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For decades, drivers on a dark stretch of Chicago's Archer
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Avenue have encountered the same eerie vision, a young woman
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in white thumbing for a ride, only to vanish near
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Resurrection Cemetery. Who is she or who was she? And
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why won't her ghost let go?
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What you were about to be is bid to be
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based on witness accounts, testimonies, and public record. This is
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terrifying and treat.
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It begins with a lone figure on the roadside, pale
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sign island and dressed in white. Dozens of witnesses have
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seen her over the years, always on Archer Avenue, always
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near Resurrection Cemetery. Some say she's a spirit of the past.
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Others claim she's still looking for a way home. Tonight
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we follow the trail of Resurrection Mary, Chicago's vanishing hitchhiker,
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and the legends, the lives and the losses she may
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have left behind. Make sure you're subscribed as we dive
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deep into this campfire legend. After this, it's a moonless
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night on Archer Avenue, a lonely stretch of road southwest
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of Chicago. A driver rounds a curve by Resurrection Cemetery,
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headlights cutting through the darkness. Suddenly, a young woman steps
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out of the shadows. She's beautiful, eerily pale, dressed in
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a white party dress. She raises her thumb for a ride.
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The startled driver pulls over. The woman wordlessly slips into
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the back seat, shivering without a coat in the chill air.
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She directs him up Archer Avenue, and the driver obliges,
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glancing at his silent passenger in the rear view mirror.
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As they near the cemetery gates, the mysterious girl jolts
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upright and cries out here, stop here. Confused, the driver
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looks around at the roadside tombstones. In that split second,
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the girl vanishes from the back seat, no trace left behind.
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The car door had never opened. Such is the classic
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encounter with Resurrection Mary, the legendary ghostly hitchhiker of Chicago's
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South Side. For nearly a century, locals have whispered about
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this vanishing hitchhiker in a white gown who prowls Archer
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Avenue thumbing rides, only to disappear at Resurrection Cemetery's gates.
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She has been called Chicago's most famous ghost story, and
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she has become an inescapable part of local folklore. But
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where did this legend begin and what truth, if any,
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lies behind the ghost stories. We are going to delve
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into the creepy origins and evolution of the Resurrection Mary legend,
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examine documented sightings and encounters over the decades, and explore
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attempts to identify a real person behind the phantom. Will
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also take a look at local history surrounding Resurrection Cemetery,
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the role of folklore and the media in spreading Mary's tale,
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and her lasting impact on popular culture, as well as
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Chicago tourism. Along the way, will separate verified facts from
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spooky fiction, clearly noting where the story slides into urban legend.
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So prepare yourself for a dramatic, yet fackgrounded journey through
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one of America's greatest ghost stories, one that continues to
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beguile and unnerve to this very day. The legend of
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Resurrection Mary has its roots in the jazz age, with
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a backstory set in the roaring nineteen twenties or early
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nineteen thirties. According to popular lore, a young woman named
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Mary spent an evening dancing at a ballroom on Archer Avenue.
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Different tellings named the venue as the o Henry Ballroom
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in Willow Springs, later renamed the Willowbrook Ballroom. Mary was
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out for a night of swing dancing with her boyfriend.
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At some point, the couple quarreled in a fit of temper.
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Mary stormed out of the ballroom into the cold night,
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still clad in her way white dancing dress and shoes.
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Angry and likely heartbroken, Mary set off on foot along
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Archer Avenue, intending to walk home tragedy Struck on the roadside,
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a car came barreling down the dark highway and struck
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Mary as she walked. The driver, so the story goes,
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fled the scene, leaving the young woman to die from
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her injuries. Mary's grief stricken parents later found her body
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and laid her to rest in nearby Resurrection Cemetery, buried
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in her beloved white gown and dancing shoes. The hit
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and run culprit was never identified. It's a heartbreaking tale,
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and notably, no historical record has ever confirmed this exaus
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series of events. There is no definitive police report or
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news item from the era about a young woman named
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Mary killed by a hit and run on Archer Avenue
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after leaving a dance. Rather, this backstory appears to be
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an early piece of folklore, possibly intended to give context
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to later ghost sightings. In other words, the ballroom argument
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and fatal accident narrative is treated as legend, not verified fact.
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It provides a kind of origin myth for resurrection Mary
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explaining why her ghost might haunt that road, a young
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life cut short on the way home from a dance,
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a spirit still searching for a ride back home or
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back to her grave. What we do know is that
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by the life in eight nineteen thirties, stories of a
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vanishing hitchhiker on Archer Avenue were already circulating around Chicago's
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South Side. The trope of the ghostly hitchhiker was not
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unique to Chicago. Folklorists have documented similar tales worldwide, often
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referred to simply as vanishing hitchhiker legends, dating back decades
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or even centuries. A seminal nineteen forty two study in
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the California Folklore Quarterly found multiple hitchhiker ghost stories across
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the United States with common elements. A traveler late at
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night gives a ride to a strange woman, often young
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and dressed in white, who later vanishes without explanation. In
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some variations, the mysterious passenger gives in a that turns
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out to be a cemetery or claims to be returning
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from a dance or event. Clearly, the Resurrection Mary story
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is Chicago's distinctive spin on this broader urban legend motif. However,
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what makes Mary's case unusual is the sheer number of
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first hand accounts over the years. From the very beginning,
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Resurrection Mary's story straddled the line between folklore and actual belief.
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In the tightly knit ethnic neighborhoods of Chicago's southwest Side.
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Places like Archer Heights, Brighton Park, and Justice, Illinois, residents
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swapped stories about encounters with a pale, blonde girl in
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a white dress hitchhiking near Resurrection Cemetery. These early tales
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were shared person to person, part of the oral lore
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of the community. As one paranormal investigator, Dale Kasmarak later noted,
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even his parents, who dated in the late nineteen thirties,
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had heard the story. Back then, his father would teasingly
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drive past Resurrection Cemetery after their dates, hoping to catch
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a glimpse of the ghost, to the chagrin of Kasmarak's mother.
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That implies the legend was already alive shortly after the
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supposed time of Mary's death. It wasn't until decades later
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that researchers and journalists began writing down the Resurrection Mary story,
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trying to piece together its origin. When when they did,
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some dug into local archives for real life incidents that
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might match the legend's outline. This quest led to a
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few tantalizing historical candidates, but we'll get to those in
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just a little bit. But it bears repeating the classic
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origin tale of Resurrection Mary. The fight the roadside fatality
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remains unverified. It is an archetypal ghost story, one that
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makes poetic sense even if it lacks documentation. It sets
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the stage for many ghostly encounters to come, providing a
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tragic figure we can imagine wandering archer Avenue, caught between
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the dance and the grave. The earliest well known Resurrection
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Mary encounter dates to nineteen thirty nine, about ten years
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after the legend's supposed starting point. A twenty two year
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old South Side man named Jerry Pallace claimed he had
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a face to face dance with the ghost. His story
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often retold by ghost researchers and even featured on television
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unfolds like a scene from a kind of paranormal romance.
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According to Pallace, it was a cold autumn night in
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nineteen thirty nine, and he was out at a local
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dance hall called the Liberty Grove and Hall in Chicago's
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Brighton Park neighborhood. During the night, Jerry's eyes were drawn
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to a quiet young woman he hadn't seen there before.
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A lovely blonde girl around five foot seven wearing a
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white formal dress that was fashionably a bit old fashioned.
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She introduced herself only as Mary. The two danced together
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most of the night to the live band's music. Jerry
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noticed something odd though, Mary's hands felt as cold as ice,
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but he brushed it off, joking that quote she must
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have a warm heart to compensate. Some versions of the
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story even say Jerry sneaked to kiss from the mysterious
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girl during a slow dance. When the night grew late
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and the ballroom prepared to close, Jerry offered Mary a
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ride home. She accepted. Mary had told Jerry she lived
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on the South Side, specifically on South Damon Avenue in
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the back of the yard's neighborhood, but curiously Once in
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Jerry's car, she insisted he drive her down Archer Avenue instead.
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Jerry was puzzled. Archer Avenue wouldn't lead directly to her
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stated home, but Mary was adamant about that route, so
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they headed down Archer through the quiet, darkened outskirts. As
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they approached the gates of Resurrection Cemetery in the nearby
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suburb of Justice, Mary suddenly grew agitated and told Jerry
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to stop the car. Let me out here, she said,
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even though they were in front of the cemetery with
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no house in sight. Jerry offered to walk her to
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wherever she was going, concerned for a young woman wandering
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alone at night, but Mary replied, in a strange, somber tone,
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where I'm going, you can't follow. Then she exited the
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car and walked toward the cemetery gates. Before Jerry's astonished eyes,
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the girl faded into thin air, disappearing in front of
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the locked cemetery entrance. In that moment, Jerry later recounted,
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he realized something was very wrong. The beautiful blonde he
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had spent the evening with was no ordinary girl. She was,
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he believed, a ghost. Shaken but curious Jerry Paulus did
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some investigating of his own. The next day, he remembered
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Mary's address on Damon Avenue that she had given him
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during their chat. That morning, Jerry drove to the house.
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A middle aged woman answered the door Mary's mother, as
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it turned out. When Jerry asked if Mary was home,
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the woman sadly informed him that her daughter Mary had
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been dead for several years. Jerry glimpsed a photo over
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the woman's shoulder in the parlor, a framed portrait of
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the same girl he danced with the night before. The
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mother explained that the girl in the photo was indeed
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her daughter Mary, who died five years ago. At this revelation,
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Jerry felt chills. He later told a folklorist friend that
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it finally clicked why Mary's hands had been so icy.
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Jerry had once worked briefly in a funeral home. The
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cold touch of her skin reminded him of a corpse's
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cold flesh. In other words, Jerry became convinced that he
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had spent an entire evening dancing with a dead woman's ghost.
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This dramatic story has become Resurrection Mary's equivalent of an
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origin encounter. The first and perhaps most famous eye witness account.
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It has been retold in countless books and television programs,
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including a nineteen nineties episode of Unsolved Mysteries where an
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older Jerry Pallace recounted the tale on camera. However, it
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is important to note that Jerry Pallace's testimony is anecdotal.
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There is no newspaper from nineteen thirty nine that documented
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a man dancing with a ghost. Pallas only went public
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with his experience decades later. He gave a videotaped interview
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in nineteen eighty six, shortly before his death, which aired
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on Unsolved Mysteries in nineteen ninety four. So while his
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story is a corner stone of the legend, and Pallas
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himself apparently remained adamant about what had happened, it cannot
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be independently verified. It lives on as a piece of
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oral history, passed from the witness to the public via
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story tellers. Interestingly, local researchers have pointed out that Pallas's
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encounter was unusually intimate for a ghost sighting. He spent
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hours with Mary, dancing, conversing, even kissing, whereas most resurrection
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Mary reports are far more fleeting and less personal In
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the spectrum of ghost stories, Jerry Pallace's tale is exceptional.
