Resurrection Mary, Chicago's Famous Hitchhiking Ghost

RESURRECTION MARY MYTHS AND REASONS THEY’RE MYTHS:

MYTH: Resurrection Mary has been identified as Mary Bregovy.
FACT: She hasn’t been positively identified as anybody! There are at least five good candidates, well-profiled here: psiresearcher.wordpress.com... The best candidate was actually named Anna, history here: www.ghostvillage.com...

Resurrection Cemetery staff will hang up the phone in a second if you call mentioning this subject. None of the reenactments on Unsolved Mysteries or other programs were filmed there—they will stop the making of even amateur videos by paid-up members, telling them to leave. (As far as I know, this much is true.)

MYTH: They do this because the Catholic Church accepts only three destinations for souls of the deceased, Heaven, Hell, or Purgatory. Therefore, there are no ghosts and none of these events happened. These prejudiced people reject the many allegations regarding Mary because they don’t fit into their own narrow beliefs system. They are so opinionated they are not worth bothering with.
FACT: They don’t like talking about it because every time the subject comes up, the neighborhood is flooded with curiosity-seekers, yahoos, and hooligans, and the cemetery is subject to a lot of vandalism. Don’t ask me where I got this—it was on some message board, not one of my regular ones, from someone claiming to be a local resident—but it had a ring of truth to it. The first part can be verified through online searches—the police department clamps down with such strict surveillance, you can’t get near the place on Halloween! As for whether they believe it or not, there is excellent evidence that the best piece of physical evidence in this case, the cemetery gate bars featured in the article referenced above, were in fact removed, preserved in secret, and replaced with duplicates installed upside down and loose along with a truly pathetic story of how they got that way.

MYTH: Mary appears only late at night to people who are lost, disoriented, and unfamiliar with the neighborhood—locals don’t see her.
FACT: In pursuing this subject, I contacted longtime local resident Frank Andrejasich, the researcher who has identified Mary as Anna Norkus. He was kind enough to call and write me at his own expense. What I was able to infer from what he and others said, or declined to say, was that plenty of local residents have seen Mary. They don’t avoid discussing this because other locals will consider them crazy, as probably everyone around there has either seen her, or knows someone who has. They don’t discuss it for pretty much the reason cemetery staff don’t—it brings a lot of unwanted traffic into the neighborhood and creates disruption in general, so is considered a troublemaking thing to do. (The couple who appeared on Unsolved Mysteries were locals.)

There is at least something to these stories, as many people who reported sightings did see things late at night, and often when they were lost and disoriented. The nearest open business is a bar named Chet’s Melody Lounge, where terrified witnesses would stagger in saying they just saw something strange, yet as far as anyone seems to know, no one who works at Chet’s has seen her—now, how frustrating would that be?

MYTH: Only drunks see Resurrection Mary.
FACT: Well, the nearest business open at the times of night she usually appears is a bar where people go for a drink to steady their nerves after having seen her, so you do the math.

MYTH: Mary appears only to men.
FACT: Estimates put sightings at around 70% male witnesses. It helps if they are young and attractive, but Mary doesn’t confine herself to any age or gender. It would be interesting to see statistics on how many people saw her after hearing there was a ghost and how many were unfamiliar with the story, but since not all sightings are reported, there are no reliable figures on that.

Frank Andrejasich let me in on the distinct possibility that the best-known and most exciting story about Mary, which had her spending an evening dancing with, and even kissing, Jerry Palus, was an exaggeration if not an outright fabrication. What’s believed to have actually happened is that some relatives of his picked Mary up one night, and he embellished the story. Inquiries regarding the address he claimed she gave him never panned out, and I found myself that he incorporated many elements of another well-known phantom hitchhiker tale, that of Lavender, which originated in the Ramapo region of New York. A good version is found here: jackmblogs.wordpress.com... This is said to have actually happened to someone at some point in time, but unlike Resurrection Mary, it’s never been successfully traced back to determine who. It’s of interest in indicating that the story had at least made it to Chicago by 1939.

MYTH: There are phantom hitchhiker stories from all over the world, some of them with similarities to the Resurrection Mary events. For some examples, see the headings "Vila" and "Western European References" in this article: en.wikipedia.org... Many such stories are obviously myths. Therefore, every phantom hitchhiker story ever told by anyone at any time anywhere in the world is an urban legend, by definition false, despite numerous witnesses, including credible individuals such as police officers, reporting the exact same figures and occurrences in the exact same locations for decades.
FACT: HA! If you believe this one, just remove all paper currency currently in your possession and throw it in the trash, or, better yet, send it to me--because currency of all kinds have been known to be counterfeited, and bills are far easier to fake than coins. Therefore, if you don’t want to be caught with the goods or exposed to unsavory elements, from now on, you’d better pay for everything with either plastic, or better, coins. Preferably pennies. Bills are unsanitary and covered with drug traces and microbes, so you’d better just send all that filthy lucre to me so I can dispose of it properly! Just PM me for my address and I’ll wait for the cash to come rolling in!

