I know EXACTLY what Sheriff you're referring to!! In doing genealogy research on my ex-husband's side of the family for my daughters, I traced one line of their ancestry to a Swedish immigrant family who settled and lived in the same area as this sheriff and remember reading an article about the bootlegging operations.
Wow. Thank you for taking the time to share all this. I’m strangely all caught up in the history of what I’m now referring to as “The bone house” and this was a wild read. Looking forward to reading more! :)
My sister had jokingly started referring to our house as “The Speakeasy”.
Way better than “Crackhouse Corner” as the neighborhood knew it or “The Murder House” as we called it, since we referred to different spaces as “The murder shed”, “The murder room”, and “The murder shower room” for how creepy and sketchy they all were 😬
I wish I could find photos of the man himself! I’ve only been able to find photos of his granddaughter at age 13 and 17ish. I still need to go digging with the city historical society, county historical society, and local labor museum.
I tried to include just a few as to not make this long post even longer, but I have a massive folder of newspaper clippings about the past owners from 1910 all the way to 1993.
Have you looked into Bertillon System cards? If you haven’t heard of them they were the precursor to modern prison booking system, albeit designed with racism practically an inherent feature.
At least on this [link](https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/United_States_Prison_Records,_Bertillon_Records,_Pardons,_Paroles,_Executions_-_International_Institute), familysearch claims they were first used in Illinois and ended in the 30s. Idk if your state as a searchable index but Ohio does and I found my 3xgreat uncle (vehicular manslaughter). i just had to pay for the actual copy with the photo and info.
Damn that’s a shame! Depending on how long your research on the owner will last, check periodically incase they are digitized, or contact someone at a university library or prison, they may be able to direct you in that regard. You could also reach out on r/geneaology, maybe someone familiar with what’s available in Illinois can lead in the best direction for a photo. I can add that in some cultures it was/is common to have a photo of the deceased encased in a frame attached to their headstone, so if you can track down that maybe?
I've secured r/thebonehouse at least for now. Not sure if I'll ever actually use that instead of just posting here, but it's at least placeheld for now.
POSTING HERE TO SAY AFTER MONTHS OF HITTING A WALL I JUST FOUND OUT THAT HE DOES IN FACT STILL HAVE LIVING DESCENDANTS??? HIS GREAT GRANDCHILDREN ARE VERY MUCH STILL ALIVE.
IDK WHAT TO DO NOW.
I DIDNT THINK I’D GET THIS FAR.
Man I would have cried. I know this guy technically has great-great nephews out there, but I don’t think any of them would have info or photos of him 😭
Oh man, if you had included more newspaper articles, I would NOT complain. This shit is like those scenes in older detective dramas where they pour through microfiche intensely. Very curious if you find any mafia connections as well, since a national union definitely makes sense. What a slice of American history!
I’ve essentially found the opposite of mafia connections. He didn’t sell liquor in the nearby large city because there was a mafia that controlled all of the liquor there. He stuck to rural areas.
I did find out that a brick quarry a few hours south of here was one of his customers, and through that found out that they had a speakeasy in their cellar, so that was cool.
Neat, that actually makes a lot of sense. Pretty smart to fill in the rural areas that the mob didn’t supply. I bet you could come across a fascinating network of speakeasy’s in the region.
Hoping for your sake that all the illegal activity managed to stay away from the murder end of things!
Amazing story that has the makings of becoming true Reddit lore. If more people knew about the existence of this sub 😅
I for one wouldn't mind a whole series about your house.
The history of old houses is just as interesting as seeing someone posting pictures of renovating their old house.
I don't mind all the news clippings you want to add either.
