Category: White Cemetery


Question: Hi Scott, Today I was thinking about my childhood and reminiscing on the 4 years I went to St. Francis Camp for Boys (1965-68). I decided to go on the web and see what info I could get and ran into your site. Very interesting!! I had no idea about the “Gate” legend(s) previously. I do remember it very well from both my camp days and occasionally driving past it.(There used to be a ‘St. Francis Camp for Boys’ Sign above it.) I know I have pictures of the camp & gate from my camp days..Finding them is another story! I have always wondered what the final fate of the camp was..I drove by once in the 80′s and noticed the water tower was gone, the gate was closed and everything was overgrown. I have a good memory and believe I could identify most of the buildings just by their foundations, (including the elusive chapel). There were 4 camper cabins named for St. Francis locations in Italy: Greccio (ages 7-8), Siena (9-10), Padua (11-12), Assisi (13-14), a large mess hall, auditorium, arts & crafts building, admissions building, Camp office, staff quarters, chapel, pump house, pool building, canteen building, and several storage buildings. Each cabin held I believe 60 campers. If you or anyone have any questions about the camp/gate, I would be glad to assist. Unfortunately, even though I was there 4 years, I never heard of or experienced anything strange.

Coincidentally, I am a lifelong resident of Lake Zurich and am less than 2 miles from Cuba/Rainbow Rds. I did the Haunted House and White Cemetery and Rainbow Rd. House things as a teenager in the 70′s. Unfortunately I did not experience anything paranormal at any of them..(Abnormal?..Yes!) ( I do have some interesting info about the Cuba Rd. house.) I have also been down Cuba and past the cemetery hundreds of times at night and have never seen anything odd,,,Just unlucky I guess. One last thing, poster Sammy Marsala was looking for a ‘creepy’ large old building behind barbed wire he saw once on Halloween on his way to Cuba Rd. I’m confident he is talking about the old Jewel Tea headquarters in Barrington off Northwest Highway on Lake Zurich Rd. 1 mi. S. of Cuba. It has been leveled and now is a nice park. Keep up the Good Work Scott! –Jerry Cullum

Response from Slim Pictures: I’m so excited to hear from someone who attended the camp! I’d be very interested in walking through the grounds with you this summer or spring. If you find any pictures you’re willing to share, please do keep me posted!

Also, thanks for the additional Lake Zurich information & I am quite curious what information you might have regarding the house formerly at 92 Rainbow Road.

Story: Last summer, two friends of mine and I were bored and we decided to go to Cuba Road. We were driving there using my friends gps on her phone and right when we got on the main road, her phone shut off. Strangest thing ever! I sure as hell was freaking out! So we pulled off into one of the neighborhoods on the main road…I’ll never forget the name: Chipendale’s (haha). We parked right by the Chipendale’s sign and it was just a normal summer’s evening; no wind, no rain, no clouds. Every time my friend would turn her phone on, the bushes by the sign would start vigorously moving. Of course I was the one sitting closest to them so I locked my car door and just stared at them hoping nothing creepy would jump out of them. It could’ve been coincidence, but I don’t know…

So we finally got my friends gps to work and we were like “oh we’re right there!” So we get back on the main road and are stopped at the light as we’re about to turn left. I thought it was the opportune time to call my other friend who couldn’t come (she wanted me to call her). Reception was great, everything was crystal clear…until we got on Cuba Road. As soon as we turned on the road, it sounded like a woman was screaming in the background. So I asked my friend (she was at a Sox game) if she was sitting by a screaming woman and she had said that they were already driving home from the game. Now I was really freaking out! My phone was going crazy with this ghostly woman screaming bloody murder, so I was like “I gotta go” and hung up.

As we’re driving down the road, we spot the cemetery and I’m just staring at it and I notice these white lights floating above the gravestones and I remember thinking it was weird that they would put a light on each individual gravestone. I remember I tried to show my friends, but we had already passed it. So we turned around on Rainbow road (didn’t see a house or anything) and went past the cemetery again…no white lights. Then we turned around on another side road and as we turned we all screamed. An empty, old (I would say maybe from the 60s or 70s) jet black van was parked right near the bushes towards the cemetery. Nobody was in the car…or in the cemetery. So we quickly sped up the road to turn around. About three minutes later we were coming back down that side road to turn onto Cuba Road and the van was gone. Again, it could’ve been coincidence, but no one was in the cemetery and the doors to it that were locked before were open when we came back on Cuba Road. It was almost like someone wanted us to go in there. So we drove around the cemetery and I closely looked at the gravestones, there were no individual lights (I looked it up when I got out and found out that I had seen the orbs). My friends thought I was crazy for seeing the orbs.

