cemetery tour chicago

News | Honor the dead: Chicago tour guides suggest…

Share this:.

• Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on X (Opens in new window)
• Click to print (Opens in new window)
• Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
• Restaurants, Food and Drink
• Entertainment
• Immigration
• Sports Betting

Breaking News

News | cook county clerk karen yarbrough dies at 73, news | honor the dead: chicago tour guides suggest visiting these graves.

Halloween wasn’t always about candy. Ancient Halloween tradition was built to honor the dead and in different ways of bridging between worlds. You could do your part by seeing where many well-known people are buried around Chicago . Or you could go more obscure. The Tribune asked six Chicago tour guides who frequent local cemeteries to share their favorite grave site. Here they explain in their own words.

Suggested by Troy Taylor:

Julia buccola petta, mount carmel cemetery, hillside.

If I have to pick only one monument, it’s that of a young woman named Julia Buccola Petta, who only became semi-famous after her death, not in life.

She is buried in Mount Carmel Cemetery in Hillside — the same resting place as Al Capone and Dean O’Banion — and her monument can be found along the Wold Road side.

Julia is best-known today as the “Italian Bride,” and her grave site is marked by a life-sized statue of her in her wedding dress, a marble reproduction of the photograph of Julia in the same dress that is mounted on the monument.

The story goes that Julia Buccola grew up on the West Side of Chicago, married and died in childbirth with her infant in 1921. She was buried in her wedding dress, with her stillborn child in her arms. Oddly, after Julia’s death, her mother, Filomena Buccola, began to have eerie dreams about her daughter every night. In the dreams, Julia claimed that she had been buried alive and needed her mother to free her. For the next six years, the dreams plagued Filomena and she began trying, without success, to have her daughter’s grave opened and her body exhumed. She was unable to explain why she needed to do this, she only knew that she should. Finally, through sheer persistence, her request was granted and a sympathetic judge passed down an order for Julia’s exhumation.

In 1927, six years after Julia’s death, the casket was removed from the grave. When it was opened, Julia’s body was found not to have decayed at all. In fact, it was said that her flesh was still as soft as it had been when she was alive. A photograph was taken at the time of the exhumation and shows Julia’s “incorruptible” body in the casket. Her mother, and other admirers, placed the photo on the front of her grave monument, which was constructed after her reburial. The photograph shows a body that appears to be fresh, with no discoloration of the skin, even after six years. The rotted and decayed appearance of the coffin in the photo however, bears witness to the fact that it had been underground for some time. Julia appears to be merely sleeping. Her family took the fact that she was found to be so well preserved as a sign from God and so after collecting money from other family members and neighbors, they created the impressive monument that stands over her grave today.

Or so the story goes.

Troy Taylor is the author of 120 books about ghosts, crime, and the unexplained in America. He founded American Hauntings in 1994 and offers ghost tours, books, events and excursions across America. He is also the owner of Weird Chicago Tours . He was born and raised in the Midwest and currently lives in Illinois.

Suggested by Dale Kaczmarek:

… and more on buccola petta.

Julia’s story goes much further than just the body in the ground.

Students of Proviso West High School — just east of the cemetery on Wolf Road — have reported seeing a girl walking through the cemetery by night. In fact, rumors that Julia was walking through the cemetery emptied a school dance near Halloween in 1976.

A carload of people driving down Harrison Street were startled to see a girl walking through the tombstones. They saw this girl and stopped the car to have a better look. They assumed it was someone playing a prank for Halloween. As they watched, they became very frightened because they realized that it was pouring rain outside and although it was very wet, the girl that they could see only 25 to 30 feet away walking through the cemetery was perfectly dry. Her hair and dress untouched by the fall weather. They left the area in a hurry!

Interviews from the Hillside Police Department have yielded strange things out there like odd white shapes floating around. This has been seen by a number of the police department. These are apparently different from the Julia sightings, as there are multiple sightings.

Julia is most often seen around the small administration building just inside the Harrison Street entrance to the cemetery. And the most recent paranormal occurrence out near her grave is the psychic smell of roses especially in the colder months when fresh flowers would all be dead!

