closed for business

I took my boyfriend here at the end of the summer back in 2014 because I got a Groupon for it, and I figured it would just be a weird, cool thing to do.
The tour guide met us outside of an older, kind of run-​down building and then brought the whole group up to a room that resembled a tiny classroom to go over the instruments we would be using and what to expect before we actually went down into the basement to explore everything. He explained what dowsing rods were and how to use them, and then when he asked for a volunteer my hand flew up before I even realized I had volunteered myself.
If you don’t believe in this sort of stuff that’s fine, but after that experience with the dowsing rods I’m convinced there’s some kind of energy that flows through them to make them move. The tour guide had me hold the dowsing rods as he talked to any «spirit» that may be in the room and wanted to communicate. Long story short, what started out as what I thought was going to be a random old spirit turned out to be my cousin who passed away several years ago. We had grown up together and were very close up until the day she died, so it wasn’t surprising that she would come through, but I definitely wasn’t expecting it!
While that was definitely a personal high point for me during the tour, the rest of it was cool too. We got to break off into small groups to explore different areas of the basement for activity. We all had some cool stories to tell when it was over. I highly recommend this tour for anyone with an open mind, or just anyone looking for a funky, unusual experience.

I was looking for something fun to do with my husband for a date night. I stumbled on CGI and decided to book. I didn’t tell my husband our plans as he is a skeptic to say the least. Brian called us earlier in the day to confirm the evening, answer any questions, and give us his contact info. in case we got lost. We spent about an hour learning how to use the equipment and how to conduct a ghost investigation. It was very fascinating. After putting us into small groups we were off. We made contact with three spirits. You have to experience it yourself to really understand, but needless to say, it was unlike anything I’d ever experienced. We had a blast!!! I can’t say I made my husband a believer, but he had a great time. He even said that he’d recommend it to everyone for a fun night out. Some friends and I are going back next month. Brian then followed-​up the next day to make sure we had an enjoyable time. What business owner do you know who does this much customer service? Everyone has a different experience. When I read what others wrote I was worried. Have an open mind and try it out. Happy Ghost Hunting!

I wish I could give them more stars! Had an unbelievably great time on the ghost tour last night. I went in a bit skeptical about everything but you really can’t deny what happens when you experience it yourself. Would highly recommend for anyone even mildly curious about the paranormal. Alison was our guide and she did a PHENOMENAL job! Explained everything wonderfully and assisted our groups enough where we knew what to do and she was there to ask questions when we needed it. Was also very funny and personable, managed our goofy group perfectly. The communication from the company was wonderful as well, informed me of everything ahead of time and were very easy to get ahold of, gave great instructions on how to find the place and what to expect. I really want to go back and do this again… or just tag along next time Alison goes ghost hunting anywhere! Thanks again guys for a great tour!!!

I don’t write many reviews. In fact I think this may be my first one. I called this company and spoke with Karen about how the tour is ran and the itinerary for the night. When speaking with her she stated that it’s about three hours long. 30 – 40 minute PowerPoint presentation followed by the use of equipment instruction then the hunt. She also stated it was in a old warehouse Al Capone used to use for his prohibition gig, which come later to find out we weren’t in that building. Instead we were in a well lit warehouse where they were having a loud painting party in the next room… I wasn’t too happy about that as I thought we would be the only people in this super scary and creepy warehouse… Which wasn’t the case at all… Andy, though he was a great instructor during the PowerPoint presentation, when it came to the hunt he failed. He kept walking in and out of the room. Sitting on his phone while Us First time ghost hunters kind of winged it with his «apprentice» Richie, who was extreme rude and a little creepy himself. He was very immature and I hope he doesn’t get the job for the sake of the future hunters… It did start off well with a woman in our group being connected with her late husband which was pretty awesome and definitely believable. I wish she had more questions to ask him since he was responding back to her but she was a little shaken up by it but that definitely was he highlight of the night… Anyways… Once the hunt was over we were supposed to go into a room for review but we decided to leave instead. Long story short… If you want a weird thing to do for a night go ahead and try it out… It was $ 45/​person so it’s not super cheap. I think it would be more of a $ 25−30/person tour but it is what it is…