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If true, it suggests Mary's spirit was capable of substantial interaction,
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appearing solid enough to dance and speak, not just a
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momentary boo apparition. Skeptics, of course, might counter argue that
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such an extraordinary claim demands better evidence than one man's memory,
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told years after the fact. We must label the Palace
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story as legend mixed with eyewitness testimony, a compelling anecdote
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with no proof beyond the storyteller's word. Yet, Jerry Pallace
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was hardly the last person to claim a brush with
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Resurrection Mary. In the decades that followed, more and more
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locals would step forward with eerily similar accounts. By the
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nineteen seventies, the legend entered a new, highly public phase,
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fueled by media attention and a flurry of reported sightings
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after World War II. Through the nineteen fifties and sixties,
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Resurrection Mary seemed to lurk in the shadows of folklore,
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well known around Chicago's South Side, but not much reported
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in the press. That changed in the nineteen seventies, when
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a series of encounters propelled Mary from local lore into
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city wide, even national awareness. It was during this era
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that journalists, ghost hunters, and ordinary citizens all converged on
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the mystery of the hitchhiking girl in White. Some of
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the best known resurrection Marry stories date from the nineteen
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seventies and early nineteen eighties, and unlike earlier tales, a
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few of these made it into newspapers or were corroborated
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by multiple witnesses. We'll examine the most notable cases, pointing
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out where documentation exists and where we're dealing purely with story.
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One pivotal account came from January nineteen seventy nine, when
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a Chicago cab driver known only as Ralph had a
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frightening experience on Archer Avenue. Ralph's story was compelling enough
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that it was written up by respected journalist Bill Geist,
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then a columnist for the Suburban Trib, a Chicago Tribune
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suburban edition. Geist's January thirty first, nineteen seventy nine column,
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titled Cryptic writer leaves taxi driver with the Willies, introduced
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a broad audience to the legend and gave it a
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veneer of credibility by appearing in newsprint. According to Geist's piece,
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which presented Ralph's account in the cabby's own words. Ralph
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was driving his taxi along Archer Avenue late one snowy
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night when he spotted a young blonde woman in a
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white dress with no coat looking for a ride. He
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picked her up and noticed she was quiet and fuzzy,
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perhaps dazed or tired, speaking little besides remarking the snow
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came early this year. While gazing out the window, she
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gave him an address, but then suddenly demanded he stopped
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the car right in front of Resurrection Cemetery, even though
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there were no houses around. Puzzled, Ralph looked away for
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a moment, and when he turned back, his passenger had
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vanished from the back seat, just like before. The taxi
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door hadn't opened. The girl was simply gone. Ralph was
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so unnerved that he actually went into a nearby tavern,
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Chet's Melody Lounge, across from the cemetery, to ask if
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anyone had seen the girl who skipped out on her fare.
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By the time he spoke with Bill Geist, Ralph refused
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to give his last name, fearing ridicule, but Geist described
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him as a thoroughly level headed, no nonsense, working class guy,
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a church going little league coach, not someone prone to
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fanciful tales. Geist gently informed the shaken cabby that he
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had likely given Resurrection Mary a lift. To the cab
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driver's great astonishment, the columnist made it clear he found
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Ralph to be credible, noting the story was far too
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outlandish for a man like him to invent just to
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get his name in the paper. This nineteen seventy nine
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taxi driver incident is significant for a few reasons. First,
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it appeared in a major newspaper, essentially bringing resid direction
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Mary into the mainstream. Second, Ralph's experience closely paralleled earlier
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stories a young woman in white hitch hiking disappearing at
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the cemetery, showing how consistent the legend's pattern was. And Third,
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Geist's reporting lent weight to the idea that many witnesses
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were remarkably level headed people not prone to hallucinations, as
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local folklorest Richard Crowe observed. Indeed, folklorist Richard T. Crowe
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himself had begun collecting Resurrection Mary reports by the nineteen seventies,
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and would claim he had gathered three dozen substantiated encounters
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from the nineteen thirties. Onward, Crow often noted that many
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witnesses were ordinary Chicagoans, cabbies, police officers, club goers who
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didn't even realize they'd seen a famous ghost until afterward. This,
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he argued, made the case more compelling than a typical
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urban legend that's always sourced from a friend of a friend.
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Mary's witnesses often came forward independently with similar stories, not
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knowing of each other's accounts, which paranormal researchers took as
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a sign that something was happening on Archer Avenue beyond
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simply folklore. Beyond the famous cab driver's story, the nineteen
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seventies yielded other sightings that became part of Resurrection Mary's lore.
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In nineteen seventy three, at a night club called Harlow's
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on Chicago's southwest Side, patrons reported an encounter with an
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oddly out of place young woman matching Mary's description. The
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00:27:14.640 --> 00:27:19.920
night manager, Bob Mayne, later told the Chicago Tribune that
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00:27:20.079 --> 00:27:24.960
twice that year he saw a peculiar blonde woman in
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00:27:25.039 --> 00:27:31.000
an old fashioned white dress inside Harlowe's. She would dance alone,
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twirling in a corner near the dance floor, and wouldn't
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speak to anyone. She had a very pale complexion, big
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spoolly curls in her hair, and most disturbingly of all,
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Main recalled that she looked as if she was bleeding
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from one eye. Other club goers whispered about how bizarre
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the girl was, and no one saw her enter or leave.
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She was just suddenly there and later gone. Maine's description,
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00:28:12.799 --> 00:28:17.880
given in a nineteen ninety two Tribune interview, strongly evoked
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the image of Mary's ghost. If true, it suggests Mary
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was not confined to hitchhiking. She might wander into a
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00:28:28.279 --> 00:28:33.839
nightclub occasionally, perhaps drawn to the music and dancing she
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had enjoyed in life. Of course, this too is anecdotal.
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There's no proof the bleeding eyed girl wasn't just an
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00:28:45.680 --> 00:28:51.880
oddly dressed patron in need of medical attention. But for believers,
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Bob Man's story showed Mary's continuing presence in the area's
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night life. Arguably the most dramatic physical evidence tied to
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Resurrection Mary also dates to the nineteen seventies. On August tenth,
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nineteen seventy six, something uncanny was found at Resurrection Cemetery's gate.
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A passer by that night called police after seeing what
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he thought was a young woman locked inside the cemetery,
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grasping the iron bars as if trying to get out.
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Authorities arrived and found no woman. The graveyard was empty,
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but they did find that two of the tall, wrought
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iron bars on the gate were bent apart at roughly
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00:29:49.960 --> 00:29:55.000
hand height, with what looked like the impressions of slender
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hand prints into the green painted metal. The bars had
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been wrenched apart, as though some terrific force had pushed
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them from inside. Moreover, the metal showed scorch marks and
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the texture of skin, as if a ghostly hand had
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burned itself into the iron. This spine chilling discovery immediately
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00:30:23.920 --> 00:30:29.680
fueled speculation that Resurrection Mary had physically interacted with the
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gate in an attempt to flag down help, literally leaving
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00:30:35.720 --> 00:30:44.400
her fingerprints behind. Not everyone accepted that supernatural explanation. Cemetery
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officials quickly offered a mundane account, claiming that a truck
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had accidentally backed into the gate and bent the bars,
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and that the hand prints were from a repair worker
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who tried to strain them out. They said perhaps a
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welder's hands or gloves left marks when the heat was
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applied to fix the iron However, many were unconvinced. Paranormal
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00:31:15.319 --> 00:31:20.400
investigator Dale Kasmarrek pointed out the scorch marks didn't resemble
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00:31:20.519 --> 00:31:24.920
typical welding patterns and argued that a worker would have
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worn heavy gloves anyway, making defined handprints unlikely. For years,
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the burned on hand prints remained visible on the bent bars,
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despite the cemetery painting over them repeatedly. The outline of
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slender fingers still peeked through the site became a magnet
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for legend trippers. Curious locals drove by at night, hoping
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00:31:57.039 --> 00:32:01.160
to spot the glowing ghost and her in famous handiwork
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on the gate. Eventually, annoyed by the attention, the church
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caretakers removed the bent sections of the bars entirely, reportedly
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around twenty nineteen through twenty twenty two decades later. Today,
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there's a gap in the fence where the haunted bars
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00:32:23.960 --> 00:32:29.839
once stood. The late nineteen seventies and early nineteen eighties
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saw a peak in Resurrection Mary encounters. Besides the nineteen
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seventy six gate incident, there were numerous reported sightings in
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nineteen seventy eight, nineteen seventy nine, nineteen eighty and nineteen
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eighty nine, essentially one or two per year making the rounds.
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In law local lore, many followed familiar patterns, drivers almost
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hitting a running girl who then vanished, or passers by
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seeing a lone figure matching Mary's description walking by the
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cemetery before disappearing. Two cases are especially well known. In
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nineteen eighty, a young couple named Claire and Mark Rudniki
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were driving along Archer Avenue past Resurrection Cemetery when Claire
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suddenly saw a figure on the roadside. It was a
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girl in a white dress, bathed in a strange, pale light,
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walking slowly along the shoulder. Claire immediately thought of Resurrection
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Mary and felt her stomach lurch with fear. Her husband, Mark,
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also caught a glimpse and decided to turn the car
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around for another look, despite Claire's protests. As they passed
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the spot again, the glowing girl had vanished completely. In
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recounting the incident on Unsolved Mysteries, Mark Rudniki added an
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extra chilling detail. As they drove past the first time,
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he peered at the girl's face and saw a black void,
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no discernible facial features at all. It was as if
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they had seen a figure that wasn't fully human. Both
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Rudnicki's were left deeply rattled, and their story reinforced the
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idea that Mary prowled that stretch of road looking for
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would be rescuers. In October nineteen eighty nine, Janet Kalawl,
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in her late twenties, was out for a drive with
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a friend near Resurrection Cemetery when they experienced what many
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regard as Mary's last major appearance to date. As Janet
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drove down Archer, a young woman in a white gown
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sprinted on the road directly in front of the car.
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Janet had no time to break she hit the figure
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head on or so she thought. There was no impact,
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no thud, no damage. Panicked, Janet and her friend jumped out,
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expecting the worst, but found nothing at all on the roadway,
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no injured woman, no just the silent cemetery looming nearby.
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Janet's friend, Pamela later recalled that her own father had
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00:36:11.000 --> 00:36:16.000
read about Resurrection Mary back in nineteen thirty nine, and
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she never imagined she'd become part of the story herself.
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Decades later, the Callal incident widely publicized through television, newspapers,
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00:36:28.760 --> 00:36:34.519
and magazines. Further cemented Mary's legacy. It had the hallmarks
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00:36:34.519 --> 00:36:37.920
of a classic ghostly woman runs in front of a
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00:36:37.960 --> 00:36:45.159
car apparition, a scenario reported in other haunting cases worldwide.