After we left, we got lost again and got on the side road with the horse barn and the pentagram on the stop sign. Scary shit. The pentagram was clear as day and there was a horse outside of the barn, and we could see this from pretty far down the street. As soon as we got close to the stop sign, the horse practically came charging at our car (thank God there was a fence blocking him) and the pentagram disappeared. Weirdest thing ever. -Liz Szalay

Response from Scott Markus:  First off – what??? Pentagram on a stop sign? I’ve never heard this tale. That alone make me want to visit that area when I’m back in Illinois. Right away I’m guessing that based on the shape of stop signs and their reflective surface that (and this is probably something of a stretch) that a little warping of the sign could create some strange reflections. Do you have a photo of this sign (with or without the pentagram)? Also, what sign is it? I’m definitely going to give it a visit in a couple of weeks.

To comment on your strange cell phone experience, allow me to direct you to a not very mainstream phrase: instrumental transcommunication (or ITC). Mark Macy might be the most renowned person to specialize in that field. His web site is http://www.worlditc.org. Popularly, you see people gathering EVPs on tape recorders, but this topic is wider, using devices like television sets, radios and even phones to communicate with the other side.

Reply from Liz: Sadly, I don’t have a picture, but the good news is I will most likely be going back this coming summer. We took my one friend when we were on winter break and nothing happened, so she really wants to see some freaky stuff.

This time I’ll bring my camera and take lots of pictures…especially of the pentagram and the demon horse if he decides to charge towards my friends mini van again. I think you’re right about the stop sign though because obviously they are reflective and we were probably still freaking out about the black van that we thought it magically disappeared. And if I hear any blood curdling screams in my cell, I’ll let you know.

I looked at the website and it’s very interesting. Would a voice recorder work? If so, I’ll be sure to bring one.

Also, I Google Map’d Cuba Road and looked at the satellite view. The black van was parked on Crown Road right at the edge of the cemetery. And I want to say the pentagram stop sign is on the corner of Hart Road and Cuba Road (if the big building on that corner is the horse stable, then it is correct).

Thanks for all the advice and I’ll let you know if anything weird happens on my next trip.

Reply from Scott Markus: Yes, a tape recorder would work.   You can view a little demo that I shot with the Indiana Ghost Trackers on this YouTube video:

Can’t wait to see any pictures you get!

New photos and tales about Cuba Road

Comment: I found this site on accident when watching videos made on Cuba rd. One of the movies had this address in it. Anyways, my story is about White Cemetery on Cuba. To anyone who’s never been there and wants the scoop, here’s my story: We went there during summer ’07 (I think it was around August). We all live in Chicago and Cuba Rd is about 20-30 min away.

Now to the point. After taking a left turn to Cuba Rd from the main street, everyone got scared. I mean we heard all the stories and stuff so we started freaking out right after I got on the road. So we were driving and driving. We have saw the cemetery all the way down past the busy street and we kept going down this small road and turned around. We were at the cemetery for about 30 min and nothing happened. We took a lot of pictures – nothing special besides orbs. We went home kinda disappointed.

The next day I told my two friends about the place and that I’d been there. They got so excited and were begging me to take them. So, we went and they were as excited about were cheap cigarettes at the gas station. Driving on Cuba, I was expecting nothing but….we found about five pentagrams on the road and about three 666′s marked on the ground. It didn’t look like spray paint, but like someone burned it in the road. I’m guessing that some kids were messing around and thats their job. After you pass the cemetery there’s a stop sign and house on left, so we turned and got out of the car to find one more pentagram on the stop sign. My buddy was standing next to it and I was taking pictures of him. He started walking and he said, “man I fell like something is pulling me back.” I kept taking pictures. What came out on the picture was my friend – he came out with no head and you can see one extra leg coming out of his body and a pair of hands grabbing him from behind. We got so scared.

