Did a Cook County Illinois Sheriff Arrest, Resurrection Mary in Justice, Illinois?

The Legend of Resurrection Mary
A young man went out dancing at the Willowbrook Ballroom in Willow Springs, Illinois and meets a young, attractive polish girl with long flowing blond hair in a beautiful white dress. The man asked her to dance. She wasn't very talkative. He took her hand guiding her to the dance floor, thinking she felt quite cold to the touch but there is something about her that is both exciting and mysterious.

The Main Gate of Resurrection Catholic Cemetery & Mausoleums on Archer Avenue in Justice, Illinois.

Toward the end of the evening, he asks her how he can contact her. She takes a cocktail napkin off the table and writes her address on it. He puts the napkin in his jacket pocket without looking at it. A little while later he offers the young lady a ride home, she accepts. On the way to her house, the girl becomes very anxious and signals to the man to drop her off right as they reach Resurrection cemetery. The guy hesitates because it is late and there doesn't seem to be any residences nearby but because she is so persistent and agitated he reluctantly pulls over. The young lady jumps out of the car and runs toward the locked gates of the cemetery where she seemed to just pass-through the cemetery gates and promptly vanishes into the darkness.

The next day he remembers that he has her address in is pocket. He drives to her house to ensure that his date made it home safely. An older woman answeres the door. he asks for Mary. He is invited in and takes a seat on the sofa. The young man notices photographs on the credenza and immediately recognizes one picture as the woman that he had danced with the night before. The old lady told him that her daughter was killed by a hit-and-run driver coming home from a night of dancing some years ago.

Commentary
The above legend is a conglomerate of stories told about the "vanishing hitchhiker" along Archer Avenue known as "Resurrection Mary."  Some eyewitnesses have reported seeing a young blond girl in a white dress steps out in front of their car only to disappear. Some have seen "Mary" hitchhiking along Archer Avenue near Resurrection Cemetery only to have her disappear on second glance.  Others still have had very vivid recollections of actually dancing with her. Mary has been a rite of passage for youthful drivers on the southwest side of Chicago, especially on Halloween, for many years and one of the most beloved spirits of the Chicagoland area.

The Law Enforcement Officer's Story
A Cook County Sheriff was on patrol in the early 1980s and was across the street from Resurrection Cemetery in Justice, Illinois parked next to and chatting with a Justice police officer. The Justice policeman was keeping an eye on the cemetery entrance that night because it was so close to Halloween, to discourage vandals and curiosity seekers from entering the cemetery after dark, while it was closed.

As they were talking, a car pulled up to them at a high rate of speed and a female jumped from the vehicle. She looked terrified and was screaming that they had just seen "Resurrection Mary!" along Archer Avenue near the Fairmount Cemetery. 

Fairmount Cemetery is within eyeshot of The Willowbrook Ballroom which is one of the locations associated with the legend of "Mary."

Both officers looked at each other and rolled their eyes, but because the woman was so visibly upset and serious, they decided to check things out.

As they passed the Willowbrook Ballroom, they said they actually did see a glowing figure disappear into the woods near the Fairmount Cemetery. He was actually a little bit startled at seeing this and pulled off the road to investigate. 

The Willowbrook Ballroom, formerly the "Oh Henry," where Mary allegedly danced.

He started to walk into the woods with his gun drawn, chuckling, because he didn't know how his gun was going to protect him from a ghost!

He caught another glimpse of the figure in the woods and it was quickly gone again!  He walked in the direction of where he last saw the glowing figure and he couldn't believe that he could see a figure wearing a glowing white dress behind a group of trees!  His voice cracking, he identified himself as a police officer and ordered the figure to come out from behind the trees. The figure moved and started walking toward him. What he saw next was... well shocking! As the figure came closer he could see that it was actually a male figure wearing a white dress and blonde wig. The male subject had covered the dress in the liquid from numerous glow sticks causing it to glow in the dark.

This is the censored version of what the Justice policeman said to this individual. "What the heck do you think you are doing out here!" The individual explained that he had been dressing up like "Resurrection Mary" for the past 10 years in the 1970s-1980s and scaring people along Archer Ave as it got close to Halloween.

