The Mystery Of Couch's (Possibly Empty) Tomb
By Sponsor in Arts & Entertainment on Sep 13, 2012 5:45PM
Have you stopped to appreciate the wonder in marvelous things right under your nose? The historical travel show, Up to Speed, A Hulu Original Series hosted by tour guide extraordinaire Timothy "Speed" Levitch and directed by Richard Linklater, will take you on an eye-opening journey. One of Speed's many entertaining stops is here in Chicago—you can watch the whole episode on Hulu!
As Speed shows us, everyday locations, like Bughouse Square, are full of unexpected stories and facts. One of our favorite observations is how in Chicago, the past has a way of haunting its present—from graveyards being moved to the dead casting votes from the beyond. One of the biggest examples is Couch’s Tomb.
Before it was the desirable Lincoln Park, many of Chicago’s dead were already dying to get into the neighborhood. Between 1842 and 1866, many bodies—including Civil War soldiers—were buried in the Chicago City Cemetery. In 1858, a Chicagoan by the name of Ira Couch commissioned a large family mausoleum for the then-astounding sum of $7,000.
Eight years later, the city began converting the cemetery into a park, which meant displacing the remains. Less than a decade later, the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 sent those plans up in smoke, burning down wooden grave markers and vanishing records in its flames.
As Lincoln Park continued to be built, the Couch family successfully fought plans for the tomb to be moved by arguing the endeavor would be too expensive. It’s debatable whether any Couches are actually buried in the incongruous mausoleum (some records suggest Ira Couch was buried in Rosehill Cemetery). To further cloud the issue, no one can agree how many bodies lie behind the tomb’s door, long since rusted shut.
Were the rest of the bodies removed, or does the park’s green grass cover the bones of Chicago’s past? No one but the fire knows for sure. And it’s not talking.
Be sure to watch Up to Speed, A Hulu Original Series, and see Speed's favorite Chicago sites. See if you can recognize any of the sites—click on the image below to watch the whole episode:
