Resurrection Mary

Resurrection Mary is arguably Chicago’s most famous ghost story. It’s a case of chicken and egg, there are many Mary’s buried in Resurrection Cemetery and it’s debated on if a specific woman’s death or the story of Mary predates the other. 

It is said a beautiful young woman was walking home along Archer Avenue one night when she was struck and killed in a hit and run accident. She was promptly buried in Resurrection Cemetery. 

At various dance halls nearby, young men reported being approached by a pale and beautiful young woman. The young man she approaches dances with her all night. He notes how cold she is, physically the chill in her hands and emotionally how distant she seems. At the end of the dance the young woman asks for a ride home and provides vague directions down Archer Avenue. 

Some accounts say the woman vanishes from the car. Others say as they approached the cemetery, she leapt from the car and disappeared through the gates. Others still have reported seeing a pale young woman walking down the street herself and vanishing. 

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Resurrection Mary is a well documented ghost story and she holds some similarities to both the devil in the dancehall as a mysterious figure who approaches a young person and holds a certain allure, as well as the figure of the woman in white or the wandering woman.

This ghostly archetype of a wandering woman goes as far back as ghost stories themselves through stark origins are debated. She shows up in early Celtic stories as well as across South and Central America. A wronged woman who suffers an untimely death comes back to haunt the area she was from or where her death occurred, sometimes attacking those who approach her.