Latest / Boozy Banter with Friends / Haunted Lincoln Park Zoo

Transcript

Haunted Lincoln Park Zoo · Boozy Banter with Friends

• 0:13
  SPEAKER_01: Grab a cocktail as we talk about life and death.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: Everything in between and beyond.
• 0:21
  SPEAKER_00: Join us for a little boozy banter with friends.
• 0:33
  SPEAKER_01: Hello again.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_01: Hello.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: How are you doing?
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: I'm doing alright.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: How about you?
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: Pretty good.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like getting all cozy now.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's still hot in Florida.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's gonna be hot until Christmas.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: I know.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: Beginning of October, but you know what?
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: I I don't care.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's like it's fall.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: I don't care.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: It's like hot outside.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's fall.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_00: I just said that.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER_01: It's fall, y'all.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and I'm just gonna keep trying to convince myself of that.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: Trying.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_01: Trying here.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_01: We do what we can do.
• 1:15
  unknown: Right.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: We're just we can only do so much.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: Anyhow, I am so tired.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: Are you ready for your cruise?
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I no.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: No, I'm not ready at all.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: So we're doing a Disney cruise uh in a couple weeks.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: I don't even know how many at this point.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's at the end of the month.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's at the end of the month.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: But um, I am not ready.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: I have not my daughter is super excited and she keeps planning, like there's all these themed things and everything.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, eh.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: Like, uh I don't You love Disney.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: I do love Disney.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: You love cruising.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: This is like the perfect combination.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: I know, but also I'm tired.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: So I'll get excited like five days out, and then I'll scramble.
• 2:10
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Diablo, are you eating feathers on?
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: He's Diablo's eating.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_01: Diablo.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: Don't eat that.
• 2:21
  SPEAKER_01: He's looking at you like.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my gosh, he's still like Don't eat it, I said.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_01: That's a pretty good aim.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_01: Diablo's like, what in the world just happened?
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna go back there and eat it.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_01: Don't he's like, oh, there's that scary haunted corner though.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I don't like that haunted corner.
• 2:46
  unknown: Scat.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna go eat.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: He's like, now I'm gonna eat pearls and really mess my stomach up.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: Was that that heavy?
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, he's gonna go.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_01: He's gotta go.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: He's like, okay, fine, fine.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_01: He's like, I'll leave.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_01: But we're not gonna be doing this today.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_00: This cat.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: My gosh.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: So anyhow, um, yeah, I'll I'll be scrambling about five days out and then I'll be on Amazon trying to order those last-minute overnight items.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: You know, it's not just getting myself ready, because then I gotta get my husband ready because he'll he'll wait until the day before or the morning of to pack.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: Like he's that unorganized when it comes to traveling, and he'll be like, what am I wearing for this day, or what what what am I packing for this week?
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: Are we supposed to match or anything?
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: The day before.
• 3:54
  SPEAKER_00: No, we're not.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: You've already had his wardrobe.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I have to I have to pick out something, and then he's gotta, he's just gotta wear it.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: If he doesn't like it, that's not my problem.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: He should have planned better.
• 4:07
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: So I know that there's like a pirate night, and then there's a Halloween costume night, and formal night.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: It'll be fine.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: It'll be fine.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: So I don't know.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: We'll figure it out.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: But it's coming up, and I'm not ready, but I'm also like just looking forward to not doing anything for a week.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: Well, except for all the things that evidently this cruise has planned for us.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_00: I love a good cruise.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: I love a good cruise when I can relax.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: This does not sound relaxing.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: Disney cruises don't sound relaxing.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: It sounds like Disney World floating on a ship, but without the lines.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe I don't know.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: I kind of feel like there's gonna be lines for stuff.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: I might not.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: But the kids' club sounds really cool.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: So I think Donovan's gonna really like that.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: The dinners sound really cool.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: Like they have a lot of activities.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: It's just you know, when Donovan goes to kids' club, that's my that's my chance to nap.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: You know what?
