Renowned ghost hunter and Chicago native Richard T. Crowe came to the Thornton Recreational Department, 701 Highland Ave., on Friday evening to tell tales of 13 of the region's spookiest sites. "I'm the first full-time professional ghost hunter in the Midwest," Crowe said.Crowe has made a living conducting haunted tours since 1979. While a student at DePaul in 1973, Crowe organized a ghost tour for the school's Geographical Society that he claims was the first motorized tour of haunted places anywhere."Since it was the first one, no one could have anticipated the kind of demand or response there would be," Crowe said. "I wound up with a 200-person waiting list." Crowe offers bus trips and boat cruises that visit such destinations as the site of the St. Valentine's Day Massacre and a block in Chinatown that is considered Chicago's most haunted. One tour includes a refreshment break at the Billy Goat Tavern to explore the curse on the Chicago Cubs. Crowe even offers a "haunted pub crawl," that stops at taverns in some of the city's spookiest spots.Crowe's fame as a ghost hunter has landed him on such television shows as "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and "Unsolved Mysteries."Crowe's interest in the supernatural began early in life and continued on to his short stay at Quigley South seminary, where he was inspired by Rev. John Nicola. Crowe said that Nicola acted as an adviser for the film "The Exorcist."Crowe was asked if he ever actually encountered a ghost on one of his tours."We had a situation one night and after that my bus driver quit," Crowe said.Crowe told the story of Halloween night in 1995 when he was leading a tour in Jackson Park, behind the Museum of Science and Industry.

He said that the ashes of famed attorney Clarence Darrow had been scattered at the park he frequented according to his wishes after his death in 1938. As the tour group was getting ready to leave, they spotted a man in 1930's-style clothing walking in the park. He was unresponsive to the calls from the people. Crowe said that two of the men in the tour ran toward him but were mysteriously stopped in their tracks as if they ran into a shield. It was after this incident that Crowe's bus driver found other work.

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