Bachelor's Grove, a tiny abandoned cemetery in southwest suburban Chicago, is often featured on Ghosthunters-type shows and is said to be one of the most haunted places in America. I grew up in southwest Chicago, and visited the forest preserves surrounding the cemetery many times with my family. I have a vague memory of walking down the trail that leads to Bachelor's Grove (during the day, unfortunately) once when I was a kid. It takes a lot to convince me that a place is haunted, but in this case –
-Satanists plied their trade here
in the 1960s, sacrificing animals, digging up bodies and setting fire to
coffins
- Partying teenagers toppled
headstones, carved messages in them, etc, in the 1970s and beyond
- Al Capone dumped bodies in a
nearby pond*
-
In the 1800s, a farmer and his horse drowned in the same pond – or maybe
another body of water nearby, not sure.
- The bodies of the Grimes sisters,
two teens who were kidnapped in the 1950s, were found nearby, in Willow Springs.
* I think either my Dad or Grandpa
related this story to us one day on a family outing as we drove by the forest
preserve.
People have reported seeing a white lady carrying an infant, flashing orbs of light, a transparent woman sitting on a tombstone, a phantom farmhouse that would shrink and disappear when approached, monks and a "ghost" dog resembling a Rottweiler. Check out photos of Bachelor's Grove at Chicago Now.
Here's a documentary about Bachelor's Grove, complete with pictures of the "Madonna of Bachelor's Grove"