Читать книгу Chicago Haunted Handbook - Jeff Morris - Страница 10

ARCHER WOODS CEMETERY

(MOUNT GLENWOOD MEMORY GARDENS WEST)

8301 Kean Avenue, Willow Springs, Illinois 60480

directions

From the center of Chicago, travel south on I-55 for 13.5 miles to the exit for US 12 East and South La Grange Road. Follow South La Grange Road for about 3 miles and then turn left onto W 87th Street. Take a left onto South Kean Avenue. The cemetery will be on your right after about 0.5 mile.

history

Not much is known about the history of the ghost that haunts this cemetery. The cemetery itself was established in 1920 and has been accepting burials since that time, so the ghost could belong to any one of the thousands of people who were buried here.

There are many old and interesting headstones and monuments within the cemetery. Perhaps the most interesting of these monuments is called the Garden of Hymns monument, a stone wall topped with organ pipes.

ghost story

This area is a notoriously haunted part of Chicago. It is near the haunted Archer Avenue, Willowbrook Ballroom, Resurrection Cemetery, the haunted intersection of Kean and 95th Street, and St. James Sag Cemetery. Several ghost stories circulate about this cemetery. The most famous ghost of Archer Woods Cemetery is a woman in white who sobs just inside the front gate. The woman is most often seen by passing motorists after the cemetery has closed at sunset. These motorists report seeing a woman just inside the gates hunched over and crying. When they go up to her to see what is wrong, she vanishes into thin air.

This woman is also seen during the day. When witnesses encounter her during the day, they report entering the cemetery without seeing the woman. As they are leaving, though, witnesses find her hunched by the entrance, sobbing. Those who see her during the day will only see her on their way out, and never encounter her on their way into the cemetery.

Remarkably, there are many people who claim to have photographed the woman. Most often, these photographers will not realize that they have photographed the apparition until they get home and examine their photographs.

Beyond the sobbing woman, this cemetery boasts a handful of other strange happenings. People will sometimes get lightheaded and dizzy in the cemetery for no apparent reason. Others will hear the Garden of Hymns playing organ music. Still more will watch a black, horse-drawn hearse slow down in front of the cemetery, then vanish.

visiting

The cemetery is open from sunrise until sunset. Even though the gates are often left open throughout the night, it is illegal to enter the cemetery after nightfall. No matter; most all of the photographs of the sobbing woman have been taken during the day. Passing motorists who see the sobbing woman at night need not enter the cemetery, as they will see the woman sobbing behind the gates.