There's a special tradition at Chet's Melody Lounge, a neighborhood bar located on Archer Avenue across the street from Resurrection Cemetery in southwest suburban Justice. Every Sunday, the bartender makes a bloody mary and leaves it in front of an open stool at the end of the bar. The seat and drink are reserved for none other than Resurrection Mary, Chicago's most famous ghost.
I'll give you a recipe for a special Chicago-style bloody mary that you can use to make your own offering to this legendary ghost, but first here's a little more about Resurrection Mary. Chicagoans from all walks of life know about this vanishing hitchhiker ghost who haunts Archer Avenue and surrounding areas. Various songs have been written about her,* and her story was even featured on an episode of "Unsolved Mysteries" in 1994.
The most common Resurrection Mary story goes something like this: A driver picks up a young woman in a white dress, often after a dance. When the car approaches Resurrection Cemetery, the woman mysteriously vanishes.
Jerry Palus is believed to be the first to go public with his Resurrection Mary story. According to multiple accounts, Palus danced with a young woman at a Brighton Park ballroom one night in 1939. The woman told him her name was Mary and that she lived on South Damen in the Back of the Yards. As he drove her home, Mary told Palus that she wanted to go to Archer Avenue. When they reached Resurrection Cemetery, Mary demanded to get out of the car and disappeared into thin air as she walked toward the cemetery. The next day, Palus went to the home on Damen where Mary said she lived. When an older woman answered the door, Palus saw a framed photo of Mary over the woman's shoulder. The woman told him that the photo was of her daughter who had been dead for five years.
Palus's story aligns with the theory that Resurrection Mary is the ghost of a woman named Marie Bregovy. In March of 1934, the Chicago Tribune reported that 21-year-old Bregovy, who lived on South Damen in the Back of the Yards, was killed in a car crash downtown. According to legend, Bregovy had been at the Oh Henry Ballroom--later called the Willowbrook Ballroom--on Archer Avenue earlier that night. She is listed on the Find A Grave website as being buried in an unmarked plot at Resurrection Cemetery.
Others believe that Resurrection Mary is the ghost of Anna "Marija" Norkus, a girl from Garfield Ridge. She died in a car crash in 1927 when she was just shy of her 13th birthday after spending the night dancing at the Oh Henry ballroom. While she was set to be buried at St. Casimir Cemetery, her remains may have been temporarily interred at Resurrection Cemetery and later mislaid.
There are many Resurrection Mary stories making the rounds across Chicagoland, but I'll leave you with two that involve Chet's Melody Lounge. The first comes from the Epitaph podcast. One day in 1973, a cab driver walked into the bar demanding to know where the blonde girl in the white dress had gone because she had disappeared without paying her fare. The manager could only answer that a woman matching that description never came inside the bar. The second story comes from American Ghost Walks. Early one morning in 1996, Chet Prusinski--the owner of Chet's Melody Lounge--was backing out of his driveway when a man came toward him, yelling that he needed a phone. The man said he had hit a woman on Archer Avenue and couldn't find the body. A trucker driving behind him had also witnessed the incident and stayed at the scene. Prusinkski called the police but quickly removed himself from the situation, fearing he would be accused of staging a publicity stunt for his bar.
The legend of Resurrection Mary has endured for over 80 years. This ghostly young woman with a love for dancing and a knack for disappearing has captured our collective imagination. What keeps the legend alive? Maybe it's the dozens of witnesses who swear they saw her, or the tragedy of a life cut short. Or maybe it's because she could be waiting for you on Archer Avenue, still trying to get home.
If you're looking to make your own offering to Chicago's favorite ghost, try this recipe for a Chicago-style bloody mary. It has elements of a Chicago-style hot dog, making it especially appealing to a girl like Resurrection Mary. It also conveniently uses a 5.5-oz. can of V8. Double the recipe to make one for yourself and one for Mary.
Chicago-Style Bloody Mary
Serves one person or thirsty ghost
Ingredients:
5.5 oz. V8, chilled (about 2/3 c.)
2 fl. oz. vodka (about 4 tbsp.)
1 tsp. dill pickle juice
1/4 tsp. celery salt
black pepper to taste
1 dill pickle spear
1 Vienna beef hot dog, cooked
1 sport pepper
Instructions:
1. Place the pickle spear into a glass. Fill the glass with ice.
2. In a separate glass, stir together the V8, vodka, pickle juice, and celery salt. Season with black pepper to taste. Pour the mixture into the glass with ice.
3. Garnish with a skewer of a sport pepper and a skewer of half the hot dog.
Adam Harrington and Blake Tyson, "Chicago Hauntings: Resurrection Mary, Chicago's Most Famous Ghost," CBS News (October 31, 2024).
Jojo Galvan, "Resurrection Mary, the Hitchhiking Ghost of Archer Avenue." Chicago History Museum (October 25, 2022).
Ursula Bielski, "Resurrection Mary: The Queen of Chicago's Haunted Archer Avenue," American Ghost Walks (April 8, 2019),
Maureen Callahan, "Resurrecting Mary: Chicago's Most Famous Ghost-in-Residence." Elmhurst Magazine (September 9, 2024).
Wikipedia contributors, "Resurrection Mary." Wikipedia (May 22, 2025).
"Resurrection Mary," Unsolved Mysteries.
Lux Ferre, "Resurrection Mary," Occult World (July 25, 2017).
"The Legend of Resurrection Mary." Windy City Ghosts (April 22, 2025).
"Mary Bregovy." Find A Grave.
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