Memorial Park & Field House Investigation

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

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 lecture at the Blue Island Public Library, I actually met and talked to several people who told their stories of ghosts to the entire audience!

I 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 has 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.

Another interesting tale that the park board was aware of concerns 115^th Street between Kedzie and Western Avenue . While traveling this brightly lit section of highway, you are all at once surrounded by cemeteries. Mt. Olivet to the north with Mt. Hope to the south. Motorists have often reported seeing a very vivid image of a young boy wearing old-fashioned spectacles often walking along the cemetery frontage at night. Sometimes he suddenly disappears just as you approach him, other times just as you pass him. There is absolutely nowhere for anyone to disappear that quickly in this brightly lit area. This has been a mystery for over fifteen years to date.

Equipment setup: Digital recorders and camcorders were employed as well as the Ovilus V, Phasma Box, SB-11 Ghost Box, Soul Receiver Ghost Box, REM Epod, and Melmeter with telescopic probe, motion detectors, and 4K camcorder with supplemental IR illumination

Experiments performed: Phasma Box sessions were conducted in the Basement of the Field House and outdoors near the bleachers and light pole where part of a women’s body was removed and, now Mayor, Fred Bilotto was actually present at the time. Other EVP sessions were conducted with the Ovilus V both in dictionary and phonetic mode, SB-11 Ghost Box and Soul Receiver.

Personal experiences:

Diane Oksanen: I had some random K-II hits and was using a Digital Recorder, K-II Meter.

Charles Williams: Equipment used: Chuck- Zoom Recorder, Facebook Live video via iPhone, 360 Parascope, and EMF Detector.

No personal experiences during the investigation. We investigated two locations- Basement of Field House, Park- near stands. Phasma Box, Ovilus, and Spirit Box sessions employed.

I started my recorder during set up, nothing noted. Our 1^st session was in the Basement, lights out. Phasma Box seemed to give most responses. Some intelligent responses, some we did not pick up at the time. The staff really got into the investigation, and this was the 1^st time a sitting Mayor joined an investigation! Ovilus and Spirit Box were attempted without result in the 2^nd session, partial lights on. For the 3^rd session we went outside, (The staff had set up trigger objects, and may have been disappointed) by the stadium stands. There were some intelligent responses and inappropriate ones as well. For the last session, 2 from Kindred Spirits stayed upstairs, and the rest of us went back to the basement. Nothing of note here.

Dale Kaczmarek: I did not feel anything out of the ordinary. I believe that in particular, the Phasma Box was very active in responding to questions asked but, in some cases, speaking in full sentences or articulating words or sentences that were very relevant to where we were at or the framework of ideas.

We did perform a Live Facebook session where Ron Lovatt attended and a few others popped in and out during certain EVP sessions.

Words spoken by the Phasma Box – Basement; enough, say it, Tom, you’re welcome, listen here, ghost people, Greg. Outside; I’m bored, you hang out here, who’s that downstairs, don’t fall asleep on us, every day now, Latino, say hi, sunburn, I don’t know, spirits, it’s important to the memory, finally, unfortunate, yes, fire and pretty eyes.

Words spoken by the Ovilus V – Outside in dictionary mode; September, hurt, funeral, bank then in Phonetic Mode; help, help, air, yeah. Basement; hat, find, jewelry, Joe, paper and its and then in Phonetic Mode; I need air.

The Ghost Research Society investigated Memorial Park & the Field House on July 19, 2024. Team members included: Charles Williams, Diane Oksanen and Dale Kaczmarek, with help from Rebecca Sommers, Chelsey Drake and Keisha Tate from Kindred Spirits including Ted Ruthenberg, Mayor Fred Bilotto and various staff members.

Evidence collected:

14 memorial.MP4 – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Basement; a question was asked, “You’re 8?” The device responded with, “14.”

Are you sleeping memorial.MP4 – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Basement, the device blurted out, “Are you sleeping?”

Dig hard memorial.MP4 – while conducting an Ovilus V session near the bleachers, the device blurted out, “Dig hard.”

Eight memorial.MP4 – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Basement, a question was asked, “How many people are down here?” At the end of the clip, the device said, “Eight.”

Greg Greg memorial.MP4 – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Basement, a question was asked, “Who’s the person that makes noises down here? Moves things around?” The device responded twice with “Greg”; first in a male voice and then in a female voice.

He said some words memorial.MP4 – while conducting a Phasma Box session near the bleachers, in a female voice, blurted out, “He said some words.” (Probably referring to the EVP directly before this that said, “You hang out here.”

Hello memorial.MP4 – while conducting a Phasma Box session near the bleachers, a question was asked, “Can you say hello? But was interrupted with, “Hello.”

Hi Chuck Chuck ghost people memorial.MP4 – while conducting an Phasma Box session in the Basement, the device said, “Chuck Chuck”, a comment was made, “We have Fred Bilotto down here. Do you remember Fred?” The device replied with, “Ghost people.”

I’m bored memorial.MP4 – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Basement, the device said, “I’m bored.”

Its Anna memorial.MP4 – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Basement, a question was asked, “What’s your name?” The device said, “It’s Anna.”

Listen here memorial.MP4 – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Basement, the device said, “Listen here.”

Most of them some of them memorial.MP4 – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Basement, a staff member asked, “Do you know anyone who works here?” The device responded with, “Most of them some of them.”

Name memorial.MP4 – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Basement, Kaczmarek began to ask, “Say your name” but was interrupted when the device said, “Name.”

No memorial.MP4 – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Basement, a staff worker asked, “Do you see the kids play down here?’ The device replied with, “No.”

Noise memorial.MP4 – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Basement, a comment was made, “I’ll turn it off if you don’t start talking.” The device made a weird “noise” that was commented on as sounding like a dive-bomber.

Over here memorial.MP4 – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Basement, a question was asked, “You still here?” The device responded with, “Over here.”

Over our head memorial.MP4 – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Basement, a question was asked, “Who’s the president of the United States?” The device said, “Over our head.”

That’s all I think about memorial.MP4 – while conducting a Phasma Box session by the bleachers, a staff member asked, “Do you like to sit under these big trees here?” The device responded with, “That’s all I think about.”

True memorial.MP4 – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Basement, a comment was made, “Park Personnel, ask a question. They might respond to you.” The device said, “True.”

What’s your name memorial.MP4 – while conducting a Phasma Box session in the Basement, a question was asked, “Do you work here?” The device said, “What’s your name?”

Who’s that downstairs memorial.MP4 – while conducting a Phasma Box session near the bleachers, a female voice came through and said, “Who’s that downstairs?”

You hang out here memorial.MP4 – while conducting a Phasma Box session by the bleachers, the device, in a female voice, blurted out, “You hang out here.”

Conclusions: During our Basement sessions, additional IR illumination should have been used as some of the videos were extremely dark with only the red laser grid and some emergency lights showing up in the background. This was the first time that a paranormal group was allowed access to the Field House.

I was great that Mayor Bilotto, President Ruthenberg and many members of the Blue Island Park District staff also joined in for the entire event. I believe that this enhances the possibility of capturing evidence as those individuals are there on a daily basis so, in theory; any ghosts that may be around might feel more comfortable with people that they see on a regular basis. It is important for employees of alleged haunted locations to ask questions and interact with any intelligent spirts that may still be lingering around a location.