Real Crime/Paranormal/Conspiracy Theories Book III

10 Spooky Illinois Roads

10. Kennedy Hill Road

Between mid-December and early January1980/81, dozens of people reported seeing a young woman in variousstages of dress walking down Kennedy Hill Road outside of Byron. ByJanuary 20, 1981, the sightings had reached a fevered pitch.Motorists parked their cars in the frigid temperatures along thenarrow rural road to catch a glimpse of what became known as "ThePhantom Lady of Kennedy Hill Road." Newspaper reports reached asfar away as Chicago, and the Rockford Register Star ran fiveconsecutive articles on the sightings.

Explanations for the phantom variedfrom the ghost of a woman who had been buried in a nearby cemetery,to a mentally disabled girl who ran away from home, to even atransvestite who wore his girlfriend's clothes after she died in anaccident. The phantom disappeared after the snow thawed that springand was never seen again.

9. Shoe Factory Road

An old, derelict Spanish Colonialrevival style house and an abandoned farm formerly stood along ShoeFactory Road in Hoffman Estates. Both were rumored to be haunted. Theunique, stone house was at one time the Charles A. Lindbergh School,named after the famed aviator. According to local historian JohnRussell Ghrist, it was built in 1929. The school closed in 1948 andspent the next 30 years as a residence, until it became abandonedsometime during the late 1980s.

Local teens believed that the stonehouse became abandoned after a child living in the home killed hisparents. They claim the ghost of this child, who plays with a knife,could be seen sitting on the steps. The haunted farm, and itsnefarious barn, had several stories associated with it. One storyinvolved the farmer going insane and murdering his family, thenburying them in the middle of a circle of trees. The other had thefamily being murdered and hung in the barn by a mental patient. Bothof these buildings were torn down in 2007.

8. Cherry Road

Similar to Spring Valley's "HelpMe" Road, Cherry Road outside of Oswego is said to have beenthe scene of a tragic accident. While predominantly straight, thereis a sharp, 90 degree angle toward the end of the road. A youngcouple allegedly wrecked their car after prom while taking that curvetoo fast. The boy crawled from the wreckage and wrote "help" inhis own blood on the pavement. His girlfriend's ghost can be seenat the bend. Over the years, local teens have painted "Help" onthe road with red spray paint.

7. Dug Hill Road

The first story concerning Dug Hill isa classic haunting rooted in the past. In 1863, Union army desertersambushed and killed a provost marshal named Welch along Dug HillRoad. There are two versions of the story, one involving threedeserters, the other involving a dozen or so. In the second version,Welch's own friend betrayed him and led him into the ambush. Sincethen, his ghost has been seen along the road. Another legend concernsa man named Bill Smith, who reportedly witnessed a spectral wagonpass over his head.

A third story pertaining to the DugHill area concerns a creature known as "the boger." Theboger, or the boger-man, was something cooked up by parents who wantto scare their children. Two men have reportedly seen this bogeralong Dug Hill Road in the past. The creature appears as anine-to-eleven foot tall man who wears black pants, a white shirt,and a long scarf. No one has yet come forward to explain where thiscreature found someone to tailor his gigantic clothes.

6. Seventh Avenue Dead End

Just east of downtown Sterling, 7thAvenue ends in front of a railroad track that runs parallel to theRock River, which divides Sterling and Rock Falls. Several peoplehave drowned or have been hit by a train in the area. Although 7thAvenue is nearly identical to the other nearby side streets,eyewitnesses have reported seeing or hearing the ghost of a womanthere. She is said to be searching for her missing child along theriverbank just over the railroad tracks. While no one really knowswho this young woman was in life, many locals have heard the story.

5. "Help Me" Road

A local legend maintains that in the1980s a couple was returning home along this road from a night ofdrinking at a nearby biker bar when their motorcycle crashed. Bothriders were terribly injured, but the man managed to write "helpme" on the road in his own blood before he died. Attempts to removethe words from the pavement failed. Even when the county repaved theroad, the words mysteriously returned. Some have suggested that "helpme" was written onto the road in tar by a mischievous constructionworker. The road has recently been repaved and the words are nolonger visible—for now.

4. Cole Hollow Road

Stories of bigfoot and other mythiccreatures are not often associated with Illinois, however, in the1970s the Illinois River Valley was abuzz with sightings of the ColeHollow Road Monster, or Cohomo, for short. It was first sighted alongCole Hollow Road, just outside of Creve Coeur, south of Peoria. Itwas described as a three-toed beast, eight to ten feet tall, with acoat of thick white fur. There were so many sightings in the summerof 1972 that the Tazewell County Sheriff's Department organized asearch party to hunt for the creature. Encounters with Cohomo taperedoff after that, but one man believed he caught a glimpse of it in theheadlights of his car one night in July 2000, further north up theIllinois River near Essex, Illinois.

3. Blood's Point Road

A cornucopia of urban legends haveattached themselves to this aptly-named rural avenue and itsneighboring cemetery. Visitors have reported seeing phantom vehiclesand a dog with glowing red eyes. According to legend, the railroadbridge was the scene of a deadly school bus accident, as well as morethan one hanging. These hangings have also been attributed to abridge along nearby Sweeny Road. The cemetery itself is said to bevisited by a wide variety of phenomenon—from orbs, to a phantomdog, to a vanishing barn, to the disembodied laughter of children andelectrical malfunctions. Blood's Point was named after ArthurBlood, the first white settler of Flora Township. Some localsmaintain that he brought a curse with him that remains to this day.

2. Lebanon Road

On or around Lebanon Road are sevenrailroad bridges, some no longer in use. All of them are heavilycoated in graffiti—a testament to their popularity for nighttimeexcursions. Local visitors have crafted a hellish tale around theseseven bridges, which they dubbed the "Seven Gates to Hell."The legend is that if someone were to drive through all seven bridgesand enter the last one exactly at midnight, he or she would betransported to Hell. In some versions, the person entering the finaltunnel must be a skeptic. In other versions, no tunnel can be driventhrough twice in order for the magic to work. Like Cuba Road inBarrington, an abandoned property near Lebanon Road has given rise torumors of a "death house."

1. Cuba Road

Cuba Road sits nestled between thetowns of Lake Zurich and Barrington, both upper and upper-middleclass retreats. It is the setting of a plethora of paranormalphenomenon, including a phantom car (or cars), a pair of spectrallovers, and a vanishing house. A side street called Rainbow Roadformerly had the distinction of being home to an abandoned mansionthat some believed was an old asylum. Along Cuba Road sits WhiteCemetery, which author Scott Markus has referred to as the Bachelor'sGrove of the north-Chicago suburbs. This small, rectangular graveyarddates from the 1820s and its ghostlore concerns mysterious, hoveringballs of light.