We booked a 7 person ghost tour for Al Capone’s Warehouse (located at 500 W. Cermak Rd., Chicago) last August.
However, we were greeted by the tour guide in front of the advertised building… then were asked to follow him to a building across the street???
Apparently, the company UHAUL bought the whole building and converted it to a storage facility. No ghost tours were allowed anymore to the Al Capone warehouse for 5 to 6 months now.
So now the tour is located in a building occupied by businesses and private parties.
Needless to say, the facility we hunted in was well lit… and in one of the rooms in the basement, there was a painting party… complete with balloons and booze.
The CGI owner was a fast talker… like a car salesman… he somehow wormed his way out of our complaints.
Beware…you’ve been warned!!!

My sister and I had a really good time investigating the property. We had some really genuine experiences in the elevator shaft. If you go on the tour I recommend checking out this location as it seemed really active! We’ll definitely be back!

My husband and I went a couple of weeks ago, it was definitely a unique experience. I wish we could have explored more of the basements or tunnels, we got put in a room for over 2 hours which was very close to the street so you can see people walking by and cars pulling up, etc. (Kind of distracting, takes away some of the spookiness) All and all the instructors were great very pleasant people, very informative and professional. I give it four stars for those reasons.

Well as I said, I wanted to be fair. The classes were great, the experience not so much as I stated in the first review. When you contacted me and offered one on the house you expressed that you wanted a higher review. I took 6 photos that night and stand by the review. I do have standards and expect delivery of the stated product or service. Going back over my review history (of which I stand by) is an attempt to minimize any criticism of what happened that night on my tour by trying to cite experiences over several years. I have indeed upgraded reviews when appropriate and tried the same business experiencing different items or services. You asked me to reschedule in Sunday… I told you about our dynamic work schedule (I was out of town till last night) and you post a rebuttal before we gave you a second attempt. As I said… should one choose to go, go with a group you know.

Whatta night! The staff is kooky but cool. The best part — they don’t hover over you (like the ghosts do)! You’re free to roam with your homies (and swig your flask if you must) as the four hours fly by (like the ghosts do)! We had two crazy encounters with spirits! Even the non-​believers believed! Do something different tonight!

My husband and I went on 11÷8÷14 and had a great experience! The staff is wonderful and we really had a good time. Made contact with 2 ghosts and captured an orb on our camera phone. No tricks or spooky trappings. It was not creepy just very interesting, informative, and fun!

Had a great experience. Lots of information provided at booking so you know exactly what to expect. Our guide, Allison, was so enthusiastic and really made the night enjoyable. Great experience with the ghosts. Definitely will recommend to friends and family.

