Local legends

Talaria

Member
I live near Chicago and one of our most famous legends is the legend of Resurrection Mary. There are several stories that are told but I will tell you my favorite.

Resurrection Mary

The legend began in the 1930's, when police were notified, on several occasions, about a young woman lurking around Ressurrection Cemetery, located in Chicago's southwestern suburbs. The reports stated that the woman would run from the cemetery and jump out in front of the passing cars and try to catch a ride. Not long after these incidents took place, people started reporting similiar sightings of a woman fitting the same description at the O'Henry Ballroom, a few miles from Ressurection Cemetery. The stories told at the Ballroom were far more erie than the graveyard sightings. Young men would state that the woman in question would dance and converse with them all evening and when they offered her a ride home she would direct them to the Cemetery. Sometimes she would get out and then completely disappear before the gates, other times the men would be in mid conversation with her and they would turn around to find she wasn't there. A few common descriptions of Mary varied between having light brown hair or long blonde hair and having a timid demeanor. The girl became known as Ressurection Mary.

who was mary?
There are two real life women thought to be Resurrection Mary. The first is Mary Bregovy, a polish girl who was killed in 1934 near the ballroom. Her car collided into an elevated train support. She was previosly seen at O'Henry Ballroom and several clubs before her death that night. Mary's parents buried her in Ressurection Cemetery and a short time after, caretakers started to report sightings of her ghost wandering in the graveyard. The description of the ghost was the identical image of Mary Bregovy, she had short light brown bobbed hair and was wearing nice clothing. Perhaps for a night on the town?
The second woman was named Mary Miskowski. Mary was killed along Archer Ave. near the Cemetary in 1934. Mary loved to dance at the O'Henry ballroom and liked the local party scene. She was often rumored to be the lonely disappearing hitchhiker seen along Archer Ave. trying to get back to the cemetery.

The Gates

The gates to the cemetery a disturbing tale to tell as well! On Augsut 10th 1976, a man driving by late at night noticed a young woman peering through the gates. He notified the police, thinking the woman might be locked in after hours or some kids were trespassing. The officer arrived and called out to her over the loud speaker and aimed his flashlight towards the entrance. No one was there. The officer got out of his car and walked up to the gates to get a better look and found something he wasn't expecting. Two bars from the old bronze gate looked as if someone had pulled them apart but even more disturbing were the handprints left seared into the metal. Not a soul was found that night in the cemetery.
Rumors of the handprints drew large crowds throughout the years. The police denied the event involved Mary and simply said a truck backed into the gates, the workers firing up the bars to frantically try to bend them back. The police then tried to remove the small handprints with a blow torch which made the prints even more visible. The bars were cut out and immediatly replaced when they realized this only drew more attention to the cemetery. Police straightened the bars and replaced them hoping they would oxidize and match the exsisting bars. Their prayers we never answered, the fingerprints stayed perfectly clear. Eventually in the 1990's officials removed the bars to prevent the curious from investigating the area. There are still sightings today at O'henry Ballroom. Archer Ave. and Resurrection Cemetery. Present sightings always include a timid girl looking for a ride, directions heading toward the cemetery and the girl vanishing right before the poor suspects eyes.
 
Rad story and a Classic tale, I certainly can't top it.
Why would anyone want to name their cemetery Resurrection Cemetery, though? Good call on that one.
It's sad. I used to live in Savannah, Ga which is supposed to be haunted out the wazoo; but I can't remember any stories. I know for sure though that the Pirate's House on Bay Street used to be a drinking hole where they used to shanghai people back in the colonial days. It was just kinda bad juju though no really specific stories come to mind. We ate there all the time, good lunch buffet.
Speaking of gates though, I grew up just down the road from this one, on Isle of Hope just outside Savannah city limits:

It's nice during the day and it looked awesome at night! The sodium bulbs gave it a really eerie touch of orange. The only story I heard about ol' Wormsloe here was that it was just a private estate for a while where the guy once grew a giant sunflower...or something. :-j Some kinda big flower. Lemme get back to you on that....
 

Talaria

Member
That is one of the most facsinating pictures I have ever seen. The branches touching create an awesome depth perception. Somewhere I have read of the Isle of Hope...but I don't remember what I was researching. Is it a Cemetery? I hope you remember some of your stories. Savannah is where I wanted to move. I'm not even joking if I could comb the streets of that place I would be lost in enchantments forever. I love the supernatural. I have no idea why someone would name their Cemetery Resurrection. I mean don't you think that its asking for trouble? A sunflower you say? hmmmm. Maybe it was something more exotic!
 

Isabelle

Member
Awesome story there Talaria! Particularly intriguing about the cemetery bars. I have been to Savannah and I am sure there are many haunting stories from there because there are about 50 different tour groups running.
 

Talaria

Member
Thanks Isabelle! We have a lot of local legends and I will have to put up more. I live 20 min from teh Stickney Mansion which has some super creepy rumors.
 

DaRaginCajun

New Member
i'm from New Orleans, but i lived in Cajun Country growing up, so i always had tales about voodoo, loup-garou, and all kinds of ghosts and zombies.
 

Goddess2u

Member
We have a church that people swear is haunted. I don't think they hold services there anymore either. They put up a gate and all to keep people out and the cemetary has graves from the 1800's. The story goes that the drums play themselves and the doors swing open. One thing I always thought was strange is the doors slide not swing and they opened once when I went to check it out. It freaked me out so bad. I was just a teen at the time.
 
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