Kendall County citizens ain’t afraid of no ghosts.

They’d prove it—if they could find any.

Well, there is that old scoundrel, John “Three-Fingered Jack” Hamilton of the John Dillinger gang, and the tricks his spirit may or may not pull from an unmarked grave at Oswego Township Cemetery on South Main Street.

Outside of that, though, folks in these parts are often left to haunt themselves with family lore each fall.

“Kendall County, it seems, is not exactly a paranormal hotbed,” county historian Roger Matile once wrote.

Boo. And boo hoo, too, for fans of the spooky season.

Those who suspect apparitions or supernatural shenanigans still have outlets, including the Plano-based Midwest Ghost Society.

Candy Gocken, a lead investigator with the paranormal research and investigation group, said she’s “heard of a few urban legends and haunted locations but we haven’t been able to investigate them.”

If someone called with more contemporary activity, the Society wouldn’t divulge information out of privacy and respect.

Asked what an investigation entails, Gocken explained it’s “comprised of sessions done in different locations in the building.”

Then she added: “We walk through before starting any sessions if it is a new location. We have different pieces of equipment to try different avenues for interaction.”

Gocken mentioned “urban legends,” which are essentially hearsay come to life—alligators in sewers, strange noises in abandoned structures, mysterious lights flickering in the dark.

Did any such tales influence Winston Gambro, Yorkville-bred author of the graphic novel Haunted House: A Love Story?

Uh, um.

“The spooky parts of ‘Haunted House: A Love Story’ weren’t really tied to anything from my life, sadly, mostly standard tropes or my own imagination,” Gambro said.

He thinks he recalls something about a janitor dying in an elevator at what now is Yorkville High School’s Freshman Academy.

Alas, “I want to say that was a common urban legend in many schools,” Gambro said.

The annual Oswego Cemetery Walk, set for 5:30 to 9 p.m. Oct. 2, frequently features Hamilton’s tale. Also nicknamed “Red,” the gangster apparently saw plenty of it—finally, some blood!—upon losing various digits in gun battles.

The story goes that Hamilton was wounded in Minnesota in spring 1934 during an FBI raid on a gang hideout in Spider Lake, Wis. Dillinger drove “Three-Fingered Jack” to Aurora, where Hamilton later died in a cohort’s apartment.

Dillinger chose to bury Hamilton in a remote area near Oswego. Acting on a tip, the FBI exhumed Hamilton’s body a year later and identified it through dental records. He was reburied on South Main Street.

Those too sheepish to traipse through the cemetery on Halloween night might cross the Fox River and head roughly 13 miles west on Route 34 to the Sandwich Opera House.

At 7 p.m. Oct. 31, paranormal research group Haunted US will lead a public investigation of the 1870s site, which is tied to a glut of spectral suspicions.

“Not only will they get a new perspective on the history and ghost stories of the building, but they’ll get to experience and participate in an actual paranormal investigation on the grounds,” Haunted US founder Brandon Rugzie said. “The event will be the perfect way to spend Halloween night.”

The opera house lies in DeKalb County, but parts of Sandwich fall within Kendall. Wouldn’t it be something to shout about if a spirit tepid toward the looming limelight crossed county lines?

Thank goodness there’s someone to call.