Chicago, Illinois, the largest city in the Midwest. Founded back in 1830, the population of the growing city accounts for 2.7 million living souls today. As a center of trade of the United States, the metropolis is buzzing with everyday hustle and bustle. Yet as we rush through our busy days, we may forget all the tragedies that occurred on the streets we walk and who may be walking with us. As the girl who missed the premiere of High School Musical 4 in middle school, to go on a ghost tour in Chicago, here are a few of the most haunted locations I have researched in Chicago...

1. The Great Chicago Fire of 1871: Water Tower and Holy Family Church

Thanks to Catherine O'Leary and her clumsy cow back on October 8, 1871, the city was set ablaze due to weeks without rain, turning the city into soot and destruction for two days. This helped the city rebuild but no one was an exception from death. The famous Water Tower prevailed from the flames as well as Holy Family Church on Roosevelt and May. Despite the buildings surviving, the same does not go for those who sought refuge inside them. Both Water Tower and Holy Family Church are said to be haunted by those who died from the suffocating smoke.

Phantoms faces, apparitions of a hanging corpse, and young brothers who warn the living of the impending danger of the fire have all been seen at the locations.

2. Iroquois Theater Fire: Oriental/Ford Theater

For a city that is known for its harsh winters, fires ravaged this city in its younger years frequently. The Iroquois Theater was showing a famous comedian the day of December 30, 1903, when a stage light flicked a spark then landed onto the stage and engulfed in flames. Stagehands successfully protected any of the cast or crew from the fire yet when lowering the curtains, the fire was fanned into the audience seated below. Out of a scene from Phantom of the Opera, chaos erupted in the crowd to escape the growing flames. Doors leading out to the alley or Randolph street were locked and the crowd was trapped inside the auditorium to choke from the flames and smoke.

602 people perished that day due to the theater being over capacity. The alley adjacent to the theater was dubbed "Death Alley," holding the lifeless corpses as the theater was cleared. Bodies were stacked upon each other in the alley, few were even sent to Marshall Field's on State Street as a temporary holding morgue. It is known as the most horrendous theater fire in American history.

The theater was moved and remodeled to the Ford theater known today. Apparitions are said to appear in the 'Death Alley' as well as spirits being caught on camera and photographs.

3. The Murder Castle of H.H. Holmes

An upcoming movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio tells the horrific story of H. H. Holmes or the Devil in the White City. The World's Fair came to Chicago in 1893, The Columbian Exposition. People from all over the world came to take part in this celebration of history and the future of America. In what is now today Englewood, on the corner of 63rd and Wallace, once stood a hotel that served those guests attending the World's Fair. H.H. Holmes took over the ownership of a drug store which he transformed into the hotel known today. This process took longer than expected and many people went missing in the process. The hotel itself was massive and exquisite, yet held the secrets Holmes held inside of torture. Within secret passages, doors, and closets, Holmes had acid tanks, gas chambers, dissecting tables, an invention of his own to pull the human body to twice its height. Holmes admitted to 28 murders but it is believed to be, in actuality, more than 200.

Holmes confessed, "I was born with the devil in me. I could not help the fact that I was a murderer, no more than the poet can help the inspiration to sing." A swell guy, right? It is even believed during an absence of missing persons in Chicago can account for the theory Holmes moved to London and became the infamous Jack The Ripper. Holmes was hung for his crimes at the age of 35.

Today, where horrific torture and murder occurred more than a century ago, stands the Englewood Post Office. Maintenance workers feel that they are often being watched, witness off things happening and feel uneasy in the basement, where the bodies of the deceased were once hidden.

4. Jane Addams Hull House: Devil Baby

On the campus of UIC, stands a Victorian house that is open for tours for the public to educate about the first woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. It may have a reputation of being haunted but not the for reasons you may believe. It was constructed by Charles J. Hull but then Jane Addams and Ellen Starr Gates would repurpose the house to house immigrants from the dangerous city streets. Addams and guests would hear footsteps, apparitions. But that is nothing from what is told to have happened there.

