The Vanishing Hitchhiker: Resurrection Mary and the Ghosts of Archer Avenue

0:00 Speaker 1: Welcome to the Strange History Podcast. I am Dan the

0:03 Speaker 1: Reluctant announcer, and this podcast is hosted by someone who

0:07 Speaker 1: bribes me with baked goods to do this gig. This

0:11 Speaker 1: week we will be talking about Resurrection Mary, the hitchhiking

0:16 Speaker 1: heartbreaker of Archer Avenue.

0:18 Speaker 2: Thanks Dan, muffins are on the table on your way out.

0:21 Speaker 2: Now let's dive in. You're driving alone at night on

0:24 Speaker 2: Archer Avenue. You've had a couple mailert shots because it's Chicago.

0:28 Speaker 2: You're jamming to some sticks, and suddenly you see her.

0:32 Speaker 2: She's blonde, she's beautiful, she's barefoot. She's also dead. Welcome

0:38 Speaker 2: to tonight's tale, Resurrection Mary, Chicago's most legendary hitchhiking ghost.

0:44 Speaker 2: Who was Mary and why does she hate uber? Let's

0:47 Speaker 2: rewind to the nineteen twenties or nineteen thirties, depending on

0:51 Speaker 2: which ghost tour you book. The story begins like a

0:54 Speaker 2: tragic jazz age rom com. A girl possibly named Mary

0:59 Speaker 2: because of course she is, goes dancing at the famed

1:02 Speaker 2: O Henry Ballroom in Justice, Illinois. She and her date

1:06 Speaker 2: get into a spat. Some say about leaving early, Others

1:10 Speaker 2: say he stepped on her dress during the Charleston. So

1:14 Speaker 2: what does she do? She irish exits the dance, storms

1:18 Speaker 2: out into the night in her white gown and heels

1:20 Speaker 2: Q thunderclap, and starts walking home down Archer Avenue. Only

1:26 Speaker 2: she never makes it whether she was struck by a

1:29 Speaker 2: car or met some other grizzly fate. She ends up

1:31 Speaker 2: buried in Resurrection Cemetery, dressed for the party, eternally ready

1:35 Speaker 2: to boogie. But here's the twist. That wasn't the end.

1:40 Speaker 2: It was the beginning of a ninety plus year ghost story.

1:44 Speaker 2: Because Mary Mary doesn't rest, she rides ghostin and hitchin.

1:50 Speaker 2: The first known sighting was in the nineteen thirties, when

1:54 Speaker 2: a man named Jerry Pallis danced with a blonde woman

1:57 Speaker 2: at Liberty Grove and Hall. She was beautiful, quiet and cold,

2:03 Speaker 2: not emotionally cold, physically cold. After the dance, she asked

2:07 Speaker 2: for a ride down Archer Avenue. No red flags yet,

2:10 Speaker 2: right as they passed Resurrection Cemetery, she suddenly said stop here,

2:17 Speaker 2: and before Jerry could ask why the cemetery and not

2:20 Speaker 2: a Denny's, she opened the car door and vanished into

2:24 Speaker 2: thin air. Jerry later visited the address she gave him.

2:28 Speaker 2: The people there said, Mary, she's been dead for years.

2:33 Speaker 1: Fingerprints of the dead.

2:35 Speaker 2: Okay, now things get physically spooky. In nineteen seventy six,

2:40 Speaker 2: a man driving past Resurrection Cemetery at night reported seeing

2:44 Speaker 2: a young woman grabbing the cemetery gate in a panic,

2:47 Speaker 2: like she was trying to get out. When police showed up,

2:51 Speaker 2: they found two of the iron bars pried apart and

2:54 Speaker 2: inside what looked like scorched fingerprints. Either she had the

2:58 Speaker 2: grip of a gymnast or there's a very angry metalworker

3:02 Speaker 2: ghost wandering Chicago. The bars were reportedly replaced and then

3:07 Speaker 2: quietly removed again, maybe to stop curious teens from licking them.

3:12 Speaker 2: You know how it goes. Let's fast forward to the

3:15 Speaker 2: nineteen eighties, a prime decade for ghosts and bad decisions.