Dale Kaczmarek is president of the Ghost Research Society and director of Excursions Into The Unknown . The author of six books, including “Windy City Ghosts” and “A Field Guide to Spirit Photography,” Kaczmarek has been investigating ghosts, hauntings and poltergeist phenomena since 1975.

Suggested by Sylvia Dunbeck:

Daniel burnham, graceland cemetery, chicago.

As in cities, locations in cemeteries are important, and none is more fitting to Daniel Burnham than his very own island at Graceland, on Chicago’s North Side.

Burnham was the architect and author of our renowned 1909 Plan of Chicago and organizer of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. His spirit was a guiding force for Chicago and is so deserving of this most idyllic spot. His city plan gave us parks and recreational areas, paths and open spaces for games and picnics along the lake.

Today, more than 100 years later, we still thank him for our beautiful lakefront. He and his family rest alone in Graceland on this island on Lake Willowmere, which can be reached by bridge from the most northerly pathway. It is here one can contemplate his famous words “Make no small plans, they have no magic to stir men’s blood.” His plans for our city were truly visionary, and their accomplishment is his legacy.

Sylvia Dunbeck , Chicago Architecture Foundation docent class of 1987

Suggested by Adam Selzer:

Barton edsall.

At Graceland is a tiny stone that merely gives the name and dates for Barton Edsall, who was famous the day they buried him, then forgotten a few hours later.

When Edsall, a wealthy, wholesale druggist, was found dead of a gunshot wound in the entryway of his Gold Coast mansion, all Chicago argued about whether it was a murder, a suicide or an accident.

On the third day, Oct. 8, 1871, he was buried in his business partner’s family plot. That night, the Great Chicago Fire wrecked the city and people forgot all about him!

It’s a small stone in the Hulburt family plot — just take a left inside the gates.

Sometimes you look up the people whose names are on elaborate crypts and it turns out to be a brewer who never did anything interesting enough to make the news, and sometimes there’s a great mystery behind the most unassuming headstones.

Adam Selzer is the author of several books, including the new “Mysterious Chicago” , an upcoming book about HH Holmes, and “Just Kill Me” , a novel about a Chicago ghost tour guide who makes places more haunted by killing people at them. See mysteriouschicago.com for his ghost and cemetery tours.

Suggested by Ursula Bielski:

Marci may fulton “infant daughter”, bachelors grove cemetery, bremen township.

After a lot of thought, I would say that my favorite burial site is that of little Marci May Fulton at Bachelors Grove Cemetery, in the forest preserves of Bremen Township.

Of course, Bachelors Grove is now known as one of the most haunted cemeteries in the world, but the one-acre burying ground was first a settlers’ cemetery, established by some of the strong and courageous men and women who set out for the American West in the earliest days of settlement. The cemetery tells their tales, but only if you have the patience and love to look for them, because very few headstones still remain here, having been lost to time and vandals.

One that does remain is a headstone reading, “Infant Daughter,” which marks the grave of Marci May, who died in infancy in 1914. The daughter of Bert Fulton and Katherine Vogt, she was the great granddaughter of John Fulton, patriarch of one of the most enduring families in the Southland. Upon her death, Marci May was interred at her grandparents’ plot (that of John Fulton, Jr. and Hulda Turney). Though few remember the dramatic life of the earliest Fultons — their incredible triumphs and devastating losses — and though fewer know even the name of the child under the “Infant Daughter” stone, hundreds if not thousands of visitors each year leave coins, stones, candies, toys, jewelry and other tokens of affection at her grave.

For me, Marci May’s grave — adorned with gifts of the heart in all seasons from strangers of every age and background — is a symbol of the pure and unquestioning respect of the living for the dead. Names unknown, tales untold. In this age of cremation and “private” mourning, it demonstrates that each person belongs to all of us, in life and in death, and that we all deserve a place and a memorial among the dead of history. That it matters to others that we have one.

Ursula Bielski is a 35-year veteran paranormal researcher and historian. She has authored 10 books on the haunted history of Chicago and Chicago cemetery history, including “Haunted Bachelors Grove.” She also owns Chicago Hauntings Tours , and hosts the annual Chicago Ghost Conference . Her tours, events and lectures may be found at chicagohauntings.com .