A Catholic woman and her Aethist husband were pregnant and in many various versions, her husband cursed the birth of the baby over a picture of the Virgin Mary hanging in the house or the story they had 6 prior children and the husband had yet received a boy. When the woman gave birth, to their horror, the baby had horns, hooves, and scale like skin. Not the beautiful human baby they were most likely hoping for. Disgusted with fear, the devil child was sent to the Hull House where he would be cared for by Jane Addams. In an attempt to baptize the baby, Addams failed and resorted to locking the devil baby in the attic, where it would eventually die.

Lesson: Don't curse your baby unless you want a horned devil-like child.

5. Congress Plaza Hotel

The Congress is another hotel on this list that was built for the World's Fair in 1893. H.H Holmes would find his victims here and Al Capone lived in a suite on the 8th floor of the north tower, where he is said to haunt to this very day.

A spirit of a young boy haunts the 12th floor in the north tower. In the 1930's, a mother and their two children waited at the hotel her husband, but when he never showed, she threw her sons and herself out of the window. Only one boy play tricks on guests for the fact, only one body of the boys ever made it to the morgue and was properly laid to rest. Guests also have reported feeling watched or fearful and even in some cases, chased by a ghost that made one man escape to the rooftop.

Room 441 is the most infamous room of the entire hotel. Security is often called to the room for the fact many guests see a shadow woman appear at the foot of their bed and watch them sleep but then will kick them viciously. This room is often sold out for the brave-hearted people who decide to risk their night with this angry spirit.

But Room 666 is a whole different story. It is sealed from the public and there is no doorway to enter. Legend has it that there is a body that was found in the room and later buried away.

Ballrooms, Gold, and Florentine are also inhabited by ghosts. The Gold room has the legend of a worker being trapped within a wall and died by suffocation. Some have reported seeing a ghostly arm outreached from the wall inside the coat closet. The Florentine room is home to a female spirit who whispers to guests and moves chairs and mysterious knockings.

The stairways, elevators, hallways, lobby are all haunted by other unfortunate souls who died at the hotel: prostitutes, suicidal guests, and even a friendly hobo. Room 1408 is also known to possibly inspire Stephen King's short.

*Anyone interested in staying here and having a nice chill night ghost hunting with me, let me know by Halloween please*

6. Excalibur Nightclub

Originally built to serve home the to Chicago Historical Society after the first building perished in the Chicago fire with many people who tried to escape the horror outside, it also served as a temporary morgue at the time of the Eastland Disaster. Patrons and employees of the permanently closed nightclub have experienced apparitions of a man, woman, and little girl, being shoved down stairs or railings by seemingly, no one. Candles are relit or put out, wine taps going by themselves and bottles and glasses breaking. One candle always remains lit despite its outreach location that is only accessible by ladder. Those who dare to enter the building hear children crying and feel uneasy. The Ghost Adventures team graced the building, so you know it's all gotta be true.

7. Bachelor's Grove Cemetary

Another location of the Ghost Adventures television show is what is known as the most haunted cemetery in all America. In past years, there have been no recent burials but that does not stop brave ghost hunters and patrons from visiting the secluded forest that is home to restless souls. The mob used this cemetery as a dumping ground for their victims and in the 60s was victim to reckless vandalism. Graveheads were knocked over and caskets and corpses even removed. Bones were tossed carelessly throughout the cemetery and surrounding forest.

A young boy, a woman in white and other spirits roam the resting place. The 'White Lady' or 'Mrs. Rogers' wanders the cemetery cradling her infant who was laid to rest next to her very grave. The boy calls out for help that he has lost something but no one sees any boy. A woman sitting on the grave was captured in a photograph that is the most known evidence of the haunting, allegedly being no woman in sight when the picture was taken.

