Overnight Events & Ghost Hunts [Chicago & other locations]

To all my fellow Ghouls and Gangsters out there!

As we come to the end of August here in Wisconsin, I think we all start to feel the excitement for another fall and more important, Halloween! As we feel that chill start to creep back into the air, our minds start to wonder into the horrific and strange pleasures we enjoy this time of the year.
I have been researching some fun and spooky events to attend this fall other than Haunted Houses and many, many trips to Halloween Express and Spirit Store. So far I have come across this terrorific gem, a list of upcoming Overnight Events and Ghost Hunts mainly in the Chicago area, but other cities as well, provided by the American Haunting Association.

Here is the direct link to all the planned events for the months of September through July: http://www.bumpinthenight.net/

Also, The American Ghost Society's Annual Open House Event will also be a great way to kick off the Halloween Season!
Details on this event here: http://www.prairieghosts.com/festival.html

Many of these Overnight Events caught my eye, but the one I hope to attend would have to be "Night at the Eldred House." I remember reading about this place in my Chicago's Most Haunted book a few years back and it gave me chills. There have been at least four deaths in the house over the years and legend tells of a Native American who was buried on the property and haunts the grounds. If there is one thing we can all agree on, it's that you NEVER mess with Indian Burial Grounds! I hope to attend this tour and determine for myself if the Eldred House really is as haunted as they claim it is.

While you are visiting the links provided today and hopefully planning for a spooky night out to one of these creepy fright-time events, be sure to check out the site as well. There is a lot of great information worth reading and links to other spooktacular things to do in Illinois. One thing that you should definitely check out are the Weird Chicago Tours. With many different tours available you can plan for a Haunted night out, a trip into the minds of Chicago's Serial Killers, take a Blood, Guns & Valentines Crime Tour for all you Mafia lovers out there, or if your feeling naughty, take the Red Light District Sex Tour. ;)


Happy Haunts!

~Crystal

Milwaukee's dark history not forgotten...

It was a chilly day in November a few years ago and the ground was covered in a fresh blanket of light snow here in Milwaukee. A friend of mine and I were on another one of my “Ghost Hunting Adventures” and this time the destination was and abandoned Insane Asylum known as the first medical institute in Milwaukee called, Almshouse and a forgotten pauper cemetery known as “Potters Field.”

In 1878, the Milwaukee County Insane Asylum was built, consisting of a facility for the chronically ill called South Division and a North Division which cared for patients with acute illnesses. Many patients, children to adults, would die while staying at the Asylum due to its disgusting lack of care for the facility and the lack of attention bestowed on the patients:

“Utter absence of proper ventilation, overcrowding to an extent which would horrify any sanitarian, no facilities for bathing, deficiency in water closets, no provision for cleansing persons and clothing inmates and tramps, and to crown all a ‘foreign population’ in addition to the native, far outnumbering it and hanging on with a persistency which defies all attempts to reduce its numbers or exterminate it altogether - a veritable colony and hotbed of vermin in addition to the above is the present Almshouse.” -County Board in 1888

The Register of Burial at the Milwaukee County Poor Farm documented burials beginning in 1882, with the last entry listed in 1974. A review of the record lists approximately 8,2000 burials total. Most were from the Almshouse, County Hospital, or transported from area hospitals and the downtown morgue. Four hundred and thirty-one persons were entered as “unknown”, with a surprising number of infants and children documented. The individual age was not recorded until 1898, and cause of death was registered only beginning in 1908.

Causes of death are a reflection of 19th Century medical nomenclature including marasmus (infant lack of calories), apoplexy (stroke, inanition (adult malnutrition), typhoid, tuberculosis, morphinism (addiction to morphine), and delirium tremens (severe alcohol withdrawal). Other causes were the Spanish Influenza epidemic of 1918, and periodic outbreaks of smallpox and cholera. The economic depressions of the 1890’s and the 1930’s were evident in the high number of suicides, homicides, and deaths due to alcoholism. Drowning deaths and railroad accidents were the most frequent trauma related deaths reported.

During the excavation in 1980 diggers found most of the pine coffins were decayed, preventing a complete preservation of the bodies. The poor were buried naked without any personal items enclosed. Many coffins contained two bodies, and a surprising number of skeletons have been found with severed legs or missing lower limbs. The explanation for this fact could lie in the decision to purchase coffins less than four feet long, necessitating amputation at time of burial. Autopsies were performed on many. Only a handful of metallic tags, inscribed with numbers, indicate identity.

It has been reported, that the Superintendent of the Poor was often delinquent in the care of the cemeteries. A Milwaukee Sentinel newspaper story in 1878 was titled, "A Disgraceful Potter's Field". The article went on to complain of coffins popping out of the ground and insufficient dirt covering the coffins.

Mark Kass, manager of communications for the sewerage district: "We've had reports that there have been a number of bones that have come up through the ground."

The building still stands abandoned, and most of its dark history and those who died there forgotten. Potters Field is a short walk from the Asylum and fenced in. There was a small stone in the center of the cemetery I could see and i went to check it out. Walking through the cemetery I could feel under my feet many dips and holes in the uneven ground and decided to turn back. We did not make it inside the Asylum, but walked around the outside of the building. I can honestly say that though nothing really happened I did feel a very strong sense of uneasiness. There was an unmistakable heaviness in the air. I have gone back a few times and each time I have felt that way.

