1920s or 30s. She was a prostitute who was strangled. Gwinny seemed aware that she was dead. Tonya, the second spirit, joined Gwinny, but she didn’t communicate with us. Tonya only watched what we were doing. Overall, most spirits continue their business at the hotel. They don’t seemed concerned about ghost hunters and the public.

Image: Looking down the stairwell from the 12th floor of the south tower. The EMF spike happened here.

Colleen guided us to the central stairwell next. As we entered the area, Colleen said “Whoa! There’s a lot of people in here!” At this time, our EMF meters reported surges. The Mel meter recorded levels up to 7.8 mG. We tried to debunk the surge, but none of the electrical items (lights, elevators, service phone, utility closets) reported EMF over 1.6 mG.

We did experience more ghostly activity on the 3rd floor by the stairwell again.

Part 2: Security Guard Interview, South Tower, Gold Room

Image: Gold Room, Congress Plaza Hotel, Chicago, Feb. 14, 2013.

How long have you worked at the hotel?

More than 17 years.

Have you experienced any ghostly activities during this time?

No, I haven’t. But, a few of the rehab contractors and other security guards have.

Would you tell us about those experiences?

One of our contractors was working on a remodel job in Room 667 in the south tower. He took a picture of the nearly completed bathroom work. This is a standard procedure to show progress on a job. When he developed the pictures, there was a little girl in them. It looked like she was drawing something on the wall. She wore clothes from the past, like the white socks that go up to your knees and a plaid skirt. Her face wasn’t in the picture because it was too fuzzy to make it out. Only her face was blurry. The rest of her body was clear.

The other guards have heard whispers or footsteps when no one is there. Sometimes, they say something tugged their hand or a personal item goes missing. It always turns up, but not where you’d expect it to be. It’s like you put your wallet in your locker, but it’s been placed on your desk later that night. I don’t think anyone has seen a ghost, though.

He then let us into the Gold Room to take pictures. We weren’t allowed to go into the closets to look for the Mystery Hand.

Note: This conversation happened 2 hours before we contacted Colleen.

Part 3: Room 441, South Tower

Room 441 was the next to last stop in the south tower. This room is notorious for ghostly activity. It is the room with the most calls to security. There is reportedly a female shadow person, who stands at the foot of the bed. The spirit(s) may also move your personal belongings.

Colleen, using information from Gwinny, said a murder happened in the room. A woman found her husband cheating on her and killed the woman in the affair. We can’t confirm that feedback, but we’ll do a follow-up update focusing on the ghosts of the Congress.

We didn’t have any measured activity at this stop. Zip. Zero. Zilch.

Part 4: The Ghost Boy, 3rd Floor, Stairway

We had an experience on the 3rd floor of the south tower. Saleen, who’s psi-sensitive, and Colleen connected to the spirit of a little boy named James.

Image: Saleen making contact with James on the 3rd floor of the south tower.

To paraphrase Colleen’s information:

James died violently in the hotel. He was shot in the head by his father’s business (‘mob’) rival. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Apparently, the boy’s ghost is still looking for his mother and father.

Note: This doesn’t appear to be the boy spirit who haunts the north tower.

Saleen was able to sense his presence, too. She reached out to touch his hand. Our temperature meter detected a cold spot (62 degrees down from 77 degrees) during this event and EMF surged above 6 mG. We didn’t see the spirit manifest.

Colleen also reported a tall male spirit in the area as well. She thought he may have been a bell hop at the hotel. The tall man didn’t stay with us and faded away.

This concluded our south tower investigation.

Part 5: The North Tower

Image: Stairwell between the 7th and 8th floors of the north tower.

The north tower had some interesting readings, especially on the 8th floor. It oozed high EMF levels. All readings hovered around 1.5 mG and we had spikes as high as 64 mG on the Mel Meter. Now, we were able to debunk some of these spikes. There is quite a bit of poor grounding on the electrical wiring and the hotel has wifi hot spots located in the corners of floor. We believe this elevates the ambient EMF.

