HardLore - The Haunting of The Chicago Metro (A HauntLore Special)

Episode Date: October 2, 2025

HardLore's spooky spin-off is back... Welcome to HauntLore VII: Where we explore The very haunted Chicago Metro.This iconic Chicago landmark broke ground in 1927, but transitioned into an all purpose live music venue and dance club in 1979, and the basement's "Smartbar" was one of the earliest regular homes to Industrial music throughout it's infancy...But a few mysteries and tragedies haunt the walls of the Metro, where a dramatic suicide, the tragic death of a child, and a pair of disembodied legs are said to roam the building at night. Watch as we thoroughly explore the unseen corners of this nearly 100 year old build and learn the sad origins of the spirits within. Thanks to Joe, Kristy, Skunk, Three and the Metro for having us!Edited by Sean Say (@seansay) • Shot by Steven Grise (@iamoneonenineseven) • Title sequence by Nicholas Marzluf (@marzluf)___________________________Join the HARDLORE PATREON to watch every single weekly episode early and ad-free, alongside exclusive monthly episodes: https://patreon.com/hardlorepodJoin the HARDLORE DISCORD: https://discord.gg/jA9rppggefHardLore Official Website/HardLore Records store: https://hardlorepod.comFOLLOW HARDLORE:INSTAGRAM | https://www.instagram.com/hardlorepod/TWITTER | https://twitter.com/hardlorepodSPOTIFY | https://spoti.fi/3J1GIrpAPPLE | https://apple.co/3IKBss2FOLLOW COLIN:INSTAGRAM | https://www.instagram.com/colinyovng/TWITTER | https://www.twitter.com/ColinYovngFOLLOW BO:INSTAGRAM | https://www.instagram.com/bosxe/TWITTER | https://www.twitter.com/bosxe#HARDLORE #HARDCORE__________________________0:00:00 - Start0:00:27 - The Chicago Metro0:02:09 - Bo Didn't Go/The Pit0:03:34 - The Top Note Theater0:05:01 - "Marilyn"0:07:05 - Guns N Roses - Use Your Illusion0:09:21 - The Top Note Through the Years0:15:38 - The "Elevator Boy"0:17:55 - The Smartbar's Haunted Bathroom0:19:30 - He Said It Not Me0:21:56 - Smartbar0:23:40 - The Green Room (Scary for other reasons)0:26:28 - The Legendary Midnight Show0:29:23 - The Stage0:30:34 - Wesley Willis0:32:54 - The Deadliest Brawl0:33:47 - Kristy's Tale0:39:36 - Skunk's Tale0:46:57 - Three's Tale0:53:00 - Final Thoughts (Obituary Voice)  HardLore: A Knotfest Series, Fueled by Monster EnergyEdited by Steven Grise • Title sequence by Nicholas MarzlufJoin the HARDLORE PATREON to watch every single weekly episode early and ad-free, alongside exclusive monthly episodes.Join the HARDLORE DISCORD for community discussions and to participate in our future Q&A episodes.FOLLOW HARDLORE: INSTAGRAM, TWITTER, SPOTIFY, APPLEFOLLOW COLIN: INSTAGRAMFOLLOW BO: INSTAGRAM, TWITTER For sponsorship opportunities, email us! [e-mail] Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

No, no, no, it says to Mabel, I can't do this anymore. Yeah, I know. She's out of control. You know, I can't believe after three years I finally have gotten you to Chicago. I'm love, man. I'm having a good time except for all the ghosts. Hello, welcome. What is that?

Do you see that? Who could have... Did they know we were coming? Who could have possibly done this? Welcome. Wow. Wow. Welcome, gentlemen.

Joe. Thank you so much. Hi, Bo. I'm Bo. I'm Bo. I'm Colin. We're here with Joe from the Chicago Metro. He's going to show us around this spooky haunted.

venue and all the ghosts and the ghouls and the goblins and we're going to we're going to show you an inside look at one of Chicago's greatest venues and this very definitely haunted place that Joe definitely definitely definitely definitely how long do you work here I've been here for 16 years 16 currently the senior talent buyer perfect for the last I don't know 13 of those years I guess okay grew up here in Chicago in the western burbs okay where about uh I'm in the like the Villa Park area. Okay, I'm from Schaumburg. Oh, from Van Nuys. Well, he's from a very good. Yeah. Why don't you use some of those 16 years of expertise to really show us the nooks and crannies of this building that many never get to see? Truly. Uh, let's go in. Yeah, why do we,

when we head in look, we can head it through the front door, cut through some staff in here. It sounds good. We're in a special tree. Usually, usually not this full, but this is what a load in looks like, I guess. Yeah, I'm definitely loaded this way. I've gone there. Never really gone here. This is the general public. So smart bars through this door here. Merch.

Merch. Oh yeah, been in there. Been there. Max been in there. A lot of stairs in the metro. A lot of stairs. So over here, Metallica played a secret show here a couple years ago, Boated and Go. So just keep that in mind.

You're technically on the second floor of the building. The building will be the third floor in the building. fourth floor is above the venue right we'll see that later to where and and in this room have there been any stories of hauntings in here yeah I believe so some of the staff has some good stories about walking across the balcony and stuff like that well they ask them maybe yeah the items moving and being thrown and such perhaps yeah okay some people we're looking forward to learning about yeah it looks so prestigious and historic and gorgeous really yeah that

something this beautiful has to have a dark side too yeah it is always a catcher no barricade right now that's dope that's nice quite truly last ever yeah yeah wow you can't do that that's right here anymore it's it's banned that's ours yeah we'll keep you in we'll let you stay here cool thanks man yeah one of the scariest things about an old denier barricades It took many lives today. The Ghost of Hardcore's Future. Hmm. Oh, the ghost of hardcore's future.