I went again two days after the last trip with my girlfriend and bunch of friends. Of course, we took pictures and got a bunch of orbs. I think we found the invisible house or something like that. They say you can’t see it but you take a pic and it shows up. So, originally there’s nothing on the pic. It’s all black but my buddy used photoshop and made it brighter. Now you can see the small house two windows and bushes. Thats how they describe it. We know that area really good since we scooped it so many times. There’s no such thing as that house. I think thats the house that disappears or some thing like that.

A car was following us and disappeared when we were going down the hill. It just showed up and I said, “Guys look – that’s the ghost car.” So everyone watched and car just disappeared. Can’t really explain it. It sounds stupid, but thats what happened. We kept going down the hill past the busy street and again saw more pentagrams on the ground. I stopped the car when this garbage container was laying on the middle of the road too scary to get out and move it and i didn’t want to push it wit the car.

Anyways that container looked like someone bit it – like half of it was missing and it looked like someone hadn’t moved the thing out of the middle of the road since forever. So everyone got scared again, so I turned around and started speeding down road.

I’m not including the pictures now. My friend has them, so I need to meet up and get the memory card. I don’t know when it’s gonna happen but the picture is really interesting. It’s nothing like orbs or fog. I’ll send them as soon as I get them.

Response from Scott Markus: I can’t wait to see the pictures. Be sure to also send me the original picture of the house. I’d love to see if I can see it on my own without any filtering. I do have questions for you, but I’m going to wait and see the pictures from you first before getting into it.

A ghostly reputation dating back to the ’70s if not earlier

Story: Hi Scott, I had a conversation with a co-worker today and the subject of Cuba Road came up. I was surprised at the continued interest. Needless to say, I was during some surfing tonight and found your web site. Cuba Road has quite the legend as my sister who attended high school in the 1970′s visited Cuba Road, and I visited while in high school in the early 1980s. I did have an interesting experience with the old car while I was there on one occasion.

I was in my car with several friends – as we approached the cemetery we saw a late model black car off the side of the road, on the side of the cemetery. It looked like it had run off the road and into the cemetery fence. There was no one in or around the car. We drove ahead about 500 feet to make a u-turn and come back. This took only a few seconds. The car was gone and the once damaged fence was fine. At the time it totally freaked us out. We did return several other times, and each time had something unique happen. Once we came upon a barn totally engulfed in flames – burning – we waited for fire trucks, but none ever came. We left again freaked out.

When I was in high school there was talk of a monastery (not an asylum) being somewhere on Cuba Road. We never did find it. I now have a 16-year old son who says that Halloween is supposed to be a big time out on Cuba Road (of course I will be a responsible parent and not allow him to go on Halloween – another night will be better – less chance of getting into trouble!) I think for anyone growing up in the NW suburbs of Chicago, visiting Cuba Road is a rite of passage. I’m 42 now and may even take a ride out there with my son to look around again.
Sincerely, Kristie Brettman

Response from Scott Markus: Fantastic story about the crashed black car! If I was writing my book now it definitely would’ve ended up making it in! I do love your eMail and thank you for it! I do also love how you and your son are able to bond a bit over a shared high school experience (a haunted location)!

White Cemetery’s famous vanishing car

Comment: Hello Scott! The particular page I am addressing is the one where you have posted e-mails of people’s stories/encounters. Regarding some of the stories, the children’s hospital is simply untrue. I live ten minutes away from Cuba/Rainbow Road/White Cemetery, and that is simply a fabrication. No one in this area has even heard of that story. Also, the vicinity, in which the house, silo, barn, and swingseat, were situated amungst are currently, torn down, (inculding the silo) and is making way for private english chaute’s.

The land is also private property. Another point I’d like to make is that, my friend read in a book a story about the asylum, surely if it had been published within a book the story should have some credibility shouldn’t it? I am also finding the fact that people from Waukegan know of Rainbow Road/Cuba Road, is hilarious. I knew of people, in the surrounding area, such as people in Mundelien, and Mount Prospect, who knew of the stories but I hadn’t realized it was so widespread. There are also stories of, a little girl who died on the railroad tracks, on cuba road, leading to White Cemetery.

My best friend Katie and I share common interests in “paranormal activity” quite possibly due to the fact we’ve been using the ouija board recently. Katie lives an hour away, so she comes only about once a month. In the previous time leading up to her visit, we were discussing that we should go to White Cemetery around 12 at night some time. After asking our parents approval, we left our house at about 10 at night in a party of four (my sister, her friend Laura, Katie, and myself). It was about 10:30 when we finally reached white cemetery.