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to do all the activities.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: I don't, I'm not.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: That's why his mother is going.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: So she can do all the activities.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: I am not doing all of them.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_01: There you go.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so yeah, we only have a couple ports.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to Tortola and St.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: Thomas, and I think St.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: Thomas, we have a like a beach excursion.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's not bad.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: And then um Tortola, I said, I'm not doing anything.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: I'll get off the ship, I'll look around a little bit, I'm getting back on the ship.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: Not doing anything.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_01: So that's Tortola.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_01: I knew it's like a pirate day.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: That's Pirate Day.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_00: That's fair.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, well, figures Tortola Tortola.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, I it'll be fun, it'll be cool.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: And you know, end of October, it should be nice.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: I say that, and last year we did a cruise at the end of October, and we had to change our ports because that hurricane blew through Jamaica.
• 6:03
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, it's been real quiet so far.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: I think you'll be fine.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: So hopefully we don't get it all at the end of October.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: So it'd be fine.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: That's the worst that could happen.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: They re-reroute us.
• 6:16
  SPEAKER_00: Like they were all time.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: I found out that it's not that big a deal.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: I thought it would be a lot worse, but it's really we always have a plan B.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: So anyhow, uh, we are back to drinking uh just a glass of wine.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: The medley rose.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: I know, I really love medley.
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: I keep saying I always say that.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um still, they they don't sponsor us or anything.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, but we're open.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: We're open to sponsorship.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: You know what?
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: I don't care.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: They're good.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: So I mean it is good.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: The rose is definitely my favorite.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: Uh really over the white and the red.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_01: I don't just funny because when she started drinking medley, it was the white.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: The white.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, if I were to go out to eat or go to a wine bar or something, rose would not be my first choice.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: Oh no.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: Typically too sweet, um, or it's just weird.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: And but theirs is really good.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: It's not too sweet and it's not too dry.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, so it's it's it's a nice middle of the road.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: I like it a lot.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: So um, I told you I read this book, but had did you have you watched the show on Netflix?
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: No, I haven't.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: So um years ago I read this book called The Whisperman.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_00: And the book is amazing.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I really enjoyed it.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: It was creepy.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: Um it was a it was a great read.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and Netflix has turned it into a movie that is out right now with um, I don't know what the guy's name is, but it's got Robert De Niro.
• 7:59
  SPEAKER_00: That's his name, right?
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and um and then I don't know what the guy's name is.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: He's been in a lot of stuff.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: You know what?
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: You know the guy.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: You know it's the guy.
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: The guy, you know the guy.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: And you haven't watched it yet?
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, well, you haven't read the book.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: I we watched it the other night.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_01: And uh read it and haven't I haven't read the book or watched the book?
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so you may like it a little bit better because you haven't read the book.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, you know how it is, the book is always better.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but the movie, like the first of all, like all movies, to make it more dramatic, they do some stupid shit.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: School of horse.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: It's like, why are you doing that?
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: First of all, why are you, you know, why is your kid leaving the house by himself, you know it's just just stuff like that.
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: Anyways, um she's really trying hard not to give us away.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: But and how convenient that his dad is a cop, you know.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: The one that arrested the original Whisperman.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I just, you know, it it it's so convenient for the movie, but also it just like I said, there are a lot of things where you're like, that that was dumb, and you wouldn't do that in real life, and why are you doing it now?
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: Because it's for the plot, and I just get so tired of them changing so much for the plot.
• 9:31
  SPEAKER_00: So there's a lot of good movies coming out though.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: There are a lot of good movies coming out in theaters.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: I like Yeah, we'll have to have a movie day.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, um, the new Carrie.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um That looks good.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: I you know, uh what was the other one that we just said?
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Resident Evil.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: Resident Evil.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: That one looks really good.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: That one looks really good.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: It irritates me to no end that they're remaking so much stuff versus coming up with original content.
• 9:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um, because a lot of things like Carrie, like, which Carrie's already been redone like 10 years ago or so.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and Resident Evil, if it's not broke broken, why are you why are you remaking it?
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: It was so good.
• 10:15
  SPEAKER_00: The original was so good.
• 10:17
  SPEAKER_01: The original was very good.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_01: And I do like the Resident Evil franchise, but this new one's really good.
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_01: Good.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_01: And didn't she say Dawn of the Dead?
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, no, who knows?
