RESSURECTION MARY

Mary was a beautiful young Polish American girl with long blonde hair and blue eyes. She loved to go out in the evenings dancing. One cold winter night in 1934, she was with her boyfriend at the O. Henry Ballroom, now Willowbrook Ballroom on Archer Avenue in Justice Illinois, a southern suburb of Chicago. The couple had an argument that night and Mary walked out of the ballroom determined that she would rather walk home alone than ride home with her date. She didn’t walk very far up Archer Avenue when suddenly a car skidded out of control and struck her. The driver fled the scene leaving Mary either dead or dying on the side of the cold dark road. She was already dead by the time she was found, and was buried shortly afterwards in Resurrection Cemetery, in her white dress and dancing shoes.

Several years later, drivers along Archer Avenue started reporting strange encounters with a young woman in a white dress. She always appeared to be real person, until she would inexplicably vanish. Motorists passing by Resurrection Cemetery began claiming that a young woman was attempting to jump onto the running boards of their cars. When they stopped to go to her aid, she would be gone. Some even said that their car passed directly through the girl. At that point, she would turn and disappear through the cemetery gates.

The strange encounters began to move further away from the graveyard and closer to the Ballroom. She was now being reported on the nearby roadway and sometimes, inside of the ballroom itself. On many occasions, young men would meet her at the ballroom, dance with her and then offer her a ride home. She would accept and offer directions that would lead north on Archer Avenue. When the car would reach the gates of Resurrection Cemetery, the young woman would always vanish.

Bewildered and shaken drivers began to appear almost routinely in nearby businesses and even at the nearby Justice, Illinois police station. They told strange and frightening stories and sometimes they were believed and sometimes they were not. Regardless, they created an even greater legend of the vanishing girl, who would go on to become Resurrection Mary.