The Eastland Tragedy and Harpo Studios, Part ll

Today a memorial plaque marks the spot where the Eastland tragedy on the Chicago River, between Clark and LaSalle Streets occurred. In Part 1 of this post, a description of how this tragedy unfolded is shared.

Clark Street Bridge
Photo: Nathan Holth

To this day, witnesses claim to hear moans and blood-curling screams from the Clark Street Bridge.

Over 3,000 employees of the Western Electric Company boarded the steamship, The Eastland, on July 23, 1915, to travel to Michigan City, Indiana, for a company-sponsored picnic.

Shortly after leaving the dock at Clark Street, the Eastland steamship, which was top-heavy, fell onto its port side. Over 800 passengers were trapped and drowned within a short period.

Survivors standing on the side of Eastland steamship.

The deceased victims were taken to the 2^nd Regiment Armory, which had been turned into a makeshift morgue, to handle the large number of corpses.

Oprah Winfrey bought this armory located on Chicago’s West Loop, in the 1980s. She had the 4-building 3 and half-acre space renovated into studio space.

From 1990 until 2011, she filmed the Oprah Winfrey Show at Harpo Studios. In 2014 she sold the property but leased it for another 2 years for productions connected to her OWN cable channel.

Harpo Studios

During the time her talk show was filmed, she and her staff and crew, came to believe that several of the victims of the 1915 Eastland tragedy haunted the studios. *

* Today she does not speak about this haunting.

At one time this ghostly activity inspired her to produce an entire show about the haunting.

It is said that she would not go into the studio alone at night. She and her employees experienced unexplained sounds throughout the buildings.

They heard mournful relatives crying as they collected their dead relatives, as well as giggling children running up and down the hallways. Whispers and footsteps were heard. Old-time music and glasses clinking together were also heard.

Doors would suddenly open and close, and small items were moved about. 

A shadow figure dubbed “The Grey Lady” was often seen moving throughout the studio. Her image was captured on a security camera. She is seen wearing early 20^th century clothing, with a big hat.

One restroom was always kept locked because so many people heard disembodied crying behind its door.

Several witnesses also claim there is an angry male spirit upstairs.

Note: This studio was demolished recently.

In Part l of The Eastland Tragedy and Harpo Studios, one of America’s worst maritime disasters is recounted.

The Eastland Tragedy and Harpo Studios, Part l

The Eastland tragedy claimed three times the lives the Chicago Fire did, but it never received the same notoriety.

This tragedy that occurred in 1915, is one of America’s worst maritime accidents. It took 844 lives, including more than 20 entire families.

On July 24, 1915, the Chicago based company, Western Electric Company chartered four ships to take 8,000 employees to their annual company picnic in Michigan City, Indiana.

The Eastland

One of these ships was the steamship The Eastland, which had a reputation for being easily unbalanced. On more than one occasion, it had nearly capsized on Lake Michigan.

3,200 employees of Western Electric boarded this ship on that morning in July for “a day of fun on the company’s dime.”

Unfortunately, The Eastland was only supposed to carry, at most, 2,500 passengers. After the Titanic disaster in 1912, more lifeboats and life preservers were placed on the upper deck of the Eastland, making it top-heavy.

The steamship began to list immediately after it left the dock. This was because most of the passengers where on the upper deck, so they could see the city as they left the port—the ship was now unbalanced.

As the Eastland capsized to its port side, water rushed in through its windows and doors. Mass chaos among the passengers and crew ensued.

Witnesses watched in horror as people were pulled out of portholes. As “Mothers screamed for their children.” By-passers jumped into the river to help passengers to shore.

Many of the female passengers drowned, weighted down by their long dresses that were drenched.

Many people were trapped in cabins with no way out. The people who managed to escape, found themselves struggling to keep above the waterline, as many others landed on top of them.

One witness described the scene “as a moving sea of bodies.”

On the port side.
Chicago History Museum

In just 15 minutes the Eastland was resting on its side in no more than 20 feet of water—entombing hundreds of people inside. Rescuers worked into the night looking for survivors and recovering bodies.

There were so many deceased laid out on the dock, the authorities could not prevent thieves from rummaging through the pockets of the dead.

Local merchants lent their wagons to help move the deceased from the scene. The corpses were taken to the 2^nd Regiment Armory, on West Washington Avenue, its gym was set up as a makeshift morgue.

2nd Regiment Armory

Blocks of ice were placed next to the deceased until family members could identify their loved ones.

In the 1980s, this property, including the old armory, was bought by Oprah Winfrey and renovated, and reopened as Harpo Studios.

Winfrey and her staff came to believe the ghosts of people who perished in the Eastland tragedy, haunted the four buildings that made up this studio.

In Part ll of The Eastland Tragedy and Harpo Studios the haunting activity that has been observed in Harpo Studios are shared.