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.

Ghost Ship: HMS Eurydice

Too proud, too proud, what a press she bore!

Royal and all her royals wore.

Sharp with her shorten sail.

Too late; lost; gone with the gale.

                        --Gerald Manley Hopkins

The HMS Eurydice, a 26-gun Royal Navy corvette * that capsized and sank in Sundown Bay during a blizzard in 1878 is a famous ghost ship. 

Since she was lost, witnesses including sailors and Prince Edward of England have seen her. She is spotted off the Isle of Wight, near the area where she sank. She is unique in that many of the sightings of her have occurred in recent years.

The Eurydice was the victim of one of Britain’s worst peacetime disasters. When she sank, she took 300 souls with her. 

Admiral George Elliot originally designed her with a very shallow draught so she could operate in shallow waters. She was also designed for speed. 

She was commanded under active commissions from 1843 until 1857. During this time she served in North America and the West Indies. She spent time in South Africa--“Cape of Good Hope” and was briefly used in the White Sea during the Crimean War. 

For the next twenty years, she didn’t participate in active service, then starting in 1861, she was used as a stationary training ship. In 1877, she was refitted and placed back in service.

Eurydice Figure Head

It is said that the young Winston Churchill, who was visiting the Isle of Wight with his nurse, watched from a clifftop as the Eurydice capsized in 1878. 

On the very afternoon, she sank in this violent winter storm the Bishop of Ripon was hosting a dinner party. 

Abruptly, one of his guests who had a vision proclaimed, “Good Heavens! Why don’t they close the portholes and reef the sails?” 

Disturbed, his companions asked him about his odd outburst. He then stated, “he had just seen a ship coming up the Channel under full sail with her gun ports open while a great black squall attacked her.”

Ghost Ship

The phantom Eurydice has been spotted by many sailors over the years. One witness to this phenomenon was F. Lipscomb, who commanded a royal navy submarine. He and his crew, observing this ship, took evasive action to avoid hitting her only to see her disappear into thin air. 

Another recent witness, Robin Ford, a retired teacher, was attending a beach barbecue with friends when they spotted the eerie form of this galleon. He states, “It moved slowly forward to the shore, then it just seemed to up-end and slipped silently out of view.”

The most notable sighting of the Eurydice happened in October of 1998. Prince Edward then aged 34 was filming an episode for the British television series called “Crown and Country” on the Isle of Wight. 

Ironically,  during filming, he was telling the story of the Eurydice. He and his film crew then spotted what they first thought was a training ship—a three-masted schooner. They began filming it as it neared the shore, thinking it would be great footage for the story that was being told.

They decided to wait a while, so they could film it as it sailed into the horizon. The crew briefly turned away to start packing up the equipment. But a moment later when these men looked up, they were startled to see the ship they had just filmed was gone.

When they looked at earlier footage of the ship their tape jammed in the machine. Despite this, they were able to show footage of this phantom ship on their program. 

This mystery took on even more depth when most of the ship sailing enthusiasts on the Isle stated that there weren’t any old-fashioned vessels at sea that day—that matched the crew’s film footage.

*   A corvette is a small, maneuverable, lightly armed warship used for fast attacks. So the Eurydice was smaller than the frigates of her day.