Chat – 01 August 2019

Heridentity

remains

She

continued

toappear

intothe

1990s

door never opened – as if she’d
never been there.
Seeing the story in the
newspaper, a former dance
hall night manager claimed
to have seen ‘Mary’ on several
occasions, four years earlier.
According to Bob Main,
‘She was about 24 to 30 years
old, 5ft 8in or 9in, slender,
with yellow-blonde hair to
her shoulders.’
‘She was really pale...
She had on this old dress
that was yellow, like
a wedding dress left in
the sun,’ he said.
The girl rarely spoke
to anyone, just danced
a strange, pirouette-style
dance that perplexed
fellow revellers.
When Main or anyone
else tried to talk to her, she
would shake her head and
stare right through them.
Even more bizarre was
that Main was stationed at
the door, and never noticed
her come in or go out on any
of the occasions he saw her.
Although he’d found her
strange, Main had
thought no more of
her, until he saw the
newspaper reports
of Resurrection Mary.
There were frequent
sightings of Mary during
the August of 1980.
Even the Deacon of the
Greek Church on Archer
Avenue had an encounter
with the phantom,
and one unfortunate
patrolman lost his job
after sharing his story on
a paranormal TV show.
But who was the woman

inwhite,perhapsChicago’s

mostfamousghost?

It’snotcertainwhoJerry

Palusactuallyspoketo in1939.

Manyhave

speculatedabout

Mary’sidentity,

desperately

attempting

to linkher

to oneof the

thousands

of burialsin

Resurrection

Cemetery.

Somebelieve

sheis infactMary

Bregovy,whodiedin 1934 in

anautomobileaccident.

However,Bregovydiedin

thedowntownChicago

Loopdistrict,sixmilesfrom

ArcherAvenue.

Othersclaimtheghostis

thatof Mary

Miskowski,

whohadbeen

killedcrossingthe

streetonherway

to a Halloween

partyinthe1930s.

In1999,an

authornamed

UrsulaBielski

noteda connection

to AnnaNorkus,

a blonde,slim

girlwholovedto dance.

Annawasbeingdriven

homefroma ballroombyher

fatherinJuly 1927 – but,

notlongafterthey’dpassed

ResurrectionCemetery,the

carwentoutof controlandfell

intoanunseen,25ft-deep

railroadcutting.

Annawaskilledinstantly,

thoughherfathersurvived.

WhoeverMarywas,

shecontinuedto make

appearancesintothe1990s.

But,althoughfurther

sightingsbecameless

frequentafterthat,they

haven’tstoppedcompletely.

So,if you’reevervisiting

Chicago,besureto keepyour

eyespeeledforthemysterious

womaninwhite...

Her final

destination?

A graveyard...

WORDS:

JAMES

HANMAN.

PHOTOS

(POSED

BY

MODELS,

NOT

ACTUAL

GRAVEYARD/CAR):

GETTY,

ALAMY

57

a mystery