Bachelor's Grove Cemetery in Midlothian, Illinois, near Chicago, is widely considered one of the most haunted cemeteries in the United States. The small, abandoned burial ground dates to the 1830s and was an active cemetery through the 1960s before being abandoned and heavily vandalized. The cemetery sits along the Rubio Woods forest preserve, accessible only by a narrow trail through dense woods, adding to its isolation and eerie atmosphere. Reports of paranormal activity are extensive and varied.
The most famous is a photograph taken in 1991 by a member of the Ghost Research Society that appears to show a semi-transparent woman sitting on a headstone. Other reported phenomena include phantom vehicles — a 1940s-era car that vanishes as it approaches — a phantom farmhouse that appears at the edge of the cemetery and dissolves when approached, and ghostly figures seen standing among the headstones. Visitors have reported being scratched by unseen hands, experiencing camera and phone malfunctions within the cemetery grounds, and hearing voices speaking from behind toppled gravestones.
The cemetery's pond has its own legend — it was allegedly used as a body dump by Chicago-area organized crime during Prohibition. Despite its small size, Bachelor's Grove has been the subject of more documented paranormal investigations than almost any other cemetery in America.