Road Trip

My three buddies and I began our journey around 7:30PM as the bright moon was making its way up into the sky. The wind was strong on this particular night, but not too cold. Our first stop was at Robinson Burial Grounds, then the Grime Sisters, Resurrection Mary, and finally ending at Bachelor’s Grove. Nothing too exciting happened, but I will spice it up with some haunted history.

Our first stop was at Robinson Indian Burial Grounds on East River Road near Lawrence; it is right in the middle of Rosemont and Norridge. It is real easy to find, park, and walk over to, and if I were to rate the police activity in a Grand Theft Auto style there would be zero to one stars out of four – four being

the most police activity with a high chance of getting a ticket. The path leads right up to a large rock with the name Alexander Robinson inscribed into it, while buried underneath is all his family. Alexander Robinson acted as a mediator between the white men and Potawatomi Indians around early 19^th century. He was granted this land, where his burial now sits, as appreciation for all his work. His family continued to occupy this land up until May 26, 1955 when the land was mysteriously burned to the ground. Then on October 16, 1955, three young boys, ages thirteen, eleven, and fourteen, were found dead in Robinson Woods. Supposedly, they were molested and murdered by a man who owned a horse stable. The autopsy stated “asphyxiation by suffocation.” One boy was struck repeatedly and then strangled with a rope or necktie. They were all found with adhesive tape covering their eyes. The murder was not solved for forty years.

There have been many sightings and weird occurrences of phenomena in these woods. People have been known to hear the beating of Indian tom-toms and the chopping of wood late at night. There have also been strange lights coming out of the forest that motorists, neighbors, and local police have reported. Another strange occurrence is that of a phantom smell – the smell of flowers. In dead winter, people visiting the rock have reported smelling scents of lilacs and violets as if they were fresh in bloom. My friend Mike and his brother have experienced this smell when they visited a few winters ago. We stuck around for about fifteen minutes only to hear the loud creaking of the trees by the vicious winds. It was spooky to know the history but nothing out of the ordinary happened. Our next stop was down I-294S towards the Grime Sisters, another set of children dumped after they were murdered.

Source: http://www.ghostresearch.org/sites/robinson/

http:/www.prairieghosts.com/grimes.html

The Grime Sisters are located on German Church Road in Chicago. Being here at night is dangerous because of the cars speeding by. It is easy to park in one of the little communities with the huge houses and walk over to the bridge, but beware of cars at all times. I would give this two police stars because they would probably stop and say something if they saw you walking over to the bridge, more because of a safety issue. We walked over to the bridge where the girl’s bodies were dumped stood there for about ten minutes, took some pictures and left. Nothing exciting happened, except for the phantom hand grabbing my friend and pulling him down to the dark abyss; we haven’t seen him since. He was probably just messing with us.

The Grime Sister's murder is another incident of children being kidnapped and brutally murdered. They went missing December 28, 1956, which was not too long after the young boys who were found in Robinson Woods. Barbara was fifteen and her sister Patricia was thirteen. They went to go see the new Elvis Presley movie Love Me Tender and never made it home. The police and public believed the girls were runaways; they were able to get Elvis Presley to publicly call the girls home; a few shake of his hips did not work. The girl’s bodies were not found until January 22, 1957. A man spotted them on the road

while driving, thinking that they were “mannequins.” Their bodies were naked and completely frozen, and they had to be thawed before any autopsy could be done. They were determined dead because of “shock and exposure,” but their bodies were severly beaten. “According to reports, Patricia suffered from a broken nose, three large wounds on her stomach, and a severe beating. Barbara had been stabbed repeatedly with an ice pick, and had some large bruises on her head” (Eblin 2).

There are haunted sounds and sights that come from German Church Road, such as phantom cars and bodies. People have been known to report two bodies lying on the road; they call police, who then show up and find nothing. Another weird thing is that people will hear a car pulling up to the side of the road, then hear something sounding like someone is throwing something into the woods, then a door closes and a car drives off, all while there is nothing there to see – no car, no man, no bodies, nothing.

Sources:

http://www.prairieghosts.com/grimes.html http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/698969/chicagos_most_haunted_the_unsolved.html?cat=37

The next destination was Resurrection Cemetery on Archer Road where we tried to meet up with good ol’ Resurrection Mary, fat chance that was. It was about 8:30PM as we drove up to the front gate. It was real easy to find and pull up to; you could park right in front of the gate. I would give it two police stars because police would probably tell you to go home if you are just standing outside the gate and maybe yell at you depending on how they are feeling. I was hoping one would come by, because maybe he or she would have an interesting story to tell. We were disappointed when we got there, because the gate seemed to have been redone and there were no marks like the pictures, just one bent bar. The entrance had a sensational appearance, though; it was all white with a thick cross popping out in the middle and gold painted bars keeping out trespassers. We were hoping to find some pretty lady standing around with us or in the car while we were driving, but were not so lucky. I am going to skip the stories of Mary because we have gone over them in class so many times. It is the story of the ghost hitchhiker who disappears when you least expect it.

Our final destination was Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery. This was a huge flop because of the police. It scores four police stars. It is about fifteen minutes away from Resurrection Cemetery when there is no traffic and is located on the Midlothian Turnpike. We got there at nine but could not even make our way in because of police watching the entrance, so we went to grab something to eat at Portillos. We stayed there till about 10:00PM and then tried again. This time there were two police officers sitting in their car just hoping they would catch somebody going in so they could have something to do. We called it quits and headed home, but we will soon make our return there probably during the day. I am going to save any information on this place for another blog for when I do make it down there.

Tom Ryan