Resurrection Cemetery

A massive 380-acre cemetery with over 160,000 burials, famous for housing Chicago's most legendary ghost: Resurrection Mary. The cemetery spans the area where Archer Avenue runs southwest from Chicago, a road with a long history of paranormal sightings.

Resurrection Cemetery in Justice, Illinois, is home to Chicago's most famous ghost: Resurrection Mary, a vanishing hitchhiker whose legend has terrified drivers along Archer Avenue for nearly a century. First reported in 1939, Mary has become the "Queen of Chicago's haunted roads."

The story tells of a young woman who spent an evening dancing with her boyfriend at the Oh Henry Ballroom (later Willowbrook Ballroom). After an argument, she stormed out and began walking up Archer Avenue. Before she got far, a hit-and-run driver struck and killed her, leaving her to die on the roadway. Her grief-stricken parents buried her in Resurrection Cemetery wearing a beautiful white dancing dress and matching shoes. The driver was never found.

Since the 1930s, countless men driving northeast along Archer Avenue between the ballroom and the cemetery have reported picking up a young female hitchhiker. Witnesses describe a formally dressed young woman with light blonde hair, blue eyes, a thin shawl, dancing shoes, and a small clutch purse. She sits quietly as the driver nears Resurrection Cemetery, then vanishes directly into the graveyard.

Jerry Palus provided the first documented account in 1939, claiming he met Mary at Liberty Grove and Hall at 47th and Mozart. They danced, kissed, and she asked him to drive her home along Archer Avenue, where she exited and disappeared before the cemetery gates. Dramatic sightings occurred in 1976, 1978, 1980, and 1989 involving cars striking or nearly striking Mary outside the cemetery, only for her to vanish by the time the motorist exits their vehicle.

The most infamous incident occurred in August 1976 when Mary reportedly burned her handprints into the wrought-iron cemetery fence. Officials claim a truck damaged the fence, but the bent bars remain a focal point for believers. In 1977, a passing driver spotted a young woman in white grabbing at the gates as if trapped inside. When police arrived, no one was found, yet the heavy metal bars were bent as if someone had tried to force them apart.

Researchers have proposed several identities for Mary, including Mary Bregovy, who died in an automobile accident, and Anna Norkus, nicknamed "Marija," who died in a 1927 car crash shortly after leaving the Oh Henry Ballroom. Her legend has inspired ballads, B-movies, and multiple segments on Unsolved Mysteries.