Bachelors Grove-CHICAGO URBAN EXPLORATION

Bachelors Grove

After getting off to a late start (thank you CTA), Megan, Gothariel, and Otherotto made the hike out to Bachelors Grove. We met up with Children_Stun after a few minutes.

First impression: this place was in total decay. The site is not as deep in the woods as thought. The old road is still there and leads right up to the fence (the fence had so many holes, it was useless). Tombstones were knocked over , missing or defaced (somebody painted a swastika on one stone) Grass, weeds and brush covered most of the cemetery but the paths were easily visible and clear of obstacles (it's a popular place). The most prominent headstone was for a family named Fulton. His stone was still standing without any vandalism. Directly behind it was a smaller stone with Infant Daughter on it. Pennies, flowers and gum seemed to be the popular offering to he stone (Otherotto made some disparaging remarks about the stone and felt obliged to offer a nickel). As for the other stones, there are a few that are worthy of note. Somebody had tried to dig to Newman but stopped at about three feet. Morse had a tree struck by lightening lying next to it (missed it by about two feet). Megany noted that some of the stones were newer than the date noted for death. According to Gothariel's book, they had moved the bodies but left the headstones back in 1971(a reverse Poltergeist).There were quite a few bases without headstones; vandals either destroying them or moving them elsewhere. To be honest, there weren't many stones that looked great, much less noteworthy.

We took some pictures, mapped out the area and then did some exploring. We wanted to get a feeling for the place so when we returned later, we wouldn't get lost or fall into a hole. Bug spray was a necessity (the bog next door was a mosquito factory). We hiked around the place, trying to find the foundation of a house that had burned down. We didn't find it (and were ditched by some annoying teenagers) but did find a base to something (maybe a shack or the original gate). We finally packed up and went looking for food (as we were leaving, those annoying teenagers flipped us off for no good reason, hence them being annoying).

We got some lunch at a local "Irish" bar and then drove around trying to find a place to park after dark (the trick not being noticed by locals or the cops). We gave up and dropped Children_Stun off. Just before getting on the highway, we said "Fuck it!" and went back. We parked in a decent place (you'll have to ask us for the space), loaded up our equipment and hiked back at around 10pm.

On the way there, we ran into a Boy Scout troop on their way to their campsite. Upon entering the cemetery, there were a bunch of people milling around. It turned out to be two separate groups. The first one were some people, like us, there to check the place out (they took a cab to avoid parking). The second group were the local "experts" telling some fantastic stories of the cemetery. We hung out a while, listening to the tales and checked out the place again. There were quite a few people coming in and out of the place (it is a popular place, well known throughout the south side).

We documented drops in temperature, Otherotto's light meter on his camera didn't work (after he had just changed the battery) and an "extra bright" headstone of the partially dug up grave was seen. The kids told some great ghost stories ("and he didn't have any fingernails when they found his body").

Finally, the teenagers took off and we lingered a while longer. We took some more pictures and tried to stay warm. As we were packing up to leave, the kids came back and told us of "seven squad cars at the entrance, just waiting for us." At first, we were worried (the park closes at sunset and there were stories of "camouflaged cops patrolling the cemetery after a slaughtered goat was discovered there") but Otherotto went to go check it out. The seven squad cars turned out to be a lone officer checking for speeders. The club ditched the idiots, got yelled at by the cops (he said our car had been towed but they must have replaced it with an exact replica for there it was, right where we left it) and went on our merry way.

Bachelor's Grove Cemetery-Prairie Ghosts