Discover the strange secrets of West Taylor Street—public hangings, arsonist queens, gangsters, devil babies and more!

They say that there’s history on every block, but sometimes you come across a stretch of road where the strange stories seem to come up through every crack. One such place is the stretch of Taylor St. between Halsted and Ashland. Known today as Little Italy, the prohibition era mobsters were only one link in a long chain of fascinating history. On this virtual edition of his popular walking tour, author and historian Adam Selzer will tell stories of arsonist queens, public hangings, miser’s curses, devil baby scares, murders, nuns whose bodies turned to stone, and legendary mobsters of the 1920s who made Taylor Street their home. Live narration over filmed footage, with pictures and ephemera to enhance the experience!

Host Adam Selzer has made a career of rescuing odd Chicago stories from the dustbin of history. He is the author of several books, including Flickering Empire: How Chicago Invented the U.S. Film Industry, The Smart Aleck's Guide to American History, and The Ghosts of Chicago. He hosts the MYSTERIOUS CHICAGO blog, appears frequently on WGN, NPR, and cable TV, and has been a tour guide for over fifteen years. His next book will be about Graceland Cemetery.

HOW TO WATCH - it's easy!

- The event will be broadcast live via Facebook Live on the Mysterious Chicago facebook page. ( http://www.facebook.com/mysteriouschicago )

- ALL YOU HAVE TO DO is be on that page after the broadcast starts (we usually start shortly before the scheduled start time and give people a few minutes to join in), then click “play” on the video. You won't need a code or to log in.

- If you “like” the Mysterious Chicago page you can set it to notify you when the page starts broadcasting! And if you want practice, or to make sure it works on your system, we broadcast “mini tours” nearly every day at 10am central.

-The event is free to watch. No tickets or codes will be required. Donations are suggested either via this page, venmo (adamchicago), paypal (adam@mysteriouschicago.com) or by joining patreon.com/adamchicago.

- If you miss it, never fear - it'll be on the "videos" section of the facebook page for some time after the live broadcast.

If you aren't familiar with Facebook live and can't seem to get it to work, here are some trouble shooting tips:

- There is no special code or special link, and you won't be asked for a ticket. Just be on the main Mysterious Chicago Facebook page. (not the event page or an old post, just regular old http://facebook.com/mysteriouschicago )

- If you are on the site and don’t see “Happening Now” or “Mysterious Chicago is Live” try refreshing and scrolling down a bit. Or restarting your app.

- Similarly, if you're watching and it freezes or you lose the audio, refresh the page or restart your app.

- And make sure you’re not mistaking the date or time zone! We regularly get comments from people who are trying to watch on the wrong date or time. All times are central.

- Note that clicking “follow” on the eventbrite page only means that you’re now following this company on eventbrite, and will get notices about new event postings. The button doesn’t do anything particular to the event. You don’t have to push it.

- If none of this works for you, you may have connection, device or settings issues. Consult facebook.com/help.

Under Section 4-156-720 of the Municipal Code of Chicago, this performing arts venue (broadcast) may not charge an admission fee, minimum purchase requirement, membership fee, or other fee or charge imposed for the privilege of entering the premises (broadcast). Any donations are purely voluntary.