HauntBound archive · catalog record
Reported phenomena — as catalogued
Where Chicago's 'Sausage King' dissolved his wife in a caustic vat in 1897 — the building still stands as Regal Lofts.
1735 W. Diversey Pkwy, Chicago, IL 60614
Research updated June 2026
Age
All Ages
Cost
Free
Exterior only; a private residential building. No interior access.
Access
Wheelchair OK
Paved sidewalk
Equipment
Photos OK
Est. 1892 · Chicago Crime History · Forensic Science Landmark — early use of forensic anthropology in a murder trial
Adolph Luetgert arrived in Chicago around the time of the Great Chicago Fire and built a substantial business as a sausage manufacturer, eventually erecting a four-story brick factory at Diversey and Hermitage in 1892 at a reported cost of $170,000. He marketed the operation as the A.L. Luetgert Sausage & Packing Company and positioned himself as one of the city's leading German-American entrepreneurs.
Louisa Luetgert disappeared on the night of May 1, 1897. Her husband claimed he had no idea where she had gone. Police, responding to a missing-persons report filed by her brother, eventually focused on the factory's basement, where a large steam-heated cure vat had recently been drained. In the sludge at the bottom they recovered small bone fragments and two rings, one engraved with the initials 'LL.' A forensic anthropologist from the Field Columbian Museum authenticated the fragments as human.
Luetgert's first trial in August 1897 ended in a hung jury. A retrial in January 1898 returned a guilty verdict and he was sentenced to life at Joliet Penitentiary. He died there on July 7, 1899, listed as heart disease. The popular story that he ground Louisa into sausage was a newspaper invention that temporarily collapsed Chicago sausage sales but had no factual basis.
The factory sat vacant for several years after Luetgert's conviction. A fire damaged it in June 1904 but the brick shell survived. The building later served industrial purposes and was eventually converted into residential loft condominiums, now known as Regal Lofts. The original brick walls and heavy timber beams remain intact inside.
Sources
The first documented haunting claim dates to approximately 1901, when a watchman stationed at the long-vacant factory reported seeing the apparition of a woman — identified in newspaper accounts as Louisa Luetgert — and notified police. The report generated coverage in Chicago papers at the time. A neighbor was later called to testify in related proceedings that she had not been impersonating the ghost, suggesting the story had local currency.
During the original investigation in 1897, Luetgert himself complained loudly that police had hired ghostly actors to frighten him; one officer claimed to have chased a figure through the factory basement, though the account was disputed. The stories subsided after the building passed out of public attention.
Century later, a family living in the converted residential building during the 1970s described poltergeist-type activity centered in the basement — the area of the original cure vat. The author of the Mysterious Chicago blog, who researched the site in detail, noted that firsthand reports from current Regal Lofts residents were sparse as of the time of writing, suggesting the legends circulate mainly in historical and ghost-tour contexts rather than as active resident accounts.
Notable Entities
The five-story Regal Lofts building at 1735 W. Diversey is the surviving shell of the A.L. Luetgert Sausage & Packing Company. The red brick exterior and industrial windows are visible from the sidewalk. Residents live here; no entry.
Every HauntBound history is researched from documented sources. We clearly separate verified historical fact from paranormal folklore.
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