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Fortunately for Janet, she emerged only shaken, not physically harmed,
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a reminder that Mary, whatever she is, does not seem
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00:36:58.920 --> 00:37:05.199
to wish actual harm on people, only to give them
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00:37:05.480 --> 00:37:11.840
a fright, perhaps inadvertently. By the end of the nineteen
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00:37:11.920 --> 00:37:18.199
eighties Resurrection Mary had been featured in newspaper articles, television newscasts,
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00:37:18.559 --> 00:37:21.880
and even went national when appearing in nineteen ninety four
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00:37:21.960 --> 00:37:28.000
on Unsolved Mysteries. The ghost had effectively gone mainstream. Some
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00:37:28.280 --> 00:37:32.920
longtime Chicagoans noted with a wink that Mary was old
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00:37:33.039 --> 00:37:39.280
hat by then a well worn story, but each new
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00:37:39.320 --> 00:37:46.239
retelling brought fresh eyes to the legend. Notably, Richard Crowe,
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00:37:46.280 --> 00:37:51.440
the folklorist who pioneered Chicago ghost tours, often offered a
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00:37:51.480 --> 00:37:55.559
free steak dinner to anyone who could bring him definitive
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00:37:55.679 --> 00:38:00.440
proof of Mary's existence. He never had to pay up
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00:38:00.440 --> 00:38:03.719
for proof, but he did get plenty of people coming
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00:38:03.760 --> 00:38:09.400
forward with stories. By the nineteen eighties, Mary had evolved
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00:38:09.440 --> 00:38:13.400
from a local curiosity into a full fledged piece of
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00:38:13.800 --> 00:38:19.480
Chicago land mythology, with a sizeable file of sightings and
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00:38:19.559 --> 00:38:25.000
a reputation that extended far beyond the city. It's important
401
00:38:25.039 --> 00:38:29.559
to emphasize that, despite the volume of accounts, none of
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00:38:29.639 --> 00:38:35.360
these accounts can be verified scientifically. We have names, dates,
403
00:38:35.480 --> 00:38:40.519
and some newspaper documentation for a few cases, like Bill
404
00:38:40.639 --> 00:38:45.280
Geist's nineteen seventy nine column or The Tribune's nineteen ninety
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00:38:45.280 --> 00:38:49.400
two interview with Bob Maine, etc. But we do not
406
00:38:49.639 --> 00:38:56.880
have physical proof of the supernatural, only testimonies and circumstantial oddities.
407
00:38:57.559 --> 00:39:01.920
The bent Gate was a physical artifact, yes, but even
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00:39:02.039 --> 00:39:08.320
that had a plausible non ghost explanation. So while our
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00:39:08.440 --> 00:39:13.840
narrative has treated these sightings seriously and in detail, they
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00:39:13.880 --> 00:39:20.239
remain anecdotal evidence of a phenomena. The consistent pattern is
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00:39:20.360 --> 00:39:25.880
intriguing and hard to ignore. Too many independent witnesses over
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00:39:25.960 --> 00:39:30.039
too many years. Proponents say for it to all be
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00:39:30.800 --> 00:39:36.800
pure invention, but skeptics counter that human perception and memory
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00:39:37.119 --> 00:39:42.360
are fallible and urban legends have a way of feeding themselves.
415
00:39:43.199 --> 00:39:48.719
Resurrection Mary lives at the intersection of belief and doubt,
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00:39:49.400 --> 00:39:53.920
where multiple eyewitness stories give life to a character that
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00:39:53.960 --> 00:40:01.280
official history struggles to confirm. As resurrection mayor He's fame grew,
418
00:40:02.199 --> 00:40:07.840
so grew an obvious question. If this ghost is real,
419
00:40:09.400 --> 00:40:21.280
who is she? Ghost stories often spawn origin theories, tying
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00:40:21.320 --> 00:40:27.000
the phantom to a specific deceased person. In Mary's case,
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00:40:27.159 --> 00:40:33.360
researchers have poured over cemetery records, newspaper archives, and death
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00:40:33.400 --> 00:40:37.840
certificates hunting for a young woman who might be the
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00:40:37.960 --> 00:40:43.800
restless soul in question. This detective work has yielded a
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00:40:43.880 --> 00:40:49.800
few leading candidates, each with intriguing connections to the legend,
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00:40:50.440 --> 00:40:56.639
and each with certain discrepancies. Let's examine the main contenders
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00:40:56.960 --> 00:41:01.280
and the evidence or lack thereof for e we will
427
00:41:01.360 --> 00:41:07.039
clearly distinguish documented facts about these historical figures from the
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00:41:07.079 --> 00:41:14.719
speculation that links them to Resurrection Mary. For decades, the
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00:41:14.760 --> 00:41:19.599
prime suspect in Resurrection Mary's identity was a twenty one
430
00:41:19.679 --> 00:41:25.480
year old woman named Mary or Marie Brigov. Mary Burgovi
431
00:41:26.159 --> 00:41:31.000
was a real person, a beautiful, young Polish American who
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00:41:31.079 --> 00:41:35.079
lived in Chicago's Back of the Yard's neighborhood in the
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00:41:35.119 --> 00:41:40.000
early nineteen thirties. Her name began to surface in connection
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00:41:40.159 --> 00:41:43.880
with the ghost story in the nineteen seventies, and by
435
00:41:43.960 --> 00:41:50.480
the nineteen eighties many assumed resurrection Mary must be Mary
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00:41:50.559 --> 00:41:56.000
Brigovi's ghost. So what do we know about Mary Burgovi's
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00:41:56.119 --> 00:42:01.760
life and death? Brigovi's tragic ends was recorded in the
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00:42:01.840 --> 00:42:07.519
Chicago Tribune on March twelfth, nineteen thirty four. The news
439
00:42:07.519 --> 00:42:12.320
item reported that Marie Brogovie, age twenty one, was killed
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00:42:12.920 --> 00:42:18.000
in an automobile wreck the previous night. The accident did
441
00:42:18.039 --> 00:42:23.199
not occur on Archer Avenue, nor even in the Southwest suburbs.
442
00:42:23.960 --> 00:42:28.920
It happened in the downtown Chicago Loop. Brigovy was a
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00:42:29.000 --> 00:42:33.039
passenger in a car that cracked up at the intersection
444
00:42:33.159 --> 00:42:38.039
of Lake Street and Whacker Drive after the driver missed
445
00:42:38.079 --> 00:42:43.519
seeing an elevated train trestle. The Tribune noted that corner
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00:42:43.760 --> 00:42:48.679
was quote known to police as a dangerous spot due
447
00:42:48.840 --> 00:42:53.679
to such collisions. In the car with Mary Bregovi were
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00:42:53.719 --> 00:42:59.400
two young men and another young woman, all of whom survived.
449
00:43:00.559 --> 00:43:04.559
The driver, John Thowell, later said he hadn't seen the
450
00:43:04.760 --> 00:43:10.559
l structure in time. Mary sadly bore the brunt of
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00:43:10.599 --> 00:43:17.079
the crash and was killed instantly. The facts of Brigovie's
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00:43:17.159 --> 00:43:22.559
death show some initial inconsistencies with the ghost story. She
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00:43:22.760 --> 00:43:27.760
died in the city, nowhere near Resurrection Cemetery, she was
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00:43:27.800 --> 00:43:32.119
in a car with friends, not walking alone from a dance,
455
00:43:33.000 --> 00:43:37.000
and her death was due to a collision with infrastructure,
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00:43:37.760 --> 00:43:43.440
not a hit and run driver. So why do researchers
457
00:43:43.519 --> 00:43:48.719
think she could be Resurrection Mary. The answer lies in
458
00:43:48.800 --> 00:43:53.320
the web of personal details that link her to elements
459
00:43:53.360 --> 00:43:59.199
of the legend. Mary Burgovie lived at forty six eleven
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00:43:59.719 --> 00:44:05.159
South Damon Avenue, according to the Tribune. If you recall
461
00:44:05.280 --> 00:44:10.320
from earlier in Jerry Pallace's story, Mary claimed to live
462
00:44:10.840 --> 00:44:15.199
on Damon Avenue. Jerry later went to an address on
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00:44:15.360 --> 00:44:21.159
South Damon where the mother supposedly said Mary was dead.
464
00:44:22.239 --> 00:44:26.679
Bergovie's residence on the same street as the ghost's purported
465
00:44:26.760 --> 00:44:32.159
home is a striking coincidence. In fact, a friend of
466
00:44:32.199 --> 00:44:37.519
Burgovi's later confirmed that Bergovi's wake was held at a
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00:44:37.519 --> 00:44:43.119
funeral home just blocks from that address, the Satala Funeral
468
00:44:43.159 --> 00:44:49.360
Home on Damon Avenue, and that Brigovy was indeed buried
469
00:44:49.840 --> 00:44:57.159
wearing a fancy dress described as an orchid colored gown.
470
00:44:58.159 --> 00:45:03.199
Speaking of dresses, one eerie tale reported by author Troy
471
00:45:03.320 --> 00:45:09.119
Taylor holds that shortly after Brigovi's funeral in nineteen thirty four,
472
00:45:09.679 --> 00:45:14.880
a cemetery caretaker spotted a young woman in an orchid
473
00:45:14.960 --> 00:45:23.400
colored dress wandering Resurrection Cemetery at night. The caretaker mentioned
474
00:45:23.400 --> 00:45:27.760
it to the funeral director, who supposedly remarked that the
475
00:45:27.840 --> 00:45:33.920
description matched Mary Brigov in her burial dress. Other reports
476
00:45:33.960 --> 00:45:37.599
around that same time the spring of nineteen thirty four
477
00:45:38.280 --> 00:45:41.920
claimed a ghostly woman in a light colored dress was
478
00:45:42.000 --> 00:45:46.639
seen jumping onto the running boards of passing cars near
479
00:45:46.760 --> 00:45:52.760
the cemetery. These ghostly sightings so soon after Brigovi's death
480
00:45:53.320 --> 00:45:57.599
certainly aligned with the notion that her spirit might be
481
00:45:58.599 --> 00:46:05.440
Resurrection Mary, at least in the immediate aftermath. Mary Brogovy
482
00:46:05.639 --> 00:46:11.239
loved dancing, according to her friends. One friend, Laverne Rutkowski,
483
00:46:12.000 --> 00:46:15.639
gave an interview in nineteen eighty four shedding light on
484
00:46:15.800 --> 00:46:21.599
Mary's final day. Rutkowski recounted that on March tenth, nineteen
485
00:46:21.679 --> 00:46:26.400
thirty four, she and Mary Brogov spent the day shopping
486
00:46:26.679 --> 00:46:30.719
on forty seventh Street. They met two young men who
487
00:46:30.840 --> 00:46:36.199
drove recklessly around the neighborhood. Rutkowski got a bad feeling
488
00:46:36.639 --> 00:46:41.880
and insisted on leaving the car, but Mary Bragov was
489
00:46:41.960 --> 00:46:45.800
smitten enough to go out with those wild boys that
490
00:46:46.079 --> 00:46:52.960
night despite her parents objections. Family lore filtered through later
491
00:46:53.079 --> 00:46:58.920
story tellers suggested that Brigov and these new friends might
492
00:46:58.960 --> 00:47:02.719
have gone dancing at the o Henry Ballroom in Willow
493
00:47:02.800 --> 00:47:08.039
Springs earlier that evening before ending up downtown where the
494
00:47:08.159 --> 00:47:13.920
crash occurred. There's no direct evidence they truly went to
495
00:47:14.000 --> 00:47:18.559
the Willowbrook O Henry that night. However, the notion that
496
00:47:18.719 --> 00:47:22.800
Mary Bergovy might have been ballroom hopping with two young
497
00:47:22.880 --> 00:47:27.559
men helps reconcile why she died so far from home.
