Resurrection Cemetery
Resurrection Cemetery – Justice, IL
By Michael Kleen
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Folklorists and ghost enthusiasts alike claim that Mary’s story dates back to the 1930s, when the ghost of a burgeoning Polish girl was first seen along Archer Avenue near Resurrection Cemetery. According to Kenan Heise, who would later go on to write a novel about the ghost, “she is a minor cult, a shared belief and an initiation rite for teenagers. When you learn to drive… you test the myth’s reality.” (Chicago Tribune, 29 October 1982)
Richard Crowe originally popularized the story in the 1970s, when he began collecting firsthand accounts and theorized that the real-life Mary had perished in a car accident in the early 1930s. “Mary supposedly was killed in a car wreck 40 years ago, and she’s been coming back and going dancing ever since,” he remarked in a May 13, 1974 article in the Chicago Tribune. Later, he elaborated that the sightings usually occurred around 1:30am.
In July 1979, the Tribune published a letter that claimed the last time the ghost of Mary had been seen was in August 1976 or 77, by two policemen near the gate of Resurrection Cemetery. That anonymous writer was probably referring to the most intriguing event of all related to this saga: the night that Mary left physical evidence behind…
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I was assigned to the Chicago Area in the 60′s as an engineer for a large Defense Contractor when I met a person in the area that expressed about the ghost, Resurrection Mary, etc. I inadvertently was talking to someone recently about this story. Today, I decided to look it up, if it exist at all, on the Internet. Was surprised to find it was indeed a real truth in the first place.
But the story was told to me that Mary would be walking along Archer and she also “glowed” as in luminous. Has anyone ever mentioned that? As told back in the 60′s, the story runs adequately along the lines that yours and others general writings, throughout this subject.