To tell the truth, it is a very eerie thing to come across at night, the copper fence and gates are errie. Upon reaching White Cemetery, my friend Katie screamed “THERE IT IS!” Immediately we realized the gates were wide open. At the exact moment everybody screamed, and began “freaking out” especially my sister, who, the entire time, had her head burried in her hands.

PhotobucketSo, we decided to park our car. (it is labeled as the green mark on the attached picture.) by this time it was 10:50, and our parents had asked for us to return no later than eleven. We began arguing about who was going to go to the gates. Immediately, my sister began screaming “DON’T LEAVE ME ALONE” with tears pouring down her face. Reluctantly, I stayed behind with her, while Katie and Laura went to the gates. I handed Katie my camera, which I brought and put new batteries in. Upon waiting in the car, we spotted many different headlights, which all were clearly there and none disappeared, except for one.

In the pictures our car was located where the green mark is. The ONLY driveway is marked with the yellow. As we were sitting and waiting, headlights appeared as if they were coming down the street, having nothing better to do I turned my head to watch the car go by, (the headlights are marked by the red), and as I watched, the car simply vanished. It vanished where the blue mark is. The thing about it is that, even if there WERE a driveway for the “car” to turn into, the headlights would of changed directions. but they didn’t. they simply disappeared, and, like I said, it would be impossible for there to be a driveway because along that road there’s very thick trees.

PhotobucketFinally, Laura and Katie returned and I went with Katie to close the gates. The night was fairly warm, around 70 degrees, but upon being in front of the gates, it was absolutely freezing cold. As Katie and I proceeded to close the front gates it was as if we were touching ice. We then read the signs detailing that the gates would be closed at sundown due to vandalism. So, then we were perplexed because why were the gates open?

Attached is a picture that Laura took by the gate. I am mad at myself for not changing the format of the photo. It’s low quality because it was taken in VGA format, but it is apparent that an “orb” shaped figure is present.

There is also nothing to cause noise in the photo, because it was nor raining, nor was there condensation around the fence/gate. Thank you for your time. –Anthony.

Response from Scott Markus: I love the care you’ve taken in reconstructing your story – all the way down to the map.

First, I will address your questions about the photograph that you took. This is not a ghost. There is nothing paranormal about this image. How can I be so sure? The ‘orb’ you can see here is hexagonally shaped, which is the same shape of a camera iris (or aperture).

Eventhough you may not feel the moisture, it was definitely there. The same exact shape will be seen in most cases of lens flare.

PhotobucketI don’t fully understand your incredulousness when it comes to people knowing about Cuba Road when they live in far off lands like… Waukegan. In reality these are famously haunted sites. Evenmoreso now with the Internet continuing to spread the info. My co-author, Mary Czerwinski visited Paris, and, when she was there, people were asking her about Resurrection Mary. I wouldn’t call that halarious, but that’s definitely incredible and impressive.

To your question of, “if it’s been published in a book, the story should have credibilty” question, well, the printed word isn’t what it used to be.  Speaking as someone who has a book published, when the publisher questioned a fact in my book, it was definitely the exception, not the norm. I’d be very curious to see what sources your book cited.  What was the name of the book?

Questions: I emailed you several times last year about your book and you were very kind to send it quickly to me. I now use that as my bible of haunted locations.
All summer long I have been doing extensive archaeological work up and down the Des Plaines area and have found many sites at Robinson. I have the precise location of the Boettcher house (with many artifacts) and two locations for both of Robinson’s daughter’s houses. I have even met people who knew the Boettcher’s personally. This not only helps with the archaeology of the area but helps with the ghost hunting as well. I am hoping that next week brings promising pictures.

