The last time I assisted Svengoolie at Elgin’s Nightmare on Chicago Street was in 2023, and I was extra excited to do this one. Elgin is over an hour from me and overshadowed by the city of Chicago, forty miles east. With all due respect to Berwyn, it can also be argued that Elgin has stronger ties to the horror host than the town he himself made famous. Elgin’s Acme Design not only created the Svengoolie coffin fans see every week on MeTV, but also the set. They also helped to create Elgin’s Nightmare on Chicago Street, the absolute best Halloween season event in the Chicagoland area. The event began in 2010 and has been breaking its own attendance records ever since. I’ve covered it in Scary Monsters Magazine and many times on this blog. It holds a special place in my heart because, back in 2012, a particularly cold year, I was shivering outside with fellow fans to see Sven when his producer, Jim Roche, fished me out of that line and brought me behind the scenes as an honorary crew member. Nearly fifteen years later, I returned to continue the tradition.
