A bathroom sink suddenly running, a closet door slamming shut and a realtor allegedly describing dozens of similar incidents: a Chicago woman’s account of an unsettling house tour has sparked fresh curiosity about what might have happened on the site of a long-abandoned church. The story, shared by TikTok creator Tessa (@tessa420_) and discussed by BroBible on October 24, 2026, centres on events she says continued even after the old building was demolished.

But the story comes with an important distinction. While Tessa believes the incidents were connected to the former church, the alleged paranormal activity has not been independently verified. The identity of the church also remains unconfirmed, leaving questions about the building’s history and the events at the newly constructed property.

Chicago Woman Describes an Abandoned Church With an Unsettling Reputation

According to Tessa, the neighbourhood around her home contains apartment buildings approximately 70 to 120 years old. Among the buildings she remembered most vividly was a deserted former church across from her home, which she described as creepy and unsettling.

Tessa said the church had remained abandoned for an extended period, becoming a familiar but eerie feature of the neighbourhood. She also claimed that developers had attempted to redevelop the property several times, with some trying to renovate the existing structure and others attempting to demolish it.

However, according to her account, those efforts allegedly encountered difficulties involving the people working inside the building.

Tessa claimed that some construction workers became frightened while working at the church and that certain workers could not remain inside long enough to complete their jobs. She attributed those alleged experiences to hauntings and other unexplained activity.

These details form the background to her story, but they have not been independently established. The available reporting does not identify the developers or contractors involved, provide statements from workers or establish that paranormal experiences caused any redevelopment attempts to fail.

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Why Tessa Remembers Hearing “Demonio”

One detail particularly stayed with Tessa. She said she remembered hearing several workers leave the building while shouting “demonio,” the Spanish word for demon.

For Tessa, the alleged incident added to the church’s unsettling reputation. However, there is no independent recording, contractor statement or other corroborating evidence in the available reporting establishing what the workers experienced or why they left.

Her account therefore remains a personal recollection rather than confirmed evidence that something supernatural was happening inside the church.

The Abandoned Church Was Eventually Demolished

Despite the difficulties Tessa described, she said a developer eventually succeeded in demolishing the former church. According to her, new homes were subsequently constructed on the site.

Tessa also claimed that the properties remained empty for months. However, the available reporting does not independently establish how many homes were involved, their precise location, their sales status or whether any vacancy was connected to alleged paranormal activity.

There is consequently no verified basis for concluding that buyers avoided the development because of ghosts.

Nevertheless, Tessa said rumours about the former church continued after its demolition. Curious about whether the alleged activity might somehow have followed the redevelopment, she decided to attend an open house at one of the newly built homes.

What happened during that visit became the central part of her story.

Tessa and Her Husband Visit a Newly Built Home

Tessa said she attended the open house with her husband. According to her account, they were the only prospective visitors present at the time, apart from the realtor showing the property.

She explained to the realtor that she was primarily interested in looking around because of the stories surrounding the former church, rather than because she was seriously considering buying the house. She said the realtor nevertheless agreed to give them a tour.

Initially, the visit appeared uneventful. The atmosphere reportedly changed when the group entered the primary bedroom and adjoining bathroom area.

The Bedroom’s Six-Door Layout

Tessa described the bedroom as having a double-door entrance, separate “his” and “hers” closets, and individual doors connecting each closet to the main bathroom.

She summarised the arrangement by saying, “There are six doors in total.”

Those six doors consisted of the two bedroom entrance doors, the doors to both closets and the two doors connecting the closets to the bathroom.

Tessa also described the bathroom as having two sinks and two opposing mirrors, positioned across from one another.

The layout became relevant when the group allegedly heard a loud sound coming from the neighbouring closet.

A Closet Door Allegedly Closes During the House Tour

While Tessa, her husband and the realtor were walking through the “hers” closet, she said they heard the door to the adjoining “his” closet close.

According to Tessa, the sound was unmistakable and loud enough for all three to notice. Their first thought, she said, was that another person had entered the house.

Given that the property was being shown during an open house, the possibility of another visitor moving through the building was an understandable explanation to consider.

Tessa emphasised that none of them immediately jumped to a supernatural conclusion.

“None of us immediately assumed ghost.”

She said the realtor called out towards the adjoining closet, inviting the person he believed was there to join the tour. When nobody answered, he went to investigate.

According to Tessa, nobody was found in the area.

The incident was unsettling in her telling, but no independent footage or technical examination has established what caused the door to close. Its movement remains an unexplained event in her account, rather than verified evidence of paranormal activity.

Bathroom Sink Allegedly Turns On Without Anyone Touching It

The closet door was not the only unusual incident Tessa described.

According to her, one of the bathroom sinks appeared to turn on without anyone deliberately activating it. She and her husband went to investigate and found the sink running, but no person inside the bathroom.

Tessa said the realtor subsequently saw what had happened. She interpreted his reaction as frustration rather than surprise, suggesting that he was familiar with similar problems at the property.

According to Tessa’s recollection, the realtor told her he had been trying to sell the home since June 2026 and that various unexplained incidents had continued occurring inside it.

However, the realtor’s alleged statement has not been independently confirmed by him in the available reporting. Nor has an investigation established why the sink activated.

An unexpected plumbing incident can have an ordinary mechanical explanation, but no reported examination of this particular sink has determined what happened.

The Realtor Allegedly Mentions “30” Similar Incidents

Tessa said she asked the realtor whether such events occurred regularly inside the property.

According to her recollection, his response suggested that the sink and closet door were not isolated incidents.