Suggested by Jeff Mercer:

Bruce graham.

My (relatively new – installed in 2011) favorite monument is a modest one that commemorates Bruce Graham, the architect from Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), who designed the Willis (nee Sears) Tower and the John Hancock Building.

Graham’s remains are buried in Florida, where he died in his family home, so this monument is called a “cenotaph,” one that memorializes someone who is buried elsewhere. The monument — designed by Craig Hartman, a colleague at SOM — consists of a rectangular block of Absolute Black granite, carved to form a shallow basin. Graham’s name stretches across the middle of the basin in nickel-bronze letters using crisp Helvetica font.

When it rains, the basin fills and the polished tops of the letters remain just above the surface of the water.

Adding to the poignancy, the monument is located alongside the grave of Fazlur Kahn, the project engineer who was Graham’s collaborator on the Sears Tower and the John Hancock Building. The monument is located near the southwest edge of Lake Willowmere, on Lake Avenue. Nearby on the opposite side of the road, nearer the lake, is the new temporary monument to Ernie Banks.

Jeff Mercer , Chicago Architecture Foundation docent class of 1992, Graceland Cemetery Tour Director

Sources: the tour guides, Chicago Architecture Foundation

(function(document) { var CSS = [ “//graphics.chicagotribune.com/chicago-tour-guides-graves/css/styles.css” ]; CSS.forEach(function(url) { var link = document.createElement(‘link’); link.setAttribute(‘rel’, ‘stylesheet’); link.setAttribute(‘href’, url); document.head.appendChild(link); }); })(document);

More in News

History | Today in History: Will Smith banned from attending Oscars for 10 years after slapping Chris Rock

Immigration | Hundreds of migrants still arriving in the suburbs as Chicago consolidates shelters

Politics | Cook County Clerk Karen Yarbrough dies at 73

Weather | Despite rainy Sunday, weather service predicts clear skies for Monday’s solar eclipse

Trending nationally.

• What you need to know about next week’s total solar eclipse
• What lies below: Pipeline beneath Key Bridge wreckage complicates an already complex cleanup
• Do they still make pinball machines? They do, in a huge new factory near O’Hare — with most selling to the 1 percent
• 2024’s ‘extremely active’ hurricane season could bring 23 named storms, experts say
• 99 Cents Only to close all 371 of its stores

WALK CHICAGO TOURS

Private and Personalized Walking Tours of the City of Big Shoulders

Graceland Cemetery

Each grave marker in Graceland Cemetery turns a page in the narrative that is the saga of Chicago. Since 1860, its monuments have whispered to visitors to listen to the legends of Chicago's elite.  

Graceland is the final resting place of Chicago's industrial barons, its lords and ladies of art and architecture, and its shapers of culture and political thought. It is an 80 acre Victorian park designed using the ideals of the English Garden movement, a virtual arboretum where gravesites were once marketed as "landscape rooms"...its monuments and tomb stones grandly designed and opulently decorated.

Known as the cemetery of architects, Daniel Burnham, Louis Sullivan, Willam Le Baron Jenney and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe all chose it as the place of their last repose. Cyrus McCormick, Allan Pinkerton, Marshall Field, Potter Palmer and Phillip Armour all rest in peace alongside fellow Chicago aristocracy. However, they entered Graceland's refuge not knowing that one day, the heroes of the common man would rest there also. Heroes such as baseball great Ernie Banks, and boxing's heavy weight champions, Jack Johnson and Bob Fitzsimmons attract as many visitors as any of their iconic neighbors.

Consider a tour of Graceland Cemetery to be the viewing of an open history book where the visitor can feel the presence of the spirits who enabled Chicago to raise itself from the ashes to become the great metropolis of the prairie. Every prominent name etched in granite or marble is an episode in an anthology that recounts the legacy of America's most American city. Literally, a Chicago biography at every turn.  

Schedule - March through November

Time - Call or email for your PRIVATE start time from those times available.

Meet - Graceland Cemetery main entrance, 4001 N. Clark Street (NE corner of Clark and Irving park Road)

Minimum Number - 4 person minimum required.