I hated that. Should we go upstairs? Yeah. Sure. You say fourth or 40th? Jesus Christ. A bit cramped. Wow.

Well, still got you. So what is this? This is technically called the Top Note Theater. We're on the fourth floor, we're basically above Metro's main stage. Have you ever been in here? Never, never. You've lived here for my whole life. Oh, I knew, we'll get into the stories, I knew there was space up here, but I did not know there was a theater of any kind of here.

Yeah. It's a, it's a bit rickety. It truly is. What happened in here? I mean, nothing's happened in here. It's just time and plaster falls apart after a while. We're here and accordion in my head. Yeah.

I think ultimately over the years, if you've been in Metro or Smart Bar, anywhere in this building, we have like this total lack of storage. We can't put anything anywhere. And when you've been in business for 40 plus years, you tend to need places to throw things. So this becomes a de facto storage spot for us. We cleaned it about every like... Bird cage. Exactly.

These are like old P.A.s up here. Tons of old sound boards up here. Ah. Kind of where production goes to die up here kind of. Does anything else go up here to die? So, it's good, that's a great segue. Wow. So I, some people maybe think of this as the most haunted spot in all of Metro.

Right here. And, or we should say 3730 as a building. I think the, the, the, there's an ongoing kind of view of this room is that there's a floating orb that resembles a woman named Maryland. Maryland. Holy shit. That supposedly hung herself somewhere in this room. The 40s.

I heard under a chandelier. Yeah, I mean. There's three. There's three. So you can pick your... Let's take a walk around the theater. Let's look at what we got in here. We've got chairs.

Red symbolism of blood. Really nice. Gorgeous. These are originals. Original. Symbolism of We just ate. Yeah. Symbolism of chicken fingers.

I didn't eat that. Everyone knows you sacrifice a chicken finger to see the ghost. Exactly. Okay. Good. So here's one of the chandeliers. Maybe the one. Possibly.

Possibly. So right here. Not a huge drop line. Well? So with the chandelier or under the chandelier? I don't know if there's ever technically been established, but the orb seems to just be floating as much as one can do. How have you seen this orb?

I don't think I've actually seen the orb. I've maybe felt the orb more than I've seen it before. Interesting. say yeah or feeling an orb is way better than yeah truly I think this room especially you hear the most noises tell me what the noises I think it's a combination of being right under the roof is right above us and we're right above Metro so what does that have to do with noise I think there's a lot of plumbing that goes through this space too no I can't do that but it could just be

the ghost talking to us Now, the urban legend is, even scarier than a floating orb is like guns and roses. Yeah, truly scary. Lives in here? Well, what's the story? The story goes that the record label didn't believe they could write a record in L.A. And so for Use Your Illusion 1 and 2, they had to send them somewhere. And it was January, I think January 88.

And so they're like, what better place to send a bunch of drug addict alcoholics than Chicago and the 10? in the winter. Smart. In a building that happens to be a functioning music venue that has bars open all night long and on Clark Street. I mean, they wrote, user illusion too is my favorite. So you're telling me, you could be mine. It was written in this room.

You could have been mine, yeah. The other good story is that supposedly the bar tab they rang up in Smart Bar in through the month of January. It kind of kept my boss in the building open. I was going to say probably more than the engineer. Yeah, exactly. So yeah. Tip your engineers. It's true.

So the cold November rain. Was Chicago rain? I probably snow. It's a totally different meaning now. Oh, cocaine. Yeah. November rain, cocaine. Now, is there ever a reason for, like, someone working to be in here?

Not a ton unless you're like just coming to get something if something's like stored up here. So if somebody tells you. So if somebody tells you, Joe, I saw a ghost in the theater, your first answer would be like, what were you doing? Why were you up there? You were stealing time and the ghost knew that. Yeah, or you were just trying to summon the ghost. You were coming to, wanted to maybe have a conversation. That would be crazy.

Have you ever done anything like that? I don't think I have. Is anybody? I think there has been some seance-like stuff here to try to settle some scores. We can do that now. Hello! It's me. I believe

If you, if Bo, if Bo. If Bo. Should we check out the stage? To Bo or not to Bo? Oh, that's the, yeah. Are there any music acts who have played up here, Joe?

Yeah, a lot. I mean, obviously, we just talked about the Venson and Roses thing, Tap Dancing Fools. Beastie Boys actually did something up here. Yeah? Free rap? This is like, kind of like, I think it was like 96 or something. They were huge at the time.

And they were doing like a radio thing and they did like a private thing up here. So that was kind of like wild. Do you want to want? Yeah, definitely something like that. Pretty spooky. They hate this. And then a lot of like interview,

like Henry Rollins did a talk up here. This seems like a place he would really like that. Yeah, yeah. So it was like a lot of. We did like a lot of those kind of things whenever kind of like people hit us up about like wanting to do like conversations with kind of things. And then the blood rituals would be back there or usually try to get get them off the stage. Oh, you want to preserve the wood. Got it.

Blood is terrible for wood. Yeah. I'm really curious what has been seen and heard in this room. You said you felt and that was in here. I think I think more just the presence of. Also there tends to be like when you open the door and come in. there always tends to be a big like like suck up air yeah because it's just like pressure it's got nothing to do with pressure could be pressure is could be here and it's from yes

the soul yeah we've we've done some like pretty during the pandemic you kind of i kind of did a couple things uh the local band facts um filmed like a record up here by themselves oh cool um and that was like super rad and they actually played a show here once with this other band Dim it's like a good Chicago band and like they we played they put all the lights off just turned everything off and I was like see you did gig I was standing in like that corner over there and I remember just like digging the show I was like leaning against the wall and like right when they finished I went into the lights I went and turned on the lights and I thought I heard something during the show and I was

standing against the wall and I go back to the stairs and I look at the guy who was sitting there and he kind of looked up at me and we both looked down and just like a huge chunk of plaster had fallen right between us during the show you're saying one of those yeah exactly so you know maybe the ghosts don't like us here sometimes so they'll throw some ceiling at us every now and then when you say you felt something yeah did it feel malicious I don't have an attitude I don't I don't ever feel like the ghosts feel malicious in this building I think they're looking for like camaraderie. Oh, that's beautiful.

