Etched In Stone

105 years ago this very morning, a light rain was falling on Chicago, in the early morning hours of July 24, 1915 as passengers lined up to board the the S.S. Eastland, known as the "Speed Queen of the Great Lakes," that was part of a fleet of five excursion boats assigned to take Western Electric employees, families and friends across Lake Michigan to Michigan City, Indiana, for a day of fun and fellowship. But the festivities were short-lived and quickly turned tragic.

 

The Eastland, docked at the Clark Street Bridge, never left the Chicago River. Tragedy struck as the ship rolled over into the river at the wharf's edge. More than 2,500 passengers and crew members were on board that day – and 844 people lost their lives, including 22 entire families.

 

The makeshift morgue for the Eastland victims was the 2nd Regiment Armory located at Washington and Carpenter Streets. 75 years after the disaster, that same building would become the home of Harpo Studios and "The Oprah Winfrey Show." Rumors of strange occurrences, sounds and even sightings of people from another era had been reported over the years, but I didn't pay much attention to that stuff while I was on staff at Oprah Radio-as the building I worked in was across the street from the main studio.

 

"Etched in Stone" is a chapter from my book "Phenomena: Sacred Moments, Messages, Memories & Other Sh*t I Can't Explain" that recounts the day in Edit 1 back in 2008, when a "voice" reached out through a speaker that wasn't even connected to anything with the demand that "Neils Petersen will not be forgotten"-not once-but twice. That "event" was heard by three people besides me....but that was just the beginning of a strange journey.

 

One of many in my life, that I share in the book.