Cost - $30 per person...$120 minimum charge Groups larger than 8 will be discounted. Large custom groups will be discounted. School groups will receive special discount. See the FAQ page for policies regarding discounted costs for children under 14.

Cookie banner

We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from. To learn more or opt-out, read our Cookie Policy . Please also read our Privacy Notice and Terms of Use , which became effective December 20, 2019.

By choosing I Accept , you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies.

Share this story

9 Chicago area historic cemeteries to explore

See the city’s oldest burial grounds

Chicago’s cemeteries pack a whole lot of history, haunted architecture, and nature (Graceland Cemetery doubles as an arboretum with tree tours ).

One of the city’s most prominent lakefront green spaces, Lincoln Park, actually started out as a cemetery. Just a short drive away, Bachelor’s Grove Cemetery, is what some folks claim is the most haunted graveyard in the nation—a site that its keepers have abandoned. The city’s largest cemetery, Rosehill, has haunting Victorian era icons and a protected nature preserve.

These sites are well worth a visit for their memorials and historical figures: former Chicago Mayor Harold Washington, early architect Daniel H. Burnham, Olympian Jesse Owens, the Haymarket martyr memorial and war memorials.

Here are a few of the most notable cemeteries in the Chicago area.

Graceland Cemetery

In 1860, this cemetery was established as the site that would be the new location for the bodies buried in the Chicago City Cemetery which originally located in Lincoln Park. Many of Chicago’s early architects rest here including Daniel Burnham, Louis Sullivan, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and Bruce Graham (he designed the John Hancock building and Sears Tower). It also serves as an arboretum with over 2,000 trees on its grounds .

• Open in Google Maps

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Evelyn | Reader| Photographer (@eve_reads) on Oct 15, 2019 at 6:34am PDT

Rosehill Cemetery

Designed by the architect of Chicago’s famous Water Tower, William Boyington , this cemetery has lots of Victorian era motifs including wrapped urns, ornamental obelisks, and bricked arches. The name actually comes from a clerical error—it was originally Roe’s Hill belonging to a farmer Hiram Roe. The land makes up the largest cemetery in the city and consists of a large Civil War and Firefighter memorials. If you do happen to visit, the West Ridge Nature Preserve is within the grounds.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Kevin (@dreamscaping) on Dec 10, 2017 at 11:14am PST

Oak Woods Cemetery

The Chicago Architecture Center offers a tour at the cemetery which is the burial site for African Americans who fought in the Civil War as well as Confederate prisoners of war. Visit the graves of Chicago’s first African American Mayor Harold Washington, civil rights leader and journalist Ida B. Wells, and Olympian Jesse Owens. It’s also nearby to Theaster Gates’ rehabbed Stony Island Arts Bank .

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Steve (@marquisdefacade) on Mar 17, 2015 at 6:18pm PDT

Bohemian National Cemetery

Built by Czech residents in 1877, the cemetery was established in response to the restriction of Catholic cemeteries and burials here are free of any religious ritual. The grounds are distinguished by a grand limestone gatehouse, memorials for the Civil War, Spanish-American War, and both World Wars. There are two sculptures from Albin Polasek, who led the sculpture department at the Art Institute of Chicago, named Mother and Pilgrim .

View this post on Instagram A post shared by lauren liposchak (@feralhag) on Sep 17, 2019 at 6:25pm PDT

The Chicago City Cemetery

Only one visible remnant exists of Chicago’s original cemetery underneath Lincoln Park: Couch Tomb . In 1869, the cemetery land became part of the public park so families began moving their relatives to other sites. It’s likely that this structure was too expensive to move at 50 tons and eventually city officials allowed it to remain now serving as reminder of the park’s origins.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Colin Parkhurst (@hoboparkhurst) on Oct 4, 2017 at 8:44am PDT

Bachelor's Grove Cemetery

Bachelor’s Grove is an abandoned cemetery, but that doesn’t stop ghost researchers and occult experts from wandering into the grounds for night hikes and tours. Some have declared it the most haunted graveyard in the country . If you’re hunting for paranormal activity, scary legends, floating orbs, phantom dogs—this Midlothian site won’t disappoint.

