True Ghost Story: Aux Sable Cemetery in Minooka, Illinois

True Ghost Story: Aux Sable Cemetery in Minooka, Illinois

It’s not every day your ghost hunt becomes the ghost story. But, that’s exactly what happened to Ghostly Activities’ co-founder, Saleen Graham, when she went to get preliminary readings for an upcoming investigation.

Saleen and her sister, Jackie, had time to kill over the Christmas break. They decided to go to Aux Sable Cemetery in Minooka, Illinois to take some readings. Then, follow it up with an investigation a few days later. The date was December 26th, 2013.

“It started out simply enough,” said Saleen. “We would go to the cemetery with a minimal amount of equipment and collect some EMF base readings and pictures. I decided not to take a video recorder because all recorded activity happens at night.”

They arrived around noon and parked their car on the side of Brown Road.

“Aux Sable Cemetery has two known ghostly activities. First, there’s a little girl spirit, who can pull pranks on you. She seems attracted to cars parked in the cemetery at night. The second type is a ghost portal. I can see why a ghost portal may form here. The cemetery borders Collins Run, a stream, and Aux Sable Creek. Flowing water, near a place of death, can help a ghost portal form.”

Saleen and Jackie, who are both psi-sensitive, started their investigation with a little prayer, and they mentally reached out to whatever spirits were nearby.

“We like to let the spirits know we mean no harm. We just want to know if they have any messages for us to deliver,” Saleen said.

As the ladies got ready to collect readings, the first ghostly activity happened.

“I had just turned off the car when the windows lowered. The keys were in my hand, so I know there was no power to lower them,” Saleen said.

After raising them, the women took their cameras and an EMF meter out of the trunk. As Jackie shut it, the windows lowered again.

“We gave each other the strangest looks. I mean, there was no way this could be electrical. I had the keys in my coat pocket. My car needs the keys in the ignition for this to happen.”

Saleen thought the little girl could be active, but she and Jackie didn’t feel anything to indicate it. Normally, one of them would feel a sadness or darkness when a spirit was near. This time, they didn’t pick up any vibes.

Jackie took the EMF meter and handed it to Saleen to collect some readings. The meter showed 0 mG – no electromagnetic energy present.

Saleen got back in the car and raised the windows again. The ladies waited a few minutes to see if they would lower. Then, Saleen turned her car off and tried to lower them with the switches on the driver’s side. Nothing happened – not even a click. Jackie tried the switch on the passenger’s side and nothing happened.

They both shrugged their shoulders and prepared to gather baseline readings around the cemetery. As they walked, they could see the car and nothing seemed different. The windows were raised.

They walked down to the spot where Collins Run meets Aux Sable Creek to measure its EMF field and document anything weird. The meter didn’t record any spikes. It also had a digital thermometer built-in, but it was so cold (approx. 27 degrees), it likely wouldn’t record a decrease in the ambient temperature. From this area, the women lost sight of the car.

When they returned to their parking spot, the windows had lowered again.

“I just wish we brought a video recorder to record the car,” Saleen said. “I didn’t think there would be any activity during the day. All the reports say the little girl is active at night. I will not make this mistake again!”

8 thoughts on “True Ghost Story: Aux Sable Cemetery in Minooka, Illinois”

  1. Hi London. Thanks for commenting. I could only find a phone number. Not sure if it’s the owner’s number or a general help line for Grundy County. (815) 942-4292

  2. Hi!

    I’d like to go and visit this cemetery! I don’t necessarily want to trespass though. I have heard fkr a donation for upkeep of the cemetery, that you can get access. Any info on who to contact?

  3. I went there a couple of times, at night, still have my trespassing ticket to prove it,, back in the mid to late 90’s. We did hear some weird things but the strangest occurrence happened when we left. We drove to Shorewood and went to a little restaurant on the corner of 59 and 52. Our waitress said that she could tell that we were just somewhere we should not have been. We asked why, she proceeded to point at the window where we were sitting and there were 2 little hand prints that weren’t there before. When we left, those same hand prints were on the back of my friends van. There were no little kids around us at midnight nor did we have little brothers or sisters that could’ve left prints earlier in the day on the van. We just couldn’t explain it.

  4. A couple of things in response:

    First, if you have family buried in a cemetery on private land, you can visit the site with permission in Illinois. In general, you contact the owner within a ‘reasonable’ amount of time, the date you’ll visit, and the hours you’ll visit. That usually means a week or two in advance, and you visit during daylight hours. The owner has to tell you which route to take to it. In this case, you just drive down Brown Road. Illinois is not like most other states, where you can visit during reasonable times. However, if you believe the owner is not maintaining your family plot, you can contact the Illinois Historic Preservation Division and an attorney to have a family member’s plot moved to a different cemetery. That’s not the case with Aux Sable Cemetery, though. Most graves seem to be in good shape. You can get more info at: Illinois Historic Preservation Division FAQ

    Second, there’s about 50 gazillion listings for the haunted activity at Aux Sable Cemetery, and the tour company that used to visit it references it, too. The company was Afterlife Tours. I think they ended the investigation service now. The site states they use the money to preserve old cemeteries. A very noble task.

    If you read the comments on many of the sites, the locals say it’s not haunted, but the visitors make claims of haunted activity. Saleen got permission to visit and she had an experience with her sister. It falls in line with other witness accounts (car trouble).

    Personally, I don’t buy into the Satanic ritual bit and gate to hell. Those are urban legends found across the country at old cemeteries. It’s the same take on Maltby Cemetery out here in Washington.

  5. I’ve lived here all my life, it not haunted. When I was in 8th grade in ’86 to ’87 there was a rumor of Satan worshippers sacraficing blonde haired blue eyed children there. In reality, it’s just an old creepy cemetery that you will get arrested for trespassing if you go there. These people are full of it. K

Comments are closed.

Comments are closed.