So they're looking for like something to come. It's a music thing. Yeah, yeah. They're here for tunes and vibeage. I don't feel like any of the haunts of this building are after the initial like, sightings or feelings of them are malicious by any time because I think like, yeah, I think they want you to be here. Kind of lonely. Do you have any employees who want you?

knock him up here. Oh yeah. Really? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. We gotta get words. Because of that? I don't mean, I don't know if it's because of that or just in general. Because it's four flights up. Yeah, that too. Yeah, there's definitely people who are just like really spooked up by things. Especially like all the lights are off in here too because the light switch is like the light it's awesome. Oh, so you gotta go through dark. It's like it's like the basement feeling as a kid. Oh, like taking the trash out. You have to go down and you have to go all the way to the light switch. And you're like, what can happen between the light and the light switch is like, you're gonna get got. You're gonna get got. That's one. That is. when the ghouls get you.

Yeah, so I think that's perhaps the scariest part of being in here, but. It's, it is, it's a very cool, it's a beautiful room. It feels prestigious, it feels classic. Yeah, the acoustics are fantastic, hello, see? Hear that? I'm an idiot!

This whole like fourth floor, which is like all above Metro, we walk through our offices on the way in, this used to all be like Smart Bar when our boss Joe first came into the building. So the smart bar was up here, And then quickly he moved smart part of the basement later. But the whole building was kind of like a hangout back in the early 80s too.

So there's tons of like little rooms and stuff everywhere. It's a very confusing room or building is a labyrinth. Yeah, truly. Almost like that house they built to fuck with the ghosts. Taylor? Winchester House. California, right? San Francisco, ish?

San Francisco. Bay. Okay, kind of interesting. Wow. A theme. Yeah. It was basically like two staircases that will take you to like every floor of this building, but it's kind of confusing on which staircase you're in.

Goes to it. We definitely have had like just people fall down the back of the stairs. Oh. There's Christmas decorations, basically. I definitely have hired. It's July. Definitely have hired interns that like on their like first week will like text you. you were a callier and just like they're absolutely lost in the building yeah it's like go

find them scary yeah i had a good story with the rapper action bronson who he played went out in the crowd and he wanted to go back up on stage but he went through a side door and then ended up like in another staircase and he had like a wireless mic and he was like not joking right now i actually have no idea how to get back up to the stage so we had like a running down the back stairs go get him he finally gone back to stage i would be scared and that's yeah totally Well, thank you for showing us the theater. Marilyn, you're so sweet and kind. So nice.

As well as the orb that you have become is such a gorgeous shape. We would love to see it. We would love to see that. We would love to see that orb. Marilyn. She'll come to you. Okay. It's because I'm asking.

Yeah. I'm too open to it. If you were in here by yourself, she'd get you. You'd think so? Yeah, I think so. Marilyn? Hello? Hello?

That's scary elevator. This is the scary elevator. Yeah. Now why? Oh, I've been up this thing. Have you? I think so. You ever load gear with this?

No. I never run up this. This only goes to the office we were just in. Oh, okay. Yeah. So what have you heard about this? So the only other like confirmed death in this building was the old caretaker's child. Oh.

got crushed in this in we didn't plan in in supposedly the story says they were like somehow playing on top of it but I've also heard that they were in between the door and the cage more likely that seems like a more likely thing yeah oh no

um which I which I mean this looks like an awesome place to play right yeah right yeah right yeah yeah you're done for sure which kind of seems I mean, I don't know if technology's changed on this thing, which I can't imagine really has, because it's pretty fucking old. It is like a right of passage to get stuck in this elevator. Really? So people use it.

Yeah, because it goes right to our office, so like, save your knees a little bit. But it's like... No stairs are... Yeah. Yeah. So, yeah, it's not unusual to get stuck in this. Nothing really happens when you get stuck in it. That just kind of like there's some sort of safety mechanism that just slowly lowers it after all.

but takes it a long as time. You can reset the elevator and it will eventually turn back on. So there's been no discussions of updating it or fixing it. When was this? Look around you. Nothing's been updated. Do that question in the beginning.

When was this caretaker child back? I think that that one was later, or that one was earlier, I think that one might have been the 40s, then Maryland might have been later like the 50s. Oh, tragic start. Yeah. So I think... Share about the other one.

Yeah. So... It can be only one... And Highlander rules, there can only be one. That can only be one. That's very true. Everybody knows that. Yeah.

Caretaker. So what did he take care of? Just the whole building. Not his kid. Ohio. Yeah, I don't know the backstory of either of these people. So...

The haunted space is actually in the bathroom over here. Oh, perfect. So we could kind of just get out of this wood. On it. bathroom. Mone and Myrtle. Others. Ugh. So tell me about what's been experienced in this room. So we're in the basement of the building. This is a smart bar. We're in the second restroom of smart bar. Some call it the women's restroom. Gender neutral bathrooms these days.

That's good. The third ghost of the building is supposed to be floating. Full body apparish. I think it's supposed to be just more of like an orb, a floaty's orb. A lot of warbs. A woman though, also have been stated as a woman that supposedly when you walk in here and the lights, they disappear from the mirror. It's like a lot of people say that like... Because she's indecent briefly. Yeah.

