5 Unbelievably Creepy Haunted Locations in Illinois

One of the more likely places you'd expect to see a ghost is in their final resting place. For the widespread legend of Resurrection Mary, that means the Resurrection Cemetery in Justice, Illinois.

Though accounts of her death tend to differ, experts generally agree she died sometime between the late 1920s and early 1930s. The two main theories are, that after a night of dancing, she died in a terrible car crash, or while walking home one night in the rain she was the unfortunate victim of a hit and run.

Either way, her death hasn't made her wary of cars at all.

Resurrection Mary has been described by many as a young blonde in a beautiful white gown. She may flag you down for a ride if you're driving along a specific stretch of Archer Avenue.

Those who have seen her say she slides into the backseat and gives the driver—usually a man—directions to her home. The directions lead back to the cemetery, and by the time the car pulls up, Mary is gone without a trace.

This Chicago zoo has more to offer tourists than just exotic animals. They may find paranormal activity amongst the wonders here.

The area in which the zoo was built has an interesting and ominous history.

For one thing, part of the zoo sits atop what used to be a cemetery. For another, a 40ft bridge across from the front entrance was once referred to as “suicide bridge,” as it was the site of roughly 100 jumpers from 1891 to 1919.

With such a macabre background, it's no wonder there are so many hauntings reported at the zoo.

One security guard reported seeing a distraught man in a fedora sitting on a bench near the polar bear exhibit at two in the morning. When the man got up to leave, the security guard moved to escort him out, only to find he had vanished into the shadows.

One guest complained to the visitor center, with her soaking wet son at her side, that a hand had reached out of the lagoon and pulled her boy in.

As chilling as these encounters are, there are still more notable spirits hanging around the zoo.

For instance, sisters Emma and Clara Pontius—aged 12 and 10, respectively—fell off the bridge and died in the lagoon back in 1907. At times, a little girl can be heard crying near the visitor's center, and at others one can be heard laughing.

One man claims that while driving by Lincoln Park's Belden-Stratford apartments, he spotted two girls in vintage dresses playing in front of his car. They vanished right before his eyes.

The unusual energy of this area was first recognized by the Indigenous Americans that once populated the region.

The rocky ridge known as the Devil's Backbone towers above treacherous waters. Innumerable deaths have been caused by the untamable rapids, and even the most talented of boat captains seem unable to escape tragedy here.

One ghost story linked to the vicious river follows a drowned wedding party. As they dragged their spectral bodies out of the water, they portended the coming of the Civil War.

Another story follows Esmerelda, a woman from a prominent family in the mid-1800s. When a boiler explosion killed her lover, she committed suicide by jumping off the Devil's Backbone.

Some say Esmerelda appears to them as a fine mist. Others say they can still hear her wailing, especially during a thunderstorm.

Near the Devil's Backbone is a natural rock formation known as the Devil's Bake Oven. This area is dripping with eerie folklore, including tales of unexplained lights, eerie apparitions, and a choking sense of dread.

Legend says that the Devil himself used the location as a place to meet with witches, leaving the place cursed.

Today, visitors report strange whispers and sightings of shadowy figures.

The historic Old Joliet Prison is a towering castle-like structure that casts an ominous shadow across the surrounding area. These walls once held some of the nation's most notorious criminals, and though it has shut down, it seems some nefarious spirits still linger behind.

The prison first opened in 1858, then called the Illinois State Penitentiary. By 1878, the prison was overwhelmed by more than 2,000 inmates, and was known for its unsanitary and unsafe conditions.

Talk of closing the crumbling prison began in 1905, but the complex went on to operate through the end of the century. In the meantime, it housed big-name criminals like gangster Baby Face Nelson, John Wayne Gacy, Leopold and Loeb, Richard Speck, and more.

Now open to the public, visitors of the old prison have reported an array of unsettling paranormal activity.

The first haunting tale to come out of this prison began in 1932, when inmates and locals heard singing from the nearby convict cemetery. That summer, every night for a full month, ghostly singing could be heard from the graveyard.

The song was said to have sounded like a church hymn, sung in some kind of foreign language.

While people tried to explain the phenomena away by blaming the tune on a prisoner in charge of the sump pumps in a nearby quarry, the story didn't exactly hold up. For one thing, prisoners weren't allowed to go to the quarry alone, and while ghost hunters flocked to the quarry nightly, they never spotted a trace of any other living soul.

But singing isn't the only creepy thing overheard at the Old Joliet Prison. Visitors have heard a number of disembodied voices in the cell blocks, including crying, wailing, and even suggestive whistling.

Beware, however, as the spirits of this prison are not happy to be there. Guests have said that, upon entering the building, they have been overcome by intensely negative feelings.

Some people also report the feeling of being watched or having electrifying chills run through their bodies.

Even more classic proof of a ghostly presence includes electronics malfunctioning within the walls and photos depicting unexplained, shadowy anomalies.

Caves, for all their damp, dark atmosphere, are terrifying enough on their own. Add ghosts to the mix? Forget it.

But that's exactly what's waiting in the shadows for visitors of Cave-In-Rock State Park.

In the 1700s, this locale was once a popular hideout for pirates, bandits, and slave catchers. The violence that came with them still haunts the cave today.

Legend says that if you stand there in the quiet you can hear anguished cries echoing from the mouth of the cave. No one can seem to agree on if the cries belong to the tragic victims of the bandits who frequented it, or if they come from the ghosts of the pirates themselves.

One belief is that a man named James Ford, the ferryman at Ford's Ferry, is bound to the cave for the dark deeds he committed in life. Working with a group of vicious bandits, Ford was able to use Cave-In-Rock to prey upon the passengers aboard his ferry.

Ford was eventually killed by a group of vigilantes who shot him more than 100 times. When he was buried, the graveyard shook with the force of cracking thunder, causing his coffin to be buried nose-first.

His remains stand on their head for eternity, giving a good reason for his spirit to feel grief.