498
00:47:28.639 --> 00:47:33.480
One theory says the group left the early closing suburban
499
00:47:33.599 --> 00:47:37.800
ballroom to seek another dance hall in the city that
500
00:47:37.920 --> 00:47:43.199
stayed open later. If that is true, then Mary Brogovy
501
00:47:43.320 --> 00:47:48.239
did spend her last hours dancing, just like the legends
502
00:47:48.320 --> 00:47:53.440
Phantom Mary. In a poignant twist of fate, The Tribune
503
00:47:53.559 --> 00:47:58.679
obituary shows that Mary Brigov died just a month shy
504
00:47:59.199 --> 00:48:02.679
of her twenty five first birthday. She was on the
505
00:48:02.719 --> 00:48:07.239
cusp of adulthood in the prime of youth when her
506
00:48:07.320 --> 00:48:12.360
life was cut short. This fits the profile of a
507
00:48:12.840 --> 00:48:18.800
restless spirit often attributed to ghosts, a young person who
508
00:48:18.920 --> 00:48:26.119
died unexpectedly, and perhaps Harbor's unfinished business or longing leading
509
00:48:26.840 --> 00:48:37.679
to a haunting. The final piece worth noting is Mary
510
00:48:37.760 --> 00:48:44.079
Brigovi's physical appearance. Photographs, like one family photo that has
511
00:48:44.159 --> 00:48:50.000
managed to circulate, show Mary Brigov with dark hair a brunette,51200:48:50.599 --> 00:48:56.320
yet Resurrection Mary is usually described as a blonde or51300:48:56.880 --> 00:49:03.360
light haired spirit. This discrepancy has given some researchers pause.51400:49:04.440 --> 00:49:09.239
Could a ghost change hair color or did witness recollections51500:49:09.519 --> 00:49:14.599
simply get the shade wrong in the dim light. Also,51600:49:15.239 --> 00:49:20.960
Brigovie's first name was technically Marie, though she often went51700:49:21.079 --> 00:49:26.840
by Mary. It's a minor difference, but to folklorists, such51800:49:26.920 --> 00:49:32.679
inconsistencies stand out as hints that Brigov might not perfectly51900:49:32.800 --> 00:49:38.360
fit the legend's details. For a long time, Mary Brigovie52000:49:38.639 --> 00:49:42.639
was the leading theory, so much so that many articles52100:49:42.679 --> 00:49:50.000
and books casually stated that Resurrection Mary was Mary Brigovi's ghost. However,52200:49:50.400 --> 00:49:54.960
over the years, doubts have risen. Critics point out that52300:49:55.039 --> 00:49:59.559
a loop car crash doesn't match the Archer Avenue roadside52400:49:59.599 --> 00:50:04.760
death scenario at all, making it a stretch to connect52500:50:04.800 --> 00:50:12.760
Bergov to the hitchhiker tail without considerable embellishment. Some suspect52600:50:12.800 --> 00:50:18.920
that Brigovi's story was shoehorned into the legend retroactively after52700:50:19.000 --> 00:50:24.320
the fact, because her death roughly coincided with the right era,52800:50:24.599 --> 00:50:30.239
and she was indeed buried in Resurrection Cemetery, though even52900:50:30.360 --> 00:50:35.800
that has a caveat. Bregovi's family may have initially and53000:50:35.960 --> 00:50:39.880
teared her in a temporary grave at Resurrection that was53100:50:39.960 --> 00:50:46.800
later moved. In summary, Mary Bergovi's life and death share53200:50:46.960 --> 00:50:50.960
enough touch points with the myth the love of dancing53300:50:51.480 --> 00:50:57.480
the South Side address the sudden tragic end. It's easy53400:50:57.599 --> 00:51:03.880
to imagine her spirit Roman Archer Avenue, yet significant differences53500:51:04.480 --> 00:51:08.840
location of death, hair color prevent us from calling it53600:51:09.199 --> 00:51:14.880
a perfect match. The jury remains out. Mary Brigovi is53700:51:14.920 --> 00:51:21.920
a strong candidate, but not a confirmed identity for the ghost.53800:51:22.199 --> 00:51:28.239
Another compelling contender emerged in the nineteen nineties, thanks largely53900:51:28.360 --> 00:51:34.599
to the research of Chicago ghost historian Ursula Bielsky. Bielsky54000:51:34.719 --> 00:51:40.480
documented the story of Anna Maria Norkus, a girl whose54100:51:40.559 --> 00:51:45.480
fate in nineteen twenty seven uncannily parallels parts of the54200:51:45.559 --> 00:51:52.159
Resurrection Mary legend. Anna Norcas, often called Maria in Lithuanian54300:51:52.199 --> 00:51:58.480
Polish style, was even younger than Mary Bregovi, just twelve54400:51:58.599 --> 00:52:03.599
years old, but the circumstances of her death make her54500:52:04.079 --> 00:52:11.000
a fascinating possibility. On July twentieth, nineteen twenty seven, Anna54600:52:11.119 --> 00:52:16.599
Norcus's father, August Norkus, took her out for a special night.54700:52:17.400 --> 00:52:22.440
Anna was approaching her thirteenth birthday, and by some accounts,54800:52:22.480 --> 00:52:27.760
she loved to dance. Despite her being under age, August54900:52:27.800 --> 00:52:30.920
agreed to take Anna to the O Henry ball Room55000:52:31.400 --> 00:52:36.039
in Willow Springs for an evening of music, possibly as55100:52:36.079 --> 00:52:40.920
a birthday treat. They were accompanied by a friend, William,55200:52:41.639 --> 00:52:44.599
and also had a couple of other youngsters in the car.55300:52:45.480 --> 00:52:49.039
In the early hours of July twenty first, as the55400:52:49.079 --> 00:52:54.119
group was driving home, tragedy struck on a road not55500:52:54.440 --> 00:52:59.719
far from the ball room. Their car swerved off Harlem55600:52:59.719 --> 00:53:05.079
APay near sixty sixth Street, just a few miles from55700:53:05.159 --> 00:53:11.920
Resurrection Cemetery, and plunged into a deep ditch or railroad cut.55800:53:12.440 --> 00:53:17.559
The vehicle flipped over and young Anna Norcus was crushed55900:53:17.639 --> 00:53:23.760
beneath it, dying almost instantly. One older man in the56000:53:23.800 --> 00:53:29.719
car also died of injuries, while Several others, including Anna's56100:53:29.800 --> 00:53:36.599
father and sister, survived with injuries. This accident was reported56200:53:36.639 --> 00:53:40.760
in the newspapers at the time, a real event that56300:53:40.960 --> 00:53:47.400
left a real family grieving. Now, consider how Anna Norkis's56400:53:47.480 --> 00:53:53.199
story lines up with resurrection Mary. Anna was coming home56500:53:53.280 --> 00:53:57.840
from the o Henry Ballroom, the very dance hall immortalized56600:53:57.920 --> 00:54:03.840
in Mary's origin legend. Unlike Brigovi's case, here we have56700:54:04.039 --> 00:54:08.960
documented proof of a young girl actually returning from that56800:54:09.119 --> 00:54:14.039
ballroom on the night she died. This directly ties a56900:54:14.079 --> 00:54:20.519
ballroom outing to a fatal accident near Archer Avenue. Anna57000:54:20.639 --> 00:54:26.559
Noorkis was blonde. Photographs and descriptions confirm she had light hair.57100:54:27.320 --> 00:54:31.960
This matches the classic description of the ghostly Mary as57200:54:32.000 --> 00:54:36.880
a fair haired girl in a white dress. Brigovie, by contrast,57300:54:37.440 --> 00:54:41.599
was brunette, which some saw as a strike against her57400:54:41.880 --> 00:54:48.639
being the ghost. Anna's physical appearance, young, blonde, fond of dancing,57500:54:49.159 --> 00:54:53.920
is more consistent with the ghost story details. The Norkis57600:54:54.000 --> 00:54:58.760
accident occurred in nineteen twenty seven, a bit earlier than57700:54:58.840 --> 00:55:05.920
Mary's supposed day in the early nineteen thirties, as legend suggests. However,57800:55:06.159 --> 00:55:10.960
it falls within a plausible range, especially if one considers57900:55:11.519 --> 00:55:15.679
that an Urban Legends timeline can be fuzzy. By the58000:55:15.719 --> 00:55:20.639
time Jerry Pallace met Mary in nineteen thirty nine, Anna58100:55:20.760 --> 00:55:24.639
would have been dead for twelve years, which is roughly58200:55:24.719 --> 00:55:29.920
the five years dead figure Paulis heard, perhaps misremembered or58300:55:30.440 --> 00:55:37.719
stylized in retellings. If Jerry misheard, or if storytellers embellished58400:55:37.760 --> 00:55:42.599
the timeline, it's conceivable that Anna Norkis could have been58500:55:42.920 --> 00:55:47.400
dead for years by the late nineteen thirties, and thus58600:55:47.440 --> 00:55:53.599
a candidate for the ghost Jerry encountered. Though there is58700:55:53.760 --> 00:55:58.320
one sticking point. Anna Norcis was only twelve years old.58800:55:59.599 --> 00:56:04.840
Every the resurrection Mary witness consistently describes a young woman58900:56:05.039 --> 00:56:10.719
or late teen girl, not a child. Mary appears as59000:56:10.760 --> 00:56:14.639
someone in her late teens or early twenties, an age59100:56:14.679 --> 00:56:19.760
appropriate for dancing and attending nightclubs. Anna at twelve years59200:56:19.840 --> 00:56:25.119
old seems too young to fit that image. Bielski and59300:56:25.280 --> 00:56:29.760
others have speculated that perhaps the ghost appears older than59400:56:29.800 --> 00:56:35.079
Anna's actual age, or that maybe Anna had a slightly59500:56:35.159 --> 00:56:41.639
older look. Another possibility floated is that Anna's spirit aged59600:56:41.719 --> 00:56:44.920
in some way to the young woman. She would have become,59700:56:45.679 --> 00:56:50.880
which enters very speculative territory, though when it comes to ghosts,59800:56:51.280 --> 00:56:57.039
speculation is king. In any case, the age mismatch is59900:56:57.119 --> 00:57:02.880
a notable issue with the Anna theory. However, there's also60000:57:03.000 --> 00:57:15.760
the questions raised by her burial. Anna Norkis was slated60100:57:15.800 --> 00:57:21.119
to be buried at Saint Casimir Cemetery, a Lithuanian Catholic60200:57:21.199 --> 00:57:28.840
cemetery in Chicago's Mount Greenwood area, not Resurrection Cemetery. However,60300:57:29.000 --> 00:57:35.480
Bielsky uncovered a tantalizing anecdote. Due to a gravedigger's strike60400:57:35.599 --> 00:57:39.760
at the time of Anna's death, the family allegedly couldn't60500:57:39.760 --> 00:57:45.039
bury her immediately at Saint Casimir. There is a claim,60600:57:45.199 --> 00:57:50.679
