Is The Irish Legend Chicago’s Most Haunted Restaurant?

The Irish Legend is a warm and welcoming place in Willow Springs, west of Chicago. With a rich Irish immigrant history, it’s particularly popular during the annual St Patrick’s Day celebrations. People come together from across town and beyond in merriment and good cheer, but this popular pub hides a dark and sinister past—and holds a special place in Chicago’s paranormal folklore.

The restaurant sits at 8933 South Archer, and its location near an old Native American trail is perhaps one reason for the supernatural sightings so many people claim to have made there.

Heavy industry replaces Native American burial grounds

In the 19th century, the route that became Archer Avenue was used by fur traders to carry boats between the Des Plaines and Chicago Rivers. The route followed an ancient Native American trail, and when the Illinois and Michigan canal was built, this historic old walkway expanded into wider use.

The canal’s construction in the mid-19th century attracted an influx of Italian, German, Polish, and Irish immigrants in search of work, and expansive stockyards and busy villages grew along Archer Avenue to meet demand. As the years went by, a number of Native American burial mounds were destroyed to make way for the region’s burgeoning heavy industry as well. 

Prohibition and the arrival of Chicago gangsters

As more and more workers arrived into the villages along Archer Avenue, they needed places to eat, drink, and be merry. Pubs, hostelries, and whorehouses popped up all the way along Archer Avenue—where tired workers could rest their legs, drown their sorrows, and seek refuge from their punishing workloads. ****The burgeoning population brought with it a whole host of problems, though, and gambling, disorderly conduct, gunslinging, bootlegging, and prostitution were rife.

Illegal gambling took place in the basement and attic, while prostitutes entertained the menfolk in the smaller bedrooms on the second floor. Murder and robbery were commonplace as drunken men became easy targets, and many of the vulnerable women slipped into addiction in an effort to escape their horrific circumstances.

When Prohibition swept through the United States, the Willow Springs area was easy pickings for a new breed of Chicago gangster, and this is how the hostelry which became the Irish Legend first came about.

Myths and folklore surrounding the Irish Legend

With a history such as this, it’s no surprise that so many violent tales surround the Irish legend. What’s harder to put a finger on, however, are the supernatural stories people share about the old place.

One of the hostelry’s most commonly heard tales tells of an illicit affair between a barman and one of the prostitutes, who was also the girlfriend of a gangster. The manager found out about the affair and, nervous that it’d be bad for business, sent the barman to the basement stairs where the gangster caved his skull in. Job done, you’d think, except the gangster was so infuriated at being double-crossed that he beat his girlfriend to death.

In another story, one of the prostitutes was beaten, killed, wrapped in a blanket, and rolled into the corner of the dining room to be dispensed with under cover of darkness. Her blood seeped out of the carpet and soaked into the timber floor, and the mysterious stain still appears to this day.

Visitors to the Irish Legend have reported hearing the sounds of men fighting and struggling on the back stairs—an area of the bar which leads directly out onto the parking lot. You can well imagine dead bodies being bundled out the back doors and into the trunk, ready to be sunk without trace in the nearby canal. And in the kitchen, too, where pregnant prostitutes were reportedly forced into dangerous abortions—the sounds of agonized screaming still carry out into the night.

Tales of violence and desperation have surrounded the Irish legend for centuries, and the ghost stories remind us of hardships faced by those who came before us. Thankfully, these tales don’t put off the thirsty revelers of today—far from it—and the Irish Legend lives on! The old place has been cleaned up, and new life breathed into it. Far from trying to hide the pub’s dark past, the current owners embrace it and respect the fact that they share the building with a great number of spirits from a bygone era.

Make sure to see The Irish Legend in person and learn all of its best ghost stories on our Archer Avenue Resurrection Mary ghost bus tour!

Dark Spirits & Sinister Secrets: The Irish Legend's Haunted Past

Experience the chilling Irish Legend Ghost Tour in Chicago, where dark Prohibition history meets supernatural encounters in one of America's most haunted taverns. Walk the blood-stained halls where gangster murders and mysterious deaths left their eternal mark, as this historic Willow Springs pub invites brave souls to discover why countless visitors report active paranormal encounters—perhaps you'll even share a drink with one of our permanent "residents."

Check out our Chicago ghost tour reviews on Google to see why this tour is a must-experience.

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Dive deeper into the mysterious world of hauntings with our curated collection of paranormal investigations and ghostly encounters. Read more stories like this in “The Original Chicago Hauntings Companion” by Ursula Bielski, a book of Chicago ghost stories written by our own American Ghost Walks team. Click here for more.

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