Illinois is home to numerous ghost stories, each spookier than the last. From Des Plaines, Illinois to the infamous Graceland Cemetery in Chicago—our phantasmal cousins are all around us. For our October newsletter, please enjoy the following collection of eerie ghost stories cemented in history, just in time for Halloween.
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ILLINOIS GHOST STORIES
October 2024 | By Kyra
Resurrection Cemetery – Justice, Illinois
Ghosting up and down Archer Avenue, between her resting place and what was once the Willowbrook Ballroom (now an empty lot after a horrible fire in 2016) hangs Resurrection Mary.
Mary is a harmless apparition who, by all accounts, appears in a 1930’s dancing dress, beehive hairdo, and metallic pumps.
It is reported that Mary likes to frequent Archer Avenue, where she’ll ask those driving past for a ride home.
She’ll slip into their backseat and direct them down the road before mysteriously disappearing mid-drive.
Local lore believes that Mary died walking home from a dance party sometime in the 1930s after a hit and run accident.
Some folks believe she must have passed in a bad car wreck.
The cemetery believes that Resurrection Mary is actually Mary Rozanc, a young girl who died at the age of 16 on December 28,1930, though there is no historical proof.
Although history has not made it clear who Mary was, how she passed, or why she likes to hang around, she is a part of a common cultural phenomena—the “hitchhiking ghost,” as seen in South Carolina’s infamous Walhalla Hitchhiker, the phantom hitchhiker of Bedfordshire in Great Britain, or in Quezon City in the Philippines, where she is known as the White Lady.
The next time you’re in Justice, Illinois, wander on into Chet’s Melody Lounge on Archer Avenue where they put out a Bloody Mary every Sunday just in case she decides to stop by.
Who knows, on your way home someone might ask for a ride.
Schweppe Mansion – Lake Forest, Illinois
In 1917, Mr. and Mrs. John G Shedd (the builder of Shedd Aquarium) built a beautiful mansion in Lake Forest, Illinois as a gift for their beloved daughter, Laura, and her new husband, Charles Schweppe.
Grand yet hollow, this house holds tragedy within its walls.
In 1937, Laura Schweppe passed away, leaving the bulk of her estate to her two children, and a small portion to her husband.
Exactly 4 years and 25 days after his wife’s death, Charles Schweppe tragically took his own life, leaving behind a note that read, “I’ve been awake all night. It is terrible”.
After these events, the home sat empty for fifty years before a couple purchased it with the intention of refurbishing the home to its former glory.
Legend says that long dead waitstaff can still be seen preparing meals for their ghostly employers, and bare footprints appear fresh on old cement.
Most strikingly, there is one window, situated in Charles Schweppe’s old study, that stays pristine whilst its neighbors are grimy as if the home’s original owner religiously cleans it even in his afterlife.
Mount Carmel Cemetery – Hillside, Illinois
Relatively close to where Al Capone is buried lies Julia Buccola Petta, a young mother who died in 1921 while giving birth to her still-born son, Filippo.
Anonymous in life, but famous in death, she lies under an intricate and expensive statue of herself in her wedding dress.
Those who visit the cemetery claim to see a sad looking woman walking around in a wedding dress, often following those who have young children.
It is reported that wandering children, once found, said they took a walk with a kind lady in a white dress who was looking for her lost son.
In 1927, six years after Julia’s death, her mother, Filomena, had her exhumed after relentless nightmares claiming Julia was still alive, trapped in her casket.
After Filomena confirmed that her daughter was sleeping peacefully, she had a photo taken of Julia and put it on her headstone next to a photo of Julia on her wedding day, so her daughter could be forever remembered in both life and death.
However, a noticeable mystery hangs innocently on Julia’s gravestone—although Julia had been dead for six years, she had decomposed very little and looked almost the same as she did the day she was buried.
The photograph her mother took proves it.
Experts say it must have been a combination of ground temperature and other unusual factors, but it is said that Filomena believed God was just letting her see her child one last time.
Graceland Cemetery – Chicago, Illinois
Encased in glass, sitting quite far into Chicago’s famous Graceland Cemetery, sits a beautiful statue of a little girl holding a parasol.
Under the statue lies Inez Clarke, a six-year-old girl who died in 1880 from a lightning strike.
Born in 1873 to an unwed mother, Inez lived happily with her grandparents until her tragic death while out on a picnic.
Security guards throughout the years claim that the statue disappears from its glass enclosure at night, later seen wandering around, playing and laughing.
During lightning storms, it is said that the statue disappears completely as Inez is so afraid.
Because Inez passed so long ago, her true story is unclear as cemetery records have been lost or damaged over the many years.
Regardless of her true past, cemetery workers often state that they are happy Inez is able to laugh and play amongst the headstones for all eternity.
We hope you enjoyed these spooky tales. If you have any ghost stories of your own, let us know (we love to hear them). Perhaps you’ll see your own eerie legend in next year’s October Newsletter. Have a wonderful Halloween.
SOURCES
AN OLD HAUNT GETS A NEW LEASE ON LIFE – Chicago Tribune
Girl in Glass: The Inez Statue at Graceland Cemetery – Mysterious Chicago
The Italian Bride – Hillside, Illinois – Atlas Obscura
Resurrection Mary, The Hitchhiking Ghost of Archer Avenue – Chicago History Museum
Scientists create ‘ghosts’ in the lab by tricking the brain | Reuters
Five Scientific Explanations for Spooky Sensations | Smithsonian (smithsonianmag.com)
10 Scientific Explanations For Ghostly Phenomena – Listverse
The science behind seeing ghosts – BBC Three
12 Scientific Explanations For Haunted House Phenomenon (ranker.com)