Ghost Kayaker

A woman often kayaked through the loop. Her and her husband lived right off the brownline and it was easy to get to with an inflatable. She had been unemployed for a while and so she spent a lot of time out, paddling around and exploring by kayak.

On a foggy morning she was out on the river. She was debating getting out early because the fog was so thick she was worried about seeing oncoming boats. But it had started to thin a little so she continued on. She had passed the river confluence when she spotted another kayaker out ahead.

She sped up to try and say hello. The other person kayaking appeared to have long hair and was steering with a one-header oar instead of a regular kayak paddle. The woman trailed this other kayak around a bend and then lost sight of it for a while.

Then, much further down the river she spotted the same kayak again. This time it was still, the boat and it’s patron. The kayak was unusually still in fact, completely stationary in the water not even bobbling along with the steady flow. The person in the kayak was not much more than a silhouette, arm extended with the strange oar pointing outwards as if for balance.

The woman thought that maybe she had gotten stuck or lost and paddled up to help. She called out to the other boat,

Hello there.

Are you stuck there? Can I help you?

Hello?

Are you okay there?

The figure hadn't moved and the woman was getting nervous the closer she got. The fog had mostly cleared but she’d been in it so long her eyes were watery and she was having a hard time seeing the person in the other kayak, who appeared to shift and ripple like the water itself.

She reached the other boat finally, and there was no one inside it at all. It was an older, empty kayak, clearly damaged on the bottom with ropes trailing off the side, where it may have escaped some kind of dock.

 

River Travel and Usage

Since the river has existed it has been used for travel, food, and housing by wildlife and then by people.

Check out this article discussing the Indigenous history of Chicago.

Check out this timeline to see a history of settlement and development of the Chicago River.