though not confirmed by official records, that Anna's body was60700:57:50.800 --> 00:57:57.559
temporarily interred at Resurrection Cemetery until the strike ended. Then60800:57:57.719 --> 00:58:03.519
her remains were moved to Saint Casimir, but possibly some60900:58:03.760 --> 00:58:09.320
mix up occurred. The theory is that if Anna's coffin61000:58:09.440 --> 00:58:13.320
spent time at Resurrection, or if any part of her61100:58:13.480 --> 00:58:19.920
remained there, her spirit might linger at Resurrection's grounds. This61200:58:20.320 --> 00:58:25.320
is admittedly a stretch, but local ghost lore often seizes61300:58:25.400 --> 00:58:31.159
on such quirks to explain hauntings. In nineteen ninety nine,61400:58:31.760 --> 00:58:37.280
Ursula Bielsky published her research proposing Anna Norkis as a61500:58:37.320 --> 00:58:42.559
strong candidate for Resurrection Mary. Her work convinced many in61600:58:42.599 --> 00:58:47.079
the paranormal community. Even the owners of the Willowbrook Ballroom61700:58:47.599 --> 00:58:52.199
came to believe in Anna's connection. The late owner, by Root,61800:58:52.880 --> 00:58:56.599
kept a copy of Anna Norkis's death certificate on the61900:58:56.679 --> 00:59:02.079
ballroom's office wall as a nod to Mary's likely identity.62000:59:03.239 --> 00:59:08.400
This was reported in a Daily Southtown feature in twenty sixteen.62100:59:09.320 --> 00:59:14.440
The same year, the historic Willowbrook Ballroom tragically burned down,62200:59:15.360 --> 00:59:21.000
ending an era. In the aftermath of the fire, there62300:59:21.079 --> 00:59:26.039
was an emotional outpouring from locals. Notably, someone hung a62400:59:26.079 --> 00:59:30.360
pair of white dancing shoes on the charred ruins with62500:59:30.480 --> 00:59:39.559
a sign, please rebuild the ballroom, signed Resurrection Mary. The62600:59:39.719 --> 00:59:44.400
very people who ran and loved that ballroom tacitly acknowledged62700:59:44.440 --> 00:59:50.760
Anna and Mary as part of its legacy. Despite the62800:59:50.800 --> 00:59:55.679
compelling alignment of Anna Norkis's story, skeptics point out the62900:59:55.719 --> 00:59:59.639
age issue and the lack of clear documentation of her63000:59:59.639 --> 01:00:04.599
suppose burial at Resurrection. No official record confirms that her63101:00:04.639 --> 01:00:08.719
body was ever there. It's more an oral history claim,63201:00:09.840 --> 01:00:14.840
and believer's counter skeptics by saying perhaps resurrection Mary is63301:00:14.880 --> 01:00:21.079
not tied to a single person at all. Beyond Burgovi63401:00:21.280 --> 01:00:26.000
and Norkis, various other names have been floated over the years,63501:00:26.639 --> 01:00:31.360
forming a sort of who's who of potential Mary's. Each63601:00:31.519 --> 01:00:35.559
theory attempts to fill gaps in the others, but many63701:00:35.599 --> 01:00:39.960
of these fall apart under scrutiny. Here are a few63801:00:40.119 --> 01:00:44.679
notable ones. A story circulated that a young woman named63901:00:44.760 --> 01:00:49.599
Mary Miskowski, who lived near forty seventh Street and Damon64001:00:50.280 --> 01:00:54.760
again that back of the Yard's area, was killed by64101:00:54.760 --> 01:00:59.599
a hit and run driver around Halloween nineteen thirty while64201:00:59.599 --> 01:01:03.760
on her way to a costume ball. In this version,64301:01:04.079 --> 01:01:08.920
Mary Miskowski was supposedly wearing her mother's old wedding dress64401:01:09.239 --> 01:01:13.440
as a costume. Hence, a young woman in a white64501:01:13.559 --> 01:01:19.840
dress killed by a car very much resurrection Mary's profile.64601:01:21.519 --> 01:01:27.199
The tantalizing details included blonde hair, a love for dancing,64701:01:27.800 --> 01:01:32.559
a death on Halloween, and living on the same street64801:01:33.119 --> 01:01:39.440
as Mary Bregovi. It sounds almost too perfect, and indeed,64901:01:40.039 --> 01:01:45.400
researcher Adam Selzer dug into public records and found no65001:01:45.519 --> 01:01:51.679
evidence of any Mary Miskowski dying in nineteen thirty in Chicago.65101:01:52.480 --> 01:01:56.880
He did, however, find a Mary Miskowski at the address65201:01:56.920 --> 01:02:02.159
in question, but she lived a full life, married, had children,65301:02:02.760 --> 01:02:07.840
and died in nineteen fifty six. In short, the Marry65401:02:07.880 --> 01:02:12.280
Miskowski tale appears to be just an oral legend or65501:02:12.360 --> 01:02:18.960
a misremembered identity, not a real person who died as described.65601:02:20.599 --> 01:02:25.320
Another south Side woman named Mary Kovak has been proposed.65701:02:26.039 --> 01:02:32.519
Mary Kovak, like Burgovi and Miskowski, lived on Damon Avenue.65801:02:32.559 --> 01:02:36.159
She was known to be a fashionable dresser, a regular65901:02:36.239 --> 01:02:40.719
at local dance halls, and she had blonde hair, checking66001:02:40.800 --> 01:02:46.880
many boxes of our ghost. However, Mary Kovak died in66101:02:46.960 --> 01:02:54.280
nineteen thirty two of tuberculosis, not an accident. The idea here,66201:02:54.480 --> 01:02:58.519
raised in a podcast called The Epitaph, is that perhaps66301:02:58.599 --> 01:03:02.119
her ghost loved dancing so much that it hitched a66401:03:02.239 --> 01:03:13.639
ride back to the ballroom even after death. Of course,66501:03:13.719 --> 01:03:18.079
that's highly speculative and deviates from the corps hit by66601:03:18.199 --> 01:03:23.360
car legend, but it shows how virtually any young blonde66701:03:23.480 --> 01:03:27.239
Mary from the area who died in the nineteen twenties66801:03:27.400 --> 01:03:32.800
or thirties becomes a candidate. It's possible that all of66901:03:32.840 --> 01:03:37.840
the above holds some truth. Ghost tour guides like Richard67001:03:37.960 --> 01:03:42.880
Crowe and authors like Troy Taylor have mused that maybe67101:03:42.920 --> 01:03:46.760
the reason the sightings don't all perfectly match one person67201:03:47.679 --> 01:03:53.320
is because more than one spirit is active on Archer Avenue,67301:03:53.480 --> 01:04:00.119
and over times their stories merged. For example, perhaps Mary67401:04:00.119 --> 01:04:04.800
Bergovi's ghost did appear early on with her orchid dress67501:04:05.320 --> 01:04:12.239
around Resurrection Cemetery, and later Annanorchis's spirit also roamed Archer67601:04:12.920 --> 01:04:17.760
after her accident, and the two narratives blended into one67701:04:18.320 --> 01:04:23.719
Resurrection Mary legend. Or maybe none of the specific names67801:04:24.039 --> 01:04:28.280
are exactly right, and Mary is a composite of many67901:04:28.480 --> 01:04:33.880
restless souls. The cemetery, after all, holds over one hundred68001:04:33.880 --> 01:04:39.000
and fifty thousand graves. Countless young women are buried there,68101:04:39.679 --> 01:04:45.559
some of whom surely died tragically. A folklorist might say68201:04:45.719 --> 01:04:51.480
Resurrection Mary is an archetype, the collective manifestation of several68301:04:51.559 --> 01:04:58.119
stories about lives cut short, distilled into one iconic ghost.68401:04:59.559 --> 01:05:04.599
Despite decades of amateur sleuthing, no consensus has been reached68501:05:05.000 --> 01:05:10.480
on Mary's true identity. The cemetery itself, according to a68601:05:10.559 --> 01:05:15.480
comment recounted on the Unsolved Mystery's website. Once narrowed it68701:05:15.599 --> 01:05:20.360
down to five possible young ladies who fit the legend's68801:05:20.440 --> 01:05:26.039
time frame and profile. That might be folklore in itself,68901:05:26.880 --> 01:05:32.840
but it underscores the lingering curiosity. Officially, there is no69001:05:33.039 --> 01:05:41.199
grave marker labeled Resurrection Mary. She remains an enigma. Each candidate,69101:05:41.639 --> 01:05:48.480
Bregovinorkis or others carries both alluring connections as well as69201:05:48.559 --> 01:05:55.000
problematic details. The exercise of matching Mary to a real69301:05:55.079 --> 01:05:59.880
life person is part fact finding and part folklore. Un69401:06:00.079 --> 01:06:05.320
to itself. We have verified facts about certain deaths, like69501:06:05.400 --> 01:06:10.519
Burgovi's in nineteen thirty four or Norkises in nineteen twenty seven.69601:06:11.400 --> 01:06:15.360
Those are real. The notion that any one of those69701:06:15.559 --> 01:06:19.920
is the ghost is speculative. It's a human need to69801:06:19.960 --> 01:06:25.039
put a name and face to the unknown. In Mary's case,69901:06:25.599 --> 01:06:30.519
that need has kept historians and ghost hunters busy for ages,70001:06:31.679 --> 01:06:36.440
but the mystery endures. Perhaps that is a key to70101:06:36.519 --> 01:06:43.119
her legend's longevity. She could be anyone, and thus she70201:06:43.199 --> 01:06:49.239
belongs to everyone. Whether or not you believe in ghosts,70301:06:49.760 --> 01:06:56.239
it's undeniable that Resurrection Mary has been kept alive. By storytelling.70401:06:57.239 --> 01:07:02.400
This is a legend shaped by oral tradition, embellished by media,70501:07:02.920 --> 01:07:10.719
and reinforced by each new generations retelling. So now let's70601:07:10.760 --> 01:07:16.400
explore how folklore and media intersect in Mary's tale, and70701:07:16.519 --> 01:07:22.320
how Chicago's own cultural landscape provided fertile ground for a70801:07:22.360 --> 01:07:29.400
ghost story to thrive. Scholars of folklore would classify Resurrection70901:07:29.599 --> 01:07:35.119
Mary under the wide umbrella of the vanishing hitchhiker urban legend,71001:07:35.760 --> 01:07:42.000
as noted earlier. Researchers Beardsley and Hanky famously cataloged dozens71101:07:42.039 --> 01:07:47.079
of such hitchhiker tales in the nineteen forties, finding striking71201:07:47.199 --> 01:07:53.400
commonalities from California to New York. The core elements a71301:07:53.400 --> 01:07:57.159
mysterious writer, a request to be let out by a cemetery,71401:07:57.559 --> 01:08:04.159