Oh. Well, I think it's, well, the lights are like automatic in here, so sometimes no one's in here for a while, they'll just turn off. Yeah. And so like when people come in, they say when the lights turn on, uh, an apparition disappears from the mirror. Oh, cool. She had the shit real bad.

These are good bathrooms, actually. This looks good. These are... Yeah, these are... These are the secret bathrooms of the building. Back in the day, Smart Bar was like a 365-day club. Oh, hell. So, yeah, it's always open-late.

It's kind of like a big industry place. So, like, if you were, like, a server or bartender around the city, you'd come and injure... Get certain and else for it. Yeah, exactly. So it only makes sense that one person would die in this bathroom at some point. Yeah. With everything going on. I would say in general.

the smart bar has probably seen the most action of... Define action. Well, I would say the spirits coordinating with actual public guests. Because the public goes through here. The other spaces that we've seen are really private staff only. So the public has a lot of stories about what this space can offer people. I think ultimately smart bar is like we always treat it as like the engine of the building because it's like open so much and like really it's a club it's a nightclub so it's like people who come here

tend to come multiple times a month sometimes or just hang out you know people come multiple times a month this is you said this um i'm pretty sure you said here it is people who come here tend to come multiple times a month sometimes so much of like the things in this building kind of all started here whether it be like industrial music, house music, techno and stuff. And then like we even had like back in the day we had like rock and roll nights like garage rock nights like metal nights down here. How often was it live bands versus two days? There was not. There's hardly live live band band.

The most, maybe the most, there's a sonic, there's a live Sonic Youth record that's from Smart Park. Oh awesome. From Smart Park. Yeah. So the crow is not as real as I've been led to believe my whole one. I don't. It might not be. But only enough.

yeah okay so i think i got a shot to everything else to crow out my first uh metro show was the mighty muddy boston's you you have met a champion of the boston's how good was that it's great yeah yeah what year 94 who good year yeah uh is that pre-cluous or post-cluous that is that is that is yeah so they're on a rock yeah where did you go where did you go yeah also the coolest record also featuring Smoking Popes legendary a band that I don't talk about enough on the show is Smoking

Popes who are Sick name Well it's kind of like Applin Trio Lawrence Arms smoking popes They kind of get like They're triumphant Overlooked a little bit Yeah I mean yeah

But smoking Pope's fucking rip I saw them play a secret show at the Doc Martin store Ricker Park once Walked by And they just And they just started to know my smile And they just started rip Yeah

Great Pan Great Pan Great Pan Grape in. Are they doing a blood rape down here? No, I mean, you could feel it if you wanted to, but it's like, I mean, there's all different kinds of... Now throw one. Yes!

This is cool. The one fun fact of this room, it's kind of hard to without, I said to show you kind of, but like... A woman, humbers. Basically, from like these poles, the building actually ends here. That's the sidewalk. No way. Yeah. Cool.

That's really cool. We, uh, sometimes like people want to like drive cars up under the sidewalk and we have to be like, no, the ceiling's just vaulted. And so, um, this is because it's like an old building, you know, so, um, it's just kind of, it's hard to understand. Also, just like anything else in this building, you kind of get lost. Is this the, is this where the DJ goes up there? DJ goes right here.

Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow. You ever listen to Scooter, the German guy? No. You know scooter. This feels good. I do feel powerful up here. What's like the biggest name you've had DJ down here? Frankie Knuckles was like a resident of the club. Oh, no shit.

Invented house music. Oh, pretty dope. Yeah, I mean, he played here until he passed away. Wow. Like Questlo's DJed here. Oh, cool. Yeah, a couple times, actually. That's awesome.

Try to ever get up here? I don't think so. Al? I bet you Al has probably way before my time existed or one of the crew. the ministry people have yesterday was the 30-somethingth year anniversary of psalm 69 so shout out shout out to his family shout out to his family do you want to do green room now i think that sounds awesome okay now that's a room i know yeah good green so this is the main green room for the metro i shouldn't here 15 to 30 times no problem we're gonna i'm talking abraham

him can club 33 oh shit my god coffee's a lot so where are we now Joe we're in the green room slash dressing room of Metro yeah I've been in here I've always loved this green room and dressing room because it means that I'm like playing the Metro you just like being here yeah it's just like a nice thing yeah for me it's I'm in Chicago which is always a tree But your team, Christy, in hospitality, phenomenal. Always checking out and everybody making sure we have the most Diet Coke's. True. The most DCs one can have.

Just doing a great job. Yeah, I think the one thing about Metro in general is like, we kind of like work with the same amount of staff for every show because with the understanding that all of our shows are kind of complicated. There's a lot of stairs. There's a lot of things to deal with and stuff like that. So, you know, I think like when local bands played here, even on the most like local nights, we still supply all the same things to people and try to like make it as professional as possible.

I think as like as a thousand cap venue, you don't see many venues doing like local shows. Yeah, like trying to like build music and... A thousand cap local show is the dream. Yeah, yeah. I mean, the metro is the most forgiving room, I think, in the country just because you can put like four or five hundred people. people in there and it looks fucking packed yeah so let's get a really scary question how many times has the Metro been sued oh I I can't count yeah yeah I mean talking this year how many times you've been sued successfully I mean I I don't know if I

could put a percentage on the numbers but many but it happens yeah yeah just like happenstance catch a spin kick to the face yeah or the dreaded not damn right stage dives. Oh yeah. It could be real risky. It's over though, right? Well... Were you here for burning fight?

Yeah. Right in the beginning, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Underdog. Yeah. That was pretty good. It was like the first killing time comeback here. Underdog was here.