She quoted him as saying, “This and 30 of its cousins.”

Tessa interpreted the remark as a reference to numerous other unexplained problems inside the home. She also said the realtor described doors opening and closing unexpectedly during property tours.

If accurately recalled, those comments would suggest that the realtor had allegedly encountered repeated incidents. However, he has not been publicly identified in the available reporting, and no independent statement from him confirms Tessa’s version of the conversation.

The claim that he had been trying to sell the property since June 2026 also remains attributed to Tessa. The available evidence does not establish that the house could not be sold because of paranormal activity.

Tessa Blames the Former Church’s Demolition

At the end of her video, Tessa offered her own interpretation of the alleged events. She suggested that the activity inside the new home was connected to the demolition of the former church.

She described the situation as “demon karma” for the developers who demolished the building.

That phrase reflects Tessa’s belief, not an established explanation for what happened. There is no verified evidence demonstrating that the former church was haunted, that any activity continued after its demolition or that the newly constructed homes inherited a supernatural phenomenon from the previous building.

The distinction is important: a person may sincerely describe an unsettling experience without the cause being known. The reported incidents cannot, on their own, establish that a haunting occurred.

Was the Former Church Santa Maria Addolorata in Chicago?

One significant detail remains unresolved: the BroBible report does not name the church or provide a specific address for the property Tessa described.

That makes it inappropriate to identify the building as a particular Chicago church without further evidence.

A separate church demolition reported in October 2026 has, however, created a possible source of confusion.

CBS Chicago reported on October 21 that Santa Maria Addolorata Church in West Town was being demolished to make way for six new homes. The church had stood at Ohio and Ada streets since 1960. MK Construction was overseeing the redevelopment and helping residents preserve stained glass, crosses and other items from the building.

Preservation Chicago had previously documented the development proposal, identifying the property as 1315 W. Ohio St. and reporting that it had been marketed for $3 million before plans emerged for six single-family homes. The church closed after being consolidated into another parish in 2021.

However, the chronology does not support identifying Santa Maria Addolorata as the church in Tessa’s account. CBS Chicago reported on October 21 that demolition was underway, while BroBible’s October 24 report described a different sequence in which the former church had already been demolished, replacement homes had been built and at least one was ready for an open house.

The two stories should not be merged without evidence identifying Tessa’s church.

What Is Known About Santa Maria Addolorata?

The independently documented history of Santa Maria Addolorata is significant in its own right.

Preservation Chicago reported that architect Joseph Bagnuolo designed the church, which was built in 1960. The organisation highlighted its architecture and extensive stained glass as reasons for preservation interest.

The East Village Association had also supported efforts to preserve the closed church, describing Santa Maria Addolorata as an important part of the community’s history.

CBS Chicago subsequently reported that residents were collecting stained glass, crosses and other relics as demolition proceeded, emphasising the building’s importance to former parishioners and neighbours.

None of those reports establishes a connection between Santa Maria Addolorata and Tessa’s paranormal story.

What Has Actually Been Verified About the Chicago Paranormal Story?

The central claims can be divided into two groups: events Tessa says she personally experienced during the house tour, and allegations about the former church’s history and the workers who supposedly encountered unexplained activity there.

Neither group has been independently established as evidence of a supernatural phenomenon.

The available reporting does not cite a paranormal investigation of the property, an independent technical examination of the sink or doors, an identified contractor confirming the workers’ alleged experiences, or a verified statement from the realtor confirming Tessa’s account.

That does not establish that the incidents she describes never happened. It means their causes remain unknown based on the available evidence.

BroBible published its report on October 24, 2026, based on Tessa’s TikTok account, publicly associated with the handle @tessa420_. A May 2026 Bioactive podcast episode identifies Tessa Dattillo as “Tessa 420” and links to that TikTok account.

Beyond those details, the more unusual elements remain personal experiences and allegations rather than independently verified paranormal evidence. The available reporting also does not establish that all the homes are vacant, that buyers have been frightened away or that the properties cannot be sold because of alleged supernatural activity.

Conclusion: An Unsettling Story, but No Confirmed Haunting

Tessa’s account brings together an abandoned church, a redevelopment project, alleged reports of frightened workers and a house tour during which a closet door reportedly closed and a bathroom sink began running unexpectedly. Her recollection of the realtor’s comments added another layer to a story she ultimately interpreted as “demon karma” following the church’s demolition.

Yet the church’s identity remains unconfirmed, the realtor’s alleged statements have not been independently corroborated, and no investigation has established a paranormal cause for the reported incidents.

For now, the most accurate conclusion is that a Chicago TikTok creator has described unsettling events at a newly built home on land where she says an allegedly haunted church once stood. The story has captured attention, but a confirmed haunted housing development is not what the available evidence establishes.

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Source and Research Disclaimer

This article has been prepared following research of the sources provided, including BroBible, CBS Chicago, Preservation Chicago, the East Village Association and Bioactive. It reflects information available from those sources at the time of writing. Allegations, personal recollections and paranormal interpretations remain attributed to their respective sources and should not be understood as independently verified facts beyond what the available evidence supports.

Sources

• BroBible: Chicago church and new-home paranormal claims
• CBS Chicago: Santa Maria Addolorata demolition and preservation efforts
• Preservation Chicago: Santa Maria Addolorata development and preservation history
• East Village Association: Community effort to preserve Santa Maria Addolorata
• Bioactive: Tessa Dattillo interview and identification of her TikTok account

Featured Image Credit: @tessa420_ / TikTok