Ghosts of Old Fort Dearborn

The Battle of Fort Dearborn marked a turning point in the settler discourse around Indigenous populations. During the battle, Potawatomi fighters burned down the fort and defeated the officers stationed there. Since its destruction ghost stories have arisen around hearing and seeing soldiers. Closer to the original battle, when the fort was rebuilt, stationed officers reported hearing footsteps and seeing soldiers in older or bloodied uniforms walking the halls. 

In more modern times, near the site of old Fort Dearborn yelling has been heard along with the sounds and smells of fire and gunpowder. One man on a tour of the downtown area reported becoming completely disoriented.

Wandering spirits: Ghosts who have not had a proper burial or have unfinished business are said to wander in many cultures. You can read some examples of these stories and others through the Native languages database stories

These ‘time slip’ haunting encounters are similar to experiences of those who have smelled fire and heard screaming in Lincoln Park or the sounds of snapping metal near the Eastland Disaster site. It goes along with the theory that a tragic event marks the place which it happened and has ramifications which pierce future transformations of that space, it always holds what happens.

The ghost stories around Old Fort Dearborn are overwhelmingly about the presence of US soldiers. The preservation of their lives and ‘unfinished business’ lives on in the land they claimed and the history of Indigenous erasure that followed the battle.

Chicago, today, is home to one of the oldest and largest American Indian centers:

Chicago American Indian Center