I had a family friend who was a Chicago policeman and he had some stories about that cemetery.

The one I remember is, it was in the 1960's and he was patrolling in his cruiser early in the a.m. ... like 2 or 3 a.m. and they (his partner was with him) saw two kids sitting on the curb outside the fence of Resurrection.

They looked "wan" and were "dressed funny" (boy in knickers and cap, girl in long dress) and didn't meet the officer's eyes when they passed... they decided it warranted a "welfare check" and turned around just a half block away, keeping the pair of kids in view... but as they approached again, the two just "kinda fuzzed out" meaning as they got closer, the two kids got less distinct until they were gone.

He also said that Mary was very real and he had spoken to a dozen or so people who had experiences with her... for what it's worth.

The best story, though, was from when he was a janitor at a morgue and one of the corpses decided to belch decomposition gas as he was mopping nearby ...making the body shift/move, open it's mouth and groan... and giving him blind panic... broke his nose against the exit door.

Wow, that is great!!! Yeah, that whole place is active. I looked at it on a map once and it is in the shape of a triangle with water forming one side.

On this forum I'm on about Post-Mortem photography, people posted about working in a morgue where sometimes the corpses sit up. Once that made a girl wet her pants--but then she said it was so cool!

I have lived in the area most of my life and have passed by the cemetery hundreds of times. Unfortunately, I have never seen Mary. I have talked to people who say they have and every once in a while it pops up in the newspapers here. Its true the cemetery doesn't want any publicity about it because for some stupid reason it always leads to vandalism.

There is a grave there that has some interesting events once in a while. There is a statue of the Virgin Mary on this grave. Once in a while people will smell roses very strongly in the air near the statue when there are none to be found anywhere in the area.

Pretty cool stuff if you are in to that sort of thing.

originally posted by: Vroomfondel
Its true the cemetery doesn't want any publicity about it because for some stupid reason it always leads to vandalism.

Maybe the twerps are pissed because no self-respecting ghost will appear to them.

a reply to: CoriSCapnSkip

good research, op. The resurrection Mary ghost sightings have been more of the more famous ghost American hitch hiker stories. I believe in Canada there is another similar haunting phenomenon. In fact, the whole lady in white phenomenon is very fascinating to me.

I pool them all in similar class of spiritual phenomenon. You see similar stories or sightings by people in areas all over the world, even thru out history. In California, the Hollywood sign is haunted by a white in lady movie star. There is many lady in white haunting in hotels. In England and Scotland, there are famous stories of white in lady haunting castles. It's a bit sad to know that these poor women, met sad fates or ends, which ultimately. Cursed them to haunt the places they died at. Either its spiritual phenomenon that binds them to that area, or it's their own will. Lets hope these people all eventually find peace and pass over to the light.

Thanks for the complimentary reply!

They're at it in England: www.roadghosts.com...

So similar it makes me believe in these things more rather than less!

Lady in white murder victim ghost: ghostofgracebrown.weebly.com...

a reply to: CoriSCapnSkip

poor girl in that ghost of blue bell hill story. Sounds to me a lot of these poor souls are stuck in a re-play. It might just be residual haunting that is just replaying what happen to them, a death loop. Maybe just a psychic imprint around that spot at the right conditions and time. They might not even know they are decreased. RIP.

Mary is more than residual. She interacts to some degree, at least speaking to some people.

a reply to: CoriSCapnSkip

If it is an intelligent haunting type, than the poor girl probably doesn't even know she is dead. She is a ghost. Not a spirit. A spirit would have passed on already, but they can come back to visit. Maybe she is re-living the horrible events that happen over and over, afraid to move onto the light, or doesn't even know there is one. once again RIP. Amen.

If anyone is able to find information on the hitchhiking ghost in the Ramapo region of New York or any others, please share! From what I have found it's unclear as to how many may have witnessed the Ramapo apparition or when it was last seen.

Here is one in Maine with very similar characteristics--the exact same figure seen under the same atmospheric conditions in the same place by many witnesses over the years. The traveling salesman tale is questionable as presumably he died before being able to tell what he saw--but plenty of others lived and related various encounters! seeksghosts.blogspot.com...

Very similar stories from rural Pennsylvania: www.pennsylvania-mountains-of-attractions.com...

Related reports from England: www.kentonline.co.uk...

Investigators conducting a vigil at the site were disappointed: www.assap.ac.uk...

Many others from various locations. Here are some from Australia: www.dailytelegraph.com.au... -coast/story-fngr8h0p-1226924306201?nk=ddd45ee1e3f1441d84bbe132c9e865de

a reply to: CoriSCapnSkip

There are stories from Los Angeles, Mexico, Philippines, Thailand, China, Japan, Etc. It goes on and on brother. The whole white lady event is marred in history, legend, and lore. Each with their own twist, but all with the similar background.

Whatever it is, it seems to be a worldwide phenomenon, often linked to real life events in the area.