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Bachelor's Grove Cemetery Bachelor's Grove
Cemetery is a small, abandoned cemetery in the Chicago area. The Cemetery is
located near Midlothian and Oak Forest, Illinois near the Rubio Woods Forest
Preserve. It is well-known for its haunted stories and ghost sightings. More
than 100 reports of glowing balls of light, apparitions, and unexplained
noises. |
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| Bachelor's Grove Cemetery was chosen to be a burial
ground in 1844, settled by "Yankee farmers" as Clarence Fulton, the now
deceased caretaker of the cemetery claimed in a 1977 newspaper article.
Currently, it is unused, but it was used for burials until at least 1989. Due
to the location of the cemetery along a small, unused road, vandalism has been
common. The small entrance road was once a branch of the Midlothian Turnpike
until the early 60's, when the smaller branch was left in favor of letting
traffic go onto 143rd street. The closing of the road engendered the "lover's
lane" era of Bachelor's Grove, making it the perfect spot for teenagers
looking for a clandestine spot to park and become amorous with each other. It
was around this time that many ghost stories about Bachelor's Grove came into
being. In the early 70's, vandalism developed from scattered littering to full
on destruction of tombstones and trees. Of the estimated 200 tombstones that
once were in the cemetery, only 20 remain: the ones that are too heavy to be
moved. In addition to that, several graves were dug up, forcing those in
charge to set the tombs in concrete for protection. Reports of satanic rituals
have enhanced the legends of haunting's and ghosts, though to this day only
anecdotal evidence as well as alleged pictures of "orbs" exist to prove such a
haunting. Despite the fact that the cemetery is allegedly one of the most
haunted gravesites in the country, it seems as if the human visitors'
desecration of the site, in addition to the natural sounds and visual stimuli
of a dark forest, combined with preconceived expectations, are more likely the
cause of such reports. |
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| All
photographs were taken by Craig Perry of near Chicago. Craig & his wife would
like to see something done to save this old abandoned cemetery. I did a little
research myself on this & found another web site with information on cleaning
up this cemetery but none of
their photos compare with the ones just taken on
April 21, 2007 taken by Craig. maybe
some of these ghostly haunting's are due to the ones left who want to be
remembered and instead of trying to keep people out they are trying to get
people to do something about this. Thank you Craig & I sincerely hope we can
get something done here.
Cemeteries all around this state are becoming lost & abandoned due to neglect, humans destroying them unwittingly, with mowers, burning off of weeds, weather worn stones needing replacing. Is this how in another hundred years we would like to have our children who have died, we who have died, with no stone, plowed over & corn, beans, wheat, whatever planted over us. No place to call our last resting place. Think about it!!! Because it is happening all over the State of Illinois and soon some of them will be lost forever IF WE the people do not take a stand & do something now. This could be ours in a hundred years. Nothing last forever unless you take care of it. Thanks for listening. |
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| This information was taken from the page
originally on Illinois Saving Graves when I took it over. this is now a new
page and the other page I have no control over and will not be linking to it
anymore. Illinois Saving Graves web site is still in operation & work on it
constantly it seems. The guys at the other place on Saving Graves I have
contacted but get no response so I have no idea what is happening on their end
of the stick so to speak.
Date: 10/24/00 Previous contacts: We are currently organizing an effort to find answers. At the moment the cemetery is a sore subject with all officials involved. They want it to disappear. This is an emergency! I have just learned that there are approx. 150 people buried in this one acre sight that is about to be swallowed by water. We know that there are only about 20 headstones left though. Many are to be found on the bottom of the lagoon behind it. The last body was buried in 1965. The last ashes were buried in 1989. |
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| I wanted to let you know that
the Restoration has a new web address at doesn't work anymore Things
are moving along slowly yet we have accomplished quite a bit of research on
those buried at the cemetery. Sadly most records are missing and the families
are proving difficult to contact. We are hoping that more volunteers will come
forward soon. A new small sign will also be placed at the cemetery in the
coming weeks until the restoration is fully underway. Submitted by / Contact for additional Information: name: David Berault |
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thumbnail photos above & below. are much bigger photos |
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| more photos to come. | |
