Ghost stories of St. Charles’ Hotel Baker, Arcada Theatre and Munger Road

Editor’s note: Whether or not you believe in ghosts and hauntings, this is one of several spooky tales of local lore that Shaw Local News Network will be sharing with readers in the spirit of Halloween.

Hotel Baker

Hotel Baker was built in 1928 for Col. Edward J. Baker at 100 W Main St., just off the west bank of the Fox River in the heart of the city’s downtown. The hotel, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, has operated on and off since it was constructed and is associated with more ghost stories than any other St. Charles landmark.

The sixth floor of the hotel is said to be haunted by the ghost of a former employee. According to the local legend, a chambermaid drowned herself in the Fox River just outside the hotel after she was left at the altar by her fiancee, who also was a hotel employee. Visitors often report hearing the sound of moaning coming from the sixth-floor storage room area, which used to be the employees’ chambers.

Guests staying in the sixth-floor penthouse have reported hearing strange voices and having their bedding pulled by an unseen force, according to Haunted Rooms America.

One report on Illinois Haunted Houses from a couple staying on the fourth floor states that “around 3 a.m., the bathroom lights began turning on and off by themselves, intermittently over a period of about an hour and the bathroom door moved. It was wide open and slowly moved so that it was about halfway closed.”

Another report from a group of five who stayed on the sixth floor claimed to have heard moaning noises near the storage room at 3:37 a.m.

It is also believed by some that Colonel Baker’s wife, Harriet Rockwell Baker, who died of a heart attack in 1940, haunts the balcony on the top floor of the hotel.

Since it opened, Hotel Baker has featured entertainers Louis Armstrong, Tommy Dorsey, Guy Lombardo, Lawrence Welk and Eddie Duchin and famous guests including John F. Kennedy, Gerald Ford, Jim Thompson, Richard J. Daley, Billy Graham and Mary Martin, according to the St. Charles History Museum.

The Baker is ranked as the seventh-most haunted hotel in Illinois by Haunted Halloween Ball and the third-most haunted place in Illinois by Haunt. It has been investigated and reported on by many ghost hunters in recent years.

Arcada Theatre

The Arcada Theatre was built in 1926 by millionaire Lester J. Norris, a Chicago Tribune cartoonist and St. Charles philanthropist.

When it was constructed, the theater could hold more than 1,000 seats, about 20% of St. Charles’ population of 5,000. On opening night, the theater saw sold-out crowds and attracted guests from as far as New York, according to the St. Charles History Museum.

One legend says the theater was used as a brothel and speakeasy by bootleggers to transfer alcohol discreetly and some say Al Capone used it as a hideout.

The theater’s basement is said to have a network of connecting tunnels and rooms with multiple locks, which may have been the inspiration for stories of Capone secretly keeping bodies within the theater walls, according to Glancer Magazine.

According to another local legend, a woman once hung herself from the theater’s balcony section. Guests and employees have since reported hearing whispers, footsteps and other noises coming from the empty balcony section.

Haunted Chicagoland and Haunted Places both have reported phantom odors and unexplained cold pockets inside the Arcada Theatre.

Today, owners are renovating rooms of the historic building into 11 hotel suites that each will be decorated in the theme of a music great, including Led Zeppelin, Frank Sinatra, Motown artists and Elvis Presley. Once available, they could give the Hotel Baker a run for its money as the ideal location to stay for a night of ghost hunting in St. Charles.

Munger Road

Munger Road borders St. Charles, Bartlett and Wayne and long has been the source of many Kane County ghost stories. Legend says a school bus once was hit by a train and the souls of the students continue to haunt the crossing.

As the legend goes, before the surrounding roads were paved, it was said that if a motorist stopped their vehicle on the tracks, shifted into neutral and honked, they would be pushed from the tracks and handprints would be left in the dust from the road on the back of the vehicle. Since the road was paved, many have tried the same experiment by putting flour or baby powder on the back window and bumper of their vehicle.

Another story claims that a train once derailed near the crossing and ran into a nearby house, destroying the home and killing the whole family inside except for an old man and his dog, who are said to haunt the road to this day.

The film “Munger Road” was made about the road in 2011. The film was shot in St. Charles and takes place on the eve of the annual Scarecrow Festival, when four teens went missing on Munger Road and St. Charles police officers searched for a fictional killer who returned the same night.

Devil worshipers, mental hospital escapees and murderous fake cops are all rumored to have been sighted on Munger Road, according to Illinois Haunted Houses.

There have been many reports of screams and sightings of ghost trains, unexplained lights and activation of the railroad crossing signals when no train was near.

Homeowners living on Munger Road have reported experiencing supernatural occurrences in their homes and have said that animals avoid going near the tracks.