108, unbroken. Trial. That trial set was like legend. Yeah. That was an insane two days, right? Yeah, it was two days. Yeah, yeah. Convicted played one day,

and Harmsbill played the other day. Didn't know there was a good. Really? That's awesome. Pump grass. Well, it was the festival in the south side that got rained out that we did the late night show here? Oh, it was open air. Open air, Chicago Open Air. Yeah, which was like a...

That was knocked loose, cold orange, arms, way, pain. Oh, yeah. Oh, here, right. And it show started at midnight. It was a six-hour notice. Let's talk about that. Yeah, Steve. Real tight, right there's a big, super corporate open air fest.

It was like Gojira, Mastodon. It was bands like that. It only happened like two or two or three. three years. It only happened a couple of years. Two bands played and then it got rained out. So Vane got skipped and I think Code got skipped and knocked loose played. Yeah. After they played, it was announced we're going to do a makeup show at the Metro. And with your help, with Pete's help, we pulled it all together. And within, with about a six hour notice, four to six hour notice, there were 900 people here at midnight. Yeah. We stayed until

after 2 a.m. Yeah, yeah. It was one of the coolest last minute things. It was a hardcore rave. It truly was. It was very special. Yeah, yeah. It was very, very cool.

Pete, you guys and Pete, like, totally pulled that off. And, like, I got the phone call during the day of Pete telling me, like, hey, I think I'm going to do this. I'm like, you should do that. And I just kind of came and supported

and, like, you and, like, I think Shane helped out too a little bit. And, like, it was wild. And also that festival was on the earth, was on the earth side of the city, down by Midway. So like people had to trek up here and like it's It was a miracle

It's a wild that shit It had to come down from Milwaukee Like it was a whole The fact that it all happened And truly at the time It was for Vain Because they didn't get to play And they also only had a limited time

To have merch up And they got rained out They were kind of out So it was really truly like a All of us agreed If we do this Everyone will make some money Everybody will be able to sell merch

Or whatever And take care of Vain Yeah It was super awesome All the bands were super great about it. I was worried that people were gonna be just kind of last minuteness of it was gonna be scary, but everyone adapted to it.

Were you in the underdog pit at Burning Flight? I wasn't. Because you were working? I was probably because I was here. I came to those shows, I remember that, yeah. Those were crazy. Those were awesome. I would actually love to tell a story.

Vic got on top of his guitar, like guitar strings down, laid on it like a surfboard. paddled, bodyboarded, like a surfboard, from the stage, down the stairs, went into that room and just rolled around for a while with a wireless pack on, so it was just outside. And this is confirmed because I had a friend, my friend Alex, was going up the stairs as he saw them going down the stairs while still making it. How do you slide? I would just, you just tumble. He's good, man. He's good.

He's good. He's good. Krishna. See, anybody don't do that. straight up I think a good segue now would be to go up those stairs Yeah yeah

Yeah yeah So You would go from the green room Where we just were up these stairs And we're going straight to the stage So he went He surfed It's crazy

I'm not joking about that That's just how would that not Destroy the guitar I think it like did That's the thing It was like a studio Oh he knew Yeah pretty good

Pretty good You're looking for what I think I'll show you Don't worry. See that, Steven? Right there. Who wrote that? I don't know. One of them. It's one of them. That is what's up.

Here's a clip of Kirk Hammett on the first Metallica tour on Killemall in 1983, playing right here, and he holds his guitar out to the crowd. That happened right here. Right in this beautiful room. And the person he handed it to was Barack Obama. Wow. So right here, right here, yeah, in 2002 or three, makes sense, yeah. Sat one Leslie Willis drawing a subway scene like you wouldn't believe for the American

Nothing Christiansen Glash Jaw show. Oh, I know the song. That's the song. It goes, glass jaw, glass jaw, glass jaw. last jaw and then in between bands they were playing Wesley Willis songs yeah it was nice

yeah I've heard confirmation from Josh from American Nightman that they were big big heads and they couldn't get to meet him I love that he may be the greatest Chicago musician in history most iconic we played his keyboard

punk rock museum oh I didn't know that was there the second you press play Did you ever get head budded by? No, I didn't. I got head budded by him like right here. He's going to hang out like right in this staircase a lot. How many times do you get you?

Twice that I can remember. Once at the fireside too. Was it, did he hit hard? No, it was more like a communal love tap kind of thing. Really? Like a sweet. Yeah, yeah. Just kind of like a hello.

Like that? Yeah, yeah. A cat, beautiful. He's like a callous on his head. Yeah, he had that permanent thing. Yeah. It is sweet. There's an infamous Venom Cromack show here when it was still the cabaret.

Samhane played here. Four of five Sam Hayne shows here. What was that? It was like four shows here. Two in the 80s, two in the 90s, I think. So confusingly, the men's room is right here. The women's room is three floors up. Unbelievable.

We got to update that. Are they all gender neutral now? Pretty much. Oh, really? Oh, okay. We ride them both ways. That's there for that's decorative. The real, I mean, the only really issue is there's only one stall.

Yeah. It's your own. It's like, it's like gender neutral, but by somewhat- You can write a urine. Yeah, exactly. Just pee here. Because I don't like. It's more of like a UK setup where you just have troughs versus toilets.

Yeah. It's more for fighting. Exactly. What's the deadliest brawl that's ever happened here? happened here? There was like a it didn't happen in the building but there was like an 80s like I think it was agnostic front like brawl that happened outside where like a whole street of car windows got broken and it was like oh maybe punk show shouldn't happen here but this was like Mike Gallo for watching can you type below what happened at that I think it was agnostic front but um yeah

I I surprisingly haven't seen like that many in my tenure haven't seen that many fights here. I can't really point it to it, money. Actually. Yeah. It shows I've been to or anything. Everybody's happy to be here. Except for the spirit.

