Patch Spends Five Minutes with Richard T. Crowe

He's Richard T. Crowe, longtime Oak Lawn resident and Chicago's most renowned ghost hunter. Crowe has been hosting tours of haunted locations in Chicago and the suburbs since 1973, the year he was inspired to pursue the paranormal as a vocation. Since then, he's led the intrigued on hundreds of bus excursions, ghost walks, haunted cruises and preternatural pub crawls year-round and even across the country. Crowe's most popular sojourn is his nighttime supernatural tour, which currently departs from Goose Island Brewery at 1800 N. Clybourn in Chicago; stops along the way include the site of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre, the spot where Dillinger was shot, a drive by haunted Streeterville hotspots and Harpo Studios (original location of the temporary morgue for the Eastland steamship disaster), the Hull House, Chinatown, and Resurrection Cemetery.

Oak Lawn Patch: Where do the ghosts go in the winter? Do they hibernate after Halloween?

Crowe: It's like that age-old question: If a tree falls in the forest but no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound? The ghosts are definitely still out there, no matter what season. One of the great Christmastime ghost stories I like to tell visitors on my tour is about the schooner captain who would sail in Christmas trees every year and sell them to the public at the Clark Street Bridge. One year, his ship sunk during a storm and he went to the bottom of Lake Michigan. But a ghostly vessel resembling his schooner the Rouse Simmons has been spotted sailing back to Chicago, forever trying to get back to port and sell its shipment of Christmas trees.

Oak Lawn Patch: Why do you choose to live and base your business in Oak Lawn?

Crowe: Several years ago I had a chance to purchase a house here in town owned by a friend. I didn't know it at the time, but it turns out the place is haunted, which all my neighbors warned me about once I moved in. Within the first few years, I would hear unexplained male voices speaking while leaving my garage and heading into the den.

Oak Lawn Patch: What is the most haunted known site in Oak Lawn?

Crowe: Probably St. Casimir Catholic Cemetary, which borders Oak Lawn along 111th Street between Cicero and Pulaski. It's haunted by a famous grinning cemetery phantom. A close second would be the site of the old Oak Lawn Roller Rink on Cicero near Southwest Highway, which was destroyed by a tornado that took several lives. Since then, many people have reported hearing the sounds of phantom roller skating in that area.

Oak Lawn Patch: If you ever conducted a ghost tour including only south suburban haunts, what would you include?

Crowe: Resurrection Cemetary and the Willowbrook Ballroom in Willow Springs, of course, because of all the Resurrection Mary sightings. We'd also visit Sacred Heart Cemetery on Kean Avenue in Hickory Hills, where a legendary werewolf supposedly dwells. To the west, we'd head along 95th Street near La Grange Road by the forest preserves, where spectral horses and riders have been seen crossing the road. There's an eerie red light that supposedly glows along the far shore of Maple Lake along 95th Street, just east of Archer Avenue. And we'd have to visit St. James Sag Church and Cemetery, better known as Monks Castle, at 107th and Archer, where strange figures dressed in monk-like garb have been witnessed walking around in groups of three at night at the top of the hill.

Oak Lawn Patch: What's the secret to being a good ghost hunter and haunted tour guide?

Crowe: Observe, observe, observe. You've got to pay your dues, which means checking out all the facts and learning as much as possible about the history of the site and the neighborhood. It's a job that requires you to be somewhat of a historian.

Oak Lawn Patch: What's the strangest encounter you've ever had on one of your tours?

Crowe: I led a daytime walking tour of Chinatown in 2007 and, while leaving a store, observed a small Chinese woman not far away from me, about 80 years old or so. She had been brought to my attention long before as a known ghost. Our eyes met for a moment, but then someone distracted me and I looked away. When I looked back, she was gone. I also once had a tour bus full of professional clowns, which was kind of surreal. And there was also that time when everyone on board had just come from a Star Trek convention. They were all wearing Spock ears. Talk about spooky.

For more information on Richard T. Crowe's Chicago ghost tours, call  708-499-0300 or visit www.ghosttours.com.