Famous Chicago Haunt

Her description is similar to a character from a novel: an elusive, beautiful, cool blonde. Like that character, when a stranger meets her, for the first time, and thinks that a connection has been made between the two of them, she simply disappears. He nickname was given to her by citizens of Chicago who met her only one time. She is Chicago's most famous ghost, Resurrection Mary.

Named after her burial place, Resurrection Cemetery, located at 7600 S. Archer Avenue in Justice, Illinois, Resurrection Mary has been haunting Archer Avenue since the late 1930s. According to legend, during the mid-1930s, after an evening of dancing at what is now the Willowbrook Ballroom, she and her boyfriend had an argument. The exchange of words prompted her to leave her companion, which resulted in her departure on foot alongside Archer Avenue. As she walked, perhaps hitchhiking, she was hit by a passing car and killed.

The first person to encounter Resurrection Mary, after her burial, was Jerry Palus. It is said that he met a girl at the Liberty Grove and Hall near 47th and Mozart in Chicago and spent the entire evening with her, dancing. He later stated that she was cold to touch. When offered a ride home, she asked if Jerry could drive her home via Archer Avenue, passing Resurrection Cemetery. This was strange, since she had mentioned that she lived in the Bridgeport area of Chicago, which was located many miles from Archer Avenue. Jerry honored her request, however. As they approached the gates to the cemetery, she began to behave strangely and finally asked Jerry to stop the car alongside the road. After telling Jerry that he could not follow her, she exited form the car and ran towards the main gates, disappearing before reaching them. Jerry saw this happen and immediately realized that she was a ghost. Due to the fact that "Mary" had mentioned her home in Bridgeport, Jerry later visited that location, stopping at her home. "Mary's" mother answered the door. When asked about her daughter, she stated that "Mary" had been dead for a certain period of time. A photo on a nearby table depicted the dead daughter. It looked like the young woman that Jerry had met at the Liberty Grove and Hall.

During the years following this incident, stories circulated in Chicago about motorists who stopped along Archer Avenue to offer a young woman a ride. In each case, it was reported that, after accepting the ride, the rider said little or nothing, and always disappeared near Resurrection Cemetery.

On August 10, 1976, the Justice Police Department received a phone call requesting assistance. The man who phoned stated that he had noticed a girl standing behind the locked gates of Resurrection Cemetery, apparently trapped. When the police finally arrived, no one was there. However, the flashlight, used to inspect the grounds for the girl, revealed that two of the bars had been bent apart. On the bars were impressions that looked like imprints of fingers. The bars appeared to have been gripped and pulled apart. Interest in Resurrection Mary increased and the curious began to arrive at the cemetery.
The cemetery responded to the growing crowds by stating that the bars had been bent when a work truck accidentally backed into them. While attempting to straighten the bars by blowtorching them, someone grabbed the bars with asbestos gloves, leaving handprints on the bars.

Two separate reports were made on August 12, 1976, two days after this incident, concerning a young woman apparently the victim of a hit and run, who was observed lying on the ground, near the gates of Resurrection Cemetery. One of the concerned citizens made the call by CB radio and waited near the victim. When the squad car turned onto Archer Avenue and began to approach the person who had made the call, the body near the gates disappeared. Later that same evening, the other concerned citizen, who had made a similar report, drove to get assistance after seeing the body. Upon returning, there was no body, just the impression of a body in the grass.

It is believed by some that Resurrection Mary was once a young woman named Mary Bregovy, an individual who is buried at Resurrection Cemetery. Mary Bregovy died in downtown Chicago, due to an auto accident, on March 10, 1934, after hitting a steel post.

It is rumored that, sometime during the early 1970s, her body was unearthed once again, due to the tales of Resurrection Mary, and her coffin reopened. It is said that her body appeared to be that of a person newly buried. A photo was taken and she was reburied.

Sightings of Resurrection Mary began to decline during the 1990s. Was this due to Mary finally finding peace, or something else?