Aloha, Tide Riders!

It’s time to clock in for the Graveyard Shift.

For the first installment of this brand-new Strange Tides saga, we’re heading to the southwest suburbs of Chicago and Resurrection Cemetery, a sprawling historic burial ground with a reputation that goes way beyond its headstones and mausoleums.

This is the home turf of one of America’s most famous ghost stories: Resurrection Mary—the mysterious young woman said to hitchhike along Archer Avenue, accept rides from unsuspecting motorists, appear at local dance halls, and then vanish without a trace.

But Mary isn’t the only strange thing lurking around these grounds.

We’ll dig into the cemetery’s history, the tragic victims of the Eastland disaster, the spectacular Resurrection Community Mausoleum, the legendary Bending Gate incident, and the wider collection of ghostly encounters scattered along the haunted Archer Avenue corridor.

Then, once we've covered the history and the sightings, we’ll head into the Tinfoil Teepee to explore theories ranging from folklore and environmental effects to Stone Tape recordings, time slips, interdimensional bleed-through, non-human intelligences, and a seriously wild idea that all these layers may have combined to create something far stranger than a simple ghost story.

So grab your flashlight, keep one eye on the rearview mirror, and join us for the first stop on the Graveyard Shift.

Because around Resurrection Cemetery, you never know who—or what—you might pick up along the way.

Sources:

Catholic Cemeteries of Chicago – Resurrection Cemetery page - https://www.catholiccemeterieschicago.org/locations/resurrection/

Elizabeth Williamson, “Deathly Dancer,” Chicago Tribune, October 25, 1992 - https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1992-10-25-9204060394-story.html

“Justice: It’s the living end…,” Chicago Tribune, January 5, 2011 - https://www.chicagotribune.com/2011/01/05/justice-its-the-living-end-tiny-suburb-is-home-to-4-cemeteries-and-more-than-200000-people-the-vast-majority-of-them-dead/

“For nearly a century, the village of…,” Chicago Tribune, May 26, 1998 - https://www.chicagotribune.com/1998/05/26/for-nearly-a-century-the-village-of/

Nate Lielasus, “A Treasure Trove of 20th-Century Art: Resurrection Cemetery Mausoleum,” Chicago Modern, April 17, 2012 - https://chicagomodern.wordpress.com/2012/04/17/a-treasure-trove-of-20th-century-art-resurrection-cemetery-mausoleum/

Resurrection Cemetery (Justice, Illinois) – Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resurrection_Cemetery_(Justice,_Illinois)

Resurrection Mary – Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resurrection_Mary

Historical Marker Database – Resurrection Cemetery Marker - https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=265060

Find a Grave – Resurrection Catholic Cemetery and Mausoleums - https://www.findagrave.com/cemetery/107652/resurrection-catholic-cemetery-and-mausoleums