The north tower is just creepy. The management group hasn’t remodeled it as much as the south tower. It looks like a horror movie set.

Image: Suite 800, seen in infrared, in the north tower.

We did stop by Suite 800, a room for one of Al Capone’s henchmen, and had no special changes in measurement. Colleen and Saleen didn’t sense any ghostly activity, either. We did begin to feel very, very nauseous in the north tower. This is a common side effect of high EMF.

However, we did smell cigar smoke. At this time, smoking had been banned in hotels for 10 years or so. It may have been a residual manifestation. Mobsters were notorious cigar smokers.

We also stopped by Room 666. It’s true – the room is sealed behind a wall. The room order goes: Room 664 – a slight indentation of a door – Room 668. We also didn’t pick up any changes in EMF or temperature.

Evidence Review and Historic Research

Image: Congress Plaza Hotel lobby, Chicago, Feb. 14, 2013.

Update on 11/2/2013 – I accessed the Chicago Tribune archives to check on these spirits. Not every name was correct, but the events surrounding their deaths seem reasonable. I’ll add the event next to the spirits name. These events did happen, according to the Chicago Tribune.

We do believe the hotel is haunted – no doubt about it. We do want to do some more research around the spirits we encountered. Colleen and Saleen did contact more than the named spirits in the posts. They include:

• Gwinny (Possibly died in the 1946 fire)
• Tonya (Possibly poisoned in 1922)
• Ralphie (Possible suicide in the 1920s)
• James (Possible victim of the 1919 shootings)
• Bell Hop (Tall Man spirit) (Likely murdered in 1921 by his wife in hotel lobby)
• Charlotte (Possible suicide in 1930s)

There were also references to fires in the hotel. It’s possible that some of these people died in a fire. The Congress Plaza Hotel is so old that I’m sure there was a historic event like that and we’ll try to confirm that in a follow-up. We have additional EVP research coming, too. We recorded every minute of the investigation.

EVP Analysis Part 1: South Tower

We reviewed the first hour of the south tower investigation and found some interesting items towards the end. There are continuous whispering sounds during the time Saleen and Colleen connected with James, the young boy spirit, on the 3rd floor. As we leave the area, a heavy static sound comes over the recording when Colleen mentions the tall man spirit.

Now, this is interesting because there wasn’t anything near the stairwell to cause it. We checked for heavy electric interference from poor shielding, radios, background music from the lobby, Wi-Fi hotspots; and, there was nothing like that present. I would consider the whispering phenomena a Class C EVP. I’m not sure what I’d call the static other than ghostly interference.

We’ll go back and check out the spot again to re-create it (if possible). We’ll review the remaining audio over the week.

Updated July 2017: As for the other follow-up items, we didn’t find any indication there was a fire at the Congress. I also couldn’t find any information about the spirits named in an earlier post. I did find information about the 1946 arson spree in the city. One person did die trying to escape the blaze in the Congress, a woman. This is probably the spirit, Gwinny, that guided us throughout the hotel.

As we researched the hotel’s background, it was obvious that any of the spirits could have died there. Between 1910 – 1940, there were dozens of suicides and murders. Really, the place could have had Agatha Christie use it for a novel.

EVP Analysis Part 2: North Tower

We finished the EVP analysis from the north tower of the Congress Hotel. I found three noteworthy events.

First, the static overlap happened again when Colleen, the psychic medium, connected with another male spirit named Benny on the 8th floor. It wasn’t as strong, nor as long, as the tall man interference in the south tower. There is no voice heard during this event.

We also recorded numerous knocks, thumps and some footsteps on the 12th floor. During the investigation, we didn’t notice them.

Lastly, we have some whispers from the 6th floor. We couldn’t make out the words left on the recording. I wouldn’t classify this whisper event as an EVP. It seems like we recorded ambient noise because it doesn’t match up with our questioning cadence.

Last Updated on March 26, 2024 by Jacob Rice