If you’ve ever attended a show in Chicago, you might have been inside one of the “most haunted places in the world” without ever realizing it. That may not have frightened you, but this might have.
A theater in downtown Chicago is included as one of the “42 Most Haunted Places in the World” in a recent Condé Nast Traveler report. The report covers distant forests, churches, hotels, castles, and more, with destinations chosen independently by the editors.
Additionally, it includes a list of 12 locations around the US, which includes Chicago’s Oriental Theatre.
The famous theater at 24 W. Randolph Street, formerly known as the Iroquois Theater, opened its doors in 1903. Almost 600 people died in the same year when a fire broke out during a performance of the comedy-musical “Mr. Bluebeard.”
An account of the incident from Smithsonian Magazine stated, “A spark from a stage light ignited nearby drapery as the show began its second act at 3:15 that afternoon.” “Efforts to put out the fire using an antiquated retardant proved unsuccessful in stopping its expansion throughout the flammable ornamental backgrounds. It did not take long to realize that the fire could not be put out. The majority of the escape doors were hidden by curtains, so audience members ran from their seats in the direction of the ones they could find.”
The report, which calls the incident “The Great Chicago Fire Disaster,” continues by describing how “hundreds” of victims stacked up in the theater and how the room next door was converted into a hospital and morgue.
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After being renovated and reconstructed, the theater opened as the Oriental Theatre in 1926. The theater’s name was changed to the James M. in 2018.
Nederlander Theatre, named for the man who founded Chicago’s Broadway.
Ghosts are reported to still exist.
“Even though the theater was completely rebuilt and rebranded, spirits of the dead remained,” stated Condé Nast. “Apparitions have been seen in ‘Death Alley,’ the street behind the theater where bodies were stacked after the disaster (and a common stop on many a Chicago ghost tour).”
The James M. Netherlander Theater is presently hosting Hamilton, which runs through December 30.
The Stanley Hotel in Colorado, the Eastern State Penitentiary in Pennsylvania, the Mytrles Plantation in Louisiana, and the St. Agustine Lighthouse in Florida are among the other American destinations featured in Condé Nast’s list.