I think they're happy to be here too to some degree. Even the spirits. We're here with Christy, who does not want to be filmed for fear of politics. Which is totally fair and fine. But she's head of, could you think you're head of hospitality? Production matter? No, I'm production.

Production manager now. Production manager now, big moves at the Metro, but almost as important. We heard you're a believer in some of these. Believer in these very real things that have happened to you here? Yes. And the supernatural, the beyond, the great beyond. It's even the lesser beyond. If you could please share with us some things that you've experienced here.

Okay, one night, it was about five in the morning after like an all building event. It was me, Skunk, one of our head of security, and Sam, who was now a bartender. We were the last three people in the building. The whole building. The building sweep was complete. And do you get overtime when you're here. And all of a sudden we started hearing music. Oh, what kind?

Just like something maybe you like here in an elevator. Like nothing I recognized and it was faint. Gotcha. We looked at each other and we're like, okay, let's do one more building. suite. So I took house left, they took house right and we went through the back well. Yeah. And when we got into the VIP, when I got into VIP balcony reserve, I said, if there is anyone there, show yourselves. Mind you, they're on the other side of the balcony, and all of a sudden a clipboard flew across the balcony at them. And they just screamed and started

running and I started laughing but mind you to this day they're convinced I was behind them the whole time oh they think it was you no they're remembering it because it was most likely Maryland the lady upstairs behind them who threw it my beloved but I was across on the other side of the other side of the horseshoe so so what do you know about Maryland we've heard about Maryland Joe's told us a little bit yeah I know From what I understand, she hung herself upstairs. From a chandelier? That's what I've been told, but...

Do you know which one? In the center of the... You would pick the theater. That's where I would do that. And if you're ever on main stage and get like a faint smell of rose oil, that's her... We gave her flowers every year, too. Really? Where do you put the flowers?

In the... In the theater. That's beautiful. On the stage. Have you, I know, because of social media, you're a fan of the cemetery across the street. Is there a Maryland there? Oh, I'm sure. I just go there to see the kairis.

Oh, they got some yotes? Yeah, I can't go there at night because they lock the gates. And you're a law-abiding citizen. Well, I'd probably get in trouble. Okay, so you think it was Maryland who took away from there? Yes. Have you had any other experiences with me? Not with Maryland

But you know But when I was Hospitality There was a I used to be like the first in and laughed out And I was setting up the green room Doing stuff downstairs

But I used to always see like What I looked like An apparition of a kid running around And between the green room And Smarper But I'm pretty sure That too closed me in the beer cooler one day You got closing the beer

Cooler? Yeah, luckily they didn't lock it, but they did close me in there. And then I have seen, as well as a ton of people here on staff, the apparition of what we call the legless man, even though it's his torso down. So he's full legs. Yeah. Okay. The exclusively legged the man. Yeah, but we call him the legless man. Sometimes things just stick. Well, the man himself is legless somewhere. Some legs. Well put. It's crushing. Now, you've heard about the elevator boy? Yes.

That crushed in the elevator. That's probably who that is. You think so? Probably, because it's a kid. Yeah. So you're a believer. Are you a believer of ghosts and stuff outside of the Metro? Yeah.

Me too. You're not living. But that's why we're here. Yeah, we're here to learn. Do you feel any kind of. intent or malice or kindness or anything i mean to throw on a clipboard i think that's just joking around just kind of just hot dog you asked like hey show yourself and she did if anything it was a polite thing to do nobody got hurt nobody got her exactly she was just whoo-wee and have you felt any such

any any kind of no no okay that's good so you're comfortable coming to work in a haunted building Yeah. Beautiful. And do you, and let me ask you this, and be honest, if you're upstairs and you have, you have to turn the lights off and get across the stage, you ever get to see the Gives? You go quick? No. You just walk.

I sit up there sometimes after at the end of a show, smart bars still open, I'll sit on this stage and just decompress. It's my favorite time of day. That's beautiful. Wow. So you find calm in the spirits around you, potentially? It's just energy. It's just energy. I like that. I like that. I can get behind that. Good vibes. Good vibes.

Literally. Good vibrations. Do you know of anybody else working right now that we could talk to about supernatural occurrences? Okay, we're here with Skunk in the green room now. Skunk. What is your role at the Chicago Metro? I do a security coordinator and ticket office manager. Cool. Scary jobs. Scary jobs. Scary job. Can you tell us a little bit about your experiences with the Supernatural and or the Great Beyond and the Metro? I got a couple stories. I know one of them is super pronounced and it was because something flew at me. Okay. And I was looking for my fiancé. The building was pretty much closed. Smart bar was closed and I was just looking for him in

the building. I thought everybody was gone, but I knew he was still in here. And, and I was just, And all of a sudden I... Is he still in here to this day? Yeah, he's the head of security here. Mawley. And he... I didn't find him. And Christy, I heard her coming from the crew room.

