Resurrection Mary is a well-known Chicago area ghost story, or urban legend, of the “vanishing hitchhiker” type, a type of folklore that is known in many cultures. According to the story, the ghost resides in Resurrection Cemetery in Justice, Illinois, a few miles southwest of Chicago. Resurrection Mary is considered to be Chicago’s most famous ghost. Since the 1930s, several men driving northeast along Archer Avenue between the Willowbrook Ballroom and Resurrection Cemetery have reported picking up a young female hitchhiker. This young woman is dressed somewhat formally in a white party dress and is said to have light blond hair and blue eyes. There are other reports that she wears a thin shawl, dancing shoes, carries a small clutch purse, and possibly that she is very quiet. As the driver nears Resurrection Cemetery, she disappears into it. According to the Chicago Tribune, “full-time ghost hunter” Richard Crowe has collected “three dozen … substantiated” reports of Mary from the 1930s to the present. The story goes that Mary had spent the evening dancing with a boyfriend at the Oh Henry Ballroom. At some point, they got into an argument and Mary stormed out. She left the ballroom and started walking up Archer Avenue. She had not gotten very far when she was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver, who fled the scene leaving Mary to die. Her parents found her and were grief-stricken at the sight of her dead body. They buried her in Resurrection Cemetery, wearing a beautiful white dancing dress and matching dancing shoes. The hit-and-run driver was never found.
Appearance List Newspaper articles & journals: “The Vanishing Hitchhiker” (1942) by Richard K. Beardsley & Rosalie Hankey – journal study of the legend type; “Some of Chicago’s Favorite Haunts” in Chicago Tribune (1974) by Peter Gorner; “Cryptic rider leaves taxi driver with the willies” in Chicago Tribune Suburban Trib column (1979) by Bill Geist. “Killed in Crash” in Chicago Tribune (March 12, 1934) – confirms fatal auto accident involving Marie/Mary Bregovy but does not corroborate the folkloric details of Resurrection Mary’s Archer Avenue origin. Podcast: Astonishing Legends: Episode 102-105 Resurrection Mary.
Sample Read Astonishing Legends: Episode 102 Resurrection Mary Part 1 [YT]
Description Resurrection Mary is a well-known Chicago area ghost story, or urban legend, of the “vanishing hitchhiker” type, a type of folklore that is known in many cultures. According to the story, the ghost resides in Resurrection Cemetery in Justice, Illinois, a few miles southwest of Chicago. Resurrection Mary is considered to be Chicago’s most famous ghost. Since the 1930s, several men driving northeast along Archer Avenue between the Willowbrook Ballroom and Resurrection Cemetery have reported picking up a young female hitchhiker. This young woman is dressed somewhat formally in a white party dress and is said to have light blond hair and blue eyes. There are other reports that she wears a thin shawl, dancing shoes, carries a small clutch purse, and possibly that she is very quiet. As the driver nears Resurrection Cemetery, she disappears into it. According to the Chicago Tribune, “full-time ghost hunter” Richard Crowe has collected “three dozen … substantiated” reports of Mary from the 1930s to the present. The story goes that Mary had spent the evening dancing with a boyfriend at the Oh Henry Ballroom. At some point, they got into an argument and Mary stormed out. She left the ballroom and started walking up Archer Avenue. She had not gotten very far when she was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver, who fled the scene leaving Mary to die. Her parents found her and were grief-stricken at the sight of her dead body. They buried her in Resurrection Cemetery, wearing a beautiful white dancing dress and matching dancing shoes. The hit-and-run driver was never found.