View this post on Instagram #cemetery #cemeteryphotography #haunted #hauntedplaces #Illinois A post shared by Taryn (@taryn374) on Oct 12, 2019 at 9:25pm PDT

Calvary Catholic Cemetery

Evanston’s cemetery dates back to 1859 and sits right on the lakefront. There’s a large stone gate and Chicago’s first woman Mayor Jane Byrne and the founding owner of the Chicago White Sox Charles Comiskey are both buried here.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by The Ted (@the_ted_13) on Sep 12, 2019 at 4:51pm PDT

Burr Oak Cemetery

Built in 1927, Burr Oak serves as the final resting place for many people who were legacies in the black community. For example, legends like singer Dinah Washington and heavyweight boxing champion Ezzard Charles aree buried here. It is also where Emmett Till is buried, whose murder became a rallying point for the civil-rights movement.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by Cassie Marie (@tangerinesun235) on Dec 16, 2018 at 5:21am PST

Forest Home Cemetery

Originally, this cemetery was a Potawatomi village and burial ground until German settlers claimed the land in 1835. Sometimes referred to as the Waldheim Cemetery, there are a few gateways and mausoleums that resemble the architecture of Masonic Temples built by Freemasons which ties into the cemetery’s origin. It’s also known for its memorial to the five Haymarket martyrs and was the only Chicago area cemetery to accept their remains.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by jeffrey craigg (@jeffreycraigg) on Apr 15, 2017 at 1:14pm PDT

Site search

• Los Angeles
• San Francisco
• Archive.curbed.com
• Homes for rent
• Homes for sale
• Curbed Comparisons
• Neighborhoods
• Development

• Architecture
• Historic Preservation
• Transportation

• MidwestWeekends on Facebook
• Get trip ideas
• Event Calendar

MidwestWeekends.com (mobile)

Because life's too short to stay home …, tales of the dead, at chicago's famous graceland cemetery, the graves have a lot to say..

© Beth Gauper

It isn't true that dead men tell no tales.

Actually, they can be quite chatty. At Graceland Cemetery in Chicago, their stories keep up to seven tour guides busy, especially during Halloween season.

Graceland's residents are a Who's Who of Chicago society: retailer Marshall Field, meat-packer Philip Armour, hotelier Potter Palmer, piano maker William Kimball.

Often, their exits were as remarkable as their lives.

Strike-busting railway magnate George Pullman was so despised that his family had to bury him in a lead-lined coffin encased in concrete and covered with steel rail ties and more concrete.

Edith Rockefeller McCormick was a daughter and daughter-in-law of tycoons, but she died penniless, and her body was put into cold storage for two decades until her son paid for a tomb.

Allan Pinkerton is there with his detectives, one hung as a spy by Confederates and one shot in the back while pursuing Jesse James.

There may or may not be ghosts at Graceland. But the dead come back to life through stories.

The Chicago Architecture Foundation leads the most tours, because Graceland is known as "the cemetery of architects." Louis Sullivan designed two tombs there, including an 1890 limestone cube in which Henry Harrison Getty lies with his wife, Carrie Eliza.

"Why is it so important?' asked Jeff Nichols, who was the guide for our early-October tour. "Because there was nothing Greek, Roman or Egyptian about it. It was the birth of modern architecture in America."

Louis Sullivan is in Graceland himself, under a monument paid for by fellow architects after he died penniless, unwilling to design in the throwback Beaux Arts style that swept the nation after the Chicago Columbian Exposition of 1893.

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, famous for saying, "Less is more," lies under elegant black granite slabs.

John Root chose a Celtic cross for his grave, and Daniel Burnham ("Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men's blood") has the best spot, on a wooded island reached by footbridge.

One of the more recent additions is Richard Nickel, an architectural historian whose marker points, literally, to Louis Sullivan's grave.

In 1972, Nickel snuck into the 1894 Chicago Stock Exchange building, designed by Sullivan and Dankmar Adler, to try to salvage decorative elements. Two stories of the building, which was being demolished, fell and crushed him.

At Graceland, your grave tells a lot about who you were.

