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Blue lights twinkling between the graves, ghostly figures and even phantom houses appearing and disappearing are only some of the ghost stories from Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery. What really happened to this abandoned cemetery?
Blue lights twinkling between the graves, ghostly figures and even phantom houses appearing and disappearing are only some of the ghost stories from Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery. What really happened to this abandoned cemetery?
Hidden deep within the Rubio Woods Forest Preserve, about twenty-four miles southwest of Chicago, lies Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery—a place that has gained infamy as one of the most haunted locations in the Midwest.
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Time and nature have overtaken this once-respectable burial ground. A murky quarry is next to it and trash is thrown on the ground. Next to the gravestone of a couple of infants are small toys littered next to it. Something else lurks in its overgrown paths and broken headstones. For decades, visitors have reported eerie encounters, strange lights, ghostly apparitions, and even brushes with the spirits of the long-departed.
Established in the early 1830s or 40s, Bachelor’s Grove is the oldest cemetery in Cook County, Illinois. The first burial was that of Eliza Scott in November 1844. Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery housed the Scottish, English and Irish immigrants that came in the 1820s. The name comes from both the Batchelder family who used to live there as well as a group of unmarried men calling themselves the Bachelors.
Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery was once a peaceful final resting place for early settlers, but as the years passed, it became the target of vandalism, decay, and something far more sinister.
By the Prohibition era of the 1920s and 1930s, the Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery had reportedly become a dumping ground for Chicago’s notorious organized crime syndicates. Rumors persist that the mob used the nearby lagoon as a watery grave for those who had crossed them, their bodies weighted down and left to disappear beneath the murky depths.
Aside from the rumors of being a dumping ground for the mafia, it was said to be a peaceful place until the 1950s when the Midlothian Turnpike was rerouted and left the grove far away from everything. Teenagers started using Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery as a lover’s lane, a place to drink and party and ghost stories and fantastical legends took hold.
Today, most of the eighty graves are unmarked due to rampant vandalism, the headstones either stolen or toppled over, and the grounds left in disrepair. Some of the coffins were even dug up and robbed. But while many of the gravestones are gone, the spirits remain.
Since the 1960s, countless visitors, ghost hunters, and paranormal investigators have reported chilling experiences at Bachelor’s Grove. Some claim to hear whispers carried on the wind, see floating orbs of light in blue or red, or experience an overwhelming sense of dread.
On the entrance there is a large black and tan dog sitting or running down a path. People realize it’s a ghost first when the Others have reported near-collisions with phantom vehicles that appear out of nowhere on the nearby roads, only to vanish without a trace.
Among the spirits said to roam the Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery, none are as well-known as the “Madonna of Bachelor’s Grove.” This spectral woman, dressed in a flowing white gown, is often seen wandering the grounds, cradling an infant in her arms. Many believe she is the spirit of a grieving mother, doomed to wander the Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery in search of her lost child. The legend claims that she is seeking something, or perhaps someone, although no one knows what.
Her story got known when a group of investigators explored the cemetery in 1979 and apparently took a photograph of her in a hooded robe with her baby cradled in her arms. Later it seems the Madonna of Bachelor’s Grove attire changed from story to story, wore only a white dress and had no baby.
In 1991, a famous photograph taken by Judy Felz from the Ghost Research Society captured what appears to be a semi-transparent woman in period clothing sitting on a broken headstone. The infrared image remains one of the most popular pieces of paranormal evidence associated with the cemetery.
There have been many speculations about who the woman in the graveyard could have been. For a long time they believed she could have been Luella Rogers because of the stone placement as she was the one buried next to the headstone just marked: “Infant Daughter” in number 15. But over the years the “Infant Daughter” stone has been moved and is actually on top of another woman.
The “Infant Daughter” headstones actually belong to the daughter of Bertand Fulton and Kathryn Vogt. Could this be the origin of the ghost? Or could it be someone else?
Could Madonna of Bachelor’s Grove possibly be Amelia Patrick Humphrey? Amelia was the first wife of Senator John Humphrey of Orland Park, a prominent politician from the mid 1800’s. Their third child Libby May died when she was only 11 months and 6 days and buried in the Patrick family lot (#44) in Bachelors Grove. Could this be the mother then, who is eternally visiting her young daughter’s grave?
One of the stranger legends from Bachelor’s Grove is the story about the disappearing house. It is said to be a white one-story Victorian house. On the porch there is a swing and a picket fence encircles it. When people claim to see it, they describe it more transparently. In the windows there is a flickering yellow light, as if a candle is lit.
Many people have come back from the Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery, talking about a house they were unable to find again. Many have sketched the same type of house from the legend, claiming they had never heard about the stories from this place.
A mist is often closing in on the house as well, and one story even claims that a line of people were waiting by the front door. When people try to approach it, they say that it shrinks and when you get close enough, it simply vanishes.