He asked him if there was anyone else in the woods and the guy yelled to a number of his friends to come out. They were hiding with video cameras and lights. Of course, now it was funny and other police officers were showing up to get a gander at "Mary" and it started taking on a kind of "circus atmosphere." Some officers had taken Polaroid pictures standing next to and putting their arms around "Mary."

They finished by deciding to extend "Mary" and her friends some grace and let them go with a stern warning to cease their ghostly activities or face prosecution for startling motorists and possibly causing an accident.

The next day it was apparent that "Mary" had not heeded their advice and it was also painfully apparent that the Cook County Sheriff's Police did not find his antics as amusing as the local authorities did. The glowing drag queen, in handcuffs and being "assisted" into a Cook County Cruiser, he thought that this would be a really cool booking photo!graph!

A Visual Aid

By Ray Johnson
Edited by Neil Gale, Ph.D.

The Shocking Story of Chicago's first and only Crucifixion.

On Friday, March 9, 1945 (not Good Friday, March 30, 1945), a couple of men were walking on Clybourn Avenue when they heard loud groaning. They followed the sound to the alley, under the 'L' line, behind 1627 North Clybourn Avenue in the Ranch Triangle neighborhood of the Lincoln Park community of Chicago. They just couldn't believe what they saw!

In the shadow of the 'L,' they found a man, later identified by police as 46-year-old Fred Walcher, hanging on a wooden cross by spikes driven through his hands, wearing a crown of thorns and bleeding from his side.

An ambulance was called, and Walcher was taken to the hospital. There, he told police his story.

Fred Walcher was an Austrian who rented a room in the basement of a bar located at 1638 North Halsted Street in Chicago. He was an Optician by trade. Walcher believed in universal brotherhood and was worried about the state of our civilization. His concern had caused him to start a movement for world peace called the "American Industrial Democracy."

In his statements to police, he said that three men had awakened him in his rented room last night. The men told Walcher that they would crucify him but that it wouldn't hurt, so he didn't put up a fight. They led him to the place under the 'L' where a cross of varnished 6-inch planks had been prepared. He was not alarmed until the men took out five metal spikes and a hammer.

Walcher said he had offered no resistance. The men nailed Him to the cross, carefully attaching a rope to his limbs so the weight of his body would not tear his flesh. They then put a crown of thorns on his head and left.

Now, at the hospital, police thought something didn't smell right. Walcher's friends were interviewed, and Walcher was given a lie detector test.

Fred Walcher (center) is being examined.

Walcher's Cross.

One of Walcher's friends, Dr. Emil Bronner of 5652 South Christiana Avenue, had a possible explanation for the event. Bronner told police that Walcher had started acting strangely at American Industrial Democracy meetings and became increasingly agitated with what he thought was lethargy on the part of others in the movement. Bronner said that Walcher considered most people stupid and ignorant and needed something to wake them up. Something like a crucifixion.

"I believe that some men who heard him say these things got so worked up they decided to crucify him," another friend claimed. "I don't mean they were angry with him—they probably didn't understand that he didn't intend to be the victim."

The truth (or the closest thing to it) eventually came out, and it was determined that Walcher had orchestrated the whole crucifixion affair as a publicity stunt. Walcher wanted to spread the word about his idea for a worldwide peace based on a new world order that was run by the middle class and that peace could be gained by a series of "mental attacks."

Of course, immediately following this discovery, a psychological exam was ordered by the courts, and aside from all of the above, the municipal court psychiatrist, Dr. David Rotam, stated that Walcher behaved like any average person would in his preliminary testing.

Walcher at the Police Station.

As the police investigation wrapped up, it was discovered that Walcher was sympathetic to Bund, a U.S. Nazi group. His American Industrial Democracy movement was nothing more than a vague plan to build a Fascist society.

Walcher was fined $100 ($1,450 today) for disorderly conduct. Nothing more was heard of the American Industrial Democracy.

Compiled by Dr. Neil Gale, Ph.D.