In the case of Potter Palmer and his socialite wife, Bertha Honoré Palmer, who lie under the canopy of a 16-column Greek temple, in sarcophagi the exact size of Alexander the Great's, it says, "We didn't have much taste, but we had a lot of money."

There's a carved baseball at the grave of William Hurlbert, founder of the National League.

The epitaph for businessman Roderick MacArthur, who pushed his father's foundation to award "genius grants," bears the Greek letters for "one foot in fairyland."

The best-known grave at Graceland is that of early settler Dexter Graves, which features a spooky hooded figure. Sculptor Lorado Taft called it "Eternal Silence," but many viewers perceive it as the Grim Reaper.

It's one of the few Graceland graves that have inspired ghost stories, along with the statue of 6-year-old Inez Clarke, who is said to have been struck by lightning in 1880. By legend, the statue vanishes from its protective Plexiglas box during thunderstorms.

Nichols says he once encountered a "real" ghost at the bunker-like tomb of German immigrant Ludwig Wolff: "As I was giving the tour, I noticed people had terrified looks on their faces — because behind me, a homeless man with a broken bottle in his hands was coming up the steps of the tomb."

On our tour, Nichols finished by showing us the newest type of resting place at Graceland: tiny, mailbox-style "condos." Clearly, he did not approve.

"You shove the ashes into drawers, bye-bye," he said. "But the thing about cemeteries is, you learn a lot about history there. Cemeteries are not for the dead. They're for us, the living."

Trip Tips: Cemetery tours in Chicago

In Chicago, the Chicago Architecture Center offers regular walking tours of Graceland Cemetery and occasional tours of Calvary, Rosehill and Oak Woods cemeteries. The tours are two hours and cost $26, free for members.

The Chicago History Museum offers cemetery tours , especially in October. They sell out fast, so reserve early.

Graceland also is open for free self-guided tours . It's on Clark Street north of Wrigley Field, near the Sheridan stop of the Red Line El train.

• Plan A Trip
• Privacy Policy
• Events Policy
• Advertising

© Beth Gauper, 2007 - all rights reserved

Your browser does not support our events calendar page. Please consider an update.

Mysterious Chicago Tours with Adam Selzer

Chicago’s most informative and entertaining historical tours!

Out now: Cemetery Coyote 2024 calendar

And introducing version 2: Cemetery Coyotes – When Nature Calls!

Check out the patreon , where you got up to four stories and photos a week – and even free tours. Stories are packed with exclusive photos, archival finds, and more! See inside mausoleums, see HH Holmes’ paperwork, and marvel at cemetery coyotes!

Upcoming In-Person Tours:

New podcast coming this winter!

Upcoming Free Virtual Events:

All times CDT.

Sign up for the new Mysterious Chicago Patreon  for cool stories, tour videos, gems from the research archives, exclusive photos, archived lectures, deals on tickets for future tours, and a ton more!

Want a tour or virtual presentation for your library, corporate group, etc?   Email [email protected] with dates and requests! (Private walking tours are about the cost of 25 regular tickets on a public tour).

Watch CBS News

The Best Haunted Graveyard Tours In Chicago

October 27, 2012 / 6:00 AM CDT / CBS Chicago

By Meredith Lyons

The Halloween Spirit is upon us and what is more ghostly than a visit to a cemetery? In the spirit of the season, take a step closer to the end and tour one of Chicagoland's famously haunted cemeteries.

Graceland Cemetery 4001 N. Clark St. Chicago, IL 60613 (773) 525-1105 Graceland Cemetery Tours

Graceland Cemetery is one of Chicago's oldest cemeteries, founded in 1860. The beautiful cemetery houses many famous grave sites, including George Pullman and Marshall Field among others. The cemetery itself is well maintained and is a very picturesque place for a peaceful walk. The walls all but shut out city noises and the grounds are vast, allowing for hours of walking time should you be so inclined. The cemetery staff itself does not host tours, although the staff does hand out free maps and are generally friendly and full of helpful suggestions. People may walk about on their own or create their own tour groups. Tour groups must register in advance and sign in upon arrival and buses and large vehicles are not allowed. There are rumors of ghosts that haunt certain areas of the grounds. A spectral dog has been seen guarding the grave of Ludwig Wolff, a young girl in outdated clothes has been reported near the statue of Inez Clark and it has even been reported that the statue itself disappears during thunderstorms, reappearing afterwards. Other visitors have reported seeing a girl reading a diary under a tree in broad daylight.