Last year, close to Halloween, my 20-​something year old niece talked me into going with her on a «Ghost» tour. I don’t believe in this paranormal crap, but I thought, why not. I was open-​minded about it and thought it would be something different to «do» since I had never done this before. To my surprise, it was actually very educational and really fun. We didn’t encounter any ghosts or paranormal activity along the tour, but we made several stops along the way (from the south side of Hyde Park to the north side near Lincoln Park). We were informed about the «ghosts» of the St. Valentine’s Day massacre which happened on Chicago’s north side. Our «tour guide» talked about the apartment building across the street where the mobsters were hiding. It was on the second floor that they had hidden several revolvers and sub-​machine guns and were watching from a thin-​veiled curtain for Al Capone’s men. On Feb 14, 1929, on a frigid morning, in an unheated brick garage on the 2100 block on North Clark Street, seven men were lined up against a white washed wall and pumped with 90 bullets from sub-​machine guns. It was the most infamous gangland slaying in America. This was the elimination of the last challenge to the power that Al Capone held in Chicago for so many decades.
We also stopped off at the Chicago River in the Loop where in 1915, the steamer Eastland overturned in the Chicago River, drowning between 800 and 850 of its passengers who were heading to a picnic. The disaster was caused by serious problems with the boat’s design, which were known but never remedied. Interestingly, most of the dead were taken to the Second Regiment Armory, which is now home to Harpo Studios and what used to be The Oprah Winfrey Show. Some of the show’s employees claimed that the studio is haunted by ghosts of the Eastland disaster. My favorite stop on the tour was the Beverly neighborhood of Chicago. Wow, what a beautiful area of the City! We stopped off at a house that resembled a castle, which was really cool. The house was built in 1886 for Robert Givens, who requested that it resemble the ancient estates of his native Ireland. Legend has it that the house was built for Givens’ Bride-​to-​be, but she died before she could live there. It was once owned by a manufacturer, a doctor and was a girl’s school at one time, before becoming a church in 1942. The Commission for Chicago Landmarks has named the house Chicago’s only castle! How is this place haunted? How can a church be haunted you wonder?
According to the story, a young girl became ill with a serious case of influenza and died in the early 1930’s. The ghost was first encountered in the 1960’s by a church custodian who came upon a young girl in a long dress standing in one of the rooms. The two of them chatted for a few minutes and the young girl remarked that the place had changed much since she had lived there. The custodian left the room and then suddenly recalled that the church had been in the building for more than 20 years. The young girl couldn’t possibly have lived there!
She ran back to the room, but the girl had mysteriously vanished. She then searched the entire building, only to find the doors and windows were ALL locked. She noticed a fresh layer of snow now blanketed the ground… but NO footprints led either in or out of the church.
I am a huge history fanatic, so I enjoyed the tour because I enjoyed hearing and learning about the historical facts of the City of Chicago along with the alleged «paranormal» activity that has taken place at these locations. The demographics consisted of graduate students (mid to late 20s) as well as professors (late 40s to early 60s). The tour is for ALL ages! We were able to park and stop, get off the airport-​size van and stand in front of these areas (buildings/​landmarks). We were unable to go inside any of these buildings, so this was a negative in my book. This tour was advertised at the University of Illinois (Circle Campus) at several of the graduate schools. This was how my niece heard about the tour. Would I go again? No. Did I enjoy the tour? Yes. Was it frightening or spooky? No. Was it reasonable? It was over $ 30 but under 50 bucks. Was it fun and interesting? Absolutely yes! If you have never been on a ghost tour before it is well worth experiencing it at least once in your life time. I recommend it for kids over the age of 10. The orientation should be condensed to 15 minutes or less. Over all, our experience was very fascinating, fun, educational and interesting.

We had such a great time! We got to go down in basement and see few hotspots. We even got a chance to use the equipment that is used on TV.

We had Allison as our guide and we loved every second of the tour. It was really unique and we enjoyed it alot.
Allison was fun and helpful through the entire tour and we will definitely return and recommend it to our friends and family.
We did catch some abnormalities on our cameras and had some amazing experiences with the equipment. Even the skeptics in our group had to admit that they could not explain some of it. I had a great time and would definitely come again in the future.
I found out I attract a ton of activity so that was awesome to see!

Also Known as Chicago Ghost Investigations
We were looking for our monthly adventure and settled on a CGI ghosthunt this past weekend with the wife and her niece. We had been on a few ghost tours as a group before and enjoyed them for their alternative views of history, folklore and parascience… If you have an interest… it is definitely worth the adventure.
You meet at 745p… spend an hour in orientation and maybe 2 hours investigating with maybe 20 minutes in wrap up
I read a few reviews before booking and frankly was somewhat reluctant to place a reservation but went ahead and was pleasantly rewarded. We were part of a group of maybe 25 with smaller teams between 5 to 7. Our team was the 40 plus crowd… but I’d say the average age of the overall group was late 20s. Everyone was good natured and seemed to enjoy the experience. Which is an important factor
The staff was well prepared, organized and attentive to the groups… floating between teams and escorting people to the bathrooms when necessary. They were always concerned for peoples safety. The environment is the lowest level\basement area of a converted warehouse facility that doubles as mod\loft office space.
Have Reasonable Expectations !
1) It is in the river area west of Chinatown… and yes you may see a rat or two… sewage? didn’t see that… cool but relatively dry and well kept for a basement area. Have expectations– its a warehouse district near the water and a basement at that otherwise its been kept presentable. Upper floors which are tenant spaces are pretty good. There are stairs and no elevators so those restricted to wheelchairs or with severe mobility issues wont be able to navigate the terrain and uneven pavement.
2) This is a very basic and beginning experience. its a good start for first experiences and the CGI team does everything to walk people through the experience: including an orientation, principles, familiarization with some basic tools, history lessons then a chance to work together as a team exploring several rooms of the basement.
What floored me was the follow-​up bye the owner who was genuinely concerned and open to feedback both on-​site and called the following day. We talked about the experience and some interest in more advanced and smaller experience. Only time will tell. But Brian and his crew did a good job. It was a pretty good value as well, watch for Amazon Neighborhood specials if your concerned but comparatively… without that its still a good value
Oh did we find anything you ask? I will say there was some interesting interaction but its a lot like fishing… patience and time.

