Web Behrens

At first glance, the scene doesn't seem out of the ordinary: Dozens of people crowded onto the el station at Randolph and Wabash, waiting for a train behind schedule. But this is Sunday afternoon, and everyone's in the Halloween spirit, eagerly anticipating the final ride of this year's "Haunted L."

Hostess Dorothy Gale charms the crowd while secretly serving as stage manager, checking her watch and clacking her ruby shoes up and down the wooden platform as a regular train rounds the bend. "This is not your train," she emphasizes. "Do not get on this train." Soon enough, a different beast rumbles up, sporting gargoyles and orange lights; the last of more than 3,600 people who scored free tix this month at the Cultural Center pile on board. The train begins its course around the Loop while a cast of four performers per car -- acrobatic members of Aardvark Theatre capable of singing and dancing as the train jostles -- begin their kid-friendly show about ghosts and other paranormal happenings. Most interesting is the tale of First Lady Julia Dent Grant, whose prescient dream about the Great Fire in 1871 kept hubby Ulysses away from the conflagration. Then there's the Gray Lady from the Eastland disaster, Lake Michigan's own Titanic story, who's rumored to haunt Oprah and her staff at Harpo Studios, the site of the temporary morgue that held their bodies.

As the locomotive show winds to a close, Aardvark proves they understand show business very well -- concluding their performance by handing out free candy to all. (2000-11-02)

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