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Hull House Devil Baby And Haunting

MrRING

Android Futureman
Joined
Aug 7, 2002
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An interesting couple of things....

THE HAUNTING OF HULL HOUSE
At the time when Jane Addams took over Hull House, several years had passed since the death of Mrs. Charles Hull, but this didn't prevent her from making her presence known. She had died of natural causes in a second-floor bedroom of the mansion and within a few months of her passing, her ghost was said to be haunting that particular room. Overnight guests began having their sleep disturbed by footsteps and what were described as "strange and unearthly noises".

Mrs. Hull's bedroom was first occupied by Jane Addams herself, who was awakened one night by loud footsteps in the otherwise empty room. After a few nights of this, she confided her story to Ellen, who also admitted to experiencing the same sounds. Jane later moved to another room.

But she would not be alone in noticing the unusual happenings. Helen Campbell, the author of the book PRISONERS OF POVERTY, reported seeing an apparition standing next to her bed (she took Jane up on the offer of staying in the "haunted room"). When she lit the gas jet, the figure vanished. The same peculiar sounds and figures were also observed by Mrs. Louise Bowen, a lifelong friend of Jane's, Jane and Mary Smith, and even Canon Barnett of Toynbee Hall, who visited the settlement house during the Columbian Exposition in 1893.

According to Jane Addams' book, TWENTY YEARS AT HULL HOUSE, earlier tenants of the house, which included the Little Sisters of the Poor and a second-hand furniture store, believed the upstairs of the house was haunted as well. They had always kept a bucket of water on the stairs, believing that the ghost was unable to cross over it.

Regardless, the ghost was always considered to be rather sad, but harmless, and residents and guests learned to live with its presence. Unfortunately, it was not the only "supernatural" legend connected to Hull House!

THE DEVIL BABY OF HULL HOUSE
Hull House received its greatest notoriety when it was alleged to be the refuge of the Chicago "devil baby". This child was supposedly born to a devout Catholic woman and her atheist husband and was said to have pointed ears, horns, scale-covered skin and a tail. According to the story, the young woman had attempted to display a picture of the Virgin Mary in the house but her husband had torn it down. He stated that he would rather have the Devil himself in the house that the picture. When the woman had become pregnant, the Devil Baby had been their curse. After enduring numerous indignities because of the child, the father allegedly took it to Hull House.

After being taken in by Jane Addams, staff members of the house reportedly took the baby to be baptized. During the ceremony, the baby supposedly escaped from the priest and began dancing and laughing. Not knowing what else to do with the child, Jane kept it locked in the attic of the house, where it later died.

Rumors spread quickly about the baby and within a few weeks, hundreds of people came to the house to get a glimpse of it. How the story had gotten started, no one knew, but it spread throughout the west side neighborhood and was reported by famous Chicago reporter Ben Hecht. He claimed that every time he tried to run down the story, he was directed to find the child at Hull House. Many people came to the door and demanded to see the child, while others quietly offered to pay an admission. They believed the wild story to be absolutely true!

Each day, Jane turned people away and tried to convince them that the story was fabricated. She even devoted 40 pages of her autobiography to dispelling the stories. Even though most of the poorly educated immigrants left the house still believing the tales of the Devil Baby, the stream of callers eventually died out and the story became a barely remembered side note in the history of Hull House.


Full Story

Another Version, More Critical
 
I remember reading about this years ago. It certainly has some *classic* UL aspects to it. Especially with regard to the scenario of a young woman being punished for committing a transgression against her status, community, etc.

Weirdly it kinda, sorta reminds me of the X-Files episode about the chupacabra that took place in the migrant workers camp.
 
Is anyone else reminded slightly of the story about the royal ghost - the guy who was born deformed, looking a bit like an egg with arms and legs I seem to remember, and locked in the attic at Sandringham or somewhere to live his long natural life in seclusion? He has since been seen prowling round corridors and frightening footmen, like all good royal ghosts should. The two stories above have a real classical regality about them - nice find.

Lopaka, that x file is great. Awesome. They don't make them like that any more (ok didn't for the last few seasons)
 
Yes, Min is correct, Throw. There's a (semi-meandering) thread The Eggman including The Monster of Glamis Castle on it.

(Another one of those topics that freaked me out seriously as a child. Got a big, black book called 50 famous ghost stories as a child. Most of them were from the UK, but it didn't matter to me. I was both compulsively re-reading them and regretting I did for years afterwards.)

WRT to the X-Files. One of things I liked about that particular episode and the show in general was that it sometimes dealt with the sociology of immigrant communities here (Haitian, Romanian, Chinese). A topic that simply doesn't get put on US network TV.
 
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