I went into this with low expectations, not because I don’t believe but because I really wanted to hear from family. The experience starts with a walk through a beautiful and edgy building up to an area where you are given a background on spirits and the like. Then they go over how to use your equipment and put you into groups. Lucky for us we had 4 in our family group and were able to stay together. After this explanation of everything they show you the difference between electronic interference and true energy changes Then you are off to the basement, which is said to be very active.
As soon as we made it to the basement and were being told where to go and where to avoid for safety, my k2 meter and someone in the other groups went off as well. We made slight contact with that spirit but decided to move on. Our group was drawn to one room, this would end up being the room we spent the rest of the night in.
We met a spirit who took a liking to my younger cousin and answered quickly and off the charts to her questions. Our guide noticed this and knowing that we were hoping to contact family or BYOG (Bring your own ghosts as they call it) she suggested we ask our spirit if he were willing to do this. He was willing and withing seconds it was confirmed through questions that she was there and she had passed almost 9 years ago. We were able to get answers to yes or no questions through the diving rods (I went home and immediately purchased my own). When the first spirit answered he just crossed or straightened out the rods. When my grandmother answered so crossed them until they touched my arms. The guide called this a hug and it really felt like that to me. We were also able to contact a cousin, a grandfather and lastly my great grandfather. It was interesting to feel the different energies move the rods, each of the ones we encountered had a distinct difference.
I left that night feeling happy in my soul over my experience. Please come with an open mind and give this a chance you may walk away happier than you can ever imagine.

What a great experience. I knew going into it that it was going to be cool, but I had no idea how amazing it would be! CGI does a great job of teaching the groups about what they’re going to be doing and why they’re going to be doing it, they take great care to explain the equipment and the correct way to use it.
My group didn’t have very much interaction with the spirits associated with the building, but we did have almost nonstop interactions with a BYOG (bring your own ghost) who came with one of the group members. At the end, I was flabbergasted when my father came through to me, and I was able to talk to him and confirm that he watches out for me. He even hugged me. This tour is not for the faint of heart, but for those like me who are interested in the paranormal, this is an AMAZING experience.

These ghost tours are fantastic! The guides are wonderful, and they all shared great knowledge and experience with the guests to help us have a successful paranormal investigation of our own. I’ve been on two tours, and using the divining rods, I’ve made contact with spirits both times. I even got to communicate with my friend who had passed away last year!

This was an incredible experience. I am so happy that there was no special effects or added «ghosts» like those terrible television shows. This is really an intimate experience that helps you to connect with various spirits.
I did not believe this was possible until I went on this tour. People who completely did not believe in ghosts in my group ended up changing their minds by the end.
Definitely check them out!

One of the best ghost tours EVER! With Chicago Ghost Tours, you actually communicate with the «ghosts» It’s not like an average «tour» you are actually talking to, and getting answers from the other side.
I would come from California to Chicago JUST for Chicago Ghost Tours again and again.
Brian and his crew know so much, it makes it one of the most amazing experiences I will ever ever have.