• 10:28
  SPEAKER_01: There seem to be a lot of actors in that.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_01: So is it really that or is it one of those fake fake things?
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, there's a lot of uh remakes coming out.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh there's a lot of good scary movies coming out, and so yeah, we're gonna have to do a movie day.
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_01: If they if uh uh Resident Evil is inside the the cushy theater by us, we're gonna have to go in.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: We'll have to smuggle our perch perse wine and uh eat their crappy popcorn and just make a day of it.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_00: During the day.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, during the day, you don't want to go at night when there's other people there.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, go see a scary movie, smuggle some wine in and eat some popcorn.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_01: What you gotta do?
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_01: That's what happens when you get older.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_01: You look for the finer things in life.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: I want to go, I wanna be in comfort, I want to feel like I'm at home so I'm not too inconvenienced.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: So, anyways, speaking of scary stuff, I have a good one for you today.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_01: You were excited about a couple good ones that you've been telling me about.
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_01: I can't wait to hear them.
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: I um I don't know what I was looking for, but I came across several stories that were just got me really excited.
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: Like I was I love that.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: I I do love coming across something I've never heard of, and other people may know this, but I didn't, and um, so it was new to me and it was different, and it was just so interesting, and so um, of course I had to talk about it.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but um this one in particular, just really so cool.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: Have you ever been to Chicago?
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_00: Uh like to visit or just passing through?
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: Passing through.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: Me too.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: I've only just gone, you know, traveling like through the airport or driving through, but I've never gone and done any sightseeing.
• 12:38
  SPEAKER_01: No, I've never gone any sightseeing in.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so you that means you've never been to the Lincoln Park Zoo?
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: But I do love zoos.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: I I figured you'd be a zoo person because you like animals.
• 12:52
  SPEAKER_00: I am not a zoo person.
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: Really?
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I don't zoos specifically.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: Like I love going to Animal Kingdom and you know, where it's everything is very open, and uh, I can remember when Chloe was first born born, we lived in Balt near Baltimore, and we went to the zoo um there, and animals were still in cages, like you walked and it was like cage, cage, cage, cage, and they just look so sad.
• 13:23
  SPEAKER_00: It just and there's still a lot of places where we go where not all the animals are caged, but a lot of them are, and it just it's to me, it's depressing.
• 13:35
  SPEAKER_00: Like my husband loves to go to the zoo.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: I love the zoo, he really too.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: You know, he loves looking at the animals and reading about them and hearing them and all that, and I go because it makes him happy.
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: I don't enjoy it at all.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, I love a good zoo.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: So um I even if I had been to Chicago, I probably wouldn't have been to the zoo.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: Not even going to the zoo.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: Um but on most days it's like any other zoo with families walking the paths and children running between the exhibits of lions, gorillas, giraffes, and more, because they have an extensive um like they've been around for a long time.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: So they've got an extensive, what is it called, collection?
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: Sounds again.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: I know.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: It sounds zooy.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: It's a zooy word, right?
• 14:28
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but what if I told you the zoo was built over a cemetery?
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_01: Stop it.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and it has a reputation for being haunted.
• 14:41
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 14:42
  SPEAKER_00: A zoo.
• 14:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like I would I would visit a zoo if it was haunted.
• 14:47
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I think we have to visit the haunted zoo.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah, we might have to, we might have to check it out.
• 14:51
  SPEAKER_00: So in the mid-1800s, Chicago is still a young city that was expanding rapidly along Lake Michigan.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: In 1843, a municipal cemetery was established on the lakefront in what is now the southern portion of Lincoln Park.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_00: It would eventually contain tens of thousands of burials.
• 15:18
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly how many remains a subject of historical discussion, uh, but estimates commonly put the number at roughly thirty five hundred.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: Holy shnikes.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: Thirty-five, no, no, I'm wrong.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: Thirty-five thousand.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: Holy thirty-five thousand burials.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_00: Because um back in the day, you know, you didn't always have to have a formal cemetery when you buried somebody.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_00: So there are some records, but not all the records.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: So uh the location eventually became controversial.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, the burial ground served Chicago during a period when the city was growing quickly, but modern sanitation systems were still developing.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_00: With its proximity so close to the lake, concerns developed about the potential contamination of the city's water supply.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: Oh.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: Oh.
