Chicago's 100-story Streeterville tower with documented falls, a deathbed curse, and a long list of incidents going back to 1971
875 N. Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60611
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
$$
360 CHICAGO observation deck admission required for upper-floor access; lobby free to enter
Access
Wheelchair OK
Urban high-rise with elevator access; Magnificent Mile sidewalk approach
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1969 · Chicago Architecture Landmark · Skidmore Owings Merrill Design · Streeterville History · Multiple Documented Deaths
Construction of what Chicagoans called the John Hancock Center started in 1965, and the 100-story tower was completed in 1969 — the same year the Apollo 11 crew returned from the moon. The design team, led by architect Bruce Graham and structural engineer Fazlur Rahman Khan of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, solved the problem of building a mixed-use residential-and-commercial tower in a high-wind zone by placing giant X-braces visibly on the exterior. At 1,128 feet tall, it remained one of the tallest buildings in North America for years after it opened.
On August 12, 1971, Lorraine Kowalski, 29, fell from the 90th-floor apartment she shared with her boyfriend Marshall Berlin after the two returned separately from a night out and argued in the early morning hours. The double-paned windows of the building were rated to withstand 280 pounds of pressure per square inch. Investigators were unable to fully account for how Kowalski, who weighed approximately 130 pounds, broke through. The case was ruled a probable accident; the circumstances were never conclusively established.
In 1975, a radio station employee fell fatally from near the top of the building. A few months later, a student fell from a 91st-floor apartment. In 1978, a woman shot a man in a 65th-floor unit. In December 1997, comedian Chris Farley was found dead in his 60th-floor apartment of accidental drug intoxication; he was 33.
The building's naming rights deal with John Hancock Insurance ended in 2013. The company requested its name and logos be removed. The building has been officially known as 875 North Michigan Avenue since 2018.
Sources
George Wellington 'Cap' Streeter ran his steamship Reutan aground on a Lake Michigan sandbar in July 1886 and declared the resulting filled-in land the independent 'District of Lake Michigan.' He sold deeds to the territory for years, fought eviction cases, and became a minor Chicago legend for his stubbornness. After a fraud charge dismissal in 1902, authorities finally burned out his shack in December 1918. He spent his final years on a houseboat at Navy Pier. When he died of pneumonia in 1921, he reportedly said: 'I curse ye all.'
The specific connection between Streeter's curse and the 875 N. Michigan building rests on geography — the tower sits on the former Streeterville district — rather than on any documented link Streeter made to the site. Ghost tour guides began weaving the connection after Lorraine Kowalski's 1971 death drew attention to the building's unusual incident record.
The paranormal claims most cited by investigators: shadowy figures observed in upper-floor hallways, unexplained alarm activations, murmuring sounds in empty corridors, and an occasional sense of sudden physical unease near the upper residential floors. Kowalski's ghost is the most specifically named presence, with some residents and visitors reporting a woman's form in the vicinity of the 90th floor. The Church of Satan's Anton LaVey was cited in ghost tour literature claiming the building's tapered shape functioned as an occult energy conduit — a claim without evidentiary support that is now standard color in the Hancock haunting circuit.
Notable Entities
The building's Magnificent Mile address makes the base and lobby freely accessible. Ghost tour operators cite the exterior and lobby as the starting point for the Captain Streeter curse narrative and the 1971 Lorraine Kowalski incident. The 90th-floor apartment where Kowalski died is a private residence.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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