a subsequent disappearance repair across many localities, Mary's story hits71501:08:04.280 --> 01:08:10.800
every beat of the classic motif, except many argue it71601:08:10.880 --> 01:08:18.359
has more specificity and corroboration than most. Typically vanishing hitchhiker71701:08:18.520 --> 01:08:23.600
stories are true urban legends in the folkloric sense. They71801:08:23.680 --> 01:08:28.640
happen to a friend of a friend and lack identifying details.71901:08:29.479 --> 01:08:35.039
They're often dismissed as just spooky fiction. But Resurrection Mary72001:08:35.159 --> 01:08:40.279
stands out because so many accounts are first person or72101:08:40.359 --> 01:08:46.720
close to it, complete with names, dates, and locations. Instead72201:08:46.760 --> 01:08:50.640
of my cousin's friend once picked up a ghost, we72301:08:50.800 --> 01:08:56.479
have named individuals Paulus, collll Ralph, the Cabby, et cetera,72401:08:57.199 --> 01:09:01.880
telling their very own stories. This gives Mary's legend a72501:09:02.079 --> 01:09:09.159
patina of authenticity that pure folklore generally lacks. Folklorist and72601:09:09.239 --> 01:09:14.600
tour guide Richard T. Crowe often championed Mary's credibility on72701:09:14.680 --> 01:09:19.680
this basis. He said, of all the ghost stories worth72801:09:19.720 --> 01:09:24.760
believing in resurrection, Mary is the one with the best documentation.72901:09:26.279 --> 01:09:31.039
Crowe collected affidavits and interviews, amassing what he claimed were73001:09:31.159 --> 01:09:36.720
dozens of reliable witness reports over the years. He emphasized73101:09:36.800 --> 01:09:42.439
that these witnesses were usually normal, sober people with no73201:09:42.640 --> 01:09:49.600
prior paranormal claims, in other words, not attention seekers or kouchs.73301:09:50.640 --> 01:09:55.920
Crowe's efforts in the nineteen seventies, including organizing Chicago's first73401:09:55.960 --> 01:10:00.640
ghost tours, did a great deal to spread resurrection mayor fame.73501:10:01.520 --> 01:10:05.239
He would regale bus loads of tour takers with the tale,73601:10:05.800 --> 01:10:10.000
even driving them down Archer Avenue in the dead of night.73701:10:11.000 --> 01:10:15.279
This helped transition Mary from a niche local spook story73801:10:15.800 --> 01:10:20.720
into a must hear Chicago attraction. One could say Crow73901:10:20.840 --> 01:10:25.800
turned Mary into a pillar of Chicago's ghost lore, inspiring74001:10:25.920 --> 01:10:32.199
subsequent authors and researchers to dig deeper. The media also74101:10:32.359 --> 01:10:37.439
played a pivotal role. We've mentioned Bill Geist's nineteen seventy74201:10:37.520 --> 01:10:43.199
nine column and The Tribune's nineteen eighties coverage. Additionally, around74301:10:43.279 --> 01:10:49.199
Halloween nineteen seventy five and nineteen eighty five, Chicago newspapers74401:10:49.319 --> 01:10:54.960
ran features on local hauntings that included Mary. For example,74501:10:55.359 --> 01:10:59.680
the story Hunting a Ghost Named Mary in the Tribune74601:11:00.039 --> 01:11:05.039
on October thirty first, nineteen eighty five. TV news got74701:11:05.079 --> 01:11:08.600
in on the act two. On Halloween nineteen eighty four,74801:11:09.039 --> 01:11:13.920
CBS Chicago ran a segment where reporter Bob Wallace went74901:11:14.000 --> 01:11:20.319
ghost hunting at Resurrection Cemetery with Dale Kasmarak. They filmed75001:11:20.319 --> 01:11:24.560
the bent Gate Bars and recounted Mary's legend for the75101:11:24.640 --> 01:11:30.960
Evening News, bringing her story into countless living rooms. Then75201:11:31.119 --> 01:11:36.039
came national television in nineteen ninety four, and BC's Unsolved75301:11:36.079 --> 01:11:40.800
Mysteries devoted a segment to Resurrection Mary. The show re75401:11:41.000 --> 01:11:46.039
enacted Jerry Paullis's nineteen thirty nine encounter, even using actual75501:11:46.079 --> 01:11:50.960
interview footage of Paulus himself from nineteen eighty six. They75601:11:51.000 --> 01:11:55.479
spoke with Richard Crowe and others. This episode left a75701:11:55.560 --> 01:12:01.479
searing impression on viewers across the country, myself included, who75801:12:01.560 --> 01:12:06.359
first learned of Mary from the legendarily eerie voice of75901:12:06.439 --> 01:12:12.520
Robert Stack narrating her tale. The segment presented Mary's story76001:12:12.600 --> 01:12:19.000
in a sympathetic but spooky way, complete with foggy cemetery dramatizations.76101:12:19.720 --> 01:12:24.960
It undeniably sparked renewed interest and probably a few copycat76201:12:25.000 --> 01:12:29.560
reports as well. Several witnesses interviewed in the eighties and76301:12:29.680 --> 01:12:34.199
nineties admitted they'd grown up hearing the story on television76401:12:34.560 --> 01:12:39.720
or from a family member, yet never thought they'd see76501:12:39.760 --> 01:12:54.560
Mary themselves until they did. This illustrates an interesting feedback loop.76601:12:55.159 --> 01:13:01.039
Media exposure perpetuates the legend, which in turn generates new76701:13:01.079 --> 01:13:07.199
reports which keep the media interested. Folklore often works this way,76801:13:08.039 --> 01:13:13.000
especially in the modern era. Every ghost special or article76901:13:13.199 --> 01:13:18.920
breathes fresh life, so to speak, into Mary, ensuring new77001:13:19.000 --> 01:13:26.000
generations learn the legend. Chicago's own cultural context also helped77101:13:26.039 --> 01:13:32.960
to sustain resurrection. Mary. The areas linked to her Willow Springs, Justice,77201:13:33.479 --> 01:13:38.479
Archer Avenue, the old dance halls are rich with immigrant77301:13:38.520 --> 01:13:46.880
history and spiritual traditions. Many residents historically were Catholic, Polish, Lithuanian, Irish,77401:13:46.960 --> 01:13:51.079
et cetera, for whom the idea of spirits and prayers77501:13:51.119 --> 01:13:56.560
for the dead are taken seriously. In such communities, a77601:13:56.600 --> 01:14:01.079
ghost story might be met with more open minds or77701:14:01.159 --> 01:14:05.279
at least curiosity. The fact that Mary is tied to77801:14:05.359 --> 01:14:10.239
a Catholic cemetery is no accident. Tales of ghosts and77901:14:10.359 --> 01:14:17.039
graveyards resonate with cultural views on restless souls and the afterlife. Additionally,78001:14:17.560 --> 01:14:21.880
Archer Avenue has long had a reputation among locals as78101:14:21.920 --> 01:14:26.680
a haunted highway. Besides Mary, there are other ghost stories78201:14:26.760 --> 01:14:32.399
along that route, including a famous tale of phantom monks78301:14:32.439 --> 01:14:37.039
near Saint James Church and the haunted Chet's Melody Lounge78401:14:37.359 --> 01:14:42.920
claiming its own resident spirits. This concentration of lore gives78501:14:42.960 --> 01:14:47.479
the whole area a mystique. People driving there at night78601:14:47.680 --> 01:14:54.000
already have goosebumps primed to possibly see something. One cannot78701:14:54.000 --> 01:14:58.159
ignore the role of business and tourism in keeping Mary's78801:14:58.239 --> 01:15:03.680
story in circulation. Ghost tourism took off in Chicago by78901:15:03.720 --> 01:15:08.319
the nineteen eighties, with companies offering ghost tours by bus79001:15:08.479 --> 01:15:14.159
or foot. Mary was invariably the star attraction on these tours,79101:15:14.960 --> 01:15:19.359
especially the ones that ventured to the South Side. Tour79201:15:19.399 --> 01:15:24.319
guides like Crow and later companies such as Chicago Hauntings79301:15:24.359 --> 01:15:29.840
Tours and American Ghost Walks proudly feature Resurrection Mary on79401:15:29.960 --> 01:15:34.680
their itineraries. They know it's the crowd pleaser, the legend79501:15:34.760 --> 01:15:39.920
everyone wants to hear on a dark October night. Even79601:15:40.119 --> 01:15:45.479
Chet's Melody Lounge, the tavern across the street from Resurrection Cemetery,79701:15:46.000 --> 01:15:49.640
has leaned into the legend. As local lore has it,79801:15:50.239 --> 01:15:54.199
every Sunday, the staff at Chet's mixes a Bloody Mary79901:15:54.279 --> 01:15:57.439
cocktail and leaves it at the end of the bar80001:15:58.159 --> 01:16:04.880
with an empty stool reserved just in case Mary stops in.80101:16:06.199 --> 01:16:10.920
It's a tongue in cheek tribute that doubles as great publicity.80201:16:11.680 --> 01:16:17.920
Customers and ghost hunters pop in, especially around Halloween, hoping80301:16:18.039 --> 01:16:21.720
to catch a glimpse or at least share a drink80401:16:22.199 --> 01:16:27.600
with the idea of Mary. This is folklore as a80501:16:27.680 --> 01:16:34.439
living economic phenomenon, the ghost story actually brings patrons and80601:16:35.000 --> 01:16:40.920
tourism dollars. Crucially, most who participate in these traditions know80701:16:41.439 --> 01:16:47.159
Mary's existence is unproven. The owners of chets or the80801:16:47.239 --> 01:16:51.640
tour guides don't claim to have hard evidence their trading80901:16:51.720 --> 01:16:55.840
in atmosphere and narrative, which, by the way, is the81001:16:55.880 --> 01:17:01.279
stock in trade of terrifying and true. Folklorist and author81101:17:01.359 --> 01:17:06.720
Adam Selzer, who has researched Chicago's ghosts, emphasizes that one81201:17:06.840 --> 01:17:11.600
must separate the fun of the legend from the fact.81301:17:12.479 --> 01:17:16.640
In Mary's case, he found that some supposed facts, like81401:17:17.119 --> 01:17:23.439
Mary Muskowski's death, turned out to be pure fiction. Selzer81501:17:23.520 --> 01:17:28.760
and others caution that many details get mythologized over time.81601:17:29.560 --> 01:17:33.960
For example, one recent author recounted a cabby in the81701:17:34.000 --> 01:17:38.239
early two thousands hearing a girl say the snow came81801:17:38.319 --> 01:17:43.279
early this year, clearly the same line from Bill Geist's81901:17:43.439 --> 01:17:50.880
nineteen seventy nine story, just transplanted decades later. This suggests82001:17:50.960 --> 01:17:57.399
