Memorial Park Investigation

The Ghost Research Society was the first professional paranormal team to investigate Memorial Park!

The town of Blue Island was established in 1835 as a way station for Chicago travelers on the historic Vincennes Trail. Vincennes is one of many diagonal streets in Chicago and is an old Indian trail such as Archer Avenue. Many of the first settlers were tavern and general store keepers, blacksmiths and wagon builders. Blue Island's early industry was lodging and livestock trading. By 1858, German settlers had established four breweries in the growing city, and in the 1870s, the Rock Island Railroad marked the beginning of Blue Island's transformation into a trade hub.

The name Blue Island was derived from the fact that it is situated on a ridge of land that once was an island when the glacier Lake Chicago existed several thousand years ago. The name is also, believed by some, to be associated with a breed of blue flower that once covered the ridge, making it appear as a blue island from a distance. Bands of Ottawa's, Ojibwas and Potawatomie lived along the Little Calumet River and Stony Creek until around 1835 when the village was incorporated.

One of the first permanent structures was the old Rexford Tavern that once stood upon the southern point of the Blue Island ridge near the northwest corner of the block bounded by Western Avenue, Grove, Wexford and James streets. Old-timers remembered in written articles Indian mounds that were to be seen at the southwest corner of Grove and Ann streets. Civil engineer, A.I. Mathieson was quoted a saying, “From these mounds were taken the bones of a ‘giant’ exceeding in height the statue of the late Hon. John Wentworth; and were accompanied as mortuary offerings by an Egyptian vase, about fourteen inches in height; flanged, having two handles on the sides and decorated, also an Egyptian red clay pipe.”

As population grew, it soon became apparent that land would have to be acquired for a cemetery to bury the dead. An area was eventually chosen where the current Memorial Park is now located on Section 26, T37N and R13E. The earliest known land owners of that parcel of land were Catherine Clang and Catherine Clary. They together purchased 80 acres of Federal land on January 2, 1835 at $1.25 per acre for a total cost of $100.00.

Fever and ague swept through Blue Island in 1847 and 1849 and cholera spread from 1849 and again in 1853/54. Some entire families were wiped out and a desperate need for a cemetery once again came to a head. Up to around 1852 people generally buried their dead near their homes. Eventually 310 feet on Burr Oak Avenue and 335 feet on Elm Street were bought from Charles D. and Emily Robinson, however the newly formed cemetery committee selected 330 feet fronting Burr Oak Avenue and 310 feet on Highland Avenue and Old Blue Island Cemetery was founded in 1850.

The original deed was lost or misplaced and a new one issued in 1867 which indicated that on March 2, 1867 Robinson conveyed the old cemetery property to Hiram Squier, William Baumbach and Rodney N. Day, trustees of the cemetery. The cemetery was comprised of 126 lots, 20 feet by 20 feet in size with alleys and streets between the lots. With the later addition of more lots the number totaled 306 lots.

Subdivision of cemetery was filed for record on June 5, 1868 and incorporated as Blue Island Cemetery on July 20, 1889. According to oral records the first body implanted in the ground was probably Zachary Wilson who died in 1839 while building his home and was buried on top of the hill “behind the Rexford House”. This area continued as a public burying ground until August 5, 1898 when the village passed ordinance No. 335, “That no cemetery or place of burial of the dead shall be established within or adjacent to the City of Blue Island or within one mile of the corporate limits of said city.”

On October 29, 1898 a lawsuit was started by the Blue Island Cemetery against the City of Blue Island for the passing of ordinance No. 334. Nearby Mt. Greenwood Cemetery had already been established in 1879 and recorded their first burial on April 28, 1880. Efforts then began to notify family members and for the removal of bodies to other cemeteries and the task must have been enormous. Several thousand bodies had to be removed, the exact number was never truly known as all the records were destroyed during the great Chicago fire of 1871. No records were ever found as to who or how the relatives were contacted and many stones were never moved.

Some bodies might have been taken to Mt. Greenwood Cemetery however an newspaper article dated June 24, 1926 reports that some were taken to First Lutheran Cemetery in Blue Island.

The Blue Island Park Board instituted action to buy the cemetery land for a children’s park on March 7, 1921 and by March 17, 1921 the cemetery now belonged to Mt. Greenwood Cemetery but in November 1935 the Worker’s Progress Administration funded the establishment of a park district.

Human remains have been discovered during the construction of Memorial Park, the digging of the swimming pool, the discovery of infant graves near the stadium construction site and, as recently as May 2004, additional bodies were found near a running trail while installing some lighting. They were covered with dirt after the construction. Numerous coffin handles and bone fragments have been accidentally dug up throughout the years including tombstones that were below ground level. In September of 2011, more bones were found on the ridge that delayed the stadium being built.

There is a reported plane crash in the park, as of yet undocumented in the late 1920s or early 1930s with loss of life. In July of 2010, a 26-year-old man drowned in the swimming pool during an after-hours party in the park.

Address: 12804 Highland Ave, Blue Island, IL 60406

Phone: (708) 385-3304

Website: www.blueislandparks.org

Hauntings: People have been reporting balls of light floating throughout the park at night; ghost lights if you will. Residents just south of the park have had ghostly phenomenon happening within their houses. Sounds of footsteps, apparitions and other weird events are only some of the ghostly activity. At a past Blue Island Library lecture I presented, I actually met and talked to several people who told their stories of ghosts to the entire audience!