Related:  Best Historical Sites In Chicago

Bachelor's Grove Cemetery 143rd St. and Midlothian Turnpike Midlothian, IL 60445 www.bachelorsgrove.com

Although Bachelor's Grove is not a cemetery typically run with a grounds staff and tours, it is perfectly legal to visit and is reportedly one of the most haunted cemeteries in the United States. Any are welcome to visit, but be respectful as the cemetery has often been the target of vandals, which became reportedly worse when it closed in the 1960s. Visitors claim various consistent apparitions from a ghost dog at the entrance to a farm house on the trail that appears and then vanishes. Ghosts even haunt the Midlothian Turnpike and drivers have reported seeing an old man with a horse and plow cross the road and then vanish. Ghost vehicles have appeared and vanished also, even ghostly red orbs moving too quickly to identify have been reported.

Resurrection Cemetery 7200 Archer Road Justice, IL 60458 (708) 458-4770

Perhaps the most famous ghost in Chicago, Resurrection Mary has reportedly been seen quite often in various locations on Archer Road. She will accept a ride and then at some point, demand that the car to be stopped and disappear. There have been other reports of her even running out into the road and being struck by a vehicle before vanishing or being seen lying by the side of the road and vanishing before authorities can arrive. The grounds to the cemetery are well kept and you may even be surprised by the number of deer that make a home there.

Rosehill Cemetery 5800 N. Ravenswood Ave. Chicago, IL 60660 (773) 561-5940 www.rosehillcemetery.com

The largest of Chicago's cemeteries, Rosehill also holds its share of famous burials including 18 former Chicago mayors. Two such famous personages, Aaron Montgomery Ward and Richard Sears, were reportedly rivals while alive and the ghost of Sears has been seen walking toward Ward's tomb. Literal moaning and chain rattling have been heard from the mausoleum of Charles Hopkins on the anniversary of his death. Many more such hauntings are said to take place within Rosehill, click here for a more detailed description. Guided tours of the cemetery are offered on Saturdays. If you choose to explore on your own, be sure to visit the Dignity Memorial building to obtain a map and helpful suggestions. It is easy to get lost as the cemetery is very large.

Related:   Best Spots For A Picnic In Chicago

Meredith Lyons is an actor, competitive fighter and fitness instructor in Chicago who also owns an amazing cat named Jake. Meredith has been writing on Examiner as the Chicago Martial Arts Examiner since 2008. Her work can be found at Examiner.com .

Featured Local Savings

More from cbs news.

Chicago's best places to see the 2024 solar eclipse

Teen shot by 2 offenders from outside South Side business

Where to see the solar eclipse in Chicago and why those glasses are so important

Chicago public health officials warn of possible measles exposures on CTA buses, at public schools

• Burial Search
• Register a Tour or Group Visit

An Oasis of Art, Architecture, and Landscape Design since 1860.

• The Story of Graceland
• Images of Graceland
• Rules and Regulations
• Plan a Visit
• Take a Tour
• Register a Group Tour/Visit

Self-Guided Audio Tour

• Arboretum Tree Tour
• Traditional Burial
• Cremation Options
• The Cemetery of Architects
• Monuments and Their Makers
• Public Figures and Private Eyes
• Baseball and Boxing Greats
• Merchants and Inventors
• Who the Dickens is That?
• UGRR Stories
• Graceland Photo Gallery
• Request Information

Self-Guided Tour Narration: Welcome:

Your browser does not support the audio element.

