Tuesday, October 26, 2010

St. James Cemetery and Church "Monk Castle" - Chicago Suburbs - Lemont, Illinois

Suburban Chicago plays host to many haunts.  One of the most haunted being the St. James Cemetery and Church located in Lemont, Illinois.  This church was built in 1833 and is the oldest Catholic church in the Chicago area.  The church acquired the nickname "Monk's Castle".
St. James Cemetery and Church



It is believed that a group of monks lived at St. James once. If they caught anyone trespassing there at night, they would make them kneel in payer to repent their sins all night until morning.  Over the years there have been many sightings of robed monks roaming the cemetery and grounds late into the evening.  Sounds of chants in Latin the same as monks practice have been heard coming from the grounds at night even though nobody is around.  All of this seemed to be rumor until 1977 when a police officer patrolling the area spotted a bunch of hooded figures walking the grounds.  He reported that they moved almost as if floating. After stopping and demanding that they come out, they continued walking up over the cemetery hill.  After retrieving his shotgun, the officer pursued.  However, once he crested the hill, there was no one to be found in the wide open grave yard.




Another haunt that takes place on the St. James grounds dates back to 1897.  A phantom horse and carriage have been seen coming down what is now Archer Avenue and then pulling into the church grounds and stopping as if waiting for someone or "something".  Then it is rumored, a woman dressed in white has been seen dancing wildly coming out of the cemetery.  She gets into the carriage and the carriage pulls away, only to vanish into nothing.

A former pastor confessed on his death bed in 1970 that on occasion he would look out the window of the church and see the ground rising and falling as if it were alive and breathing.
 

4 comments:

  1. That's quite Scary! But freaking neat!

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  2. Has there ever been a story of a priest coming to greet you and then just vanishing? In day time? My son is in a wheelchair and he shook my sons hand. 6 of saw this and just thought he was the priest at the church until we turned to ask him about the church and was gone.

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  3. I live in Lemont, and I have been to Monks Castle plenty of times, I have never witnessed anything besides creepy noises such as gates closing loudly and felt a weird presence such as devil like. My family and I went there this past week and we heard knockings on little burial house for a small family, we heard gates the gates squeek closed and we seen, a brightly green alge like substance on a tombstone, when i went to take further investigations such as pictues, i realized that the green substance does not appear on camara. I would safly say that Monks Castle is haunted and very frightning.

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  4. I was there last summer, my wife and I were walking around, there no one else around but had a weird feeling someone was
    following us around and watching us.

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