The Mystery of Rosehill Cemetery

Cammy Wray

A short distance outside the New Trier Township is Rosehill Cemetery, located in Chicago. This place is known as a hotspot for ghosts, and is famous for having public figures and celebrities buried there, such as Aaron Montgomery Ward and Richard Sears. This cemetery was founded in 1861, and consists of 350 acres. There are many stories from this site, but the story of Charles Hopkinson is one of the spookiest. Charles Hopkinson was a real estate tycoon from the 1800’s, who wanted his grave site to be a large, Cathedral-esque mausoleum to reflect and honor his family. Shortly into construction, the family that lived behind the Hopkinson site took the family to court because they believed that the cathedral was blocking their view of the rest of the graveyard. The Illinois Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Hopkinson’s, and construction resumed. Ever since then, on the night of the anniversary of Hopkinsons death, it is said you can hear rattling chains and a loud, awful moaning sound outside of his grave site.

Another haunting story is the story of the floating woman. One night, a groundskeeper was making his way around the cemetery, making sure everyone had gone home and everything was secure. In the distance, he saw a woman leaning against a tree closest to Peterson Avenue. Immediately, he started to drive over to tell her the cemetery was closed and that she had to leave. Upon getting closer, he realized that she wasn’t standing, but floating. Carefully coming closer, she disappeared into a cloud of mist. He rushed to the main office to report what he saw.

The next morning, a lady from Des Plaines called into the office requesting a title be put on her aunt’s headstone. The woman explained that her aunt had come to her in a dream demanding a title on her headstone. So the worker got in his truck and drove to the site of the burial. There, next to the empty headstone in the family’s plot, was the tree where the floating lady had been seen the night before.