The Six Days of Helloween - #4. The 80 Acres of Hell

For day three of our Helloween tour of Chicago's most haunted areas we visit what what once called Camp Douglas.

Camp Douglas which was located on the south side of Chicago became a place of brutal misery to the Confederate prisoners imprisoned there. Stories of rat infested over crowded conditions circulated through the southern newspapers during the Civil War. And the camp soon earned the name it would later come to be known by, The 80 Acres of Hell.

It is now estimated that 6000 plus men died at Camp Douglas of scurvy, smallpox, and starvation. The camp was closed down in the summer of 1865 and the remaining prisoners were made to take a oath of loyalty to the United States and set free. The camp was officially closed in November of 1865 and the buildings were torn down shortly after.

But it was not long before the tales of Confederate ghosts on and around the former prison camp site started. People over the years have quite often reported screams of pain and cries of help coming from the area where the prison camp once stood. Many times over the years people have claimed to smell the horrible smell of bodies decaying in the area. The sound of men marching is quite often reported.

Today the Lake Meadows Condominiums are now located where the prison camp used to be and the tales of paranormal activity continue. People who now live at the Lake Meadows Condominiums claim to hear men talking inside their units and some have claimed to see the ghosts of men in ragged clothing. A one armed man dressed in a ragged confederate uniform has been seen inside the condos of several different residents. Over the years construction projects in the area have uncovered many graves of Confederate dead. And every time a grave is disturbed the level of paranormal activity goes up.

Would you dare to live above the tombs of the soldiers of the South? Perhaps on your next next apartment hunt you may find that someone already lives in your perfect home and has no plans on leaving, ever.