1. Eli Williams

2. Dexter Graves

3. William LeBaron Jenney

4. John Kinzie

5. Daniel Elston

6. Jack Johnson

7. Victor Lawson

8. John Wellborn Root

9. Peter Schoenhofen

10. George Pullman

11. Martin Ryerson

12. Louis Sullivan

13. William Kimball

14. William Goodman

15. Potter Palmer

16. Charles Wacker

17. John Altgeld

18. Daniel Burnham

19. Getty Tomb

20. Philip Armour

21. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

22. Ernie Banks

22. Richard Nickel

23. Cyrus McCormick

24. Marshal Field

25. William Hulbert

26. Allan Pinkerton

27. Laszlo Moholy-Nagy

28. Howard van Doren Shaw

29. Inez Clarke

30. Walter Newberry

Village of Hillside Cemetery Tour by Mayor Joseph Tamburino

Meet us where some stories end and some begin

There is no better person to guide you through the cemeteries of Hillside than Mayor Joseph Tamburino, who has represented the city since 1981. A natural storyteller who happens to know every twist and turn of the sagas inside the famous cemeteries, you won’t want to miss this annual event. Once a year, the mayor gives this can’t-miss trolley tour of both Mount Carmel Cemetery and Queen of Heaven Cemetery in the Village of Hillside. You’ll see the Al Capone gravesite, the Bishop’s Mausoleum where eight Chicago Cardinals are buried, and the burial place of one of the marines who raised the first American flag over Iwo Jima. And so much more!

There is but one time of year to catch this unique tour of two Hillside cemeteries by the mayor of Hillside! Mayor Joseph Tamburino gives the personalized tour of Mount Carmel and Queen of Heaven cemeteries every year in October. For 2022, the trolley tour will take place on October 1.

The Hillside cemetery tour includes continental breakfast, a deli lunch, and trolley transportation to and from the Village Hall to the two Village of Hillside cemeteries. You’ll even receive an autographed book by historian Jenny Floro-Khalaf called “Images of America, Mount Carmel and Queen of Heaven Cemeteries”. The cost for this unique opportunity is $40. Reservations are necessary. Please RSVP to Evelyn at 708-202-4343 or [email protected].

Mayor Joseph Tamburino was first elected mayor in 1981, so he knows a little something about the Village of Hillside! The mayor is also familiar with the workings of cemeteries. His father worked in the headstone and monument business, and Tamburino remembers riding in his father’s work truck and feeling fascinated with cemeteries and the people whose stories ended beneath the gravestones. Mayor Tamburino also knows that the ending of one story is the beginning of another, which is another reason that cemeteries and their layered history intrigue him.

The Village of Hillside Cemetery Tour begins at the Hillside Village Hall. The building itself holds historical significance. It opened as a seminary for the Servants of Mary in 1919. Located at 425 N Hillside Ave, the Village Hall is just a 15-mile drive west of downtown Chicago.

You Might Also Be Interested In...

There's more to discover.

Civil War and Chicago's Role: Rosehill Cemetery

Hear the stories of the heroes, villains and ordinary citizens on this visit to Rosehill Cemetery. Learn about the people who were instrumental in the nomination of Lincoln, discover the role of newspaper editors in this struggle and those who were involved in the infamous Camp Douglas POW camp.

Premier tour*

View the impressive monuments that reflect the fighting and politics of the time. A visit to Rosehill Cemetery is an opportunity to learn about the important role Chicago and Illinois played in the political and military battles of the Civil War. This tour is the companion tour to Civil War to Civil Rights: Oak Woods Cemetery , but can be taken in any sequence.

• Many tours sell out. To guarantee your space advance reservations are strongly recommended.
• Your safety is our priority. The itinerary of this tour may be altered in accordance with health and safety policies and considerations.
• Ticket price includes entrance to the Chicago Architecture Center within 7 days of your tour. View the CAC's hours .

*Premier tours are free for Deco members and above. Learn about our membership levels .

Photos From This Tour

Upcoming Civil War and Chicago's Role: Rosehill Cemetery Tours

Saturday may 18.

• 11:00am Buy Tickets

Friday Jun 14

Thursday jul 4, tuesday aug 20, friday sep 20, similar tours.

Civil War to Civil Rights at Oak Woods Cemetery

Hear the stories behind the people buried at the beautiful and tranquil Oak Woods Cemetery on Chicago’s…

GRACELAND CEMETERY

Beautiful and serene, Graceland Cemetery is a treasured oasis in the center of our bustling city. Notables…

Lake Forest Cemetery

Experience the Lake Forest Cemetery's park-like setting overlooking Lake Michigan in one of Chicago's…