Imagine walking down a deserted path through the woods and seeing a quaint, old house in a nearby clearing. You feel strangely drawn to the place and start walking towards it. The closer you get, though, the smaller the house becomes until POP! It disappears completely! This is only one of the many bizarre things people have seen at Bachelors Grove Cemetery. This wooded cemetery is south-west of Chicago.
It is one of the most haunted places in the entire world. In the 1830s, German settlers first made their homes in these woods. “Batcheler Grove” was probably a family name given to their burial ground. Another story tells that a group of single men first settled there, leading to the nickname of “Bachelors Grove.”
Strange Sightings
Wherever the name comes from, Bachelors Grove has been a favorite spot for ghost hunters since the 1950s, when the road leading to it was closed, cutting the graveyard off from traffic. Since that time, the area has been isolated. Visitors have had to park across the road and go on foot down a long, wooded dirt path to the graveyard. Along the way, some people have seen the shrinking “Magic House.” Strange lights also appear and chase visitors through the woods. Mysterious cars sometimes show up out of nowhere and nearly run folks off the road.
Then, the cars vanish into thin air! Over the years, Bachelors Grove’s eerie stories have drawn many curious people to
the cemetery. Sadly, some of these visitors have been vicious vandals. They have gone so far as to dig up graves and move tomb stones. Some believe that these vandals have angered the spirits of the people buried there. This has made the cemetery even more haunted than it may have been in the first place.
Explanations for the Hauntings No one is really sure why this little graveyard should be the site of so many strange goings-on. Some stories say that after Chicago gangsters killed their rivals, they would drive the bodies to the cemetery. Then the gangsters would dump the bodies in an adjoining pond. A legend says that the “phantom cars” seen racing nearby are the ghost cars of these murderers.
Another story says that, many years ago, the cemetery’s old caretaker went crazy and killed his family. Afterwards, he burned their house to the ground. According to believers, this is the “Magic House” that is sometimes seen by people walking in the woods. However, there are many other weird happenings at Bachelors Grove that seem to have no “explanation” at all. One involves the ghost of a woman in white carrying a baby in her arms. Also seen from time to
time are figures dressed in black robes.
Strange faces also appear on the cemetery’s old tombstones. A psychic once visited the cemetery. This psychic believes that all of the people buried at Bachelors Grove must remain there as ghosts for a period of time. Then, they can finally rest in peace. This would certainly explain why such a tiny place should be so haunted. If the psychic is right, it means that some two hundred spirits are haunting an area only one acre in size!
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