Tragedy and Terror in Chicago, Part One | Grave Talks CLASSIC
The Grave Talks | Haunted, Paranormal & Supernatural
Ghost Stores, Haunted, Paranormal & Supernatural Stories
4.6 • 2.2K Ratings
🗓️ 10 January 2026
⏱️ 26 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Chicago’s history is rich, vibrant—and in some places, deeply tragic.
In this classic episode of The Grave Talks, we explore two of the Windy City’s most haunting locations with Tony Szabelski, longtime investigator and tour guide with Chicago Hauntings.
Our journey begins with the devastating legacy of the Iroquois Theater, where more than 600 lives were lost in one of the deadliest theater fires in American history. Though the flames were extinguished long ago, many believe the trauma never fully left—and that the spirits of those lost still linger.
From there, we move to the Congress Plaza Hotel, widely regarded as Chicago’s most haunted hotel. Guests and staff report shadow figures, phantom footsteps, unexplained voices, and encounters that defy reason.
This episode uncovers the sorrow, history, and restless energy still woven into the fabric of Chicago itself.
#ChicagoHauntings #IroquoisTheater #CongressPlazaHotel #TheGraveTalks #HauntedChicago #ParanormalPodcast #TrueHauntings #HistoricTragedy #GhostTours
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Today on The Grave Talks, a conversation with Chicago paranormal investigator, Tony Zabelski. |
| 0:09.2 | Tony is a longtime Chicago paranormal investigator. |
| 0:13.4 | He's worked with several paranormal groups in the area and loves sharing the haunted history of the city. |
| 0:19.5 | He also hosted the Chicago hauntings video series for CBS Chicago. |
| 0:25.9 | I'm Carol Hughes, in for Tony Brewski, |
| 0:28.7 | and on this episode of the Grave Talks, |
| 0:30.9 | we're going to talk about some of the windy city's most haunted locations |
| 0:34.9 | with Chicago hauntings tour guide, Tony Zabelski. |
| 0:40.8 | Tony, I would love to start with the Iroquois theater because on December 30th, 1903, |
| 0:47.3 | it had only been open for a few weeks. |
| 0:49.9 | They had a fire, a huge fire. |
| 0:52.5 | The theater had been advertised as absolutely fireproof. |
| 0:56.8 | Obviously, that wasn't the case. |
| 1:00.0 | The real claim was that it had this theater-length fireproof curtain, |
| 1:05.8 | which theoretically, if like a fire broke out in the theater, |
| 1:10.0 | the curtain would have divided the theater in half if it came down, hung from the ceiling initially. |
| 1:16.8 | And then because it was fireproof, the belief was that the fire would have just been contained on one side of the curtain. |
| 1:24.2 | It wouldn't have spread to the other. |
| 1:25.8 | So that would have made it easier to put it out. |
| 1:28.5 | So those are the reasons why they were saying this theater was fireproof. And the fireproof |
| 1:32.5 | curtain, by the way, was made of wood pulp and asbestos. That was the combination they used to make |
| 1:39.0 | that. So yeah. Getting the theater open on time, it really was not ready to be opened on November 23rd. |
... |
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