Find me here:
  The Paranormal Guide
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Videos
  • Photos
  • Atlas
  • Glossary

The Devil Baby of Hull House

26/12/2013

Comments

 
Picture
For six weeks, in 1913, Hull House in Chicago was swamped with people demanding to see the devil baby, who had been left there by distraught parents.

The legend of this baby swept through the city and country, as people ventured forth, to see the devil incarnate.

Hull House

PictureVery early photograph of Hull House
Hull House is considered to be one of Chicago's most haunted buildings. Although the nature of the building was for all intents good there have been several times throughout the years where events have been on the grim side.

The building itself was built at 800 South Halstead Street in 1856 by Charles J. Hull (hence the name of the building). The neighbourhood was seen to be quite 'fashionable' and life looked to be good for Hull, his wife and their children. Unfortunately Hulls wife passed away leaving him to care for their two children who also passed away within a decade of another and quite young.

Hull eventually moved to another part of Chicago but it would seem his deceased wife chose to stay, haunting the room she died in.

The house itself survived the Chicago Fire of 1871 but the neighbourhood did not fair so well. Soon the area became filled with immigrants and the reputation of the area dropped significantly. In the mid 1870's the house became a home for the elderly poor and no doubt saw more deaths during that time.

Although many more mysterious events took place in the building (small unexplainable fires, the appearance of a woman in white, figures seen about the halls, curtains refusing to stay closed in one of the empty rooms) it was not until 1913 that an event began that saw Hull House enter the more mysterious side of Chicago's history.

A Settlement House gets a Devil Baby...

PictureJane Addams
In 1889 Jane Addams and Ellen Starr co-founded Hull House, a 'settlement house' where the immigrants from many nationalities and cultures could come and be socially reformed. It was here that these working class people could come and take part in programs and education to allow them a better footing in their new country. The programs were a success and more buildings were taken on by the founders in order to spread the program wider and further afield.

But it was one day in 1913, after many years of successfully running this settlement house, that events took on a strange and possibly sinister turn...

Three Italian women entered the building with much fuss and excitement. They demanded to see the devil baby!

The residents (Hull House volunteers) stated they had no idea what they were talking about but the excited women persisted. They knew the devil baby was in the building and they kept demanding to see it.

PictureEllen Starr
If there was a devil baby on site the residents would surely know about it as it was unmistakable with its cloven hooves, tail, pointed ears and ability to speak even at that early age.

Although the Italian women eventually left they were but the first of many, many people who made their way to the house in order to see this devil for themselves. Hundreds, thousands of people from the neighbourhood all made attempts to see the devil baby, some even offered to pay for the opportunity. However none were able to see the child for the residents stated time and time again that it never existed.

It was not just the poor or superstitious who made the journey to the house but even physicians who had heard of the child wanted the opportunity to study it. Soon people from outside of the Near West Chicago area were calling by, people from all over the country wanted to have a good look.

For about six weeks there was a heavy flow of traffic throughout the neighbourhood as people made their way to Hull House, all to be told to leave that the story was just an 'old wives tale', albeit one that had gotten some pretty good legs under it.

Who was this 'Devil Baby'?

PictureHull House nursery
As for who this devil baby was and how it came to be at Hull House... well there are several different versions of the story but two seem to have the most tellings:

A devoutly Catholic woman hanged a picture of the virgin Mary on the wall but her aethiest husband tore it down. He stated that he would rather have the devil himself in residence in the home rather than that picture on the wall. Several months later the woman gave birth to a deformed child – hooves, claws, tail, pointed ears. The shock was too much for her to bare and she passed away, the husband took the child to Hull House and left it on the door step.

The other version concerns a man whose wife gave birth to six daughters. The husband was enraged by the lack of a son and cried out one night that he would rather her give birth to the devil than another girl... and you can guess what happened next.

PictureNewspaper headline from the time
From here the stories converge with the child being taken into care at Hull House. The child was said to be quite a little fiend and was capable of the greatest of blasphemies. The heads of the organisation took it upon themselves to have the child baptised in order to sooth it of its demonic afflictions but the baptism did not go to plan. The child escaped their clutches at the waters edge and took off skipping across the tops of the pews.

They were able to recapture the baby and then had it locked in the attic of the house.

From there it is not known what happened except somehow this story got around and now thousands of people were turning up to get a look.

The visitors and the story seemed to run out of steam and the legend was all but forgotten.

More to this Tale?

PictureGhost caught on camera at Hull House?
That's not quite all there is to this tale. Though it might not be connected, when the house was being renovated near the turn of this millennia there were a number of reports concerning the sounds of a child's cry coming from the attic and gardens...

Jane Addams, although bothered by the near ending flow of visitors, did find this event in the homes history to be interesting, so much so that she wrote quite a long and extensive article about it in the Atlantic Monthly way back in 1916.

You can check that out here: http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1916/10/the-devil-baby-at-hull-house/305428/


PictureHull House in 2012
The Jane Addams Hull House Association closed down in January 2012. the building is still open as a museum.

What do you think?

Wild imaginations?

Or maybe a deformed child was in care at Hull House, one that saw the start of this legend?

Ashley Hall 2013
Comments
comments powered by Disqus

    The Paranormal Guide Articles

    Here you will find all of the articles written for The Paranormal Guide on all things paranormal, strange, dark, macabre, weird, strange and bizarre!

    All photos with the blog posts remain the property of their respectful owners. If one of your photos is featured here without attribution please leave a comment on the blog and full credit will be given.

    Categories

    All
    Bizarre Experiments
    Conspiracy
    Cryptozoology
    Cursed And Haunted Objects
    Curses Demons And Exorcisms
    Earth Mysteries
    Fakes Frauds And Hoaxes
    Ghosts And Hauntings
    Ghosts Ghouls And Demons
    Interesting And Inspiring People
    Investigations
    Miracles
    My Paranormal
    Paranormal Photos
    Paranormal Vocabulary
    Phobias And Philias
    Post Mortem Practices
    Psychics Predictions And Seers
    Questions And Discussions
    Reviews
    Spirituality And Miracles
    Spirituality And Miracles
    Strange And Macabre Places
    Strange And Tragic Deaths
    This Week In Dark History
    Tragedy
    True Crime And Punishment
    Ufos And Aliens
    Unsolved Mysteries
    Urban Legend Superstition And Folklore
    Weird Odd And Bizarre


    Ashley Hall -
    The Paranormal Guide

    Ashley Hall explores The Paranormal, True Crime, Strange Deaths, Dark History, The Weird, The Strange and The Bizarre! Fact or Fiction? You decide!

    Picture

    Contributors

    Picture
    Matty Sweeney
    Picture
    Peet Banks
    Picture
    Nic Hume

    Picture
    Check out The Paranormal Guide Podcast and join three paranormal investigators and researchers for honest and raw discussions on all things paranormal, strange, dark and macabre HERE!

    Archives

    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012

    Please note that dates are from when the article was originally made.
    The Paranormal Guide does have posts all the way up to the current date.


    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.