The History Behind Libertyville’s ‘Devil’s Gate’
By Amie Schaenzer, at Patch
Picture credit: https://medium.com/chicagoland-haunts/devils-gate-of-libertyville-eeab5bea808c
As legend has it, and that legend definitely varies depending on who is telling it, someone — either a camp counselor at a summer camp, a principal at a girl’s finishing school or a ward attendant at an asylum — went crazy and killed four people on the property behind a stone gate along North River Road.
While local historians say there is no evidence of a mass killing ever occurring on the property, there was a “home for children” on the property from 1925 to 1936.
Among the most popular tales told around campfires and whispered among children around this time of year include that of a principal who had a mental breakdown at a girl’s finishing school, St. Francis School For Girls, in the early 1950s. He killed four students and then put their heads on the metal posts of “The Gate,” according to the historical society presentation.
Other stories include the gate once serving as an entrance to a summer camp where a camp counselor OR a mad man who escaped from an asylum OR a nun killed four children while in bed, Barry said. Lastly, some have said that gate was an entrance to an asylum where a ward attendant went insane and killed four patients.
Read More: The History Behind Libertyville’s ‘Devil’s Gate’
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