Jeff McLane and I team up with Jay Bachochin, Allen Dunski, Katie Skuban and the rest of the Wisconsin Paranormal Investigators to investigate Illinois State Beach Resort in Zion, Il.
I strongly encourage all of you to chime in on anything in the video. The two words I couldn’t understand from the PX device…. do you know what they are? Also, what kind of a story can you put together based on the words stated? Do you have any personal stories or interesting historical footnotes about the Illinois Beach Resort?
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:
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.
Story: Me and my friends are ghost hunters we have been there, we saw the five tree mark, then in the tree mark there was a red light in the middle of the five trees. incase you don’t remember anything about the five trees, it’s right by the swing set (behind the barn).
Does anyone know anything about the insane asylum on Lake Zurich Road? We have been there and traveled all around the place, and found documents. I just want to know the story behind it. I have not only been to the house of Rainbow Road, but also inside the asylum, and my friends took pictures and we got photos of actual ghost, then all our batteries died, and it got really cold and stuff. The road is off of Cuba Road, you go down and take a right on Lake Zurich Road. At the asylum you can take pictures and when they come out you get pictures of ghosts, its freaky yet exciting. –Troy
Reader Reply: I have been to the house twice. The first time the “Guest House” next to the barn was still there and the second time it had been torn down. There was never an insane Asylum on the property. It did belong to a family who were killed there around Christmas. There is currently a care-taker, who takes care of the property so anything new there is from him. I would suggest not going on the property because the last time I was there, the care-taker was there. Since we left without doing anything he didn’t call the police, but my cousin’s friend had the police called on him and is no longer allowed to go on or near the property. Again, there is nothing left there to look at and they are currently trying to sell the property. But, yes the house was and the property is haunted. -Rachel
