Haunted America: The Ghosts of Bachelor's Grove Cemetery in Midlothian, Illinois

There is no shortage of bone chilling destinations in the United States, and some of them even have the potential of scaring you so badly that you convince yourself that your heart has stopped right there on the spot. This has occurred simply because you can no longer hear it beating through your chest from the sheer fear that has managed to envelope you right where you stand. Why? Probably because you have placed yourself in one of the most haunted cemeteries in the world, and you are not escaping without some type of paranormal activity that has caused your brain to overload with perceived threatening messages that have come through from the other side.

Bachelor's Grove in Chicago, Illinois is not for the faint of heart; hell, it is not even for the tough ass that think they are ten foot tall and bullet proof. This haunted destination emanates strong vapors that simply cannot be ignored. This desecrated cemetery has been the center of many outrageous tales, outlandish circumstances, ghostly and demonic sightings, and it has and will always be the focus of ghost hunters from every corner of the planet who dare to cross its path.

It is considered extreme due to the very nature of the walking dead that exists, desiring to hold onto the living at any cost, draining you of strength and air, and weakening your immune system as is evident by the sore throat, shortness of breath, and cough that typically follows your visit to this bizarre place that is the grounds where the dead live among us, but are clueless to that fact. Skeptics have been easily persuaded to become believers of the spirits that walk among us from just one visit to Bachelor's Grove Cemetery. For where you may have lacked in eye contact with those roaming around on the other side, the subtle touches from absolutely nothing that can be seen, and rapidly declining temperatures of at least a 20 degree difference in some areas will quickly change your tune.

The now abandoned cemetery has headstones that date back to the mid 1830's, but was made an official burial grounds in 1844. Satanic rituals are held here quite frequently which only adds fuel to the fire for paranormal activity to be at an unusual high on any given night. There is never a shortage of orbs, and they are caught on film and video by thrill seekers, professional photographers, and ghost hunters looking for validation that this is indeed one haunted place lacking in relative calm, but rather screams for attention. They are seldom let down, and many of these witnesses to the ghostly activity refuse to return for a second attempt at communicating with the other side.

One unexplained incident that almost stopped the hearts of Chicago psychic detective Ken Melvoin-Berg and a reporter from the Chicago Tribune involved the ghost of a young boy. While visiting the old graveyard in 2006, the ghost hunter's encountered the spirit of a persistent young boy. They were able to clearly hear a child's voice crying out to them that he had lost his silver coin.

The reporter, scared out of his mind at this point, stated that the psychic detective momentarily went into a strange trance-like state and headed toward a nearby pond filled with filthy green muck. He slowly entered the water until he was knee deep, and ran his hands through the green algae infested water until he touched bottom. He slowly lifted up a small mud ridden object, and after wiping it off discovered that it was a 1942 Walking Liberty half-dollar coin. The location of the coin was exactly where the young male spirit had told him it would be.

Ghost hunters are obviously drawn to those places that active ghosts are reported to be, but some things remain unexplainable despite the fact that you yourself along with thousands of other people have witnessed them first hand. Spirit seekers have attempted to dissect Bachelor's Grove Cemetery in an effort to come to a sane reason as to why certain things exist. However this cannot be done when it comes to the old ghost house in the woods. The larger than life house is clearly visible, has been captured on video, and it is extremely intriguing. It clearly draws you in for a clearer look, but just as you get too close for comfort, bam! The house vanishes into thin air.

Red streaks of lights have been witnessed throughout the cemetery since the early 1960's when vandals started tipping headstones and spray painting monuments. These red lights sometimes follow you at rapid speeds, and other times they zip through the air and show up on film as orbs. Experienced paranormal investigators, including the Weird Chicago gang has investigated Bachelor's Grove many times. During one overnight visit in 2007, an episode of the series "Cringe" was filmed at Bachelor's Grove.

The crew, including producer Troy Taylor set up camera's among the toppled and crumbling tombstones, and sometime during the course of the filming, some of the digital footage was inexplicably distorted or destroyed. The crew was left scratching their heads in dismay, horror, and disbelief because this was something that they had just never encountered prior to their visit to Bachelor's Grove. Further attempts to record a follow-up to the first episode of the Weird Chicago Podcast were completely abandoned after equipment failures ruined the recording beyond repair.

The largest amount of reported ghostly encounters tells of a transparent image of a spirit lady donning white attire, and she has remained under speculation for many decades. She has been seen by thousands of visitors at the eerie old graveyard, perched on a checkered tombstone looking off towards the direction of the thick wooded area nearby. Jude Felz of the Chicago Sun-Times managed to capture her image on film. The heart stopping lady dressed in white has also been seen during the full moon meandering aimlessly through the graveyard carrying a lifeless infant child tightly cradled in her arms.

Many legends surround this creepy spirit infested piece of coffin filled land, and it was once believed that the haunted cemetery got its name due to the large amount of men that were buried there early on. In fact at one time the burial plots were void of any females, but through research it has been established that the name Bachelors Grove was handed down from the Batchelder family. These German immigrants settled in the area back in the mid 1800's in the wooded grove located near the graveyard.

You can say many things about the Bachelor's Grove Cemetery, but once you have entered the gate of the heavy fence surrounding it, you cannot claim that your visit was boring or that you walked through this heavily laden spirit world, and passed by the many deteriorated markers alone. In fact the chance of being visited by the walking dead ranks high, but are you ready for the heart stopping ghostly guide that will lead you to a mind altering adventure, or will you feel inclined to run for your life?

Location: Bachelor's Grove Cemetery, 143rd St and Midlothian Turnpike, Midlothian, Illinois 60445 Web Site: http://www.bachelorsgrove.com/

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bachelor%27s_Grove_Cemetery

http://www.yourghoststories.com/real-ghost-story.php?story=35

http://www.examiner.com/paranormal-in-chicago/chicago-paranormal-haunted-location-bachelor-s-grove-cemetery-ghost-house

http://paranormal-tv.blogspot.com/2009/08/bachelors-grove-cemetery-haunted.html

http://graveyards.com/IL/Cook/bachelors/

http://hauntedhistoriclocations.com/Ghost_House_Bachelors_Grove_Cemetery.html

http://www.prairieghosts.com/bachgrov.html

http://www.bachelorsgrove.com/directions-to-bachelors-grove-cemetery-.html

http://bachelors-grove.net/