More Chicago Haunts: Scenes From Myth and Memory (Paperback)

~ (Author) "BY THE TIME THE Division Street institution called the Gold Star Bar was purchased in 1990 by three Chicagoans aiming to make a go at..." (more)
Key Phrases: ragged stranger, ghost lights, Cuba Road, Prairie Avenue, Maxwell Street (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

More Scenes from America’s Most Haunted City

Chicago. A town with a past. A people haunted by its history in more ways than one. A "windy city" with tales to tell . . .

Critics called Ursula Bielski’s Chicago Haunts: Ghostlore of the Windy City a "must-read," "a masterpiece of the genre," and "an absolutely first-rate book," and readers agreed.

Now she’s back with more history, more legends, and more hauntings, including the personal scary stories of Chicago Haunts readers.

More Chicago Haunts brings you the Ovaltine factory haunts, the Monster of 63rd Street’s castle of terror, phantom blueberry muffins, the ghosts of Wrigley Field, Al Capone’s yacht, and 45 other glimpses into the haunted myths and memories of Chicagoland.

About the Author

Ursula Bielski grew up in a haunted house on Chicago’s north side. At an early age she became a believer in paranormal experiences, from the curse of the Chicago Cubs at nearby Wrigley Field to the hauntings at local Graceland Cemetery by a 19th century ghost girl. Underscoring these neighborhood folk tales were accounts by her police officer father of personal encounters with Big Foot and no less than the Devil himself.

As an undergraduate at Benedictine University, Bielski was able to explore the interplay of belief and experience, focusing her coursework on the relationship between science and religion. Outside the classroom she tagged along with psychology students investigating reported cases of haunting phenomena which took her to such notorious sites as the Country House Restaurant in suburban Clarendon Hills; Chicago’s Red Lion Pub; and the Oshkosh Opera House (Wisconsin). Her fascination with the methodology and philosophy of psi research led her to more structured work in the field of parapsychology.

As a graduate student at Northeastern Illinois University, Bielski explored related aspects of American intellectual and cultural history, particularly the spiritualist movement of the 19th century and its transformation into psychical research and parapsychology. As a student affiliate of the Parapsychological Association, an international body dedicated to psi research, Bielski was a frequent contributor to the group’s bulletin.

Intrigued by the apparent relationship between folklore and paranormal experience, Bielski eventually turned her interests toward her hometown, penning her acclaimed and widely successful book, Chicago Haunts: Ghostlore of the Windy City. After several printings of the book and the release of a second edition, Bielski now lectures regularly on the subject, having emerged as an expert on Chicago’s spiritual netherworld. In 1999, she teamed up with cemetery photographer Matt Hucke to write Graveyards of Chicago: The People, History, Art, and Lore of Cook County Cemeteries.

Bielski is editor of PA News, the quarterly bulletin of the Parapsychology Association. She is currently at work on a children’s cookbook inspired by the gothic novels of John Bellairs. She lives in Chicago with her husband, author David Cowan, and their daughter.

Product Details

• Paperback: 312 pages
• Publisher: Lake Claremont Press; 1 edition (October 18, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1893121046
• ISBN-13: 978-1893121041
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,150,847 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Much better Ursula!, June 20, 2001

By A Customer

Now this book is MUCH better then the first. It has more first hand accounts then the first book in this series. Its great cause the author give both history AND when possible first hand accounts! A must read!

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Addictive Folklore, February 20, 2003

By A Customer

Bielski responds to hungry readers' continuing craving for otherworldly weirdness by reviewing her files for stories she sifted out of both of her previous Chicago-focused titles (CHICAGO HAUNTS editions 1 & 2). As the subtitle indicates, these stories delineate a fascinating expanse of human consciousness that lies somewhere between subjective experience and synthesizing belief.

Bielski's talent for placing myth in the context of its culture, time, and place without dissecting the thrill out of it makes her work an illuminating, entertaining ride through Chicago history from the delightfully skewed angle of enduring energies that go way beyond the city's "I Will" ethic. Her sense of humor infuses her open-minded investigator's rationality with a kind of hip campfire storyteller's glee. Don't miss the unique legacies Bielski unearths here and throughout her addictively haunting volumes.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Follow-up!, January 5, 2001

By	K. King (BROOKFIELD, IL USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I just loved Ms. Bielski's other two books, so I was excited to find a follow-up to Chicago Haunts. As a local, I really enjoy hearing the ghostly lore of places I know, and Ms. Bielski does not disappoint! This book has some great little (and not-so-little) legends. I grew up right by the farmland that later became the Kraft Foods complex and I always wondered about that little cemetary smack in the middle of it! Now I know! (Now if I could just find out about that lone headstone that used to be on the north side of Willow Road just west of Shermer Road before it was a subdivision...) Anyway, If you like to read about the strange little haunted history of backyard Chicago, this is definetly for you! It is right on track with Ms. Bielski's other great two books.