What or where the legend comes from is uncertain, but the story goes that if you actually are able to reach it, you will never be able to return.
But did a house even exist in this area? Some claim that there was nothing of the sorts built on this land, but maps from so long ago are not the most reliable. According to different maps there used to be around four homes and other structures close to the cemetery. There are pictures however that have resurfaced with buildings from the early 1900s looking like they used to be there, one of them is even said to really look like the descriptions of the story.
The most commonly told version of the Caretaker the Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery caretaker and his family living in a house in the woods. The house is said to be located a short distance west of what is now the roped-off entrance to the main path leading to the cemetery off of 143rd Street, across from the Rubio Woods Forest Preserve parking lot. This path is also known as a portion of the Midlothian Turnpike that was unofficially closed to vehicle traffic in the 1960s, with the official closure occurring in 1977.
All is normal with him and his family until one day out of nowhere he becomes enraged and kills his entire family. It is said that he was overcome with “evil spirits” that told him to kill his family. After he realized what he had done, he took his own life. At some point down the timeline of the story the townspeople burn down the caretaker’s house to erase all memory of this tragic story.
Now, people encounter him walking around the cemetery grounds, often with an oil lamp in his hand, telling people to leave the place. If they don’t listen to him, he is following them on the trail, the light shining behind them before he suddenly vanishes.
The killing is said to have happened in the 70s, but there is no proof for this. In fact, the Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery never had a caretaker at all. Still, there are plenty of people claiming to have encountered him over the years.
Another well-known story in the area is about a stranded couple, a local version of the Hook Man legend. It tells of a young couple who park by Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery. When they decide to leave, the boyfriend finds the car won’t start due to being out of gas or a stalled engine. He tells the girl to stay in the car while he goes to get help. While waiting, she hears a scratching noise on the roof that continues for a while. Curious but frightened, she remains in the car. Eventually, she sees blue lights and a siren behind her. An officer approaches, opens her door, and urgently instructs her not to turn around. Overcome with curiosity, she looks back and sees her boyfriend hanging from a tree above the car, his throat slit, his fingers barely touching the roof, scratching it. This horrific sight drives the girl into madness.
Read More: The Hook-Man
Now, this is a common story, but it gained new interest when a policeman shared it as real during an interview. In Halloween 2012, a group of paranormal researchers met a retired Bridgeview police officer who claimed to have seen official police reports of the incident. He mentioned baby-sized footprints on the roof of the car and stated that the murdered boy’s girlfriend was in a mental institution in Tinley Park. He spoke strongly about the report’s existence and the truth of the story, but later he recanted and stopped further communication, making it difficult to distinguish between tale and fact.
It’s not only houses and people that disappear into the night at Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery, but cars as well. A legend that really took off in the 1970’s was the stories told about the disappearing cars. According to these stories, drivers would pass the desolated roads by the Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery. According to them, they kept seeing a car pulled over on the side of the Midlothian Turnpike close to the cemetery. Although what type of car it was, changes from each retelling, although most often described as an older looking car, perhaps from the 40’s or even older. But when they went to double check in their rearview mirror, there was no car there anymore.
Some stories even said that night drivers ended up colliding with these phantom cars. A couple was at the corner of Central Avenue and Midlothian Turnpike. Checking in both directions, they saw it was all clear and made the turn. Out of nowhere, a “speeding brown sedan” as it’s often described as came hurling in the direction of the cemetery. The car crashed into the couple and they could feel the impact, hear the glass shattering and the metal crunching.
When they exited the car, the brown car simply faded away, and when they looked at their own car, it didn’t even have a scratch.
Although a popular story to tell about the place at the time, it seems like the legend of the phantom cars is not the most told anymore.
Right next to the Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery there is a little pond that is also said to be haunted. The story is that in 1870 there was a farmer plowing in a nearby field. His horse became startled and set off. The farmer, tangled in the reins, was dragged with the horse who jumped into the pond. Both drowned as the weight of the metal plow was so heavy it dragged the both to the bottom.
It is said that the farmer and the horse can be seen on the surface of the pond as well as appearing on 143rd Street right behind the cemetery.
But did this really happen though? According to historians it couldn’t have been in 1870 at least, as the pond didn’t even exist until after 1900. Was it another pond further away from the Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery? Another year? Did it happen at all?
From shadowy figures darting between the trees to ghostly apparitions of monks, mobsters, and misty forms hovering above graves, the spirits of Bachelor’s Grove refuse to be forgotten. Paranormal investigators continue to explore the site, capturing electronic voice phenomena (EVPs) and anomalous readings, adding to the growing legend of this haunted graveyard.
For those brave enough to visit, Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery offers more than just a glimpse into Chicago’s past— But you must visit Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery at day. From sunset to sunrise the cemetery is closed off and patrolled. To keep teenagers and those up to mischief out? Or to keep something in?
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