Case file · Folklore / legend
The Devil Baby of Hull House
In 1913 a rumour swept Chicago's immigrant West Side that a baby born with horns and a tail was hidden at Hull House; for weeks crowds came to the settlement house asking to see it.
1913 CE · 41.87, -87.65 · status: legend
The account
Jane Addams wrote about the episode, noting how older immigrant women used the story to talk about suffering and punishment. Later lore made Hull House a haunted house.
The sceptical view
There was no baby; Addams documented the rumour as a piece of living folklore.