So I was asked to dig into the Resurrection Mary legend, and guess what!  I found a lot of crazy details, check this out!   The back story goes something like this: The most accurate version is about this chick who was killed while hitchhiking in Chicago on Archer Avenue in the early 1930’s.

Apparently, she had been hanging out one evening at the O Henry Ballroom with a boyfriend.  At some point, they get into an argument and, of course, he did, or said something stupid and pissed her off.  So, Mary storms out of the joint leaving the boyfriend looking like an asshole, which I’m sure he was, because she knew it was freezing outside.  If she was willing to walk home in the sleet and snow, trust me the dude was definitely an asshole.  So she starts walking up Archer Avenue, but she didn’t make it very far.  All of the sudden a speeding car comes flying toward her, hits her and then leaves the scene, Look everybody! another asshole!  well ya’ll, the reports say that she hadn’t been killed on contact, she actually laid there in the icy slush for a while before she died from her injuries.

  A few days later, her grieving parents buried her in Resurrection Cemetery, wearing a white dress and her dancing shoes.  Ever since then, her spirit has been spotted all along Archer Avenue.  Encounters and sightings of Mary started in the middle 1900’s, most folks said that they saw Mary being struck by a passing car.  And then there were drivers that swore a young girl in a white gown had ran out in front of their car.  Some said that she vanished on impact, but sometimes, she’d bounce off of the car, landing in a crumpled pile on the side of the road.  You know these driver’s are already shitting a brick because, in their mind, they just ran this girl over.  So, they pull over and rush to see if the chick is dead or alive and they find out that she’s neither, cause she’s not there, anywhere.

Ok, are you relieved to know that you didn’t kill somebody, or are you freaking the hell out because you just realized that you’ve had an encounter with the ghost.  I’d be relieved that no one was dead, not freaked out about a ghostly encounter but a little concerned that the ghost may be pissed off at me for hitting them with my car, but that’s just me!  Well, apparently Resurrection Mary doesn’t have time to be pissed off, because she’s a very busy girl, check out the history of documented appearances:

In 1973, Mary shows up at least twice at a nightclub called Harlow’s on Cicero.  Witnesses say that she was wearing a white dress, dancing alone in a corner.  Now, the bouncers had checked the I.D.’s of everyone who came through the door, but no one ever saw the girl enter or leave.  Later that same year, an annoyed cab driver entered Chet’s Melody Lounge, located across the road from the Resurrection Cemetery, he was looking for a fare that had skipped off without paying.  The young blond woman, in a white gown, that he picked up was nowhere to be seen.  The manager explained that there had been no blonde woman in the bar that night.

During the mid 70’s, the number of Mary sightings began to increase.  Tons of folks, from cab drivers to ministers  all said they had picked her up and had given her rides only for her to vanish when they drive past the cemetery.  Curiously, it was during this same time that the Cemetery was undergoing some major renovations.  I’m thinking that the activity near her grave caused Mary some unrest.

On August 12, 1976, Cook County police officers were called to the site of a reported hit and run.  The officers get there and they find this chick in tears, she’s wigging out because she had just witnessed this whole thing go down.  So the cops asked her where the body of the victim was and she points to a wet grassy area.  There in the wet grass was a depression, that matched the shape of a human body.  The girl said that just as the police car approached the scene, the body vanished!  There was another run in just like this in 78.  This young couple was driving down Archer when a girl suddenly runs out in the road in front of their car. The driver swerved trying to avoid her but knew when he hit the brakes that it was already too late.  So they’re bracing for impact, and the car passes right through the girl! The girl then runs into Resurrection Cemetery, right through the cast iron gates.

Another man was on his way to work early one morning.  He looks up and sees the body of a young girl lying on the ground in front of the cemetery gates.  He slams the brakes, jumps out of the truck and runs toward the body.  He sees that she was badly injured, but seemed to be alive.  So he jumps back into his truck and hauls ass to the nearby police station and tells them what’s going on.  They call for an ambulance and then the dude leads the officers back to the cemetery.   When they get there, there’s no girl, but, the outline of a body was still visible on the dew-covered pavement.

In August 1980, Mary was seen by dozens of people, including the Deacon of the Greek Church on Archer Avenue. The phones at the police station were ringing off the freaking hook, so they start sending cars.  But when they get there, there’s no blonde girl in a white dress anywhere, there were however tons of witnesses.  They’re all flagging the cops down trying to tell them about this hit and run and they’re all freaking out because the girl had just disappeared.

