This building used to be the home of a large bank, the oldest in this particular northwestern suburb of Chicago. Rumor of a murder or a suicide (or both) took place within it's walls and has been haunted ever since. Although, upon researching the history of the building through the local historical society, there is no apparent evidence of these claims. However, we have collected witness statements as well as experienced first hand the phenomenon present in this structure which still stands to this day.
In the summer of 1994, I (Michael Komen) and Scott Neidl were invited to (name omitted) restaurant were a friend of ours happened to be one of the managers. We arrived just before closing and met our friend on the main floor where we were asked to wait around until they had cleared the restaurant of customers and wait staff. We obliged the instructions and patiently watched as the last waitress exited the restaurant's doors. Our friend then introduced us to his assistant manager for that evening and began to tell us about his experiences in the establishment.
Apparently, the restaurant had been the victim of several unexplained events such as lights turning on and off by themselves, wait staff complaining of being pinched or nudged by an unseen hand, cold spots on the second floor dining area, an uneasy feeling in several locations in the building, doors locking on their own, the chandelier swaying back and forth, a report of an apparition in a blue shirt being seen on the main staircase, an orb of light had been seen on the upper walkways and the elevator traveling between floors by itself only at night. As our friend ended his description of the events, I asked if I could walk around the restaurant to see if I felt anything odd. He then offered to take us on a tour of the place which we quickly took him up on.
The tour included the upper floor, the main floor and the basement and sub basement levels. Everything appeared normal until we arrived at the sub basement level. Our friend wanted to show us the wine cellar they had created in a tiny closet next to the service door for the elevator. All four of us (our friend, the assistant manager, Scott and myself) laughed at the small size of the "wine cellar" in such an odd location, but my attention was drawing more and more toward the elevator's service door. My friend noticed my curiosity and asked if I would like to see inside. I nodded and he opened the small entry for us to look at. The four of us stepped inside and looked up to see the bottom of the elevator on the second floor. I asked if the elevator had ever been looked at by a service tech to find the problem for the elevator's operation. Before our friend could answer, the elevator began to descend the shaft on it's own! The four of us quickly retreated to the sub basement hall and watched as the elevator came to a stop just above where our heads would have been. A bit shaken by this experience, we decided to adjourn to the main floor where our friend could complete his task of closing the restaurant with his assistant.
Scott and I talked a bit about our strange experience when I decided to check out the second floor again. I walked up the stairway to the second floor dining area and began to wander around. I inspected the wait stand where the staff had claimed to have felt the unexplained nudges and pinches. I suddenly felt as if I were being watched and walked out to the middle of the dining room. To my surprise, I felt a cold spot. I decided to check the air conditioning vents in order to determine if this anomaly was caused by simple climate control. Not having any real equipment with me, I used a lighter to check if any air current was coming through the vents. The flame did not flicker at all. At this point, Scott had been curious as to what I was doing and joined me in the dining area. He too felt the cold spot and felt it move. We decided to try and track the cold spot's movement by staying on either side of it.
As the cold spot moved, we would move with it, staying just around it's perimeter. It slowly moved along the entire length of the dining room and coming to a stop with my back to the wall and Scott facing me. Suddenly, I saw Scott's eyes light up as he looked behind me. I turned around to look at what it was he was seeing. The cold spot had backed me up to the elevator doors which were now opening. The elevator had previously been on the basement level and had apparently arrived on it's own. I quickly stepped inside the elevator as Scott hurried down the stairway to met me on the first floor.
Upon our mutual arrival, we found that no one was in the room to send the elevator up to us. Our friend and his assistant were hard at work in the back office behind the kitchen working on the books. We quickly questioned our friend and the assistant manager if they had sent the elevator up as a joke, they swore that they hadn't left the office. We timed the distance from the elevator to the office and found that it would have been impossible for them to make it back to the office without being seen by Scott or myself. Not to mention that they had to navigate through two kitchens a bar and a floor of tables and chairs. Unfortunately, we didn't have any equipment with us to document the experiences nor were we able to take any photos without our cameras.
One last thing did happen here upon our leaving the restaurant. Scott noticed that the second floor window closest to the elevator had been frosted over and we were able to make out the faint silhouette of a figure. No one knows who or what haunts this location, however we have continued to keep an eye on the building since our experiences here. Since our visit, the building has seen at least four new businesses who stay for a while then move out. The property remained vacant and for lease for about a one year period after the last business moved out and is now the home of a new retailer. You can be sure we will be making a few trips here to see if the new occupants have experienced anything unusual.
Unfortunately we did not bring equipment along with us as we did not know this location was allegedly haunted. However, as you have read above, we did experience first hand that not all is right within it's walls.
Michael Komen
Scott Neidl