by Walter Bissell
Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery , located near Midlothian and Oak Forest, Illinois, is one of the hottest spots of paranormal activity in the country. The small, abandoned cemetery formerly known as Everdon’s lies near the Rubio Woods Forest Preserve just outside the Chicago city limits. Today, due to its notoriety, at the time of this writing, owners of the cemetery are seeking for Bachelors Grove be closed off to visitors. If permission is not granted, then one could be charged with trespassing.
The cemetery was established in the late 1830’s and its last resident was buried there in 1989. Many of the individuals were German immigrants who were hired to build the Illinois Michigan Canal. Many of the workers were single men as the backbreaking, dirty work and the long hours made married life a true hardship. So many of them died and were buried there that the cemetery was renamed Bachelor’s Grove.
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Bachelor's Grove Cemetery: Infrared Photograph
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Bachelors Grove Cemetery during times of disrepair
Although the graves are no longer attended and nearly forgotten, there is no shortage of activity around them. The cemetery is well known as a place where unusual sights and sounds are experienced. More than 100 tales of glowing balls of light, apparitions, and unexplained noises have been reported.
One of the strangest and mysterious sightings is that of a “phantom white farmhouse that appears and disappears along the gravel trail leading to the cemetery. Many people have seen this old farmhouse in several different places along the trail and it has been seen during the day and also at night”. Also seen, is a monk dressed in a long robe, a man with a yellowish glow, and a ghost known as the “White Lady”. Many believe she is the ghost of a young woman that is buried close to her infant son. These ghosts have been photographed by several different people.
Strange noises, such as horses, crackling sounds, growls, creaking metal gates, and human voices are reported frequently at Bachelor’s Grove. Mysterious lights, very strange mists and dramatic shifts in temperature have also been reported.
Legend has it that the gravestones in Bachelor’s Grove “move on their own”. The cemetery has been frequently desecrated and some of the gravestones have been stolen. What it is not certain is how the robbers were able to remove the grave markers and what is just as uncertain is how the markers manage to get back to the graveyard, but they somehow do.
Another area that is said to be haunted is a small lagoon just beyond the graveyard. In prohibition years, the lagoon was allegedly a favorite spot for Chicago gangsters to dump the bodies and cars of the victims of their rivals. Bodies have been seen floating in the lagoon and then mysteriously vanish beneath the water. Phantom headlights are often seen shining just beneath the surface and then slowly growing dim and finally going out. People have reported seeing “a two-headed monster and a farmer with a horse drawn wagon near the lagoon.”
What “singles” out Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery from other sites are the numbers of different types of haunting phenomena on display in one geographical location. The cemetery is a ghost hunter's dream and a skeptic’s nightmare. What ever your forte', a visit here sounds like “an offer you can’t refuse.”
Ghost Pictures Taken at Bachelor's Grove Cemetery:
Bachelor's Grove Ghost Picture