I have several questions this year regarding several of the locations. How far along are they with the development of the Rainbow Road house site? I saw the pictures on your site and I am guessing that people should be living in their new houses by now. What a shame! It was a favorite hunting ground for me.
Has anyone ever caught any apparitions at the White’s Cemetery location?
Will you be updating your site with updated stories?
Does anyone live in the Stickney mansion? Who could we contact to do an investigation? Have you or anyone that you know ever been inside and recorded or photographed anything? I have looked on the internet and can find nothing but the same story over and over.
My last question is about The Unexplained World website and their cable show. Is it still being aired? I live in Chicago and cannot find it anywhere on my Comcast.
Thank you for your time and help and keep up the good work on your end! Thanks –Dan Melone

Response from Slim Pictures: Dan, long time no talk.  I finally photographed some old, somewhat hard-to-find foundations of “the Gate,” in Libertyville, IL. I would love to see the foundations you’ve found at Robinson Woods. I’ve visited the location a lot over the past few months. While I can’t say that I’ve specifically made it a mission to seek out the foundations, I did think that I’d stumble across it eventually, but haven’t yet. If you want to meet up and explore the area soon, let me know.
To answer your other questions:
* Check out a pretty up-to-date video about the House on Rainbow Road here:

Though the house is gone and new houses are currently going up in the area, I still think it’s a fairly interesting site for ghost research – the actual location where the house was, isn’t being built upon (at least not yet).
* As for apparitions at White Cemetery – there are many orbs and mists on film, but I’ve never heard of any full figure apparitions on film (some pictures have been submitted to me claiming to be of figures, but nothing really solid. I also haven’t heard of any interesting video being shot there).
* After a long time away, I’ve finally been updating my site with stories submitted from readers. I’ve also made a few small videos with fellow author Mary Czerwinski. I plan to use the web site to further update the book.
* Bull Valley uses the Stickney House. No one lives in it. You won’t get a chance to officially do an investigation. The best chance you’ll have to do anything with permission is by posing as a regular passer-by who has heard the story and would like to look around (very casual). If there happens to be an officer there alone, they may open up a bit, however, they’re not actually allowed to. I’ve been in the front reception room/office. I don’t know anyone who’s made it further than that. Let me know if you make any progress.
* To the best of my knowledge, “The Unexplained World” is still on the air, though I cannot get it either. I’ve even been a guest on the show once, but don’t think I ever saw the episode. Fortunately, they have posted a few videos on YouTube (www.youtube.com/profile?user=MagickTv).

Please feel free to send any pictures you’d like to share with the world and I’ll post them on the site with credit going to you.

I hope to hear back from you soon, but good luck with everything. Also, the compliment that you use my book as your “bible of haunted locations” means the world to me. Thanks a ton!

Dan comes back with an old aerial shot of “The Gate”: The Gate is located in the bottom left corner. You will have to zoom in however it will become distorted.
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Orb Pictures at White Cemetery

PhotobucketStory: Scott, on November 25,2006 I went to Cuba Road with my older sister and her friend. I live in Glenview, IL, and so does my sister who went with us. Her friend lived in Barrington but is now in college. They both have seen the 7 year old boy who died from the “bird bath incident” and they said that he was wearing a torn up red shirt and overalls and was leaning against a telephone pole, chuckling, or giggling and smiling at them. Creepy. He was seen at that street corner where there is a stop sign, telephone pole, and a fence to a nice horse farm. As you can see there are several orbs around there. I have never seen the boy or any other ghost there, but they both remember him vividly.

PhotobucketAlso, one of my close friends who lives in a nice neighborhood in Lake Zurich that is about 2 miles away from Rainbow road has entered the old asylum with his older brother, who is my sisters boy friend. They said that when they entered it there was graffiti everywhere, electric chairs, and a few padded rooms. On the walk through the woods to there they heard high pitched screams and buzzing sounds (maybe an electric chair and someone screaming from the pain of it?) They also felt very trembly and weak.

I have a ton of pictures so I’ll send you the ones that are good or interesting.

We parked our car on the road that is across from the cemetery. There’s the cemetery, then Cuba Road running horizontally, and we parked on the road that’s off of the other side of Cuba Road, and were facing the cemetery. I was alone in the back seat, looked to my right and saw a small field with a house on the right of it. I rolled down the window to take a picture of the field, and i got this.

PhotobucketSo tons of orbs floating around. We closed the window because it was cold out (its late fall) and I took another picture of the field with the window closed and I got this: WARNING: somewhat disturbing.

I will tell you that is definitely NOT my eye. I have blue eyes and I do not have any scratches on my face. So it couldn’t be a reflection. Nor could it be anything on the car because we went through a car wash on the way there so that the windows wouldn’t fool us in our pictures. Also if you look, the eye is all one color, that rusty brownish color. No pupils or whites of its eyes. It also looks wrinkly, maybe an old lady or something. At the bottom of the picture there is a rainbow looking orb. I’m jumping to suspicions, but maybe its called Rainbow Road b/c some rainbow looking orbs were spotted around there. I’m probably wrong though I tend to jump to suspicions!

