"This friend of my friend was driving late at night when he saw a young woman on the side of the road. He stopped and offered her a ride; she got in but didn't talk much. She asked to be let out at a certain spot, but when my friend's friend stopped and turned around to look at her, she was gone!"

Sound familiar? Everyone seems to have that friend of a friend who experienced a similar ghost sighting. This oft-told tale has infiltrated our culture, but it has its roots in Resurrection Mary. The spirit of a young girl with blonde hair and a long white dress has been reported along a stretch of Archer Avenue near Resurrection Cemetery in the southwest suburbs of Chicago since the 1930s. Although she hasn't been seen much since Archer Avenue was reconstructed in the 1980s, sightings of Mary were quite common in the 1960s and '70s. Most fell into two categories: an offered ride similar to the above example, or a hit-and-run accident — people would see Mary's body lying near or on the road, apparently hit by a car. The police would be called, but before they arrive the body disappears, leaving only an impression in the grass or a dewy outline on the asphalt. A couple unfortunate souls have actually "hit" Resurrection Mary with their cars, only to have her pass harmlessly through the car. Her handprints are said to have been found scorched into bent bars in the cemetery gate; the cemetery owners insist that these marks were the result of a blowtorch used in repairs. (The bars have been replaced to dissuade unwanted night visitors.)