“Haunted Bachelors Grove,” Sunday, Wisconsin Room

Ursula Bielski is the founder of Chicago Hauntings, Inc. and the host of PBS’ The Hauntings of Chicago (WYCC).

An historian, author, and parapsychologist, she has been writing and lecturing about Chicago’s supernatural folklore and the paranormal for nearly 20 years, and is recognized as a leading authority on the Chicago region’s ghostlore and cemetery history. She is the author of five popular and critically acclaimed books on the same subjects, all published by Lake Claremont Press.

Ursula’s interests in Chicago ghost hunting began at a young age. She grew up in a haunted house on Chicago’s north side and received an early education in Chicago history from her father, a Chicago police officer, who introduced Ursula to the ghosts at Graceland Cemetery, Montrose Point and the old lockup at the storied Maxwell Street Police Station. Since that time Ursula has been involved in countless investigations of haunted sites in and around Chicago.

Aside from her writing, Ursula has been featured on numerous television documentaries, including productions by the A&E Network, The History Channel, The Learning Channel, SyFy, The Travel Channel, and PBS. She’s been a judge on “Paranormal Challenge” and a regular guest on “Ghost Adventures” and the “Maury Show,” as well as a favorite lecturer at Darkness Events.

She also appears regularly on local Chicago television and radio and lectures throughout the year at various libraries, historical and professional societies. In addition to her books, Ursula is the author of numerous scholarly articles exploring the links between history and the paranormal, including articles published in the International Journal of Parapsychology. Ursula is a past editor of PA News, the quarterly newsletter of the Parapsychological Association, a past president and board member of the Pi Gamma Chapter of Phi Alpha Theta, the national history honor society, and holds membership in the Society of Midland Authors.

A graduate of St. Benedict High School in Chicago, Ursula holds a B.A. degree in history from Benedictine University and an M.A. in American cultural and intellectual history from Northeastern Illinois University. Her academic explorations include the Spiritualist movement of the 19th century and its transformation into psychical research and parapsychology, and the relationships among belief, experience, science, and religion.

Ursula’s latest book, Haunted Bachelors Grove, parted of the Haunted America series from Arcadia Publishing explores the famous haunted cemetery Ursula has been researching for almost three decades.

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