A Curious City Halloween: Scary stories from spooked Chicagoans
Three stories from Chicagoans who endured a terrifying experience that they couldn’t explain, couldn’t get over, or couldn’t escape.
Karen Holt tells the story of her haunted childhood home on Chicago’s Southeast Side. Was her house simply saturated with “residual energy”? Or was the ghost of a lost boy wandering the halls?
Rachel Shuki tells the story of the haunted, now-closed school she taught at on Chicago’s West Side. A tragic disaster from the past could be the reason behind unexplained occurrences in the building.
Ben Astrachan and Jackson Zinn-Rowthorn tell the story of their Northwest Side apartment complex, the ritual site they found in the basement, and the friend that messed with it. Have they disturbed a spiritual realm they aren’t equipped to handle?
Get cozy, dim the lights and press play.
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Gone and nearly forgotten: Lincoln Park’s High Bridge
A bridge constructed for sightseeing during the turn of the century soon became known as a place for death. If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of suicide, you can call or text 988 for the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
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The unsung legacy of Margaret Burroughs: ‘We called her mama’
Margaret Burroughs was a force to be reckoned with. An artist and a poet in Chicago from the 1920s until her death in 2010, she was also a teacher, an organizer, and the founder of the DuSable Black History Museum. Her birthday is November 1. Curious City and the Burroughs Legacy Project at the Invisible Institute tell the story of one of her lesser-known passions: educating people incarcerated in Illinois.
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Chicago is a jazz city, but where are the jazz radio stations?
The city is home to a vibrant jazz scene and the Chicago Jazz Festival. But WDCB is the only all-jazz radio station in the region. Why isn't there more jazz programming on the local radio dial?
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How a group of volunteers saved a rare Illinois wildflower
The Kankakee mallow is one of the rarest plants on the continent, according to the Smithsonian Garden in Washington D.C. It’s a pink flower that grows on tall stalks and is native to just one small island in the middle of the Kankakee River, about an hour south of Chicago.
But when botanist Rachel Goad paddled over to take a look back in 2014 with a group of native plant enthusiasts, instead they found an island overgrown with invasive honeysuckle.
Was this special native plant gone for good?
Perhaps, if not for the efforts of a small group of volunteers, initially led by conservationist Trevor Edmonson.
“Hearing the phrase that the Kankakee mallow only grows on this island — anywhere in the world, like that is the extent of its remaining natural habitat — is such a draw for anybody, especially someone early on in their career,” Edmonson said.
Today, reporter Claire Keenan-Kurgan from the Points North podcast at Interlochen Public Radio guides us on this floral rescue mission.
Points North is a podcast that tells great stories from the Great Lakes. For more stories like this one, go to pointsnorthpodcast.org.
USA