When we were still parked there I took some pictures of the cemetery and all I got was a bunch of orbs:
Photobucket Photobucket Photobucket

PhotobucketIf you are facing the cemetery, to the right of it, not right next to the cemetery but not far at all, is a horse farm. Every time me and my sister drive past it on our way TO the cemetery, there are 3 horses and a baby horse in the small fenced area, and every time we LEAVE the cemetery and drive past it, all the horses are inside. I took a picture of it to see if it was actually haunted or if it was just a coincidence, and I got this, PICTURE:

We then went back to Rainbow Road and drove down to “Suicide Circle” where the dog house is located. (Q: is that the real name of the circle, suicide circle, or is it just kids talking?)
I took a picture of the ‘dog house’ and got this. PICTURE:

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We then drove to the end of suicide circle, where it is the actual circle. I took a picture of the woods that are around it and got these two pics below.

In the second pic in the area where you see a ton of tiny orbs, is a small dirt path, I think, that’s what it looked like at least. is it true that if you walk a few miles or so down that path it leads to the old asylum? That’s what one of my friends said (the one who found the elec. chairs and graffiti at the asylum) but he may be talking about another path I didn’t see.

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That’s it for all of my pictures! but also, since I went there the first time I ever did, which was in June of 2006 I believe, whenever i take pictures in mine or my sisters room, there are usually 2 or 3 orbs.
Sorry we’re a little strange and take a lot of funny pics.

Orb on top right corner, closet door, and tiny one on room door towards the bottom.
That’s the one picture where you can see all 3 orbs. i still look for more orbs in the pics b/c sometimes they are hard to see because my walls are a lighter color.
I also made a youtube video of all the pictures I took on Rainbow Road (I only sent you the best ones)! -Kathryn
My question: Have you ever been to the asylum? inside it?

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Response from Scott Markus: Well, not to be Buzz Killington, but you probably didn’t really catch anything in these photos. In the one with the most ‘orbs’ you mentioned being on a dirt path and it shows as all of those little white specks are actually dust from the path.

The picture you took from inside the car with the window closed is pure reflection.  It took me a while to see what you were looking at when describing seeing a wrinkled face with large eye.  It’s actually a fun optical illusion.  You’re looking at a reflection of you sleeve and hand holding the camera.  The wrinkles are clothing, not skin wrinkles.  Oh & the ‘rainbow orb’ is simply refracted light from the flash hitting the window.  Rainbow Road, I’m guessing, is named after the arching path of the road.

The most interesting shot was the shot of the horse farm with the intensely bright orb.  There are reports of seeing ghost lights all over the area, so, despite the horse farm not necessarily being haunted, it wouldn’t be all that strange for there to be activity all over there.

‘Orbs’ in and of themselves cause too many false positives to be considered evidence.

Looking for a scare and a monastery

Story: Just found your site and spend a couple hours reading it. I grew up Near the area and live and work right next to Lake Zurich. I remember going to Cuba Road and the surrounding area when I was in High school as something to do on Halloween. This is around 1990 so it has been quite a while.

The story was that there was some type of asylum or monastery with a cemetery on Cuba near Rainbow Rd so a group of us (20 or so) headed there from Arlington Heights to drink in the cemetery or whatever we could find. We found the cemetery and checked it out but took off when it sounded like there was someone watching us going from just outside the back fence. We figured that we were all just freaked out and didn’t think much of it but the girls in the group weren’t big fans of the cemetery so we wandered around until we found an old deserted road. We headed headed down there and found a couple of old foundations maybe 500 feet from where we parked the cars. The buildings were leveled with a pond and a barn near it. We were all freaked out but what was really weird was that there were reminisces of things you would find in a house still scattered around I don’t remember it there were any signs of the place being burnt but I was uneasy about where I was. I always just wrote that off as the night and the legend, I am second guess that now. Anyway, the cops showed up not long after we got there and we ditched the beer and headed out to our cars. They were stern but cool as they checked us out and told us to take off.

