Читать книгу Chicago Haunted Handbook - Jeff Morris - Страница 15

COUNTY FARM CEMETERY

(JOLIET POTTER’S FIELD)

880 Mission Boulevard, Joliet, Illinois 60431

directions

From the center of Chicago, take I-55 South for 40 miles to Exit 253 toward Joliet. Turn left onto US-52 East and follow this road for 2 miles. Turn right onto Infantry Drive and then, after 0.5 mile, right again onto County Farm Road. Take a left onto Mission Boulevard. You will need to park by the soccer fields. Standing on Mission Boulevard facing the field, you proceed to your right until you come upon a thin line of trees adjacent to a residential area, then follow that line of trees away from Mission Boulevard until you hit another small grove of trees. The cemetery is inside this grove.

history

The cemetery was founded in 1850 and belonged to Will County Farm. Will County Farm was a home for the elderly and the homeless. It is likely that many of these people were buried in the cemetery. Other poor people who could not afford a plot in another cemetery were also buried here over the years. Historians think that there could be as many as 150 people buried in the cemetery.

Throughout the cemetery, there are 48 stones. Most of the stones are marked with numbers instead of names, which suggests that multiple people are buried in each of the areas marked by the stones. Only one stone currently bears a name in the cemetery. It says “George Miller.” He died in 1907.

In more recent years, the cemetery had fallen into complete disrepair. Broken headstones littered the ground. Bones from the deceased had surfaced and been taken by local wildlife. Local volunteers are working to fix up the cemetery, but its disrepair still echoes through the ghosts that haunt this potter’s field.

ghost story

The cemetery itself has an air of sadness and despair. People who enter it are sometimes overwhelmed by this feeling. As soon as they step out of the cemetery, they are no longer sad. It is almost as if the cemetery has its own atmosphere of depression that only affects people when they are within the cemetery grounds.

Inside the cemetery, trees and bushes often rustle and move by themselves on windless days. When investigated, no cause for the rustling can be determined. Other witnesses have reported seeing glowing orbs of light floating through the cemetery.

Perhaps the strangest thing to happen here is that many photographs of the cemetery are distorted. Many photographers state that on certain days it is impossible to get a clear picture of the cemetery. Certain elements are out of focus for no reason. Other parts seem stretched beyond recognition.

visiting

The cemetery is open from sunrise until sunset. This is not optimal for ghost hunting here, but there are still some things that visitors are able to experience. The distorted photographs can be taken during daylight hours. The oppressive feelings of despair are experienced during both day and night. Unfortunately, the glowing orbs of light are only seen at night and the cemetery is too far from any adjacent roads to see after darkness falls.