Regardless of whether you believe in ghosts, the Riverside area is a hotbed of supernatural stories.
There’s the 1930s flapper girl in a snow-white gown, with a short bob haircut that was popular at the time, who has been seen looking for a ride to the Melody Mill dance hall. Problem for her is, the Melody Mill was torn down in 1984.
But it’s also a problem for all of us. What should we believe?
Are we to believe that the spirits of soldiers commanded by Gen. Winfield Scott that were stationed in what is now Riverside during the Black Hawk War of 1832 are roaming around? Some of those soldiers died of cholera and were almost literally buried where they fell … in unmarked graves.
And what about the Bloody Stop Sign, purportedly near the Scout Cabin at 417 Fairbank Rd.? Legend has it there was a young girl who died in a terrible way and every Halloween blood oozes from a nearby stop sign.
“I’m not saying it does, but I’m saying that’s the legend,” said Joanne Rogers, board member of the Frederick Law Olmsted Society. And, if you’ll pardon the pun, she’s dead serious.
Rogers proved to be a fountain of macabre stories on Oct. 19 during the first Riverside Ghost Tour. Two, two-mile tours were held that evening – especially creepy when the sun finished setting – along with two more on Oct. 26.
Rogers, dressed in a white ghost costume, led a group of about 35 through the streets of Riverside, starting at the Riverside train station and ending at the steps of the public library. In addition to pointing out many of the village’s impressive residential architecture, including homes designed by the famed Frank Lloyd Wright.
But submitted for your approval – like The Twilight Zone’s Rod Serling would say – within this tour were vignettes about local supernatural lore.
If you’re from the area, you know about Showman’s Rest, a spot in Woodlawn Cemetery in nearby Forest Park that includes several elephant statues.
“It’s a graveyard for circus performers,” Rogers said. “There was a terrible accident outside Hammond [Ind.] where those circus performers were killed. Why they buried them in Woodlawn Cemetery, I don’t know.”
What’s creepy is that many of the deceased couldn’t be identified, so the tombstones there honor these people as “Unknown Male” and “Baldy,” as examples. It’s also said that when the wind is right, you can hear the trumpeting of the elephants, who are perhaps lonely without their caretakers.
But Rogers also pointed out that could actually be “the sound of real elephants from Brookfield Zoo.
As for the Melody Mill, at 2400 S. Des Plaines, where the North Riverside Commons are now located, this story is similar to that of Resurrection Mary, the spirit that hitchhikes by Resurrection Cemetery in Justice.
Some of those stories might keep you up late at night – literally. There has been heard the sound of ghostly horses neighing in the First Division, harking back to the era of horses and carriages.
Here’s more about the Scout Cabin area: Supposedly someone called the “Bronco Girl” vaults her horse out of the woods. In a house nearby comes the sound of a ghostly little boy that’s splashing in the sink, presumably during a bath long ago.
There’s also a story that didn’t come up during the tour. Gangster Frank Nitti, Al Capone’s successor as leader of the Chicago Outfit, committed suicide where the railroad tracks cross Cermak Road near North Riverside Mall. His ghost purportedly can be seen wandering the tracks where his life came to an end.
What to believe indeed.
Riverside Ghost Tour participants were mixed.
“I’m open,” said North Riverside resident Jennifer Smith. “I’m not going to say that they don’t exist or do exist.”
And what about Rogers?
“I’ve never seen a ghost,” she said, “but I could be open to the possibility.”