What we were looking for was a good scare and we found it. We probably didn’t find the house that your research covers but reading about the area all these years kind of freaks me out. I’m going to go down Rainbow Road on my way home. It really isn’t out of the way at all. We’ll just see how that goes. Regards, Jeff Rosinski

Growing Up Near Cuba Road

Story: Hello Scott, this is actually the first time I have stumbled upon your page. I am from Lake Zurich. Lived there all my life ’til I went away to school. My parents still live there. I currently live in Kalamazoo and if you ever get a chance you should really look into it cause it is an amazing place to search for what some call ghosts. I like to think of them as spirits but I suppose that is the same thing. Anyway to the point. My family is from the area and I can tell you that the house with the gates on Rainbow Road is a house owned by Capone. He used it for business meetings and as a hide out. If you go into the town center in LZ you can actually look up articles from the very start of LZ and find deeds for common knowledge. I also happened to know some people who lived in LZ when it first became a town and when i was little i would sit and listen for hours to the stories of the area. It is believed that there were many people killed at this estate. I remember when I was in high school i wanted to check the place out. Not so much as a way to see ghosts but as a way to see a part of history since i love the story of Capone. I went with two friends and on the road when we got to the house i slowed down. I did not think it was too great since all i could see was the gate. I did not dare go in because for one i knew that the cops had this place heavily guarded mostly cause the town has a lot of teen vandals probably due to lack of things to do at night, and two if i got caught my dad would have killed me for being there when I was supposed to be at a friends house. As we were pulling away a car came from around a corner with no lights on and got on my tail. It then turned on its lights and flashed them on and off until we got to RT 22. It was a old car looked like it was from the 20′s and it disappeared as soon as we hit the main road. I remember being really scared. Some friends think it is just people in the area trying to scare the ghost seekers but they were not there. They did not see it.

I live a mile away from Cuba Road, and I have friends that live by White Cemetery. It has always been really creepy to go past there at night. In the day I have not really experienced anything. My favorite story is of the girl that hung herself on a tree there. That she appears in the road. Oh and the spot where you can get hand prints on your car. I have yet to do that. I actually work with a woman who heard of Cuba Road and she was so excited to hear that I lived near it.

I actually believe that my parents house is haunted. My stepmom died in there and not in a glamorous way. No not murdered but some strange things have happened there. But I suppose it could just be my imagination. If you ever want to hear about that or how before she died I knew exactly how it would happen in a dream I had, I would love to share it. But I thought I would share my knowledge of Rainbow Road. It is too bad they are turning it into a development now. Thanks for your time. –Elizabeth

Response from Scott Markus: Elizabeth, I have to say, the most fascinating part of your eMail revolves around your dream and your stepmother. Please do pass it along to us. I’m sure many of us would like to hear more. This whole area is full of lore and it really is remarkable how many stories come out of Cuba Road. I will have to point out that one of the stories you heard about is from a vary famous urban legend (you wrote, “My favorite story is of the girl that hung herself on a tree…and the spot where you can get hand prints on your car”). The legend I’ve always heard takes place in Texas, though, according to Barbara Mikkelson of Snopes.com, the actual event took place in Utah in 1938. Rather than reinvent the wheel, check out the real story (no ghosts after all) at: http://www.snopes.com/horrors/ghosts/handprint.asp

Elizabeth Writes back: I would love to share what happened in my dream. When I was 10 I went away to a summer camp. My mother died on a Wednesday before I was to come home on Saturday. The day she died, I was mad at her because all the kids there were getting care packages and I had not gotten one yet. Of course I was being stupid and it came that day.

I talked to her on the phone, thanked her and thought nothing of it. That night I had a dream of her dieing. I dreamt that she collapsed in the bathroom and my sister was there screaming. I woke up screaming. The counselor had to come in and check on me. I went home with a girl who was my best friend at the time. I knew something was wrong when my dad dropped her off at her house and left her mom with a note that told her not to read it before we left. We drove the two blocks to my house and my dad was very quiet. We got to the driveway and all my relatives were over. My first reaction was my dad surprised me with a party, but he had me go around to the back yard to talk to me.

He told me that my mother died. I knew it was coming. My dad told me part of the story and I knew it was not right. It was only when I was older that I was told the truth of what happened. I told my dad that I knew because I dreamt. it.