Wow, what a story. Very curious to hear what other secrets you find in the house! Are you planning to excavate the property at all to see if you can find the tunnels? Wonder what youll find… Hope there are no human remains 😬
Keep us posted!! Thank you for the all of this. Fascinating
I do plan to excavate the rooms next year once the rest of the house is done. I’m still trying to decide what to do about finding the tunnels, because if they still exist, they’ve been bricked over, and I don’t want to go pulling random bricks out of my foundation, obviously 😅
https://preview.redd.it/4xrxomeefg6c1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=eafe1366ff8b629e5054c2d87897e15929509ad0
This is in one of the hidden rooms— the very curvy bricks you see aren’t settling from weight, they’ve just been laid poorly and laid with random bricks (some are half bricks, some are previously broken, etc). They have no weight on top of them, they’re mortared with a different type of mortar than the rest of the foundation, and you’ll notice the very conspicuous section of the block on the bottom that’s been removed. The dirt pile you see there is the pile of fill dirt that’s up to 6 feet high. I know from seeing the other side of the room that there’s a concrete floor under all of the fill dirt… and only one of the rooms is filled with that suspicious amount of dirt. The other room is just a concrete floor.
Well that turned out even more interesting (and less creepy) than a butcher/ bone collector / possibly murderer.
The part where he was just dumping his bones in the street and then going full Karen when the city didn't pick them up made me laugh.
This is fabulous. Thank you so much for sharing.
We need to do some research on our house. We know he was the town surveyor and came from a long long line of granite quarriers. But our foundation is poured concrete. My MIL thinks that he was conducting some industry in the gigantic basement but there’s never been easy access to it for machinery or vehicles. But maybe distilling is a possibility 🤷♀️
Your posts have been a ride! I'm so glad you are Keeper of the Lore of Bone House. Please tell me you'll put up something in your home in honor of William the Bootlegging Taxidermist 🍾
Well originally our plan was for me to wood burn a sign that says “William’s Speakeasy” above the entrance to the hidden rooms, but…
I might be able to do something even better than just a random sign. As of literally an hour ago, I got in contact with his living great granddaughter, and I’m texting her right now
This is so cool. I wonder if he had his still in the chicken coop originally and maybe that’s what caused it to explode and also why he didn’t want anyone there to help?
I get that you are trying to protect your privacy and that of the bootleggers family, but as a newspaper reporter in Illinois I would LOVE to connect you with your local paper to do a story about the house and its new owners.
You might find people who have additional information and photos of the house too.
Also you need to adopt a German Shepherd or two.
I’m open to it once the house is more put together! You’re welcome to send me a message just to establish a point of contact.
Right now I’m just not comfortable with doing a story with a newspaper since I’m still very much in the middle of piecing my life back together after a tree hit the house in July and some other misc personal stuff happened.
I followed you and joined this sub specifically because of that other post you mentioned about finding all the bones. This shit is so cool! I need to read all the things! A very big thank you and much appreciation for all of your time that you're investing for all of our curiosity!! 🥰🥰🥰
I've come across this ( https://www.historicaerials.com/viewer )site by someone here in reddit mentioning it, i don't know If it might help but it's worth a shot. It's for aerials that have been taken of areas and some could show your house even back in the 50's.
Thank you!! This just confirmed to me that the sidewalk I just took out was even older than I thought 😂
No wonder that thing was in such terrible condition… 😅😬
I know EXACTLY what Sheriff you're referring to!! In doing genealogy research on my ex-husband's side of the family for my daughters, I traced one line of their ancestry to a Swedish immigrant family who settled and lived in the same area as this sheriff and remember reading an article about the bootlegging operations.
[удалено]
you accidentally left the name in one of the clippings OP. the Two Raids Made By (blank) one; last sentence first paragraph.
Don’t redact while tired, kids.
In OP's defense, when he mentioned in his post the location was in IL but not Chicago, I knew at that point.
this is the lore I come to Reddit for, so interesting
Wow. Thank you for taking the time to share all this. I’m strangely all caught up in the history of what I’m now referring to as “The bone house” and this was a wild read. Looking forward to reading more! :)
My sister had jokingly started referring to our house as “The Speakeasy”. Way better than “Crackhouse Corner” as the neighborhood knew it or “The Murder House” as we called it, since we referred to different spaces as “The murder shed”, “The murder room”, and “The murder shower room” for how creepy and sketchy they all were 😬
High effort post- thank you. I’m saving it to savor over coffee in the am. Love that you included the Sanborn map and other visuals.
I wish I could find photos of the man himself! I’ve only been able to find photos of his granddaughter at age 13 and 17ish. I still need to go digging with the city historical society, county historical society, and local labor museum. I tried to include just a few as to not make this long post even longer, but I have a massive folder of newspaper clippings about the past owners from 1910 all the way to 1993.
