Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery, located near Midlothian and Oak Forest, Illinois, is one of the hottest spots of paranormal activity in the country. The small, abandoned cemetery formerly known as Everdon’s lies near the Rubio Woods Forest Preserve just outside the Chicago city limits.
The cemetery was established in the late 1830’s and its last resident was buried there in
1989. Many of the individuals were German immigrants who were hired to build the Illinois
Michigan Canal. Many of the workers were single men as the backbreaking, dirty work
and the long hours made married life a true hardship. So many of them died and were
buried there that the cemetery was renamed Bachelor’s Grove.
Although the graves are no longer attended and nearly forgotten, there is no shortage of
activity around them. The cemetery is well known as a place where unusual sights and
sounds are experienced. More than 100 tales of glowing balls of light, apparitions, and
unexplained noises have been reported.
One of the strangest and mysterious sightings is that of a “phantom white farmhouse that
appears and disappears along the gravel trail leading to the cemetery. Many people have
seen this old farmhouse in several different places along the trail and it has been seen
during the day and also at night”. Also seen, is a monk dressed in a long robe, a man with
a yellowish glow, and a ghost known as the “White Lady”. Many believe she is the ghost of
a young woman that is buried close to her infant son. These ghosts have been
photographed by several different people.
Strange noises, such as horses, crackling sounds, growls, creaking metal gates, and
human voices are reported frequently at Bachelor’s Grove. Mysterious lights, very strange
mists and dramatic shifts in temperature have also been reported.
Legend has it that the gravestones in Bachelor’s Grove “move on their own”. The cemetery
has been frequently desecrated and some of the gravestones have been stolen. What it is
not certain is how the robbers were able to remove the grave markers and what is just as
uncertain is how the markers manage to get back to the graveyard, but they somehow do.
Another area that is said to be haunted is a small lagoon just beyond the graveyard. In
prohibition years, the lagoon was allegedly a favorite spot for Chicago gangsters to dump
the bodies and cars of the victims of their rivals. Bodies have been seen floating in the
lagoon and then mysteriously vanish beneath the water. Phantom headlights are often
seen shining just beneath the surface and then slowly growing dim and finally going out.
People have reported seeing “a two-headed monster and a farmer with a horse drawn
wagon near the lagoon.”
What “singles” out Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery from other sites are the numbers of
different types of haunting phenomena on display in one geographical location. The
cemetery is a ghost hunter's dream and a skeptic’s nightmare. What ever your forte', a
visit here sounds like “an offer you can’t refuse.”
borrowed from: http://www.angelsghosts.com/ghost_story_stories.html
