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The Haunting Legend Of Resurrection Mary - Illinois · Mystery Archives Episodes

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  Around Chicago, there are tales of a pale and mysterious woman
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  whose presence has entranced people for nearly a century.
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  But just who was she, and did she even exist?
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  Tons of people over the years believe that she did, but to
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  others, she's just the culmination of multiple
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  overactive imaginations. The truth, ultimately, will be
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  up to you to decide. This is the haunting legend of
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  Resurrection Mary of Illinois. Let me first paint the picture
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  for you. It's late on a moonless night,
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  and you find yourself travelling down a narrow Rd. as darkness
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  envelops you, each shadow reaching for you, twisting and
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  turning to touch you, your adrenaline spikes.
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  Is this simply the creation of the human mind, or is there
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  something more than meets the eye?
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  This is what people tend to experience when they head down
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  the road to a place known as Resurrection Cemetery, located
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  outside of the hustle and bustle of Chicago.
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  Our story begins there in 1979 when the cab driver finds
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  himself lost travelling down this very same Rd. late 1
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  evening. As the road continued to wind
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  and curve, the middle-aged man pressed forward, hoping to find
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  some sort of a sign that could lead him back to where he was
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  supposed to be. As he drove on the right hand
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  side of the road, he sees the figure of a woman quickly
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  hitting the brakes and slowing down to ask where he can go to
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  get out of here. He approaches her quickly.
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  Rolling down the window. He explains that he's lost and
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  tells the young lady that he'd be happy to give her a lift
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  anywhere she wants to go, free of charge if she can help him
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  get back to town. Glancing at him almost in a
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  dreamlike state, the woman doesn't say a word.
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  She simply makes her way into the back seat of the taxi.
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  Roughly a mile in front of where the two were was the entrance to
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  Resurrection Cemetery. At around 400 acres,
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  Resurrection is a massive cemetery.
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  It opened in 19 O 4 to serve large Polish American
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  communities on Chicago's Southwest Side and nearby
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  suburbs. Nearly 190,000 souls are buried
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  at Resurrection among 44 cemeteries operated in the city
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  and suburbs by the Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago.
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  As the two continue to drive as they approach the cemetery
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  gates, the woman out of nowhere asked the man to stop the
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  vehicle, asking her why she would want to stop there at such
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  a time. But also being a man of his
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  word. He pulled the car over.
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  But as he glanced back to where the woman had been, she had
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  simply vanished. Little did he know this very
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  night, as he wandered lost on the stretch of Rd. that he would
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  meet one of Chicago's most famous ghosts, the spectral
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  woman known as Resurrection Mary.
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  According to many, Resurrection Mary is one of the most
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  believable ghost stories that exists simply due to the amount
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  of unrelated people over a vast stretch of years who have said
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  to have encountered her. According to Richard Growe, a
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  local historian, the people I've met who have said they have had
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  an experience with Resurrection Mary have been surprisingly
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  level headed. They tend to be primarily blue
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  collar middle class types who have no history of outrageous or
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  any other kind of major claims as far as we can tell.
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  The earliest account of an encounter with this being came
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  from a man named Jerry Paulus who has since taken his own trip
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  to the grave. The year was 1939 and on any
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  given night the youth of Chicago filled the dance halls.
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  Jerry at the time considered himself a ladies man of swords
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  and was looking for a dance. From across the dance floor.
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  He spotted what he described as one of the most beautiful women
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  that he had ever seen. In 1986, when he was 72, he gave
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  a taped recounting of his experience, and in this
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  description he described the woman as being about 5 foot
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  seven, having blonde hair that curled on either side of her
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  head, having dazzling blue eyes, and wearing an exceptionally
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  fancy white dress for that time period.
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  As he asked for a dance, Jerry took the woman to the dance
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  floor and the two began to talk. Although she didn't speak much,
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  seeming rather shy, Jerry was able to uncover that her name
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  was Mary and that she lived on the South side of Chicago in a
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  small apartment on Damon Street. When the final song was played
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  and those present began to disperse, Jerry offered Mary a
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  ride home, to which she accepted.
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  As the two made their way towards the South side of
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  Chicago, where the woman had said that she lived, she
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  suddenly asked him to take a detour, asking him to go down a
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  long and winding Rd. known as Archer Rd.
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  Jerry obliged, turning onto the road, and as they got several
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  miles into their trip, Mary suddenly asked Jerry to stop the
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  car, trying to ask her why since the area seemed to be fairly
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  desolate aside from a small gate.
