Tag Archive: vanishing cars


From John: (originally a comment on the 4/6/09 post) My friends all have been talking about Cuba road and all of the ghost stories for awhile. I live in Deerfield not that fa away from Barrington. Some of the stories I’ve heard are about putting baby powder on your car on the railroad tracks. If you wait long enough (which is incredibly stupid because you are waiting in the middle of the road let alone middle of the tracks) you can feel your car shaking. When you go out and look at your car, you will see small handprints on the back and big handprints on the front. The reason for the handprints are because a school bus got stopped on the tracks and a train hit it. The little handprints are the kids that died in the bus when the train hit it. It is said that they are trying to warn you and push you off the tracks while an evil spirit is trying to keep you onthe tracks. Pretty spooky. Any comments on the story if it is true or false? Also, where is the best place to get a guarantee of the ghost car sighting?

Also, I have heard other stories that if you roll down the windows on your car and stop the old rickety wooden bridge not that far away from Cuba road and you turn your car off you can hear the sounds of a little boy choking himself and a bike chain rattling with the leaves rustling when there is no wind. Also some have actually seen a little boy fishing, taking the fishing line, cutting part of it off, wrapping it around his neck, choking himself, then falling into the water. When they go down to the river underneath the bridge, the fishing pole is gone!

Response by Scott Markus:  The story about the Cuba Road bridge involves a man in black appearing in front of your car on foggy nights.  In the area there are tales about the ghost of a small boy, but the exact location is related to the site of the “House on Rainbow Road.”  The best place to see a ghost car?  Well, nothing is predictible of course, but I would guess that along the stretch of road that goes past White Cemetery is probably your best bet.  Vanishing cars and trucks have been seen all over Cuba Road including an entire funeral procession that ends at White Cemetery itself.

As for your railroad tale, there indeed is a story of a phantom train seen crossing Cuba Road, not far from the bridge, however, the story you’ve been told is a a version of a very famous ghost story that’s around 80 years old.  Read more about that here: http://voicesfromthegrave.blog.com/famous-legends/

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?

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.

Exploring Rainbow Road and seeing the vanishing house

Story: I have been past the gates at the house on Rainbow Road about 6 years ago. Myself and a group of friends parked our cars on a side street where there is a cul-de-sac where they were just building houses. I don’t remember the name of the street but it was the last street that you would pass if you were traveling south before you reached the house. Anyways we walked thought the forest area and had hopped a fence which had once had barbed wired but was all cut away. We walked about a 1/2 mile or so and arrived at this enormous house. We went through the house in groups so some could keep a look out. It was an experience that I will never forget. There was devil worshipings everywhere. Mirrors were broken the house was a mess. There were calendars from 1985 on the wall. The strange things about the place was that it looked as though no one had lived there for years except that the house had a distinct clean smell to it and it was freshly vacuumed and the lawn was cut. Outside the house was a smaller guest house that we went through and the same thing. It was a mess but it had that smell of a clean house. Outside the guest house was a huge barn that we assumed was their garage. As one of my friends got closer and was about to walk in my other friend grabbed him and thank God. There was no floor. The ground was dug out about 10-15 feet down. It was an overall strange experience.

As far as Cuba Road goes I have seen the vanishing car and have also seen a house and then nothing with the same group. –Andrea Szewczyk

Asylum on Cuba, not Rainbow Road

Story: I don’t think it was an insane asylum but most of the stories I’ve heard and read about all say it is. One night me and three of my friends went to Cuba Road to look for anything strange. We didn’t see anything at the cemetery but when we got to the gate on Rainbow Road, strange things started to happen. It was about 11:00 at night when we got there. We parked along side of the road where no one can see us and one of my friends stayed in the car just in case a cop showed up. The gates were closed and locked so we saw no way in. But by looking around we saw an opening in the fence. We climbed through and started to walk down the road. We heard some noises but they could have been the houses next door. As we walked we got as close to the big group of trees. Mind you it was very dark and scary. We started to hear sounds coming from the trees and thought it was a cop or something so we ran back to the car. We must have tripped a wire because when we got back to the car the cops showed up. They didn’t say anything but they were mad. They told us that it was a vacant house from the 30′s or so and there wasn’t any asylum there. They did say that the asylum was on the other side of Northwest Hightway on Cuba Road, but that’s all they said. They also warned that when somebody goes back there, the cops get called very fast – there are wires and an alarm. After they drove off we got out of the car and took one final picture of the gates to remember the night. As we walked back to the car, I started to get in and looked at the front end and saw a hand print but all my friends got in to the car from the back and so did I. We turned around and went back to Cuba Road to go home and saw a car in front of us that seemed to be coming at us and then disappered right in front of us. Very scary [stuff]. –William

The Cuba Road Phantom Cars Are Real

Story: Hey guys, I just got into going down to Cuba Road and Rainbow Road recently, because I wasn’t old enough to drive out there until now. So, I’ve been going every weekend now for the past two months, and it’s really creepy. The first night, we had some weird guy in a red Taurus following us everywhere, even into deserted roads nobody would ever go into, but after about 20 minutes we lost him. Then, we kept going back for the pure feeling it gave us knowing we were in such a haunted part of Illinois. Finally, one of our other friends and I did more research about found out that on Ela Road, right off of Cuba going south there is a haunted swing set that is dedicated to the girl that died there. Also, we heard about the asylum and we heard about the flesh eating monks. Last night we went down Lake Zurich Road off of Cuba and we stopped in the woods and ran through them. When we got deeper in, we could hear something, like a beast that was hungry and growling, so we all ran back into the car. Also, by White Cemetery, we saw these two hearses come out of the cemetery, yet the gates were never opened, and they still had the locks on them. They went past us, and all of us saw them, so we don’t know if it was real, or just our imagination.

Another really weird thing that has happened is we keep seeing this barn with a white horse, which has only been there the last two times, and to us, white horses symbolize death, right? So both nights there were either a 3 car pile up or a 5 car pile up, and people had died right in front of us. I have never been so creeped out in my life. I even keep a knife under my pillow at night to feel safe. So, with all of you people who see these things too, and others think we are crazy, they should all go out and see how it really is. ~Jenny

Response from Scott Markus: Jenny, please see the video response posted on 10/28/05 for your response.  Also, for the love of God, stop sleeping with a knife under your pillow.  If you think there are evil spirits out there, do you really think you’d be able to stab them?  Thanks for writing in.

Response from Aggie [a reader]: I was just recently introduced to your page, and started reading about people’s experiences on Cuba Rd, but one thing that striked me was, how real those stories are. On 06/16/2005 Jenny has posted something saying that there were 3 or 5 car pile up accidents and people died in them… I still can’t find any proof that there was accident of this nature during summer of 2005. Can you please explain or back up her story with facts? Thank you –Aggie

Response from Scott Markus: I really hope for my wonderful and educated readers to back up their own stories, but I decided to look in on this myself.  I can say that there were 4 fatal car crashes in the area in 2005, however none of them were actually on Cuba Road and none of them were 3 or 5 car pile-ups.  Barrington Hills fatal car crash data can be found here.

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