October 11, 2024
Last night I did a spooky event at my neighborhood library, the Sulzer Regional Library in Lincoln Square in Chicago. The premise was “Northside Nightmares,” and I was joined by Chicago ghosts-and-grisly lore expert Adam Selzer and Bram Stoker award-winning horror novelist Cynthia Pelayo for readings and talks and fun! Thanks to Kyle Watson of the Sulzer Library for setting this all up.
And thanks to the Chicago Public Library’s very capable publicity for getting the word out. We had a pretty good crowd!
I went first, and did readings from Bride of the Tornado and a tornado trivia contest, and of course I wore my tornado costume while singing the plot of the book to the tune of “Rock You Like A Hurricane”:
We had spooky treats, thanks to Heather’s last-minute baking! Check out these ghost brownies:
After I did my shtick, Adam Selzer regaled us with true scary stories about the north side of Chicago—the haunted tattoo parlor on Irving Park Avenue! the 19th-century murderer Adolph Luetgert who disposed of his wife’s corpse in a vat in his sausage factory! a reputed northside Chicago body dumping-ground of the infamous H.H. Holmes! the St. Valentine’s Day massacre!—and more. Adam is famous for the ghost tours he leads all around Chicago. Learn more about him and what he does at Mysterious Chicago.
Cynthia Pelayo followed up with readings from her books, such as her newest Forgotten Sisters, which is set right around the corner in Ravenswood Gardens!
We got to hang out with friends old and new, and take pictures with the strangely creepy art that’s all around the Sulzer. I really hope they never change it, it’s so bizarre and idiosyncratic . . .
Thanks to everyone who came and made this event such a success!
