Drivers cruising down Archer Avenue, a road located just southwest of Chicago, have long reported sightings of a young, blond woman wearing a white dress. She seems out of place on the dark road, and drivers often feel compelled to offer her a ride home. They say she’s a quiet passenger — that is, until the car approaches the gates of Resurrection Cemetery.
In some versions, the young woman asks the driver to pull over. In other accounts, she simply vanishes. Either way, the unnerved driver learns the lovely passenger was not a lost hitchhiker, but rather a ghost.
Resurrection Mary in Local Lore
Locals call her “Resurrection Mary” and her chilling story has endured for decades. Some say she was a young woman who died in the 1930s in an auto accident and was buried in the cemetery wearing a white party dress. Others believe Mary attended a dance at a nearby ballroom in the 1920s and got into an argument with her boyfriend. She supposedly left in a huff and began walking down Archer Avenue, where she was struck by a car.
Mary’s legend has been the subject of various news articles, ghost tours, and books. Like other urban legends, Resurrection Mary represents a community ghost tied to a public space rather than a private residence or business. Throughout history, community ghosts have been known to haunt forests, highways or parks. Anyone can access these spaces and insert themselves into the story — one reason why folklorists say these stories start, spread and endure for decades.
