Little girl may finally rest in peace
Date: Friday, October 03rd, 2008 (CST )
Topic: Ghosts & Spirits
 Legend has it that the lonely ghost of a young girl haunts Aux Sable Cemetery. The cemetery, located between Minooka and Morris, is apparently a hotbed of supernatural activity. Google "Aux Sable Cemetery" and you'll learn the cemetery is reputed to be haunted.
Blogs are filled with comments by witnesses who claim to see a young girl wearing a white dress, gloves and a hat -- a spirit of yesteryear, no doubt. The last documented sighting of the girl in white was on Aug. 14.
On theWeb site www.strangeusa.com, a commentator who claimed he saw the ghost wrote: "I heard her scream out for help and to save her. And when people got too close to her I heard her say to go -- to leave the cemetery." Tales of paranormal activity at the cemetery include mysterious mists, ghost orbs, creepy sounds and inexplicable fires. Cemetery visitors report feeling that preternatural eyes are watching them. A few visitors attempting to leave the cemetery witnessed the gate closing before their bewildered eyes.
Tales of a
secret passage that runs under the caretaker's shed straight to the
depths of Hades persist, despite denials by officials.
I mention the haunting, not
because Halloween is coming, but because the mysterious tombstone of a
6-year-old girl, brought to me by Janice Signore, of Plainfield,
belongs in Aux Sable Cemetery.
Reader solves mystery
A reader -- a woman who
felt the need to know where the tombstone belonged -- finally solved
the mystery. And while she deserves thanks and applause for her
efforts, she chooses to remain anonymous.
You see, this good
Samaritan's name appeared in a previous column on the subject of the
tombstone, and she was subject to ridicule. Although she was conducting
legitimate historical research for a noble cause, a few folks felt what
she was doing was weird. And though these comments didn't deter her,
she told me she prefers not to have her name mentioned.
Stevenson, not Stevens
Anyway, the fact that we
were unable to trace Adeline Stevens to the renowned Robert Stevens
family, did not stop my reader from seeking out the truth. She kept
right on digging through genealogical files and exploring local
cemeteries.
About a week ago, she called. "I think I found Adeline Stevenson's grave," she said. "I'll send you an e-mail."
"You mean her name isn't Adeline Stevens?" I asked.
"I don't think so," she said. "I'll send you the information and you can let me know what you think."
An empty spot
Her e-mail was nothing
short of astounding. It included a link to Grundy County's Web site,
which ultimately linked to Aux Sable Cemetery and a list of some of the
dead buried there and a photo of their tombstones. My heart started
pounding when I opened the page that showed a photo of Adeline
Stevenson's tombstone.
"If you think this might be
a match to the headstone you have, I can send you pictures I took at
Aux Sable Cemetery," she wrote. "It shows Willard's marker but an empty
spot where Adeline's could have been. "
Readers, I didn't need a
photo of the empty spot. The tombstone in the photo was a dead ringer
(sorry for the bad pun) for the one brought to me by Janice Signore.
Holy moly!
Little Adeline died Sept.
15, 1853, at the age of 6 years, 5 months, 3 days. Addie was the
daughter of P & A Stevenson. She was buried next to her brother,
Willard Stevenson, and perhaps it's Addie's spirit who haunts the
grounds.
Going home
Many phone calls later, I
managed to locate Frank Hunt , who has served as the caretaker of Aux
Sable Cemetery for the past 30 years. I told him about the tombstone
and offered to bring it over to the cemetery.
"That's probably a pretty heavy stone," Hunt said. "I'll come by and pick it up."
Friday, I got a chance to meet Frank, who struck me as a practical fellow -- not the type of guy with a wild imagination.
"Er, tell me Frank, have you ever noticed anything odd at the cemetery?" I asked.
"No, why," he replied.
"Well, uh, I've been
reading about a little girl who floats around at night and scares the
dickens out of visitors," I said. "You think maybe the ghost is looking
for her tombstone ... or something?"
"Heh, I've never seen
anything odd going on," he said. "Lots of kids hang out at the cemetery
around Halloween and scare the heck out of each other -- that's all I
know."
"Yeah, I know, I went through our archives and the police pick up quite a few cemetery trespassers every year," I said.
"They don't catch them all," he said with a grin.
Then Frank (a tall, strong
feller) hoisted the tombstone and walked into the sunset. Perhaps our
little girl will finally be able to rest in peace.
On the subject
One of the folks that
chipped in to find Addie's grave, Gina Wysocki , of the University of
St. Francis, mentioned she's writing a book on the mysteries of local
cemeteries.
The book will cover local
potter's fields, the legendary POW camp in Channahon and the
whereabouts of the Joliet Prison Cemetery, aka Monkey Hill.
Copyright: Herald News
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