The Great Escape Restaurant

The original structure dates to 1889, with the banquet room and bar being part of that original building. In the 1920s, Al Capone sold the establishment booze and was spotted at the bar doing business with local gangsters, flanked by men with shotguns watching the door.

The Great Escape Restaurant at 9540 W. Irving Park Road in Schiller Park occupies a building dating to 1889, just outside Chicago city limits near O'Hare International Airport. The original bar—hand-carved by the Chicago Bar Company—and Banquet Room remain part of the historic structure.

The building has served many purposes: Fred Kolze's General Store (1889-1918), Papa Chris's Saloon (1918-1988), and Summerfield's Restaurant (1988-1992) before Al and Marie Great founded The Great Escape in 1992. Around 1900, silent movie cowboy Tom Mix filmed here, using the Des Plaines River as the Rio Grande and the bar for saloon scenes.

During Prohibition, Al Capone sold the establishment bootleg liquor and was spotted at the bar conducting business with local gangsters. Witnesses reported seeing men seated on either side of him with shotguns watching the door. For the record, Capone is not believed to be among the building's ghosts—"presumably because he's too busy splitting his time between the dozen other places where his spectre has reportedly been sighted."

Owner Brian Great has spent considerable time alone in the restaurant and reports seeing apparitions, feeling cold spots in dark hallways, and hearing an antique radio turn on despite having no wires connected. Reported phenomena include a clipboard-toting man in a dark suit who walks into a storage closet and never emerges, music drifting up from the basement, and electronics behaving erratically.

A team of ten investigators and a psychic medium spent a night investigating with high-tech equipment. Employees have heard the voice of a little boy laughing and another voice saying they "should leave." Investigators encountered the spirit of a man whose hands were cut off for stealing—presumably from the building's rougher past.

The Great Escape has been featured in podcasts and media coverage exploring its supernatural history. The restaurant continues serving customers who may be dining among spirits from nearly 140 years of Illinois history.