Astonishing Legends

If Resurrection Mary is just an Urban Legend, merely another variation of the "Vanishing Hitchhiker" then her story is a common one, with similar descriptions found in folklore all over the world. If she is a spirit, then she's also not alone, because it seems people of every country have come forward with testimony of meeting a real "Lady in White." If these ladies are a myth, or if they're real, or some combination of both, why are they so universally elemental? Why is she so primal? Do we see her because of the folklore, or is there folklore because we've seen her? But whether spirits or an archetypal legend, what these women are eternally searching for is something lost, like a child or a future taken away too soon. What they want is to return to a happier time when all was right with their world, to return home, wherever and whatever that home may be, so they may finally rest in peace.   For more information on this episode visit our website!

How many reported sightings of a particular ghost would it take before you started to believe that perhaps people were indeed interacting with something supernatural? Hundreds? Over a thousand? But you're looking for proof, you say. Well, what would be convincing proof for you? What about mysterious, spectral handprints melted and scorched into bronze bars that have resisted repair and coverup? Tonight in Part Three of our series, we examine the possibility that Mary may have left her indelible mark not only on the front gates of Resurrection Cemetery but also in the imaginations of Chicagoans ever since.   For more information on this episode visit our website!

As you delve into the legend of "Resurrection Mary," you'll soon notice that the stretch of Archer Avenue from Resurrection Cemetery to the Willowbrook Ballroom is not the only piece of land that seems haunted, nor is it haunted just by "Mary."  It seems the entire locality has a supernatural quality to it, enough that Chicago's "Southwest Siders" have dubbed it "The Archer Triangle," in reference to the more famous one near Bermuda.  But what is it about this region that spurs so many reports of paranormal activity?  Is it the legacy of ancient Native American activity, the numerous cemeteries located here, or Ley lines and waterways?  Is it all an imagined coincidence or is there a more sinister force at play?  Tonight, we take a more thorough look at Mary's favorite haunts and examine why the spirits of the area appear to be so restless. For more information on this episode visit our website!

Legend has it, that sometime in the late 1920s or early '30s, a young couple was enjoying an evening of dancing at the Oh Henry Ballroom, later renamed the Willowbrook Ballroom & Banquets, located southwest of Chicago, IL. After an argument, the woman stormed out, deciding she'd rather walk home than spend another minute with her boyfriend. As she walked along Archer Avenue on a wintery night, she was struck and killed by a hit and run driver. Her bereaved parents buried her at nearby Resurrection Cemetery in the white ballgown and shoes in which she died. Ever since, people have reported either dancing with or giving a ride to a hauntingly beautiful young woman, with long blonde hair and blue eyes, dressed in a white gown, who at some point vanishes from their midst. Accounts of these spectral encounters have been so numerous over the years that the legend of "Resurrection Mary" is perhaps Chicago's most famous and beloved ghost story.  For more information on this episode visit our website!

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As we wrap up our 100th episode celebration with "ARCapalooza! Part 2" we'd like to thank the terrific people who have come together to form the Astonishing Research Corps for their efforts, friendship, and sharing their personal stories, demonstrating their generosity and a fair amount of bravery. We'd also like to thank another crucial member of this project, and that is you, our listeners. We're astounded, humbled, and most importantly grateful for the support you've shown with your continued listenership. It's why we keep going. We've always meant for this podcast to feel less like a lecture and more like a conversation between friends who share an interest in fascinating topics. With that spirit in mind, we hope you continue to feel like a part of this group of friends and a cherished member of the team. And now on to the next 100 episodes! For more information on this episode visit our website!

Since it's no mystery that we can blather and prattle on for hours upon hours, it should come as no surprise that we ran long on Part One of our ARCapalooza 100th Episode Celebration!  The result is this commercial-free, Bonus Episode, where lead A.R.C. researcher Tess Pfeifle poses questions to us submitted by listeners.  We hope you enjoy this candid discussion where we talk about everything from our thoughts on show topics to producing the podcast. For more information on this episode visit our website!

This podcast wouldn't be as complete or as much fun to work on if it wasn't for the help of a special group of volunteer contributors, collectively known as the Astonishing Research Corps, or ARC for short, who have now become good friends as well as valued collaborators. So we figured it would be fitting to salute their efforts on our celebratory 100th episode by having some of the ARC's founding members tell their own strange and mysterious tales. We hope you find their stories entertaining and engaging, which we believe also serve to reinforce an Astonishing Legends adage, that if you personally haven't had an encounter with the paranormal, you probably know someone who has. For more information on this episode visit our website!

So, what have we learned about giants? Our current understanding of human biology finds limits as to how tall a person can grow and can still be relatively healthy while enjoying an advanced age. This knowledge then places limits as to what the majority are willing to believe about the tallest humans throughout all history, that no one could have existed beyond 8 to 10 feet tall at the most. In the still-nascent field of archeology in the 19th century, excavations do seem to provide accounts of unusually large individuals in Europe and significant numbers of taller than average Native American tribal members here in the U.S., so perhaps whole communities could have been seen as giants by contemporary standards. However, there are those researchers and writers who believe, possibly spurred by those findings and the subsequent, apparent mishandling of artifacts by some museums and academic institutions, that there exists a conspiracy to keep evidence of beings beyond that range from the public, and that the even more massive giants of yore were real, and some may even live to this day. If this is true, then one must think about our definition of a real giant, and would that giant be a real human? For more information on this episode visit our website!

What constitutes a "giant" in your mind? Certainly, people who are 6 to 7 feet tall are commonplace nowadays, unlike the Middle Ages, or even a hundred years ago. But what about someone who's seven feet tall or more? We may call them "giants" in jest, but it's not the same as when we think of the giants in our legends. A measurement of more than seven feet is rare, but there are plenty of healthy people living today in that range that prove it's not so legendary by our contemporary imagination. Rarer still is a human that's eight feet tall, but there has been one in recent history: Robert Pershing Wadlow stood 8' 11.1" tall (2.72 m) and weighed 490 pounds (220 kg) and showed no signs of stopping his growth at his untimely death in 1940 at age 22. So it's possible that a height for a human can approach nine feet, but could any height beyond that be sustainable? Because taller than that and it seems we venture beyond not only what is biologically viable for the human body, but also what is believable. It still leaves us with the question, "What makes a giant?" And if a skeleton is unearthed that appears to have horns? Well, that is another matter altogether.   For more information on this episode visit our website!