paranormalish

I think I need to get the hell out of Dodge.

The last week has been a rough one. The turn in weather has felt like an indication of my circumstances, but I'm really trying not to think about it today. Instead, I'm thinking of Chicago. In a month I'll be there and it's all I can do to stop myself from spasmodically jumping around when I think of it.

One thing I may have neglected to mention is where I'll be staying. Usually I stay at the hostel between the Washington Library and The Auditorium, but this time I decided to shake things up a bit in the hopes I'd have a decent night sleep for a change. (I've never slept a whole night through at the hostel. I'm usually awoken by someone kicking my bed or slamming a locker or talking, and I'm a crappy sleeper at the best of times.) I managed to find a hotel that was surprisingly cheap to book, a bit more than the hostel but likely worth the extra money for solitary sleep (relatively).

The Congress is an old hotel, built for the World Exposition in 1893, and has been home to a number of noteworthy guests over the years, largely presidents though Benny Goodman had a radio show there and Al Capone held meetings there regularly. Most recently, I discovered that a variety of gangsters lived there in its heyday as well. But what gets me most excited are the possible current residents.

There are claims that Teddy Roosevelt's ghost lives there, though a number of non-famous ghosts have been spotted around the hotel. One of the ballrooms has been especially active the past year, with unreplicable noises coming from empty air spaces where there is no access. A couple of guys who do ghost tours of Chicago have filmed the ballroom a number of times and the bang that always sounds has never been recreated using the equipment around the room that wouldn't cause structural damage to the place.

People liked to kill people at the Congress. A lot, and often. Not so much recently, but at one time, back in its grandeur days, it was a place to be seen and, apparently, be killed if someone had a gripe with you. Because the ballrooms were the place to be during the early part of the last century, it's fitting to stay there in conjunction with the Chic Chicago exhibition. Some of the dresses I'll see were likely worn in the Congress. This gives me shivers.

I'm not so concerned about the ghosts. I've not read any reviews about there being a ghost problem. The only thing I'm worried about is being put in the dullest, most rundown room in the hotel. I'm hoping for the lakeside, preferably by the Florentine Ballroom.