Driving in the middle of the night down Archer Ave. in Justice, IL, an illuminating silhouette is seen on the side of the road. Driving closer the body seems to appear as a young woman dressed in a white party dress looking for a ride home. Closer and closer she starts to move toward the car. Once pulled to the side of the road, the girl runs across passing traffic through the gates of Resurrection Cemetery and vanishing in a second. Back to her home.

Resurrection Mary is known for walking along the road of Archer Ave. for decades and is known as Chicago’s most famous ghost.

Legend has it that in the early 1930’s Mary and her boyfriend were dancing at the O’Henry Ballroom. At some point, the two got into an argument and Mary left in a rage. She left the ballroom and started walking up Archer Ave. She had not gotten far when she was struck and killed by a passing car, leaving her at the side of the road to die. Her parents buried her at Resurrection Cemetery, wearing her white party dress and dancing shoes. Over time, her ghost is seen walking along the side of the road searching for a ride back to her grave after one last night among the living.

There are several people who have claimed they have encountered the ghost of Resurrection Mary over the years. Sometimes she is seen walking along the fence of the cemetery; sometimes she is lurking around the main gates; often Mary’s spirt is seen walking along the road, holding her dancing shoes in one hand and the bottom of her flowing dress in the other. She walks through fences. She glides through the gates. She disappears in a blink of an eye.

A man named Jerry Palus claimed to have encountered Resurrection Mary at a dance at the Liberty Grove and Hall. Palus asked the woman to dance and they danced the night away until Palus grew bold enough to ask if the young woman needed a ride home. They were soon driving down Archer Ave. and Mary stated abruptly, “Pull over to the side of the road.” When Jerry did, she said, “I must leave you now. You cannot follow me.” She jumped out of the car and ran across the street into the cemetery, Resurrection Cemetery. She disappeared in an instant as she reached the main gates of the cemetery. Palus was determined to figure out what was going on and decided to visit the address the young woman gave to him the following day. The woman who answered the door said it could not have been her daughter, because she had been dead for several years. However, Palus was able to identify the girl from a family picture in the other room. Palus’s story remains the most well-known and credible of all of the Resurrection Encounters.

Mary can be seen to this day in dance clubs, bars and strolling along the side of the road looking for somebody to take her home.

Belief or disbelief, it does not matter. Mary will forever walk along Archer Ave. as the inexplicable, fugacious and romantic ghost of the Windy City.