Rarely when we tune into the latest celebrity gossip and revelations of the day do we think that somewhere amid the cheering crowds and the celebrities detailing their latest exploits, do we expect a paranormal presence to be taking center stage. But contrary to popular disbelief, one of television’s most famous talk show hosts actually has been doing so amid ghosts. But which one is it? The notion may haunt you the next time you tune in to this Chicago based show.
Harpo studios in Chicago, Illinois where the Oprah Winfrey Show is broadcast is said to be the site of a serious ghost invasion. In 1915 a ship known as the Eastland was heading toward Michigan City when suddenly the vessel turned on its side and began sinking. The crew and passengers attempted -with many attempting in vain- to escape in time. When a head count of survivors was done, 835 souls had been lost during the sinking of the Eastland.
With rescue workers doing everything they could to save the survivors and catalog the dead they laid the victims they could find out on the street and waited for recovery to begin. But not all those present were attempting to help. After word of the catastrophe reached the ears of a few unsavory individuals, they approached the street and decided right away this was the most fortuitous and unlikely heist in the history of Chicago. Pretending to be mourners and workers, the thieves descended on the dead and robbed them blind of whatever they had on them. The mass temporary grave had become a seething pit of crime within hours. Though authorities did everything they could to ensure the crime did not continue, several thieves got away.
Meanwhile, Chicagoans showing respect for the dead and hoping to secure the safety of their fellow human beings began donating their own cars to the cause to ensure they reached the safety of the city morgue, which had been extended into the streets in makeshift tents on a spot that would one day become very famous. Harpo Studios would be built there almost 80 years later. And that would be the studio where the now world famous Oprah Winfrey would tape her show.
Those working there have reported seeing spirits dressed in clothing one would expect to see from the 1920’s and heard strange knocking sounds emanating from the hallways. But the most disturbing sounds came to one woman who was working late one night in the studios. After hearing laughter and talking coming from a small crowd of people right outside her door, she called security to see if he could tell the small impromptu party to keep the noise down. At one point the sounds simply stopped as if suddenly all the people there disappeared. She heard a knock on her door and the security guard told her there was no one there. Additionally security cameras at the time showed no one standing outside her door. And yet after he left the sounds once again resumed. Are these the ghosts of the revelers who set off on the Eastland one morning and ended up losing their lives?