A pond adjacent to the cemetery has seen it's ritualistic cults to sacrifice animals, black magic, and customs of the occult. An apparition of a horse exiting the pond was sighted by two Cook County Forest Rangers. The horse was pulling a plow with a ghostly man directing the horse then vanishing into thin air. It is legend a horse and his master drowned in this pond back in the 1870's.

There is a phantom farmhouse near the resting place for the restless souls that appears and disappears to patrons visiting who all report the same Victorian house, though there is no report of one ever existing in the vicinity of the cemetery. It is said if one who may enter the house will never return but people report heading towards the house and it shrinking in size and then vanishing.

Ghost lights and orbs dance around the forest at night, being mistaken for car headlights or flashlights, despite the deep acres of the dense forest. Lights move quickly throughout the forest and are impossible to track its path.

The road leading into the cemetery has had its fair share of hauntings with ghost cars who turn off the road with headlights on and magically disappear into the forest without any sign.

8. S.S. Eastland Disaster: Clark and LaSalle Bridges/Harpo Studios

A city all too familiar with tragedy was struck with disaster July 24, 1915. Between Clark and LaSalle street bridges the steamer turned over due to its over capacity. The ship was known to be unstable but passengers flooded one side of the deck, causing the downfall. Passengers and crew were sucked under water despite attempts from on lookers and those still on the sinking ship throwing life preservers and ropes. 200 plus bodies were found floating along the bottom of the Chicago river.

Those bodies were then taken to the armory building, which was later known as Harpo Studios where Oprah Winfrey hosted her talk show. Within the studio, employees and guests reported whispers, sounds of sobbing children, footsteps, clinking glasses, old time music and an apparition of the 'Gray Lady,' who has even been caught on security cameras.

The river and bridges are haunted by screams and pleas of help from phantoms, apparitions of bodies floating in the river. Police and emergency services have often been called to the site of the disaster due to reports of someone drowning, yet when help comes, no living soul is in distress.

9. Resurrection Cemetary: Resurrection Mary

A location not in Chicago boundaries, but nonetheless any less haunted, is Resurrection Cemetary. Those who drive on Archer Avenue, dating back to the 1930's have encountered the ghost of a beautiful woman in need of a ride to her home.

The legend says that she would be in or near O'Henry Ballroom when a lucky gentleman would meet the alluring woman. A young woman went to the ballroom with her boyfriend and left after an argument. She was then struck and killed attempting to hitch hike on Archer Avenue.

All reports are similar stating the woman had blonde hair, blue eyes, wearing a white dress with a matching shawl, clutch and dancing shoes. She would ask or be offered a ride back home after meeting and even dancing with various men. Her directions would then lead the men to Ressurection Cemetary, with the woman vanishing into the night.

Others report seeing a woman on the street side running into traffic, attempting to jump in front of cars or even hitting the vehicles, always disappearing after.

One night a man witnessed a woman grabbing the gates after closing, trying to enter. She vanished when he approached her, but the metal bars were pulled apart with small handprints, scorched, to match the mysterious occurrence.

10. John Hancock Center

Alright, I was surprised by this one, toom when I first heard about it. The building is known for its luxury apartments and 95th floor, panorama bar. But it is downright creepy all 100 floors. It is known to few as the most mysterious place for equally mysterious deaths.

The John Hancock Center is designed in a trapezoidal layout. The design was appealing to the leader of the Church of Satan. He claimed it was a portal for evil forces to enter the living, human dimension, promoting emotional unsustainability and acting out violently.

A woman fell to her death from her boyfriend's 90th-floor apartment. Two men fell to their deaths from the 91st and 97th floors. All of which is a wonder to authorities; it would take a massive force to break the windows that line the building. Chris Farley overdosed in his 60th-floor apartment. A woman shot a man to death in a 65th-floor apartment. Heather O'Rouke, star of the Poltergeist, died in the building as well. Three people died and another 8 were injured, falling from a scaffolding accident.

And the classic Ghostbuster movie? The building inspired Harold Ramis to write the movie.