And this one girl who was on security, who is now a bartender, her name is Sam. She was in the lobby with me, and I'm like, I'm freaked out. I'm not going upstairs because of a previous thing that I had. upstairs on the main floor. So she came with me upstairs because I heard the door slam and it's a very pronounced door slam. Yeah. Because we're working for, yeah. And we go upstairs. She goes first because I'm like, hell no, I'm not doing that. Christy goes on the other side. And when there's like this little doorway entrance, Sam passes that. And then when I start to pass the door. And then when I start to pass the door entrance, there's a clipboard that's on a wall flings at me. And I look behind me and I'm like,

what the fuck? Like, sorry. And I'm like, what is happening right now? Like, did that just flew at me? Like, the person is in front of me. Sam is in front of me. And Christy, before that happened, she said, and I didn't know, show yourself. We heard that. We heard this tale, but we wanted to hear an unadulterated version from your point of view yeah what do you think it happened I I have no idea like this is an unexplainable completely unexplainable and the thing is it's on a hook it's not like on you know just a nail on the wall or something like that you don't think christie yanked off and tossed it at you do you believe in Maryland I do you think it was Maryland um I don't think it was Maryland I think it was the gentleman that I saw

previously on the main floor as well. Please, God, tell me about this gentleman. So it was before SmartBarr opened. I was working Co-check that night, and I went on the main floor just to chill out for a little bit before, like, I started work. And when I was on my phone, scrolling, I was sitting on the stairs that are right in front of the actual stage.

And all of a sudden, I saw somebody walking towards me at the corner of my eye, and it was right by the trash cans. that are all lined up. I thought it was a bar back, so I looked up and it was just a pair of legs walking towards me. The legless guy. Yeah.

Confusing name. So you've seen the legs. I've seen the legs. So describe it. Please. Is it black, like shadowy? Is it glowing it up? No, it's definitely like shadowy.

It looked pinstriped. Like a pinstripe pair of legs. Lips. Well, not like that. Like, like, uh, like a suit, like a pinstripe suit pants. Oh, like mop, ma'am. Yeah.

And it was walking towards me. It was like a grayish. It was not, like I could see through them because I could see the garbage cans past it, which was really weird. But it was not like solid black or white. It was like a shadowy gray that were walking towards me. Did you look away and they vanished or did they, what, how? No, I was staring at it for a minute.

Like, it felt like a minute. It was probably like 0.2 seconds and I just bolted down the stairs. Pure white, freaking out. I'm like, I don't know if I could work tonight because I'm so freaked out. That's how bad it was. Did you work? I did. Capitalism.

Are you the only person who's seen these legs? No. You know other people. We actually caught a picture of a security guard standing over by the stairs in the lobby, and you see a full apparition. Full apparition. Where is this picture? It's in the lobby.

Oh, it's on my phone. The actual picture. Yeah. Somebody else took it and there's a whole apparition behind him. Here it is. Free standing apparish, full bod. You're scared. Chrissy's not scared.

Yeah, she's kind of welcoming it. She wants to. I mean, I kind of welcome it, but it is that moments where I'm not prepared for it. Totally. Getting the willies regardless, but you're not mad at it. So she said she doesn't do the like, if you're turning off the lights and running up the stairs kind of thing oh i do that right as would we i'd be on all four as do i as like a non-believer i still get scared yeah do you

we've asked both joe and christianess do you feel scumlin as though there's an intention a malice no calm yeah you didn't feel threatened anyway it's just you weren't ready no i was i just wasn't ready and that so do you think that when you run away they're like I'll do it a bit come on the back we're going to wear my suit yeah possibly it's right their class it's sad so sad let's talk music real quick okay how long have you worked it uh since 2017 2017 so fairly recent what are some standout shows to you something that anything come to mind that you're like I was really glad I was here to see that um I want to say like a hundred percent in Metallica show that was

out of the blue. He missed that? This is what's haunting me. Yeah. How do you feel knowing that the Legos guy has seen Metallica here in Boe? Pretty cool. Yeah, it's dope. Okay, cool.

Who else? Deftones last year. That was really, yeah, that was really good. Another one was like Billy Eilish was dope because she had a huge spider on stage. Oh. I didn't know that I was before, that's cool. The Fever Ray was dope. Love Feverey.

Yeah. Any of these artists report supernatural happenings? Yeah, have you heard of any bands or any artists being like, is there? Yeah, I don't really talk to the bands here. It's more of like on the ground. We've never spoken I've been here with 50s. I didn't know there was a skunk. Well, thank you so much for your time.

No problem. This is irrefutable proofs to me. Yeah, we have to invest in that some of that's. Do you know anybody else who might be here that might be able to share something with us? Your fiancé. Do they have any stories? Is he still fiancé or have you? Yes.

Well, pre-mausal to you both. Thank you. Yeah, he's right next door. What do you like to talk about this? Yeah. We're here with three. This is the head of security at the Metro. Congrats on the engagement.

Oh, thank you so much. We appreciate you. Thank you. Can you tell us a little bit about your supernatural experiences working at the Metro? So I remember it was one show a couple years back. It was sold out. Our person that's on station at Ladyside Security came downstairs mid-show crying.

Whoa. She understood white was crying and she just kept saying it's up there it's up there it's up there So I went to go check as soon as I got to her spot behind the double doors There was this black velly mist that went this way and the bottom went like this way-ish. It was just hovering in one area on top of the stairs I ran downstairs it was freaked out I didn't want to go back upstairs just through the head of security The head of security but goes yeah yeah yeah so yeah goes nothing not my problem Yeah that's terrified me and then somebody else for our staff went up there right after me said they saw the same thing The second time was when it's our fourth floor offices.

It's more of like, it's just offices up there. There's a theater up there. Yeah. You guys been there right? You guys went up to the theater, right? So there's the story that the lady hung herself on top of the piano, da-da, right? It's the top of piano. It's still up there, but nonetheless.

You've been playing all over that game. I was playing that. I was playing that. I was trying to see. Yeah, not the only ones. So one night we set up, it was during a smart bar shift, so Metro was dead. So we set up a recorder upstairs for like six hours in the offices. I said at the end of the night about 4.30 a.m.

We went upstairs to get it in me. So you're testing. Oh, yeah. For sure, it was testing. And we cost some weird stuff, by the way, but we'll get into that. So we went up there, yeah, I went up there, 4.30, it means someone who's security guys. Went up there. Keep in mind, there's desks up there, office desk.

