Bachelor's Grove Cemetery

JohnHart · Mist Joined: 18 Mar 2008 Posts: 35

Location: Midlothian, IL

History: Bachelor's Grove, located about twenty miles south of Chicago, was settled in the late 1820s. The origin of the name is the source of some confusion. One theory suggests that the name was adopted after for single men settled in the are around 1833 or 1834. Another theory has the area called Batchelder's Grove, named for a family that moved into the area in 1845.

The first burial in the cemetery was in 1844, a woman named Eliza Scott. All totaled there have been between 150 and 200 burials in the cemetery. The last official burial in Bachelor's Grove was in 1965.

In the early years, Bachelor's Grove was like a park where families would spend their Sunday's picnicking and fishing in the nearby quarry pond. When part the Midlothian Turnpike was closed to vehicular traffic in the 1960s, Bachelor's Grove became the most popular lover's lane in the Chicago area. Around this time, the urban legend about an escaped mental patient known as the "Hooked Maniac" was started by visitors.

Since the 1960s, there have been ongoing reports of Satanic rituals being performed. In the 1960s and 1970s, teenagers began vandalizing the cemetery. Gravestones have been spray painted and/or stolen, and a few of the graves have actually been dug up. Only about twenty gravestones remain in the cemetery today.

Today the cemetery is managed by the Cemetery Trustees of the Cook County Board. The graves are in terrible shape, but there is an effort underway to restore the grounds. If you decide to visit the cemetery, please be respectful of those buried there.

Haunting: Bachelor's Grove cemetery is one of the oldest cemeteries in South Cook County, now it has earned the reputation as the most haunted location in the Chicago area. Over the years there have been hundreds of documented events, ranging from orbs to phantom cars on the nearby Midlothian Turnpike. The most commonly reported paranormal activities are the sightings of red and blue orbs. Red orbs have been seen streaking up the path leading to the cemetery and blue orbs have been seen floating through the woods and around the gravestones.

In the 1950s, a ghost house started appearing in the grove. The house was an all white two-story home with a white picket fence and a porch swing. As the house was approached it continues to move away, fading into the distance. The odd thing about this apparition is there was never a house matching this description built in the area.

Several apparitions of men have been encountered in and around the cemetery. In the 1870s, a farmer was plowing near the quarry pond when his horse was startled causing it to bolt into the pond, drowning them both. The ghost of the plowing man, along with his horse, have been seen on numerous occasions near the pond. Two more apparitions, one of a two-headed man and one of a man dressed all in yellow, have been seen in the cemetery, but their origins are unknown.

The most famous ghost of the cemetery is that of a woman, known are either the Madonna of Bachelor's Grove or Mrs. Rogers. Her ghost is often seen carrying an infant in her arms, she only appears on nights when the moon is full.