I also learned of yet another haunting told to me by a young man who once played football at the stadium there. He mentioned as he got up from the bench, all the equipment, water bottles and towels were quickly and swiftly swiped off the bench as though a big hand had just cleared the bench.

Fred Bilotto, past president of the Blue Island Park District, had also related an interesting encounter when he was cleaning up the Field House built in 1938. It seems that a former employee often encountered intense cold spots within the building that he couldn’t explain nor find anywhere that draft would have come from. Bilotto, earlier in his association with the park district, used to clean up the field house and he could distinctly hear the sounds of movement within the building, even though he knew that he was the only living person inside. The sounds resembled footsteps and movements of furniture or objects. The thing that made this a bit frightening at the time is that he would have to go in the direction of the sounds to exit the building. He never saw anything nor could come up with a reasonable explanation as to the cause and origin of the sounds.

Bones are still occasionally being dug up when new water fountains, electric lights, walking trails or other construction is undertaken. The current boundaries of Memorial Park is much smaller than the Old Blue Island Cemetery used to be and that is why perhaps neighbors who live to the east and south of the current park have sometimes reported strange paranormal activity in their homes. Their current homes probably rest on what used to be cemetery property and with so many bodies still in the ground, it’s no wonder people report ghosts in their homes.

Equipment setup: Basic hand-held equipment was used such as digital recorders, camcorders, K-II Meter, Melmeter, full-spectrum camera, GoPro camera, Phasma Box and ParaTek app on Samsung Galaxy S-21 Slim Ultra, REM Epod and Tri-Field Natural EM Meter.

Experiments performed: One single EVP session was conducted by the pool where a drowning had taken place in the past. The session was split between the Phasma Box and ParaTek app and began at 10:27am.

Personal experiences:

Michael Rosario: Intro and Equipment Used: For this investigation, we traveled to the Blue Island Memorial Park District Bath House, Pool, Stadium, and Cemetery located in Blue Island, Illinois. This took off on Saturday, May 28, 2022, at approximately 10:26am, with Dale Kaczmarek, and a few other members of the GRS team. Morning weather was a bit warm, with sunny skies, and breezy. Equipment used in this investigation were my K-II Meter; a Philips VoiceTracer Digital Voice Recorder, and a DVC 4K Ultra HD 48mp Night Shot Digital Video Camcorder.

Initial Investigation: For this investigation, I was accompanied by Dale, Paul, Chuck, and Kathie. I began by doing my usual K-II sweeps around the first few monuments, and then over to the bath house. I remember it being around 3.5mG at its lowest, and as much as a 10mG reading as we neared the bath house. We had done our EVP sessions in a couple locations, including the bath house area with our Phasma Box ITC device.

Evidence: Upon reviewing all of my evidence, I did not capture any video, but did get some audio evidence. There was evidence containing some noise contamination, but it was decipherable, however. The piece of evidence captured is below:

~ “I killed him,” or “I know him.” (Location: Near the bath house).

Charles Williams: Equipment- Zoom recorder, GoPro Camera, Melmeter and Full Spectrum camera

Personal Experiences- None

EVP, Phasma Box sessions with some results. Talked with a security guard who shared stories and encouraged investigation of building.

Dale Kaczmarek: It was a beautiful day outside but also pretty quiet when it came to intelligent responses from either the Phasma Box or the ParaTek app. There were a few interesting phrases or words that did come through though.

The Ghost Research Society investigated Memorial Park on May 28, 2022. Team members included: Kathi Para, Charles Williams, Mike Rosario, Paul Adams and Dale Kaczmarek

Evidence collected:

How’d you’re doing memorial.MP4 – while conducting a Phasma Box session near the pool, the device blurted out what sounds like, “How’d you’re doing?”

I know him memorial.MP4 – while conducting a Phasma Box session near the pool, the device said, “I know him.”

Its Mike memorial.MP4 – while conducting a Phasma Box session near the pool, a question was asked, “Who are we talking to? What’s your first name?” The device responded with, “It’s Mike.”

Mikey’s roaming memorial.MP4 – while conducting a Phasma Box session near the pool, “Williams said, “Mikey’s roaming.” Immediately the device repeated, “Mikey’s roaming.”

Yes memorial.MP4 – while conducting a Phasma Box session near the pool, a question was asked, “Were you here when this was a cemetery?” The device replied with, “Yes.”

Words or phrases spoken by the Phasma Box: I don’t want to be forgotten, I know him, hi, respect, technology, how’d you’re doing, its Mike, Mikey’s roaming and yes. ParaTek app: beach, waves, yapping, induce, add, November, female & kit.

Conclusions: There were a few possible intelligent responses on the Phasma Box near the pool since that was the only area we investigated. The other two responses I believe were residual in nature. We worked mostly undisturbed except for a runner coming through the area and a maintenance worker who seemed interested in our investigation. He, in fact, did mention that the Field House up the hill from the pool was still perhaps haunted. He said that he has heard unexplainable noises and sounds and gave us the person to contact for possible permission to investigate the building, Ted Ruthenberg.

In the future, I will be reaching out to him and name dropping the people that I knew worked here in the past including Fred Bilotto and Dr. Wayne Wolf as well as other board members.

I would like to investigate both the building and the grounds after dark and perhaps even get permission to go into the pool area as well.