A year after my stepmother died I was sleeping in my room when I suddenly heard my mother’s radio go off. It was blasting. I knocked on my sister’s door and asked if she had turned it on. She had not, so we went and took a look at it. Not only was it not turned on but it didn’t have batteries in it either. We tried pressing buttons to shut it off but we could not do it. As we thought about what to do, it just shut off.

I tried to go back to sleep and my sister went back to her room. I finally fell back to sleep. Then I woke up freezing. I saw a white figure leave the room and walk down the hall. By this time I got so scared that I start to cry and I woke up my dad. Nothing happened at the house for quite a while after that night. My dad has since remarried and my new mother is convinced that the house has spirits. I do not live with them anymore but I do spend all the holidays there and this thanksgiving the weirdest thing happened.

We were all sitting down to eat dinner when a music box my mom has in the kitchen went off. We all went dead silent and looked at each other. My mom then said looks like one of the spirits is with us now.

My mom’s death was the first one that I had a dream about but I have had other dreams that have come true. It got to a point where I had to take sleeping pills so I could go to sleep and not dream about someone dieing or getting seriously injured. I was so scared that someone else would be in my dreams. I am much better about it now, but I have been dealing with it for years. It is weird, I don’t know how to explain it and most my friends think it is freaky. But some think it is my gift or perhaps my curse.

I like to hope that one day it will help someone not get hurt or die and I also like to think that my mothers are with me. I think it is all fascinating. I love what you do and I hope you keep it up.

Playing with the ghost car

Story: My friend and I were going to White Cemetery on Cuba Road. Our goal was to find these apparitions, and entities. We wanted to bring our ouija board into the cemetery and play it in there (sounds a little insane, right?). We got confused on where the cemetery was, and then passed by it, noticing that it was a small cemetery to our right. Furthermore, we passed it three times trying to find parking, not knowing that we had to park on the grass on the side of the road. So, as we were heading further East past the cemetery, we noticed a hill. As we were driving up this hill we saw a light. Approximately five seconds later the light disappeared. We were thinking to ourselves “Oh boy, the phantom car (In a sarcastic tone).” Seconds later, we saw the light again in clear view at least 200 feet away. About three seconds later the light went away again. Then approximately two seconds later a car with its lights turned on drove past us. I am not sure what the road was where Cuba Road ended going east (I believe it’s Route 53), but we turned around and went back towards Cuba Road heading west. As we still could not find parking we noticed that a random car showed up at least 200 feet away with its lights on. We turned into a “No Outlet” driveway and planned to go back to the cemetery to find another place to park. Then, all of a sudden, this car from 200 feet away suddenly follows us into the “No outlet” driveway and goes in the same direction as we are by making a left, again heading east on Cuba Road. Then we start to get a little rattled, because even when we were a matter of inches away from the car in the “No Outlet” driveway, we couldn’t even get a clear view of the car itself! Or the driver! When we hit traffic on Cuba Road, the car seems to have ridiculously disappeared. So we were driving, couldn’t find parking again, the traffic clears up, and all of a sudden, the car is behind us again – the same one. (we knew this because the only thing we could catch on the car was its light style). We started to get worried now. So then, we continue to drive east, the car is still following us. All of a sudden, the car turns off its lights for 10 seconds. We don’t see the car anymore. 10 Seconds later, the car turns on its lights. (Our hearts are pounding, and we still can’t even get a view of the car!!!) Another few seconds go by, the car’s lights turn out again. And then once again, turns on its lights again. The worst part was, when we were speeding off into route 53 to get the heck out of Cuba Road, that car stopped right at Cuba Road and turned around, we looked back, it disappeared… We even drove back on to Cuba Road just to get back home, no sign of the car… Thank you for hearing our story… We will inform you on anything else happening with that road. –Sam and Jeff.

Response from Scott Markus: It’s been a while now, so I’m guessing you haven’t gone back or experienced anything new. Going East, you’re probably talking about 59, not route 53. Very interesting story. I’ve heard many similar, but none this persistent. My first bit of advice is to look for a logical possibility. In this case, I’d ask a friend or two if someone may have been messing around with you (hence the turning on and off of the headlights). if you’re going to do some ghost research, I always feel it’s better to do so in the daylight hours. 1) You wouldn’t be breaking any laws regarding trespassing, but also 2) whatever you may end up seeing, it would be the real deal. Your eyes will be playing fewer tricks on you in the light of day.

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