FOUNDATIONS

CONTENTS:

• Chicago Supernational Tours
• Shadows of Chicago (SOC)
• The Quiet Man Society

This month's sites give a new perspective on what it takes to do truly effective prospect research in Chicago. From the supernatural to the all-too-natural realism of Chicago's reputation for gangster murders, these are sites that Midwest researchers have probably already checked out late at night when their managers weren't watching. If you are asking what on earth the supernatural has to do with foundations and prospect research, have you ever researched the Brach Foundation and the disappearance of Helen V. Brach in the 1970's?

CHICAGO SUPERNATURAL TOURS

A fellow graduate of DePaul University, Richard T. Crowe, claims that he is the Midwest's only full-time professional ghosthunter. He has devoted himself to uncovering Chicago's history of hauntings, ghosts and other supernatural phenomena.

The Haunted Pub Crawl is Mr. Crowe's newest tour, giving researchers an opportunity to visit and toast the ghosts of drinkers at taverns from Chinatown to Rogers Park. Stories of the haunting at the Red Lion Pub on North Lincoln can still scare the you-know-what out of this prospect researcher, more than 25 years after her own pub crawl while posing as an undergraduate on DePaul's Lincoln Park Campus.

http://www.ghosttours.com/

SHADOWS OF CHICAGO (SOC)

SOC provides ghost research and investigation services in Chicago as well as Indiana, southern Michigan and southern Wisconsin. This ghostbusters team has conducted a number of investigations over the years, proving that there is something out there that cannot be explained by solely natural causes. All investigations are confidential.

The SOC Web Site is a lot of fun, complete with a description of the research protocols used, common places to find ghosts, a ghost hunters tool kit and the best ways to capture. More scary Chicago ghost stories are included, along with a transcript of what happened during a night spent at the infamous Irish Castle in Chicago's Beverly neighborhood.

http://www.shadowsofchicago.com/

THE QUIET MAN SOCIETY

The Quiet Man Society of Chicago assumes no responsibility for the validity of tales spoken at any showing of the 1952 John Ford film featuring John Wayne and Maureen O'Hara. In fact, established on the Southwest Side of Chicago in 1997, the Society and its members reserve the right to deny admission to those persons who do not fit the following criteria: A) Male; B) Irish; C) Fluent in Quiet Man Speak.

The Quiet Man Society of Chicago is a "stand alone not-for-profit organization" that meets to eat and drink and watch The Quiet Man every year around St. Patrick's Day.

According to their disclaimer (worth reading, at the end of the Bull 97 link) this is a non-legal, non-binding organization that, when asked about by a woman, does not exist.

It would seem to this reviewer that members of the QMS believe that playing patty fingers in the Holy Water is a socially acceptable way to pick up a woman!

http://www.quietmansociety.com/

Cathy Hampton