Lucky In Bachelor's Grove

Every year I hear how haunted Chicago and its surrounding suburbs are, and of course, it takes more than a little internet hocus pocus to scare me. Lately however, I had been hearing about recent ghostly apparitions and shiny orbs being spotted around Bachelor's Grove Cemetery in Palos Heights, Illinois. Soon after, I pitched the potential haunting to my editor and got the ok to look into it. After looking through books and articles about the cemetery's history, I came across a very vague article about a young man being killed in the cemetery about 10 years ago. I came to find out that this young man and his girlfriend had gone there one night, and the only person that survived that trail of haunts was his girlfriend, Julie Gambino. It took some time but I finally got into contact with Julie and asked to speak to her about the incident.

After driving about half way to the Northwest side of the city, I met Julie at her Chicago home which was in urgent need of an extreme makeover. She invited me in and offered me some cookies, but I nicely declined and took my seat. As I looked around her living room, I noticed everything had been layered in dust and it seemed as though nothing in her home had been moved out of place for years. I got as comfortable as I could on her stiff sofa as she began to recount the horrors of that Halloween evening.

The moon was nearly full on this cool foggy Halloween night. The sidewalks that were cluttered with autumn leaves, and the footsteps of candy hungry monsters were now deserted…all that could be heard were the howls of the wind and the few cars that passed by. However, all Hollow's eve wasn't all candied apples and smiling jack-o-laterns for Julie who was in the middle of a foot stomping, door slamming argument with her mother.  As Julie and her mom were arguing, Julie heard her boyfriend, Mark, car come to a clankity clunkity stop outside her driveway.

            "That boy is strange Julie! I don't know why you even waste your time," screamed Julie's mom as Julie stormed out the door.

"You better be home by 2am. Julia Gambino," shouted Julie's mom even louder as Julie got into her boyfriend's car.

"Happy Halloween baby, how ‘bout you give Marky Mark over here a kiss," said Mark as he moved his face towards Julie's.

"Uhhh, how ‘bout no and you just drive the damn car already…my mom is already givin' me hell about dating you, so I just wanna leave," snorted Julie as she slammed the car door shut.

Mark made the right onto Harlem from Irving and for about ten minutes, they drove in complete silence.

As I watched Julie's faced get red with anger as she recalled the details of the night, Julie then went on to tell me that she finally broke the silence between her and Mark when they stopped at the light on Harlem and Fullerton.

"Sooooo….where are we even going, you have yet to tell me," said Julie quietly.

"Well, just a Halloween party, you know babe," responded Mark in a calm tone

"Hmmmm Ok, sounds like fun. Where is this Halloween party at, if you don't mind my asking," said Julie with a hint of suspicion.

"Oh, it's in Crestwood…by 143^rd and Harlem," stated Mark with a shaky hesitant voice.

"Oh my god!!! Mark that is soooo far, I don't know about this…you know I have to be home early….Mark…"

"Come on babe, I'll have you home by one thirty, this will be fun, I promise…just trust me babe," said Mark as his right hand extended out to hold Julie's left hand.

"Alright," says Julie as she swallowed her sense of worry down her throat.

Just then Julie blankly glared right past me as she rubbed her forearms and tried to take a deep breath. She began to tell me that as Mark's car passed the intersection of 131^st and Harlem, Julie suddenly got the chills as the car was engulfed in the dark shadows of the trees around them. Although there were a few street lights along the street, the light wasn't enough to settle Julie's stomach and stop the cold sweat that ran down her forehead. As Mark made the left onto 137^th street, Julie couldn't help but notice the cut chain lying amongst the leaves next to a small red rectangular sign that read in bold black letters "DO NOT ENTER". The Caprice rolled to a squeaky stop at the end of the road as Mark tuned off his headlights, put the car in park and turned off the ignition.

"HAPPY HALLOWEEN BABE," exclaimed Mark so loud that he made Julie jump in her seat.

"You PUNK! You know I'm easily scared, why would scare me like that?! And where the hell are we?! You said we were going to a Halloween party, this doesn't look like a Halloween party to me," shouted Julie as she tried to catch her breath.

"Well…this is a Halloween party….for just you and I. How ‘bout it…trick or treat baby," said Mark as he stuck his tongue out at Julie.

"You're such a perv Mark, I can't believe you brought me all the way out here, to a deserted forest preserve...just ‘cause you think you're gonna get lucky."

"Awww, come on babe. You know I won't let anything bad happen to you…for real babe, I just wanted to use you being scared as an excuse to get close to you and hold you. Can I have a kiss please," asked Mark as he leaned in closer to Julie

"Well…when you put it like that, I guess it's kind of cute," said Julie as she leaned in to kiss Mark.

Julie began to sheepishly smile as she reminisced the intimacy of that kiss.

"That kiss lead to another kiss …and before I knew it, the windows of the car began to fog up. Mark's right hand had started to make its way up my shirt when all of a sudden SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH!"

Julie recalls immediately looking out both the front and back windows.