• 16:31
  SPEAKER_00: Runoff and bodies and coffins could also be affected by changing water levels.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: Soon pressure was building to close the cemetery and transform the property.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: In 1865, the area was renamed Lincoln Park in honor of President Abraham Lincoln, who had been assassinated that year.
• 17:02
  SPEAKER_00: Burials at the cemetery eventually ceased in 1866.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_00: But the disappearance of the cemetery from the landscape did not happen overnight.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't like they were, you know, they could just be like, okay, we're gonna close the cemetery, and yeah, that was done.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody out.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, right.
• 17:23
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody's gotta go.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: Graves had to be opened, bodies had to be relocated, records had to be examined, and some burial plots were poorly documented or unmarked.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_00: The process continued for years.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: The Encyclopedia of Chicago notes that grave removals continued after burial ceased, while Northwestern University's Hidden Truths Cemetery research documents the removal of remaining headstones and graves into the 1870s.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_00: Oh wow.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, years it took them to like try to move things around.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: But then um disaster struck.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: Like as if it wasn't hard enough to move graves.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_00: Now on October of 1871, the great Chicago fire swept across the city.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: Oh goodness.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um while they were still trying to identify and relocate the graves when markers and other surface evidence were destroyed, making an already difficult process even harder.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my goodness, I can imagine.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 19:00
  SPEAKER_00: So they were still trying to relocate what they could.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: In 1874, Lincoln Park commissioners condemned ground containing unclaimed cemetery lots, and in 1875, remaining headstones and graves were moved to another section of the park.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_00: But still in the park.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, eight further away from the wall.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, right.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: Headstones, though.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_00: Some of them were just headstones.
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, by 1877, the couch tomb was reportedly the last visible reminder of the old cemetery.
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: The couch tomb?
• 19:45
  SPEAKER_00: The couch tomb.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, is it the couch family?
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I'll tell you about the couches.
• 19:52
  SPEAKER_00: Today, visitors can still see the tomb, a limestone mausoleum near the southern end of Lincoln Park.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: They just left it there.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it belonged to Ira Couch, one of Chicago's early hotel owners and a prominent figure in the city's 19th century history.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: CBS Chicago has described it as the only visible remnant of the original cemetery.
• 20:19
  SPEAKER_00: So visible.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: Visible keyword.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: So, how did the cemetery eventually become a zoo?
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like, you know, wasn't like they just decided one day to, oh, let's turn this, you know.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_00: All this property.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: Right, right.
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: Uh well, it all started in 1868 when two pairs of mute swans were donated to Lincoln Park.
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_00: Mute swans.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: Do they not make noise?
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_00: I've never are is it a type of swan?
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know anything about mute swans.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: Anyhow, the zoos the zoo's own history describes its development as beginning with these swans and growing into a major center for animal care, conservation, science, and education, as well as the as one of the country's best known zoos.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_00: It still remains free to visit today and operates year-round.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: Totally free.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: They depend on grants and donations and private funding to operate.
• 21:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, pretty cool, right?
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: Really cool.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_00: Uh but the 19th century zoo was very different from the institution visitors see today.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I'm sure.
• 21:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: Uh the zoo's first director, Cyrus Devray, was hired in 1888.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: So 20 years after they acquired these swans, and remained associated with the institution for more than three years.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: Decades during the early 20th century, Lincoln Park Zoo became increasingly organized and sophisticated.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_00: Well, good for them.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_00: Sophisticated.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: A sophisticated zoo.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_01: We're not gonna charge.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: Through gradual expansion, formal animal buildings began to appear.
• 22:23
  SPEAKER_00: One of the most important arrived in 1912, and that was the original Lion House.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_00: Oh.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: It just sounds like something out of the 20s.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 22:36
  SPEAKER_00: The Lion House.
• 22:37
  SPEAKER_00: The Lion House.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, very cool.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: The building was designed in the arts and crafts tradition and eventually became a Chicago landmark.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: In 2021, the historic building reopened as the Pepper Family Wildlife Center following a major restoration.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: The modern facility combines contemporary animal habitats with preserved elements of the historic structure.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: So it's still the same, but not.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because they moved the lions probably to a better place.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_00: I am sure they did.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_00: But long before the renovation, the lion house had acquired a reputation for being one of the zoo's most active paranormal locations.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_01: What the what?
