Memento Mori

Nothing says Halloween more than a cemetery so packed with ghosts it barely leaves room for the living. Batchelors Grove is just such a cemetery. Nestled in the Rubio Woods forest preserve outside Chicago, it lies abandoned and forgotten behind a rusted, broken down chain link fence. But just as the fence doesn't keep curious visitors out, it no longer keeps the ghosts in. Mysterious occurrences are the norm in this scenic cemetery including random equipment malfunctions, eerie cold spots , and creepy noises which come from nowhere. A phantom farmer and his plow horse who both drowned in a nearby lake have been seen plowing fields which no longer exist. A woman in white roams the grounds, her dead infant in her arms. A quaint farmhouse appears along the trail leading to the cemetery itself, vanishing without a trace as hikers approach. Phantom cars have been seen tailing drivers along the stretch of road, disappearing like the mist. What makes this cemetery so active? There are as many theories as there are spine-chilling anecdotes, but one thing is certain. The bulk of the haunting didn't begin until the cemetery was vandalized and desecrated. No matter what awaits us beyond the ebony veil, no one wants or deserves to have their peace disturbed. Perhaps we are granted a brief glimpse into what awaits after death through ghosts in order to remember that, in the end, such is the fate of us all.