HAMMOND | Northern Lake County's shady history of murder, mayhem and mystery comes alive for riders on Saturday's Trolley Tour of Terror.
The three-hour guided tour takes off at 5:30 p.m. from the corner of Rimbach and Hohman avenues in downtown Hammond to visit a variety of places including a cemetery, John Dillinger's bank robbery target, the site of a Miami Indian massacre and an Al Capone hangout. Tickets are $10 per person.
"Despite the name, the tour is not your usual Halloween event," said David Dabertin of the sponsoring United Citizens Association of Hammond. "Instead, our event is a nighttime tour of historical sites through North Lake County that have a notorious past.
"It's fun and educational. This year's tour is a 21-and-over event because we stop at a bar. "
Among the spots the trolley will visit are the sites of the 1894 Pullman Strike Riot, the 1918 circus train wreck and Whiting's only cemetery. Other historical events on the tour include Lake Michigan shipwrecks, the murder of Bobby Franks by Leopold and Loeb, the death of mobsters involved in the St. Valentine's Day massacre and the Roby Prize Fights.
Dabertin said he organizes this annual tour because the history of Northwest Indiana is fascinating.
"We want to get people interested in their own community, I hope to get them thinking about where they live and its past," Dabertin said.
"I am amazed that people visit some small European town and are enthralled with its local history, no matter how unimportant or trivial, but never think about what might have happened right in their own backyards," he said.
Proceeds from the trolley tour will be donated to the charitable United Citizens Association of Hammond, Dabertin said.
"This organization uses 100 percent of its fund for charitable purposes and does not pay for overhead or administrative costs," he said.
Although this is an adults-only tour, Dabertin said he's organized similar events for children in the past.
"Taking kids out to some of these sites and showing them where historical events occurred really brings the past home," he said. "So many children, and adults, don't know of the many historical events that have occurred here."
