Streetsmart Chicago

Check out my new weekly column at InCahoots.TV - a look at forgotten tragic events on Chicago streets - Streetsmart Chicago.

This project began a few years ago when a feature story ignited inside me after reading the same old boring ghost stories every Halloween. Since most haunted tales were traced back to a tragic event, I pondered the idea that in a city the size of Chicago - you could stand on probably any block in town, and looking back over time, witness some tragic event. And so I set out to prove I was right.

I originally chose one Chicago street - Lincoln Avenue - and waded through Lincoln Avenue reports from the Chicago Homicide database 1870 - 1930 - and then matched those cases with reports from the day in the Chicago Daily Tribune pages. The results were extraordinary - with detail and photography bringing the police reports alive. And suddenly, Chicago's streets came alive with story. It is now hard for me to drive along Lincoln Avenue without thinking of these poor souls at every intersection. That feature turned into a screen play - Tragic Lincoln - and then continued research for this new column - Streetsmart Chicago.

I have posted the first three cases for December.

December files include a woman's vehicular homicide, a teenager feared murdered - and a disturbing case involving two Rogers Park priests, an odd fellow from a wealthy northside family, and an innocent boy who only wanted to visit the ponies.