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: The zoo itself acknowledges legends involving the Lion House.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_00: Some paranormal accounts describe apparitions appearing inside or around the historic building, while stories involve strange sensations, unexplained sounds, and figures dressed in Victorian era clothing, particularly around the lower level.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't realize that the Lion House was multiple levels.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I did not either.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: Another historic building associated with the zoo's ghost stories is the Laughlin Memorial Building.
• 24:05
  SPEAKER_00: In 1857, the building at 2001 North Clark Street housed the Chicago Academy of Sciences.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_00: So it was already kind of fancy.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, making it one of the city's earliest institutions devoted to scientific study.
• 24:23
  SPEAKER_00: The building later became part of Lincoln Park Zoo's administrative operations.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_00: According to the zoo, the Laughlin Building is one of its haunted locations.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, imagine that.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_00: They didn't say most haunted.
• 24:40
  SPEAKER_00: Of course it's not the most haunted.
• 24:42
  SPEAKER_00: One of their locations.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um one of the most persistent misconceptions about Lincoln Park is that the cemetery simply vanished.
• 24:54
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but it didn't.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: That's not what happened.
• 24:58
  SPEAKER_00: It was it's like it just um evolved like gradually.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_00: While historical evidence indicates that burials were removed, researchers have also documented later discoveries of human remains.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: So all of this, you know, moving and everything, uh when it became a zoo, people kind of forgot that it was a cemetery.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah.
• 25:30
  SPEAKER_00: But then in 1998, construction work in Lincoln Park uncovered the skeletal remains of more than 80 people.
• 25:40
  unknown: 80 people.
• 25:41
  SPEAKER_00: In 98.
• 25:42
  SPEAKER_00: 1998.
• 25:44
  SPEAKER_00: Uh perhaps one of the strangest stories involves the construction of the farm in the zoo.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's like an exhibit inside the zoo when workers discovered an intact coffin while digging during construction in the 1960s.
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: The story says that then zoo director Lester Fisher contacted authorities and was ultimately advised to leave the remains in place.
• 26:15
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so just build right on top of that.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_00: And leave them alone.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_01: Uh nothing to see here, you lucky loose.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: Honestly, um, to me, the coolest part um about this whole story about the Lincoln Park Zoo is that the zoo itself doesn't try to hide its paranormal reputation.
• 26:35
  SPEAKER_00: They're like uh yeah, we're built on top of a cemetery, and yeah, we're haunted.
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_00: So what are we gonna do about it?
• 26:43
  SPEAKER_01: Um Let's do a haunted zoo night.
• 26:45
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_00: Uh they describe the grounds as partially built over a former former burial ground and says the cemetery's history has generated legends of ghosts around locations, including the Lion House and Laughlin Memorial Building.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_00: That's per their website.
• 27:03
  SPEAKER_00: Reported phenomena associated with the zoo and surrounding Lincoln Park have included apparitions, shadow figures, unexplained footsteps, voices, cold spots, doors allegedly opening or closing without explanation, and other unexplained experiences.
• 27:26
  SPEAKER_00: And this isn't just in the two buildings, this is around the park.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: Oh.
• 27:31
  SPEAKER_00: Like anywhere that they've transformed into the zoo.
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_00: So if you'd like to visit, the zoo currently offers a 75-minute haunted history tour on Tuesdays and Wednesdays during October for guests 16 and older, led by author and Chicago tour guide Adam Seltzer.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: That sounds like fun.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_00: For the whole month of October leading up to Halloween.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_01: I totally would do the haunted tour.
• 27:58
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 27:59
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_01: Considering that you don't have to pay to get into the zoo.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_01: I feel like that's a a decent price.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 28:07
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, you know, you can visit these haunted, supposedly haunted buildings after hours on these tours, which is that sounds really cool.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I love after hours.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_01: I love anything after hours of behind the scenes.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_01: I love that.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's usually much more relaxed.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_00: And so if you're gonna hear something or you're going to see something, it's gonna be it's gonna be then.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_00: Right, right.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_01: Anything behind the scenes when it comes to animals, I love behind the scenes stuff.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_01: That's yeah, I'm a geek when it comes to stuff like that.