that later storytellers might simply be rehashing older anecdotes, unknowingly82101:17:58.119 --> 01:18:07.079
or not. Folklore is fluid. Stories migrate and transform. Resurrection.82201:18:07.279 --> 01:18:12.119
Mary is as much a cultural phenomenon as a paranormal one.82301:18:12.640 --> 01:18:17.239
The legend has been nurtured by community storytelling, amplified by82401:18:17.279 --> 01:18:23.039
the media, and even commemorated in popular culture. In this way,82501:18:23.520 --> 01:18:28.600
Mary will likely never die so long as people enjoy82601:18:29.319 --> 01:18:35.439
a good spooky story. She has transcended being a mere82701:18:35.560 --> 01:18:40.439
ghost sighting to become a piece of Chicago's cultural heritage,82801:18:40.960 --> 01:18:47.960
a shared narrative that connects generations. We'd be remiss if82901:18:48.000 --> 01:18:52.000
we didn't talk a little bit about how Resurrection Mary83001:18:52.880 --> 01:18:56.680
has put a dark and spooky grip on the broader83101:18:56.800 --> 01:19:02.199
popular culture and created a lasting life legacy of mystery83201:19:03.159 --> 01:19:14.760
and fear. As one of America's most famous ghost legends,83301:19:15.199 --> 01:19:23.680
Resurrection Mary has unsurprisingly inspired books, films, music, and other media.83401:19:23.800 --> 01:19:28.600
Here are a few ways Mary's spectral presence has permeated83501:19:28.720 --> 01:19:33.800
popular culture, along with how the legend continues to impact83601:19:34.279 --> 01:19:39.960
the living. In literature, Mary's story anchors numerous ghost story83701:19:40.000 --> 01:19:46.600
anthologies and books, particularly about Chicago lore. Notable examples include83801:19:46.720 --> 01:19:52.000
Chicago Haunts by Ursula Bielski nineteen ninety seven, which devotes83901:19:52.039 --> 01:19:56.960
a chapter to Mary, and Resurrection Mary, a ghost Story84001:19:57.439 --> 01:20:04.800
by Keenan Heisten, which examines the legend. In depth paranormal84101:20:04.840 --> 01:20:08.520
authors like Troy Taylor have written extensively on Mary in84201:20:08.640 --> 01:20:14.399
books and online articles, exploring both sightings and identity theories.84301:20:15.479 --> 01:20:21.159
Each retelling in print helps cement Mary's place among legendary84401:20:21.359 --> 01:20:26.479
American ghosts. Even kids books of urban Legends mention her84501:20:26.920 --> 01:20:32.680
as the vanishing Hitchhiker of Illinois, ensuring the tale reaches84601:20:33.279 --> 01:20:38.680
new audiences as far as television documentaries and dramatizations go.84701:20:39.359 --> 01:20:43.720
Aside from unsolved mysteries, Mary appeared in a nineteen eighty84801:20:43.720 --> 01:20:48.960
five episode of Arthur C. Clarke's World of Strange Powers,84901:20:49.000 --> 01:20:54.279
a British TV series on the paranormal. That episode featured85001:20:54.359 --> 01:21:00.000
interviews with witnesses and investigators in a serious documentary see85101:21:01.520 --> 01:21:05.479
In two thousand seven, a public TV programme called The85201:21:05.560 --> 01:21:11.079
Hauntings of Chicago devoted time to Mary's tale, including interviews85301:21:11.079 --> 01:21:16.199
with Ursula Bielski and on site footage at Resurrection Cemetery.85401:21:17.319 --> 01:21:22.159
Countless cable TV countdowns of top hauntings on Travel Channel85501:21:22.199 --> 01:21:28.239
and the like include Resurrection Mary among their highlights. Each Halloween,85601:21:28.720 --> 01:21:35.640
local Chicago news reliably recalls the story for viewers, sometimes85701:21:35.720 --> 01:21:42.600
rerunning classic segments or updating with any new sightings. In85801:21:42.640 --> 01:21:46.880
the world of feature film, Mary's legend inspired at least85901:21:47.079 --> 01:21:51.760
two independent horror films in the early two thousands. One86001:21:51.880 --> 01:21:57.279
film titled Simply Resurrection Mary from two thousand five, directed86101:21:57.319 --> 01:22:01.840
by Shawn Michael Bayer, presented a fiction horror plot about86201:22:01.840 --> 01:22:05.760
a group of friends encountering Mary's ghost on a road trip.86301:22:06.520 --> 01:22:11.319
The filmmakers took creative liberties, for example portraying Mary as86401:22:11.359 --> 01:22:16.000
a vengeful spirit harming the living, which is not part86501:22:16.079 --> 01:22:21.119
of the traditional legend. Another independent project in two thousand86601:22:21.159 --> 01:22:25.600
and five with the same title by Michael Lansu, also86701:22:25.760 --> 01:22:30.279
attempted to adapt the story, even filming scenes at Chet's86801:22:30.319 --> 01:22:35.840
Melody Lounge for authenticity. While these films didn't make a86901:22:35.960 --> 01:22:41.239
large splash, they show the narrative's appeal. Even if they87001:22:41.279 --> 01:22:45.960
weren't critical successes. They contribute to the cult following of87101:22:46.039 --> 01:22:52.439
the Mary mythos among horror officionados. Additionally, Mary's story has87201:22:52.479 --> 01:22:57.239
been referenced in TV fiction. For instance, an episode of87301:22:57.279 --> 01:23:01.880
the series Supernatural in two thousand five featured a vanishing87401:23:01.960 --> 01:23:06.760
hitchhiker ghost. Though not called Mary, it was clearly riffing87501:23:06.960 --> 01:23:11.920
on the archetype so in a sense, Mary's DNA is87601:23:12.079 --> 01:23:18.079
present in many vanishing hitchhiker tropes on screen. Even folk87701:23:18.159 --> 01:23:23.560
songs and poems sometimes arise around local legends. There have87801:23:23.720 --> 01:23:28.760
been a few lesser known songs titled Resurrection Mary and87901:23:28.880 --> 01:23:34.560
references to her in Chicago inspired music one tongue in cheek. Example,88001:23:35.159 --> 01:23:39.439
musician Ian Hunter wrote a rock song called Resurrection Mary88101:23:39.720 --> 01:23:43.399
in nineteen ninety five, spinning the tale of the ghost88201:23:43.520 --> 01:23:48.560
Girl into lyrics, a testament to how widely the story88301:23:49.039 --> 01:23:54.840
had spread. The phrase itself, Resurrection Mary has a kind88401:23:54.880 --> 01:23:58.600
of poetic ring that has been used in everything from88501:23:58.960 --> 01:24:03.159
bar names to a brand of beer on the South Side.88601:24:03.319 --> 01:24:08.279
The legend's imagery a lonely road, a flowing white dress,88701:24:09.079 --> 01:24:15.319
a graveyard at night is richly evocative, and thus has88801:24:15.439 --> 01:24:22.279
permeated creative and imaginative works. In recent years, Resurrection Mary88901:24:22.359 --> 01:24:27.680
has found new life online. TikTok videos claiming to capture89001:24:28.000 --> 01:24:33.119
shadowy figures on Archer Avenue or recounting late night drives89101:24:33.159 --> 01:24:38.800
near Resurrection Cemetery have racked up millions of views on Reddit,89201:24:39.199 --> 01:24:44.600
particularly an r slash Paranormal and r slash Unresolved Mysteries.89301:24:45.239 --> 01:24:50.600
Users continue to share personal experiences or second hand tales89401:24:51.239 --> 01:24:56.319
about the ghostly hitchhiker. While some are clear retellings of89501:24:56.399 --> 01:25:01.359
older accounts, others appear to be genuine in modern sightings89601:25:02.079 --> 01:25:07.880
or at least modern interpretations of classic ones. YouTube channels89701:25:07.920 --> 01:25:12.560
focused on urban legends have produced video essays exploring Mary's89801:25:12.640 --> 01:25:18.520
possible identities, while ghost hunting ticktokers stage late night stakouts89901:25:18.800 --> 01:25:24.039
at the cemetery gates. This shift shows that Mary's legend,90001:25:24.560 --> 01:25:30.079
like all good folklore, adapts to each generation's storytelling tools.90101:25:30.920 --> 01:25:35.119
In the age of digital campfires, she remains a compelling90201:25:35.760 --> 01:25:42.159
and shareable specter. Perhaps Mary's greatest impact is how strongly90301:25:42.279 --> 01:25:47.079
She's been identified with Chicago folklore. She is to Chicago90401:25:47.560 --> 01:25:51.560
what the Headless Horseman is to Sleepy Hollow, or what90501:25:51.680 --> 01:25:57.319
Bigfoot is to the Pacific Northwest. A flagship legend. The90601:25:57.399 --> 01:26:02.920
village of Justice, Illinois, where Resurrection Cemetery is located, often90701:26:03.000 --> 01:26:09.239
finds itself included in top Haunted Places lists Because of Mary.90801:26:10.079 --> 01:26:14.800
Ghost tour buses still crawl Archer Avenue on weekends in October,90901:26:15.560 --> 01:26:20.800
their guides telling Mary's story to wide eyed passengers as91001:26:20.840 --> 01:26:31.840
they travel past the cemetery. The now destroyed willow Brook91101:26:31.920 --> 01:26:37.000
Ballroom site has also become a stop on tours, especially91201:26:37.119 --> 01:26:40.840
after twenty sixteen, both to mourn the loss of the91301:26:40.920 --> 01:26:46.640
venue and to honor its ghostly patroness. The anecdote of91401:26:46.680 --> 01:26:50.640
the dancing shoes left after the fire shows how deeply91501:26:50.880 --> 01:26:56.520
ingrained Mary is in local memory. The community's sadness at91601:26:56.520 --> 01:27:01.560
the ballroom's loss was intertwined with Mary's airsnarrative, as if91701:27:01.600 --> 01:27:06.039
not only had a historic dance hall burned down, but91801:27:06.159 --> 01:27:12.359
the spiritual home of resurrection Mary had. Two groups like91901:27:12.439 --> 01:27:16.439
the Ghost Research Society led by Dale Kasmarak, still keep92001:27:16.520 --> 01:27:22.239
Mary on their radar. Kasmarak himself has collected thousands of92101:27:22.279 --> 01:27:27.359
accounts of Mary, by his estimate, and he encourages anyone92201:27:27.720 --> 01:27:32.920
who believes they've seen her to report it. While sightings92301:27:32.960 --> 01:27:37.359
have indeed dropped off since the nineteen eighties, some credit92401:27:37.439 --> 01:27:41.279
the installation of brighter street lights on Archer Avenue in92501:27:41.399 --> 01:27:46.359