On September 5, this dude was leaving a softball game and he’s driving down Archer Avenue.  He looks up and sees this chick in a white dress standing on the side of the road.  So he stops the car and offers her a ride.  So the girl gets in the car and asks to be taken further down Archer.  Well, while old boy’s driving, he starts trying to carry on a conversation with her, this dumb-ass even jokes with her and tells her that she looks like “Resurrection Mary”  Well, the girl’s ignoring him, her eyes are focused straight ahead and she says nothing.  So, he keeps on even offering to stop for drinks, still no kind of response at all.  So he’s getting a little bent, because his mack daddy routine is failing miserably.  As he’s driving past the cemetery, he turns to look at her just as she vanishes into thin air.

In October of 89, two women are driving past Resurrection Cemetery when all of the sudden this girl, in a white dress, runs out in front of their car.  The driver slams on the brakes, but she knew she was going to hit the girl.  Her hands are locked on to the steering wheel and she’s standing on the brakes but there was no impact.  Both she and the passenger were absolutely baffled, because there was no one, including a girl in a white dress, any where in sight.

During the 90’s, Mary encounters slacked off, but they didn’t stop.  Most of these encounters happened near Chet’s Melody Lounge, it’s located pretty much across the road from the cemetery gates.  Chet’s is open into the early morning hours, so it’s usually the first place these freaked out drivers go to look for the girl in the white dress that they just ran over.  This is the same place that the cab driver went in 73 looking for that skipped fare.  I think Chet’s would be my first choice too, but I’d be looking to order a few shots of something, and I’m betting these folks were too.

In July 2001, an unnamed witness stated that he and his girlfriend had spotted Mary along Archer Avenue.  Here’s the kicker, the statement was made through a translator.  The witness was from Lithuania and spoke only broken English.  She had no knowledge about the legend of Resurrection Mary.

Here’s another story,  this couple was driving along Archer Avenue, they spotted a figure lurking around the Cemetery gate.  The witness said that, just before seeing the figure, he spotted a police officer who had pulled somebody over on the left down a side street.

As they drove past, both of them spotted a girl walking on the road with her back toward them.  She was wearing a white gown.  As they drive by, he remembers the story about Resurrection Mary and he starts telling his girlfriend, the passenger, the story and he also called his sister on his cell phone.  So the girlfriend wants to turn around and see if the Mary was still there.  So the dude turns the car around and they start looking for Mary, seconds later they pass where the cop has the car pulled over, Mary was nowhere to been seen, but then out of nowhere, Mary is standing along the shoulder of the road, only a few feet from the pavement and facing them head on.  She was dressed in a faded and discolored gown and was carrying what appeared to be a bouquet of dark flowers.   The witnesses stated “She wasn’t looking at us, she was just staring down the road with the most blank expression on her face”

And then there’s this encounter from the early 2000’s.   So it’s a freezing ass cold night and this cabby’s driving down Archer Avenue.  It’s sleeting and and the roads are all shitty.  As he’s passing by the old ballroom, he sees this pale, blurry figure on the side of the road.  He can’t see good though the wet and icy windshield.  So as he’s straining to make the figure out he realizes that it’s a young girl in a white gown with a shawl over her shoulders.  Thinking that this chick’s gonna freeze to death, he pulls up beside her and offers her a ride.  So she opens the back door and gets in.   The cabbie looks into the rear view mirror and asks her where she wants to go, tells her the ride is free.

The girl asks him to keep driving down Archer Avenue.  So he pulls back onto the road, then looks in the rear view mirror again and sees that the girl is shivering so he turns up the heater.  He comments on the weather, trying to make conversation, but she doesn’t answer him at first.  So, he thinks maybe she’s drunk or strung out on something, cause that would explain a lot right?!   Well, finally, she answers him, her voice is kind of weak, almost fearful.   She says “”The snow came early this year,”  the driver didn’t really know if she was talking to him or talking to herself, he’s figuring that he’s got himself a nutcase in the back seat now.

So he agrees with her, then attempts to make more small talk.  She just sits there quietly, looking straight forward into the distance.  Suddenly out of nowhere, she screams at him, demanding that he pull the car over right there. that this was where she needed to get out.  The Cabby’s startled by her sudden outburst, he slams on the brakes and pulls to the side of the road, as soon as the car stops he looks up and sees the gates of the cemetery.  He says, lady you can’t get out here, this is a cemetery, then he looks up into the rear view mirror to see that the girl was gone.  The car door had never opened she had just vanished and all that remained was the damp imprint on the leather seat where she had been sitting.

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