• 28:48
  SPEAKER_00: I know such a big geek.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_00: I know.
• 28:50
  SPEAKER_00: I can't help it.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, I if I have to go to a zoo or something like that, because when you can do something that's an up-close experience or something a little more personal where you're seeing their care, it it does make it more interesting for me.
• 29:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's always I find like the behind the scenes stuff more interesting than the animals themselves.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
• 29:16
  SPEAKER_00: You know, the behind the scenes characters.
• 29:18
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I remember we did one at Disney with uh Cody and Valerie for one of their birthdays.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_00: Or no, it was both of their birthdays, and it was the one where you got to feed the hippos and the crocodiles, and uh oh, it's called the Wild Africa Trek.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_00: I did that.
• 29:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, were you yeah, that was a lot of fun.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_00: Put you in a harness to walk on the they have like a um swinging bridge that goes over the crocodiles, and they harness you in, and you walk over the bridge, and they take your picture, and you throw the cabbage and lettuce down to the hippos.
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_01: But they had lunch in their little fancy pavilion on the savannah.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but they talk about how like, you know, how they the things they have to do to protect the animals when there's like a hurricane, you know, coming into Florida.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, because one of the first things when they were talking about that that came to mind for me was how do you herd Nile crocodiles into an enclosure to keep them safe?
• 30:28
  SPEAKER_00: Like you they're not gonna listen to you.
• 30:30
  SPEAKER_00: They're not like, oh, you're going inside, we'll go inside too.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_00: They they do what they want, yeah, yeah.
• 30:36
  SPEAKER_00: And um, but they they said they have a a process and they do it, they get they go inside, and so yeah, it's really cool.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's really fascinating, and it's uh it's such a lot of work preparing for any type of major hurricane um when you have animals, and especially in that situation, it is all hands on deck, and you do have like a ride out team where you're riding out a hurricane.
• 31:03
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_01: I once did that for Rainforest Cafe, and I was like, I will never do this again.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_01: I will come in after the hurricane is over and I will make sure everything's fine, right?
• 31:15
  SPEAKER_01: But I will never ride out a hurricane in Rainforest Cafe.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_00: Right.
• 31:21
  SPEAKER_00: Never again.
• 31:22
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and looking all at all these out buildings that they have, like an Animal Kingdom, an Animal Kingdom Lodge, for their animals for these types of events, like if you're just hanging out with the animals in these enclosed spaces, uh Yeah, there there's 100%.
• 31:42
  SPEAKER_01: They have their own ride out teams.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 31:44
  SPEAKER_01: They have several ride out teams, I'm sure.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_01: Um but not anymore.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, not me.
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_00: Interesting, very cool.
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_00: If you're if you're a Disney person and you happen to be at Disney World, definitely do the Wild Africa track.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_01: It's really good, yeah, yeah.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_01: It's really good.
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_00: Or any of their behind the scenes care uh tours, um, those are really cool.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_00: They take you pretty much like on a tram.
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_00: There's a walk walking park, but then you're mostly on a tram, and they show you all their backstage buildings where they house these animals, and it's just really fascinating.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_01: So if you're ever in Chicago, just that haunted tour.
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_01: But this too, that sounds over.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_01: Stuck right up on me.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um and you do this tour, let us know because I would love to know what they claim to see in the after hours tours because it's gotta be fascinating.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_01: I want to know.
• 32:47
  SPEAKER_01: I'm an acquiring mind.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_00: Me too.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_00: Me too.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_00: Anyway.
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_00: All right, until next time.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_01: Until next time.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_01: I know, because you were talking.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_01: That's what happens.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_01: I know.
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_01: So we'll finish it.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_01: Until next time.
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_01: Like what you hear?
• 33:07
  SPEAKER_01: Leave us a review on your favorite podcast listening platform.
• 33:10
  SPEAKER_00: For more about this episode, check out our website at boozybanterwithfriends.com or connect with us on Instagram.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for listening.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_00: Later.