            "OH MY GOD! WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT MARK?!"

            "Aw, babe don't worry about it. It was probably a bat or something, don't mind it," said Mark in a daze. Mark continued to kiss Julie's neck. "Come on Julie".

            "Can we at least put the radio on or something so I don't have to hear these bats," questioned Julie as she tried to get Mark off of her.

            "Sure babe," said Mark as he turned the radio on and went back to making out with Julie. As the two started to kiss and feel up on each other, the radio station was interrupted by a message from Cook County.

            "THIS IS A MESSAGE FROM THE COOK COUNTY SHERIF'S OFFICE. PLEASE NOTE AND BEAWARE THAT A PATIENT FROM THE PALOS CORRECTIONAL INSITUTE HAS ESCAPED.THE PATIENT IS SAID TO BE WANDERING THE PALOS HEIGHTS AREA. PATIENT IS SAID TO HAVE ESCAPED WITH A LONG LEATHER JACKET AND HAS A HOOK FOR A LEFT HAND. PLEASE KEEP INDOORS BUT CALL AUTHORITIES IF YOU HAVE ANY INFORMATION"

            Mark and Julie both looked at each other for a second without anything.

            "Mark, aren't we in Palos Heights?"

            "We are close to it, but WE aren't in Palos Heights. We will be fine babe, like I said, I won't let anything bad happen to you," said Mark as he pushed the hair out of Julie's face.

            "I'm sure Mark but look, it's already a quarter to, and it took us about half a hour to get up here. We better leave now."

            "Aw, come on Julie, don't be like that. Let's just stay for awhile. Please babe," said Mark as he forced kisses onto Julie.

            "NO MARK! I WANT TO GO HOME! I DO NOT APPERICATE YOU TRYING TO FORCE ME! YOU NEED TO TAKE ME HOME NOW," exclaimed Julie.

            "Fine…fine…fine. I'll take you home," said Mark through a sigh. Mark went to start the car but the car was not starting. He looked around at his dash, "I knew I should have got gas before I picked you up. I was hoping I could get it on the way back. It's ok though babe, I remember seeing a gas station right down the street, I'll just walk down the street and get some."

            "Let me go with you Mark, please," pleaded Julie.

            "No, stay here in the car and wait for me Julie, I'll be back before you know it."

            "No one is going to steal this sorry excuse of a car, let me go with you Mark."

            "Hey, hey, hey….don‘t talk about Mercedes like that. Just stay here O.K.," said Mark as he got out of the car.

              As Julie continued to tell me the story, I couldn't help but hear the tremble in her voice as she told me how she watched Mark walk away in the rearview mirror and how the shadows seemed to swallow his figure.

"I can still feel the chill on my neck as I sat in the car; hear the howling wind, the low branched tree scratching at the roof of the car, and the sound of crunchy autumn leaves rustling along the floor. With each minute that passed, the sound of the wind, the leaves and the shadows that seemed to dance in the dark intensified. I broke into a cold sweat and started looking out of the corner of my eyes every second. My hands started to clam up, and my heartbeat and breaths became quick. Every second, I would replay the sound of that screech in my head. I could feel my fear eating me from the inside out, starting with my heart. That's when I became to rock to and fro as I stared into the blinding darkness. Then I heard this SCRATCH SCRATCH…SCRATCH SCRATCH, like metal on metal scratching, I felt like my ears where going to bleed," stated Julie and she shook her head violently and covered up her ears as if reliving her horrible moments in the dark.

"The scratching from the trees had become amplified in my mind and I could feel a scream working up in my throat. I was about to look up at the roof of the car and scream when all of a sudden I saw the blue lights of police cars coming from behind. Instantaneously a wave of relief had washed over me and I felt my heartbeat go back to normal," said Julie in a trance.

 As she stepped out of the car, the cops shouted for her to come towards them and to not look back. As she walked towards the safety of their blue lights, she looked back and her mouth fell to the floor.

"I could not believe what I saw…I…I saw Mark's body hanging upside down from a tree and that his throat had been slit. Blood was running down his neck to his face, onto the roof of the car, that's when I noticed something. The branches of the surrounding trees where too high to scratch the roof of the car….the scratching came  from Mark's one dangling arm…it was his fingernails scratching against the roof. There was also a hook stuck on the hood of the trunk, engraved above the hook was YOU WERE LUCKY," whispered Julie in such a lost hush.

I sat there in complete silence, letting every detail sink in. After a few seconds, I couldn't take it anymore, I had to leave. I thanked Julie for her participation in this interview and asked if I could call her in case any future questions came up. She blankly agreed and sat there in her chair stone faced. I quietly let me self out and ran to my car. I quickly opened the door and sat in my seat in relief to get out of her house. As I pulled out from the curb of her house, I looked back in my rear view mirror and saw a tall dark hooded figured. There was something silver and shiny waving back and forth at me from its left side. I couldn't make out what it was but that's when I saw an eerie yellow smile come across the hooded figure's face.