nineteen eighty five, which made ghostly apparitions much less common,92601:27:47.199 --> 01:27:52.439
the legend persists. Every so often, a story pops up92701:27:52.520 --> 01:27:56.479
on an online forum or in a local paper about92801:27:56.520 --> 01:28:02.840
a new resurrection Mary sighting. For example, a two thousand92901:28:02.840 --> 01:28:08.159
and five report in a Lithuanian language newspaper claimed Mary's93001:28:08.239 --> 01:28:12.640
ghost showed up back at the Willowbrook Ballroom, dancing with93101:28:12.680 --> 01:28:18.439
a wedding guest, then vanishing on the ride home. The93201:28:18.520 --> 01:28:23.319
ballroom staff treated it with a mix of seriousness and humor,93301:28:24.159 --> 01:28:27.520
even joking that Mary might haunt the ball room itself93401:28:28.079 --> 01:28:33.840
given the occasional unexplained slam of doors or flicker of lights.93501:28:34.880 --> 01:28:40.439
So Mary has by no means been retired from ghostly duty.93601:28:41.479 --> 01:28:46.560
She still apparently makes her rounds now and then, or93701:28:46.600 --> 01:28:53.119
at least people still attribute strange occurrences to her. What93801:28:53.239 --> 01:28:57.880
is perhaps most enduring about Resurrection Mary is how she93901:28:58.039 --> 01:29:05.600
balances spookiness and sadness. Her story is undeniably eerie, a94001:29:05.680 --> 01:29:10.640
lone figure appearing in the dead of night, yet it's94101:29:10.680 --> 01:29:17.960
also tragic and sympathetic. She isn't portrayed as a malevolent spirit. Rather,94201:29:18.640 --> 01:29:22.960
she's seen as a lost soul, perpetually trying to get94301:29:23.000 --> 01:29:28.800
home or back to where she belongs. As Cosmarrek noted,94401:29:29.439 --> 01:29:33.199
she seems to realize at the cemetery gate that that94501:29:34.039 --> 01:29:40.760
is where she belongs, and then she disappears. This image94601:29:40.800 --> 01:29:45.279
of Mary has a kind of melancholy romance to it,94701:29:45.800 --> 01:29:50.279
one that keeps people fascinated. There's even a touch of94801:29:50.720 --> 01:29:54.720
chivalry in the story, drivers trying to help a young94901:29:54.760 --> 01:29:59.199
woman in need, only to discover she was beyond help.95001:30:00.159 --> 01:30:04.880
It plays into themes of compassion, regret, and the thin95101:30:05.079 --> 01:30:11.880
veil between life and death. In the end, Resurrection Mary95201:30:12.119 --> 01:30:17.199
endures because her legend is adaptable and deeply human. It95301:30:17.319 --> 01:30:20.600
taps into the fear of the unknown on dark roads,95401:30:21.239 --> 01:30:25.039
the grief for young lives cut short, and the wonder95501:30:25.560 --> 01:30:30.359
about what lies beyond. It's a ghost story that has95601:30:30.439 --> 01:30:36.159
transcended generations, maintained by those who love to be scared95701:30:37.079 --> 01:30:43.800
and those who simply love a good mystery. Chicago, renowned95801:30:43.840 --> 01:30:48.760
for its diverse cultural heritage, gave birth to Resurrection Mary,95901:30:49.520 --> 01:30:53.439
a figure now celebrated as one of the world's most96001:30:53.560 --> 01:30:59.920
captivating and haunting tales. On a chilly night, if you've96101:31:00.119 --> 01:31:06.640
find yourself driving northeast along Archer Avenue past Resurrection Cemetery,96201:31:07.800 --> 01:31:11.279
you might feel a prickling on the back of your neck.96301:31:12.560 --> 01:31:16.560
Perhaps you'll glance at the empty passenger seat in your96401:31:16.600 --> 01:31:22.239
car and imagine, just for a moment, a quiet young96501:31:22.279 --> 01:31:29.800
woman sitting there. The rational mind knows it's just a legend.96601:31:29.840 --> 01:31:33.720
But the power of Resurrection Mary is that she makes96701:31:33.760 --> 01:31:40.159
you wonder what if? Tonight We've peeled back the layers96801:31:40.239 --> 01:31:44.159
of this famous ghost story. We saw how an oral96901:31:44.279 --> 01:31:48.159
legend from the nineteen thirties evolved into a city wide97001:31:48.199 --> 01:31:54.039
phenomenon by the nineteen seventies, buoyed by real people's testimonies97101:31:54.479 --> 01:31:58.520
and a healthy dose of media intrigue. We track the97201:31:58.720 --> 01:32:05.279
historical candidates Mary, Brogovi and Anorchis and others, each contributing97301:32:05.359 --> 01:32:11.479
their own threads to the intricate mystery of Mary's identity. However,97401:32:12.119 --> 01:32:17.439
none of these threads emerged as the sought after golden thread.97501:32:18.680 --> 01:32:23.399
We put the sightings under a microscope, finding plenty of consistency,97601:32:23.600 --> 01:32:28.520
but no concrete proof, reminding us that anecdote is not97701:32:28.720 --> 01:32:33.840
the same as evidence. We also acknowledge the vibrant folklore machine,97801:32:34.640 --> 01:32:41.560
the storytellers, the newspapers, the tours, the podcasts that keeps97901:32:41.640 --> 01:32:46.880
Mary's story fresh and captivating. We've tried to be clear98001:32:47.479 --> 01:32:54.399
about where established facts end an urban legend begins. Resurrection98101:32:54.600 --> 01:32:59.359
Mary is likely an amalgam of truth and tale. There98201:32:59.560 --> 01:33:04.239
was a Bregovi who died tragically in nineteen thirty four,98301:33:05.039 --> 01:33:08.439
and an Anna Norkis, who perished returning from a dance98401:33:08.960 --> 01:33:15.479
in nineteen twenty seven. Their stories undeniably fed the legend's creation.98501:33:16.600 --> 01:33:21.000
There were dozens of sober, respectable folks who swore on98601:33:21.079 --> 01:33:27.880
their honor they encountered something uncanny on Archer Avenue. We98701:33:28.000 --> 01:33:32.439
have their words, even if we can't verify their experiences98801:33:33.000 --> 01:33:39.000
from a scientific perspective. With all that being said, without doubt,98901:33:39.600 --> 01:33:44.800
Resurrection Mary has made a cultural impact, evident in everything99001:33:44.880 --> 01:33:49.800
from haunted barstools to film scripts to faded green paint99101:33:50.079 --> 01:33:54.600
on a pair of bent cemetery gates. All of these99201:33:55.239 --> 01:34:00.239
are real in their own way. Yet the goat ghost99301:34:00.319 --> 01:34:06.760
herself that remains a matter of personal belief. Skeptics will99401:34:06.760 --> 01:34:11.439
say Mary is just a classic urban legend, a story99501:34:11.520 --> 01:34:17.159
that grew in the telling, reinforced by coincidence and imagination.99601:34:18.239 --> 01:34:22.119
Believers will counter that there are simply too many matching99701:34:22.199 --> 01:34:27.319
reports over too long a time to dismiss that perhaps99801:34:27.359 --> 01:34:33.079
some restless spirit truly walks Archer Avenue. Even if we99901:34:33.199 --> 01:34:38.600
can't name her with certainty, we can verify the historical100001:34:38.680 --> 01:34:43.479
context and relay the eyewitness accounts, but we cannot solve100101:34:43.640 --> 01:34:49.520
the supernatural riddle. Resurrection Mary dwells in that liminal space100201:34:50.039 --> 01:34:56.960
where history and folklore intertwine. One thing is certain, however,100301:34:57.800 --> 01:35:01.479
the legend of Resurrection Mary has become a part of100401:35:01.560 --> 01:35:07.600
Chicago's identity, its story told around camp fires, in tour100501:35:07.680 --> 01:35:13.359
buses and on front porches each Halloween. It's a wink100601:35:13.600 --> 01:35:17.319
in the local bar and a shiver on the lonely100701:35:17.479 --> 01:35:24.079
road at night. In that sense, Mary is very much alive,100801:35:25.479 --> 01:35:30.960
kept alive by community memory and the enduring thrill of100901:35:31.000 --> 01:35:36.319
a spooky tale well told. So the next time you're101001:35:36.439 --> 01:35:40.960
driving past an old cemetery late at night and you101101:35:41.079 --> 01:35:47.439
spot a lone figure by the roadside, think of Resurrection Mary.101201:35:48.279 --> 01:35:53.239
You might be witnessing a piece of living folklore, or101301:35:54.119 --> 01:35:59.279
you might just be seeing things. Either way, you've become101401:35:59.399 --> 01:36:06.840
part of the story. Another driver on Archer Avenue with101501:36:07.000 --> 01:36:14.000
goosebumps check in the rear view mirror for a vanishing101601:36:14.119 --> 01:36:19.399
girl in a white dress. And as long as those101701:36:19.439 --> 01:36:26.840
goosebumps prickle and that story is shared, Resurrection Mary will101801:36:26.960 --> 01:36:34.399
never truly die. Terrifying and true is narrated by Enrique Kuto.101901:36:34.720 --> 01:36:38.239
It's executive produced by Rob Fields and bobble Toopia dot102001:36:38.239 --> 01:36:41.880
com and produced by Dan Wilder with original theme music102101:36:41.960 --> 01:36:44.600
by Ray Mattis. If you have a story you think102201:36:44.640 --> 01:36:47.399
we should cover on Terrifying and True, send us an102301:36:47.439 --> 01:36:51.079
email at Weekly Spooky at gmail dot com, and if102401:36:51.079 --> 01:36:52.640
you want to support us for as little as one102501:36:52.640 --> 01:36:55.760
dollar a month, go to Weeklyspooky dot com slash join.102601:36:56.000 --> 01:36:58.239
Your support for as little as one dollar a month102701:36:58.319 --> 01:37:00.640
keeps the show going and speak think of. I want102801:37:00.640 --> 01:37:02.800
to say an extra special thank you to our Patreon102901:37:02.920 --> 01:37:05.640
podcast boosters, folks who pay a little bit more to103001:37:05.680 --> 01:37:07.159
hear their name at the end of the show, and103101:37:07.319 --> 01:37:11.760
they are Johnny Nix, Kate and Lulu, Jessica Fuller, Mike Escuey,103201:37:12.119 --> 01:37:15.680
Jenny Green, Amber Hansburg, Karen we Met, Jack Ker, and103301:37:15.840 --> 01:37:18.239
Craig Cohen. Thank you all so much, and thank you103401:37:18.319 --> 01:37:21.159
for listening. We'll see you all right here next time103501:37:21.520 --> 01:37:24.039
on Terrifying and True
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