Rosehill Cemetery


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Chicago's largest and oldest graveyard is Rosehill Cemetery. There are more than 1,500 prominent Chicagoans buried there. Civil War generals, mayors, millionaires, local celebrities, and early founders of the city. Also some notorious people are buried there, Reinhart Schwimmer, murdered in the Valentine's Day Massacre and Bobby Franks, victim of Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb.

Some of these are said not to stay in their graves, which is why the cemetery is said to have hauntings and strange incidents. Charles Hopkins is one such resident. On the aniversary of his death, it is said that a eerie moaning is heard coming from his mausoleum after which the clatter of chains is heard.

Traditional ghost stories say that the dead return because of wrongs that had been done to them or to keep up a rivalry they had while alive. Rosehill's Community Mausoleum is where one story comes from.

Two famous businessmen are buried in there. Aaron Montgomery Ward and Richard Sears had a bitter rivalry in life and the ghost of Sears is seen walking through the halls towards Ward's tomb.

The Masonic Lodge

One of the many strange monuments and bizarre tales of Rosehill is the Lincoln Park Masonic Lodge monument. The groups charter was revolked when they where accused of experimenting in the black arts. The monument has a huge globe weighing several tons that falls off about once every ten years. Maybe it is trying to say that the stories are true.

The Two Faces of Mary Shedden

Mary Shedden was supposedly poisoned by her husband back in 1931. If you find her gravestone and use your imagination a little, you will very probably see two faces in it. The first is her young and happy face; the second is her smiling skull. Some say it's an illusion caused by the material it's made from, others are not quite sure.

The Smell of Flowers in Winter

Lulu Fellows Monument In 1833 Lulu Fellows died at the tender age of sixteen. Visitors bring coins, toys and other gestures of sympathy for her. The phrase "Many Hopes Lie Buried Here" are etched on the monument. Many visitors say that the smell of fresh flowers fills the surrounding area, even in winter when there are no flowers around.


A Mysterious Mist

Frances Pearce's Monument Frances Pearce's outstanding monument came to Rosehill from the Chicago City Cemetery. It has a statue of Frances with her baby daughter. The statue is in a glass case to protect it from the weather. On the anniversary of their deaths, it is reported, a glowing white mist fills the case as if they are calling out to the husband and father.

Longing for a Lost Love

The ghost of Elizabeth Archer also walks the grounds of Rosehill. A beautiful woman that committed suicide after the death of her beloved, Arnold Fischel, in the 1950's. They went to Senn High School on the North Side, and their love for each other was well known. Her father had the Archer-Fischel Monument built for them, and it is here that her ghost is seen on cold nights in November.

The Little Girl at the Gate

William Boyington designed the gothic gates at Rosehill. People that pass by at night have seen his daughter, Philomena, looking out from a window below the bell tower of the Ravenswood gates. She would play near the gate while it was being built, and she died of pneumonia shortly after the construction was finished. She has haunted the gate ever since then.

Friend of the Wicked Man in the World

Also a resident at Rosehill is Gerhardt Foreman, a student of Alistair Crowley in England. He came back to America and was responsible for the circulation of the teaching of the Golden Dawn. He also helped to start the Ancient and Mystical Order if the Rosicrucians. His mausoleum is chained shut, not so much as to keep intruders out, but to keep him in.

The Curse of the Pharaoh Lives On

Darius Millers Monument Darius Miller's mausoleum is a replica of the Temple of Anubis, god of the underworld, and shows his interest in ancient Egypt. His death and tomb are interesting to many fans of the supernatural. Opening the Pharaohs TombHe was at the opening of King Tuts tomb which made him vunerable to the curse. He died strangely the spring after its opening. Stories continue about his mausoleum being haunted. Every year on May 1st in the early morning a blue light shines from it. No one has been able to explain the cause of it but many say it is his spirit eminating from it for over eighty years.


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