Yeah. So all the chairs are at the desk, right? I promise you, my daughter's life, we heard a noise in the theater. So we go check it. You can see anything. We came back outside. All the chairs from the desk were all against the window by the theater. That's four.

Dude, I pooped my pants, for sure. I ran downstairs, and we left the record up there still. I just came out. So I never do any building sweeps past midnight by myself. Oh, you're one of them? We asked Joe, if anybody wouldn't. I always take some, these two or three people, we heard a baby crying.

I mean, you heard a baby crying? Maybe, maybe not a baby, but it was a fake, just like that, knocking every, like, I say about every 20 to 21 minutes, there'd be a knock, then be a three knock, then be a two knock. Three knocks, so it would be like six hours. Then yeah, laughter at one point, but I think that was maybe something in the lobby. But yeah, it's, this place is hot.

So you full on, you're with me, you believe in. Oh, dude, I did not believe in ghosts because I started working here, man. Oh, wow. The very, very, very first time I heard the ghost, whatever, was the smart bar. And there was six of us eating at dinner before a shift. And we heard the amp room door slam across the bar, right? So what does that noise? So we went there, we looked in some small blurry thing, ran behind the DJ booth.

to the bar, you just couldn't find it. There were six of us I saw that. Now, of all the apparitions people talk about, they talk about Maryland, first and foremost. What do you know about her? So what I know about her is apparently she likes older gentlemen. Our former manager here had his house exercise blessed because I guess it fouled him home.

And he was having, yeah, twice. He had some weird stuff in his house. So Maryland had a crush on this old guy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whoa. Now what about the legless guy? So the leglets I haven't seen, I heard of him. But I don't know what's his story,

but I do know we had a little boy get killed in the elevator. A little girl got crushed at the barricade. A girl got crushed in the barricade? Yeah. She died? She died. How long ago was that? About 13?

Yeah, before I was even here. But recent enough. Yeah, recent enough. Totally. Hell, I had no idea. We had somebody at a tech store at G-Man, or upstairs in an apartment, shot somebody in the head in my apartment-ish.

Yeah, so the so, so... You're surrounded by all. Yeah, yeah. So the one guy was standing outside of G-Man for like three hours, and we noticed them. noticed him like this guy's standing straighting the building so we asked the so one of our barbacks asked the guy what he doing here and the guy goes I used to live up there my mom like 30 years something years back my mom shop somebody in the face because he tried

reaping him you know I was like what dude and don't me tell you about my apartment my apartment dude yeah so there's all kinds of stuff yeah yeah so you're a believer blooms dude I'm a believe just this section I believe because yeah from this quarter to the metro for sure old yeah yeah yeah like my apartment the first time I moved in It was still a pandemic, so it was just nobody there. This whole building was empty. It was me. Which is creepy.

There was four knocks on my ceiling, and I freaked up on top of a loud knocks, dude. So me and my fiance were in bed, I'm like, yeah, I'm not checking that. That was the very first time that happened. Is she the head of security at home? Oh, yeah, you know what she is, dude. Also, she's the head pesticide person. She kills bugs from me too.

Oh, yeah. And then in my apartment, everybody here was working, that's a good night off. So I was over there, he was scratching it on my wall. something like what's that noise so the wall that wall next door to it is just a closet so I'm like what's that noise so I went to listen it went closer and I shit with somebody punched the wall I ran out there's got sage and started burning for still till him out I'm still burning I'm terrified um but yeah holy shit yeah so three you're all in

yeah I'm all in with you made for sure yeah what would you I mean do you feel safe coming to work every day or do you feel that the spirits are not actually malicious they're not I think they like having people here. Yeah. Having bands and having everybody here. It keeps them busy, you know? And there are times when I walk through this main floor when we're sold out,

and there'd be cold spots in the middle of the crowd. Which did you just say cold spots or get goosebumps? Yeah, basically. So we walk through, yeah, we were walking through, all the time. I walk through the crowd, there's a cold spot amongst 1,000 people, which is like, this is I.

Seems impossible. Right. So I'm pretty sure the ghosts like us here, having music here. Not once have I felt they try to attack me. Except for my apartment one, but that's a different ghost. That's a different ghost.

That's a nasty rapist. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You gotta be careful, please. Yeah, but the one here or the couple here, they're pretty much harmless. Yeah, if you go looking for them, you're not going to find for sure. Right, you got to be.

They'll come to you if they like them. I want them to meet me so long. Yeah. And that's the problem. Someday. Yeah. Final thoughts here, for sure, haunted. The Legless guy?

Scary. The Maryland. This kind. She seems nice. Yeah. The stories are scary. The picture's weird. Yeah.

The thing that always gets me, the truly the thing that I cannot explain are when multiple people report the same unique thing. From different locations. I don't really have an explanation for that other... We just saw those clipboards. They ain't going anywhere. They ain't going anywhere.

The only thing I could possibly explain it with is just like once a story sticks, that's the story. You know. Yeah, but there was the same... It's not like a game of telephone. It was like three people who were just there. Yeah.

but one of whom is a couple you know what I mean the other anything you do but we bicker you know yeah no we don't so that was that was hauntler at the Chicago Metro thank you guys so much for having us thank you for watching thank you to the to the Metro no so I'm saying yeah this is unbelievable this is amazing so helpful such a beautiful terrifying place turns out if you get to go to the theater at any point in your life don't touch the piano the piano's curse don't play November rain in the piano. Marilyn doesn't like it. She was more of an appetite for destruction chick.

We're working on that. Thank you all for watching. November rain. It means cocaine. See you. Very fun. All right.