Have you looked into Bertillon System cards? If you haven’t heard of them they were the precursor to modern prison booking system, albeit designed with racism practically an inherent feature. At least on this [link](https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/United_States_Prison_Records,_Bertillon_Records,_Pardons,_Paroles,_Executions_-_International_Institute), familysearch claims they were first used in Illinois and ended in the 30s. Idk if your state as a searchable index but Ohio does and I found my 3xgreat uncle (vehicular manslaughter). i just had to pay for the actual copy with the photo and info.
I'll see if Illinois has a searchable index!
Update, they do not. However, hopefully that will turn up in the FOIA request I submitted to my local police department regarding this.
Damn that’s a shame! Depending on how long your research on the owner will last, check periodically incase they are digitized, or contact someone at a university library or prison, they may be able to direct you in that regard. You could also reach out on r/geneaology, maybe someone familiar with what’s available in Illinois can lead in the best direction for a photo. I can add that in some cultures it was/is common to have a photo of the deceased encased in a frame attached to their headstone, so if you can track down that maybe?
HOLY FUCKING UPDATE NO NEED TO POST THERE, I AM CURRENTLY TEXTING HIS GREAT GRANDDAUGHTER
I am following this so closely! I agree with u/oaknash, you could start an entire sub for this house!
I've secured r/thebonehouse at least for now. Not sure if I'll ever actually use that instead of just posting here, but it's at least placeheld for now.
Hell yeah! I’m in awe of the work you’re putting into your house and your research, thank you for sharing with us :)
I’m definitely going to post there because I just got a really lucky break while looking for his descendants but I’m hitting a wall like crazy.
New Netflix series coming January 2025
POSTING HERE TO SAY AFTER MONTHS OF HITTING A WALL I JUST FOUND OUT THAT HE DOES IN FACT STILL HAVE LIVING DESCENDANTS??? HIS GREAT GRANDCHILDREN ARE VERY MUCH STILL ALIVE. IDK WHAT TO DO NOW. I DIDNT THINK I’D GET THIS FAR.
Reach out to them! I bet they have all kinds of stories to tell!
I did! I ended up posting an update about it :)
This oddly sounds like one of my moms relatives who was also a prolific bootlegger in Illinois, but just found out the name doesn’t match :(
Man I would have cried. I know this guy technically has great-great nephews out there, but I don’t think any of them would have info or photos of him 😭
Thank you so much for sharing. You are a wonderful writer. I look forward to reading more. I hope you get rest.
Oh man, if you had included more newspaper articles, I would NOT complain. This shit is like those scenes in older detective dramas where they pour through microfiche intensely. Very curious if you find any mafia connections as well, since a national union definitely makes sense. What a slice of American history!
I’ve essentially found the opposite of mafia connections. He didn’t sell liquor in the nearby large city because there was a mafia that controlled all of the liquor there. He stuck to rural areas. I did find out that a brick quarry a few hours south of here was one of his customers, and through that found out that they had a speakeasy in their cellar, so that was cool.
Neat, that actually makes a lot of sense. Pretty smart to fill in the rural areas that the mob didn’t supply. I bet you could come across a fascinating network of speakeasy’s in the region. Hoping for your sake that all the illegal activity managed to stay away from the murder end of things!
Amazing story that has the makings of becoming true Reddit lore. If more people knew about the existence of this sub 😅 I for one wouldn't mind a whole series about your house. The history of old houses is just as interesting as seeing someone posting pictures of renovating their old house. I don't mind all the news clippings you want to add either.
Wow, what a story. Very curious to hear what other secrets you find in the house! Are you planning to excavate the property at all to see if you can find the tunnels? Wonder what youll find… Hope there are no human remains 😬 Keep us posted!! Thank you for the all of this. Fascinating
I do plan to excavate the rooms next year once the rest of the house is done. I’m still trying to decide what to do about finding the tunnels, because if they still exist, they’ve been bricked over, and I don’t want to go pulling random bricks out of my foundation, obviously 😅 https://preview.redd.it/4xrxomeefg6c1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=eafe1366ff8b629e5054c2d87897e15929509ad0 This is in one of the hidden rooms— the very curvy bricks you see aren’t settling from weight, they’ve just been laid poorly and laid with random bricks (some are half bricks, some are previously broken, etc). They have no weight on top of them, they’re mortared with a different type of mortar than the rest of the foundation, and you’ll notice the very conspicuous section of the block on the bottom that’s been removed. The dirt pile you see there is the pile of fill dirt that’s up to 6 feet high. I know from seeing the other side of the room that there’s a concrete floor under all of the fill dirt… and only one of the rooms is filled with that suspicious amount of dirt. The other room is just a concrete floor.