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Photos I took of the Insane Asylum from November 2008:





A recent photo I took of the Asylum in August:

Photo's I took of Potters Field in November 2008:




*For more information on this story please visit the links on the sidebar under "Local Haunts."

~Crystal

Milwaukee Mafia Boss- Frank Balistrieri

"He called me a name - to my face - and now they can't find his skin!" -Frank Balistrieri

From 1961 to the time of his death in 1993, Frank Balistrieri ran the Milwaukee Mafia, though as a young man, he started working for the Milwaukee crime family after attending law school for six months. He was the most feared Mafia boss of the Midwest and refereed to himself as “..the most powerful man in Milwaukee.” Within the Mafia family he was known as "Mr. Big", "Frankie Bal", "Mr. Slick", and "Mad Bomber," a nickname given to him because he frequently used Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) attached to cars as weapons against his enemies. There is reference to him and his trademark technique in the 1995 Martin Scorsese film, Casino. He is referenced again in the 1997 film, Donnie Brasco. After research I have learned that Donnie Brasco, an undercover cop by the name of Joseph D. Pistone, actually did fly to Milwaukee with Benjamin 'Lefty' Ruggiero to meet with Balistrieri at his restaurant, Snug's, and discuss a vending machine operation that was brought to his attention by another undercover cop working with the Milwaukee Mafia, Clark B. Hall.

Balistrieri soon built a reputation for arrogance, cruelty and ruthlessness long before his father-in-law and Milwaukee boss, John Alioto retired in 1961 and passed the duties of being boss onto him. Balistrieri conducted his business at a table at Snug's restaurant in Milwaukee's Shorecrest Hotel which he owned. Now called, Savoy, it maintains it's atmosphere of rich and sophisticated dinning even after renovation in 1999. The original stained glass sign for Snugs that was above the entrance was taken out, but used as the backdrop for the bar. The Shorecrest Hotel now stands as an apartment building and historical landmark. After research, I have come to learn that Frank Balistrieri's 2 sons, Joseph P. "Joey Bal" Balistrieri- who is now underboss to Joseph P. "Joe Camel" Caminiti- and John "Johnny Bal" Balistrieri- who is Acting Consigliere within the Milwaukee Mafia family- both have taken ownership of the restaurant and hotel after the death of there father. They live on the 8th floor of The Shorecrest Hotel.

After many years of being Milwaukee's Mafia boss and running many operations with other Mafia leaders such as Las Vegas's legendary mob boss Allen Glick, in a casino skimming scheme at The Stardust Hotel, his leadership became compromised in December 1985. Balistrieri was sentenced to 13 years in prison after federal authorities had successfully connected mobsters from four different states including him and his 2 sons on the operation. Close to achieving a seat on the ruling Mafia Commission in New York, Balistrieri was thwarted by this prison sentence. According to the Bureau of Prisons, Balistrieri was released from prison in 1991.

Frank Balistrieri died of heart-related natural causes in early 1993.

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Here are the photo's I took on the "Mafia Tour" I put together for my fiance and I in anticipation of the release of Mafia 2.
...Yes, I am that BIG of a nerd with an unhealthy obsession with the Mafia.
If I were Italian, I would "take a stab" at becoming part of the family. ;)

Frank Balistrieri's Grave:





Photo's from our dinner at Savoy, formally known as "Snugs" when Balistrieri owned and operated his business there:






Photo's I took inside The Shorecrest Hotel, that Balistrieri owned and lived in. Now it is owned by his 2 sons whom also live on the 8th floor and are apart of the Milwaukee LCN family.
My fiance and I are hoping to move there spring of next year...






*For more information on Frank Balistrieri and the Milwaukee Mafia, please visit the links on the sidebar of this blog under "Local Mobsters & Locations."

~Crystal "The Pistol"

Mafia 2 Available today!

Official Game Link: http://www.mafia2game.com/enter.html?lang=us

Featuring a deep mobster-driven narrative packed with both behind-the-wheel and on-foot action, Mafia 2 is the sequel fans have been clamoring for. Like the original Mafia title, Mafia 2 immerses players in the mob underworld of a fictitious late 1940's-early 1950's scenario. Players easily become engaged in the game's cinematic Hollywood movie experience with strong, believable characters in a living, breathing city. [2K Games]

Being a HUGE fan of Mobster films and history, I can honestly say that I am just about drooling at the mouth over this game! Besides the fact that this is a Mafia game, the demo has proven that the graphics, plot, voice acting, characters and game play will be top notch! The characters are voice acted by random actors from The Sopranos, and Mobster films such as Goodfellas and Casino. All the Characters have very in depth story lines that unfold as the game continues to take you on several Hits and other side jobs. The game is in the similar vein of GTA, but with a much more involved story line since the developers where looking to create a cinema like experience for the gamer. Over all, all the reviews have been very positive and as I said, playing the demo a few times through, I have seen first hand how great of a game Mafia 2 will be! I can’t wait to pick up my copy of the game today!

Check out the officail website for all the trailers and behind the scenes of the game!