One of the things that I will remember all of my life is the frightening legends associated with the forest preserves of the township of Willow Springs IL. The town itself also has a creepy reputation to it as well, but I will save that tale for another time. However, these forest preserves are what more or less make this suburb near the southern tip of Archer Ave so creepy.

How could such a place such as these woods which were meant for an escape for us city dwellers to peacefulness and tranquility of nature, after dark, turn into "Halloween night" every night of the year? At nightfall, when I a child, and while we were driving home from my grandparent's house, I'd force my head between my legs and cover it with my arms so that I would not see (if there were any) ghost or other gruesome discoveries outside the car as we descended past Archer, up the dark, winding, and dreary Willow Springs road. It was just something about these forest preserves at night that radiated fright and eeriness. In addition, what also added to the creepiness to these woods was that one could only imagine what secrets this so called haven for spooks could hold.

Now I grew up quite near these forest preserves, but just a safe distance away from them. The subdivisions between Cork and Kean served as a nice buffer zone. Every once in awhile someone who lived across the street from the beginning of the seemingly endless acres of trees, swamps, and sloughs, which I believed were haunted, would have a yard sale, and as a child, my mother (who loves yard sales) would take me to to one of them.

While in conversation with the property owner of the sale, my mother would often ask something about the woods, and the owner would reply in disgust, that they were in constant use by those practicing bizarre occult ceremonies and by teens having their drinking parties. From other sources, I also heard about the occasional body being found, always resulting from suicide, and there are some unmarked Indian burial mounds scattered about throughout this woodland area.

Over the years, I've spoken to police officers that have stated that the Willow Springs Forest Preserve District is their least favorite place to patrol because of its forebodingness after dark. On a lighter note, when I was a teenager, I met a Pagan Priestess at one of these garage sales, and she told me that there are many magical charms buried underneath this (as she called) enchanted forest's soil, and showed me an example of one of them that she wore around her neck. It was a beautiful jewel studded dragonfly. Now I am sure the jewels were made from glass none the less, but it was stunning to look at anyway, and would be a neat discovery of hidden treasure to find in these woods if she in fact buried it.

As I got older, and learned more about the history of Willow Springs and the whole canal/mob thing and such, I soon understood as to why I got the heebie jeebies going past them forest preserves and even the town. There are things here that never left these woods or this town for that matter. Anyone can care to differ, but I personally can just feel it in my bones!

Way back in 89', I took a ghost tour by the famed ghost tour guide, Richard T. Crowe. He did a good job in cluing me in on the past and not so distant past going ons in the Willow Springs area which I wasn't even aware of even though I (at the time) was a lifelong member of the adjacent community. This experience with Crowe has led me to explore the Willow Springs area more in depth including its vast forest preserve district over the years. I've been known to form ghost hunting expeditions to Willow Springs from time to time. I guess one could say that my fear has eventually turned into curiosity as a result of the many stories that I have uncovered.

For those of you who want to learn more of the lore on Willow Springs and the forest preserve that vastly consumes it, stay tuned for some more unsettling stories from my archives. And anyone is interested in exploring this creepy area near where Archer ends or other great notoriously haunted Chicagoland locals, a new ghost group is in the works.