3:19 Speaker 2: Some of the best Resurrection Mary stories come from this era.

3:23 Speaker 1: The Red Barrel Incident nineteen eighty.

3:28 Speaker 2: A driver named Tony picked up a beautiful young woman

3:31 Speaker 2: in a white dress near the Red Barrel Restaurant now

3:34 Speaker 2: a Duncan, which somehow feels more cursed. She was polite,

3:39 Speaker 2: asked to be dropped off near Resurrection Cemetery, and barely spoke.

3:43 Speaker 2: As they passed the gates, she vanished from the car

3:47 Speaker 2: poof without even a thanks for the ride. Some say

3:51 Speaker 2: she ghosted harder than a tender date who sees your

3:53 Speaker 2: anime collection.

3:55 Speaker 1: The dance and the vanish.

3:57 Speaker 2: Another man swears he danced with her in the fifties.

4:00 Speaker 2: She said she lived by the cemetery, and when he

4:03 Speaker 2: dropped her off, she walked through the gates and disappeared. Honestly,

4:08 Speaker 2: girls got game, shows up, dressed to kill, dances like

4:12 Speaker 2: a dream, then dissolves into mist Is it too much

4:16 Speaker 2: to ask for one ghost? Who Venmo's gas money?

4:20 Speaker 1: So? Who was she?

4:21 Speaker 2: There are a few real life candidates for resurrection Mary

4:25 Speaker 2: Mary Brigovi, who died in a nineteen thirty four car crash,

4:29 Speaker 2: buried in Resurrection Cemetery. Blonde young, tragic check check check.

4:36 Speaker 2: Anna Maria Norkis, age twelve, died in nineteen twenty seven.

4:41 Speaker 2: Her death was closer to the o Henry Ballroom's heyday.

4:44 Speaker 2: Her nickname Mary, but no single record ties perfectly to

4:48 Speaker 2: the legend. In true Chicago fashion, the city just kind

4:52 Speaker 2: of went a It's Mary, you know, ghost Mary. The

4:56 Speaker 2: science of spook Some folklorists say resurrection. Mary is a

5:01 Speaker 2: textbook vanishing hitchhiker legend, a global phenomenon where ghosts flag

5:05 Speaker 2: down rides and peace out at a specific location. But

5:09 Speaker 2: Mary's story sticks because of its detail and repetition, multiple

5:13 Speaker 2: drivers descriptions that match sighting spanning decades, and that one

5:18 Speaker 2: guy who swears she tried to change the radio to polka. Also,

5:23 Speaker 2: most ghost stories don't leave behind melted cemetery gates, just saying.

5:28 Speaker 1: Willowbrook Ballroom her final dance.

5:32 Speaker 2: The Willowbrook Ballroom, formerly the o Henry, was her rumored

5:36 Speaker 2: favorite haunt. Built in nineteen twenty one, it was a

5:39 Speaker 2: Romantic Art Deco palace of swing, foxtrot and sneaky smooches.

5:45 Speaker 2: The ballroom burned down in twenty sixteen, and many believe

5:50 Speaker 2: that's when sighting slowed, or maybe Mary just refuses to

5:54 Speaker 2: haunt a world where people dance via TikTok trends, Drive safe, Chicago,

6:00 Speaker 2: So next time you're cruising Archer Avenue past midnight, watch

6:03 Speaker 2: the shoulder. Don't be surprised if you see a pale

6:06 Speaker 2: young woman in a white dress, and if she gets

6:09 Speaker 2: in your car and says, take me to the cemetery.

6:12 Speaker 2: Do it. Worst case you drive a ghost home. Best

6:16 Speaker 2: case you get a killer story for Thanksgiving dinner. Got

6:20 Speaker 2: your own ghost hitchhiker story, or maybe you are Mary.

6:24 Speaker 2: Email us and remember if a girl in a white

6:27 Speaker 2: dress needs a ride on Archer Avenue, don't touch the radio.

6:32 Speaker 2: Drive safe, Chicago, stay spooky, folks, and check your back seat.