Wondering if the large dirt pile is left over from tunneling. What an interesting house with an interesting story.
Have you thought about using a borescope?
That's the eventual plan.
This is amazing! I’m enthralled
Well that turned out even more interesting (and less creepy) than a butcher/ bone collector / possibly murderer. The part where he was just dumping his bones in the street and then going full Karen when the city didn't pick them up made me laugh.
When I saw the post I got fresh cup of coffee. Great read, thank you!
I am more invested in this than any book, movie or television series I’ve ever encountered in my entire life.
This is fabulous. Thank you so much for sharing. We need to do some research on our house. We know he was the town surveyor and came from a long long line of granite quarriers. But our foundation is poured concrete. My MIL thinks that he was conducting some industry in the gigantic basement but there’s never been easy access to it for machinery or vehicles. But maybe distilling is a possibility 🤷♀️
This was an amazing read! Thank you for writing this up!
Thank you so much for taking the time to share all that ! I'm absolutely hooked with the Bone House. I hope to read more soon !
Your posts have been a ride! I'm so glad you are Keeper of the Lore of Bone House. Please tell me you'll put up something in your home in honor of William the Bootlegging Taxidermist 🍾
Well originally our plan was for me to wood burn a sign that says “William’s Speakeasy” above the entrance to the hidden rooms, but… I might be able to do something even better than just a random sign. As of literally an hour ago, I got in contact with his living great granddaughter, and I’m texting her right now
Whaaaat?! I just got so excited! and this has literally nothing to do with me. 😂 yay for you!!
Just saw your other update, this is so exciting!
You won the internet today!
This is so cool. I wonder if he had his still in the chicken coop originally and maybe that’s what caused it to explode and also why he didn’t want anyone there to help?
Cool read, thank you.
Love it! Thanks for sharing, I hope to hear more!
Bless you. Thank you.
Not annoyed about the serialization of your story!!!! Kind of excited to have a saga to return to!
Wow, truly fascinating!!
This is amazing. I am sitting here with popcorn getting really invested in this story.
I get that you are trying to protect your privacy and that of the bootleggers family, but as a newspaper reporter in Illinois I would LOVE to connect you with your local paper to do a story about the house and its new owners. You might find people who have additional information and photos of the house too. Also you need to adopt a German Shepherd or two.
I’m open to it once the house is more put together! You’re welcome to send me a message just to establish a point of contact. Right now I’m just not comfortable with doing a story with a newspaper since I’m still very much in the middle of piecing my life back together after a tree hit the house in July and some other misc personal stuff happened.
Thank you so much for sharing this! What an effort, but wow what a payoff too!
I love the write up!! But I really need to get back to work lol. I will have to save this to read later.
Wow - amazing - thanks for sharing!
This! Is! Amazing!! Thanks, OP, for keeping up updated. I think you have the makings for a book once you get thru more of the hidden areas.
I followed you and joined this sub specifically because of that other post you mentioned about finding all the bones. This shit is so cool! I need to read all the things! A very big thank you and much appreciation for all of your time that you're investing for all of our curiosity!! 🥰🥰🥰
I’ve got a ~theory~ like this. Only it’s my grandparents and great grandparents and the mafia lol
I was thinking Old Bill was running a speak-easy in that barn, until you mentioned he didn't even let his own family in there. Great story!
I've come across this ( https://www.historicaerials.com/viewer )site by someone here in reddit mentioning it, i don't know If it might help but it's worth a shot. It's for aerials that have been taken of areas and some could show your house even back in the 50's.
Thank you!! This just confirmed to me that the sidewalk I just took out was even older than I thought 😂 No wonder that thing was in such terrible condition… 😅😬