"Early on the morning of Saturday, July 24, 1915, with a light rain falling and the air filled with much anticipation and excitement, thousands were gathering along the Chicago River for Western Electric's fifth annual employee picnic. In fact, over 7,000 tickets had been purchased.
The S.S. Eastland, known as the "speed queen of the Great Lakes," was part of a fleet of five excursion boats assigned to take Western Electric employees, their families and friends across Lake Michigan to Michigan City, Indiana, for the day's festivities.
But the Eastland, docked at the Clark Street Bridge, never left the Chicago River. It instead rolled into the river at the wharf's edge with over 2,500 passengers, including crew members, on board. Over 800 people lost their lives, including 22 entire families."
According to the story, the ship started to list to one side while passengers were on board. The engineer started to flood tanks to even it out, but didn't plan on everyone moving to the other side at the same time. When this happened, he immediately started flooding tanks on the other side to offset, but people ran back to the original side again. Game over. Those on deck were thrown into the Chicago River. Many were trapped inside. As the boat capsized and started to sink, cries could be heard through the hull as people were trapped in air pockets, and soon drowned.
The place where they laid the corpses was a packing plant that through the years has changed ownerships and is now known as Harpo Studios, home of the Oprah Winfrey show. To this day, in mid summer, those that work in the building can hear cries echoing through the halls. Some believe it is the cries of the souls of the Eastland.