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  From what he could see, the two would step out of the car, or
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  Mary would tell him that she needed to get out of there,
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  Confused, but wanted to make sure she was where she needed to
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  be. Jerry agreed.
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  She then told him to stay right there, and that she'd be right
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  back. She then began to make her way
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  towards the gate, where, before the young man's eyes, she simply
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  vanished. The road we first described and
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  the road I described in this tale are one and the same, and
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  the gate was the entrance to Resurrection Cemetery.
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  Perplexed and unsure of what to make of this encounter, Jerry
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  waited for the woman, but eventually would get back in his
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  car and drive home for the night.
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  The following day, remembering the address Mary had told him,
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  he decided to take a trip to Damon St. and upon arriving, he
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  found the apartment with little trouble.
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  As he approached the door before he had a chance to knock, it
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  swung open, revealing an older blonde haired woman.
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  She began to ask him, in a thick Polish accent, if she could help
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  him. Jerry explained to her that he
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  was looking for a woman named Mary.
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  The older woman simply glanced at him as if she had seen a
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  ghost herself within a few moments, she said, You must be
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  mistaken, there's no one who lives here by that name.
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  As she went to close the door, Jerry happened to glance past
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  her and see a framed photograph sitting on a table.
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  It was the very same woman he'd given a ride to the night
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  before. Explaining to her that this was
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  the Mary that he was looking for, the woman started to become
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  upset. With tears in her eyes.
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  She told him that that's impossible, that the woman was
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  her daughter, and that Mary had been dead for five years.
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  Not wanting to further distress her, Jerry thanked her for her
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  time and left. Although the encounter this day
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  as well wasn't all what Jerry thought it was going to be,
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  simply served to ignite the flame of curiosity as just who
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  this mysterious woman was. Jerry would ultimately pass away
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  himself in 1992, never truly having known who he had
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  encountered all those years ago. Through lots of research,
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  Richard believed he had tracked down the identity of
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  Resurrection Mary. The woman's real name was Mary
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  Brigole, and her demise was all too soon and tragic.
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  She had been killed in a traffic accident one Saturday night
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  following an outing at a dance hall in 1934, just one month
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  before her 21st birthday. Her family was devastated and,
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  as was the most common practice at the time, laid her to rest at
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  Resurrection Cemetery, burying her and her favorite gown, a
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  fancy white dress and her blonde hair as she liked them in curls.
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  Over the years, her spirit has allegedly been seen by people
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  time and time again, from inside dance clubs to bars to taxis.
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  Others have seen her simply by strolling past the cemetery
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  after dark, or like the next people will discuss standing on
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  the side of the road. In 1980, a woman named Claire
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  Rudnicki, her husband Mark, and two friends were driving down
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  Archer Rd. On their way home from a night
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  out of fun and relaxation. With Mark behind the wheel,
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  Claire and the passenger seat, and their two friends in the
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  back, Mark and Claire have their windows open.
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  As they drove down the road, Claire noted that she simply
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  watched the passing landscape on her side of the car.
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  Not too far ahead of them, the group spotted a girl walking on
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  the side of the road, but this wasn't any ordinary looking
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  person. She appeared not only to be
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  emitting light, but she was wearing an old looking white
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  dress. Everyone in the car except for
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  Mark began to panic, pleading with him not to stop the car.
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  Mark, who had let off the gas and started slowing down, was
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  able to get a better look at the figure, and he would later
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  bizarrely say that the woman had no face.
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  It was. If there was a black void where
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  her face should have been, they ended up passing.
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  The woman and the other passengers, including Mark's
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  wife, pleaded for him not to turn around, but curiosity
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  forced his hand. He turned around and went back.
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  But to everyone else's relief, whoever or whatever this thing
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  was, was gone. Encounters like these since
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  Mary's passing have become all too commonplace and still exist
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  even to this day. But what is Resurrection Mary
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  exactly? A young woman who met her demise
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  too early, who now wanders aimlessly in an attempt to find
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  her way back home? A myth over time that has gained
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  traction due to people wanting to be part of something larger
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  than themselves? Or is it an entity masquerading
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  as a young woman in efforts to communicate with those who dwell
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  here? And if so, why all these
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  questions and more we may never have answers to because those
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  answers have long since been lost to the confines of a tomb.
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  But what do you think? Make sure to let me know down in
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  the comments below. Don't forget to like this video.
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• 12:59
  All those things have and continue to help me out so much
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  more than you know and I greatly appreciate your help.
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  Besides that, guys, as always, thank you for your patience with
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  this one. I wanted to do something a
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  little different, more of a Midwest urban legend perhaps,
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  you know, maybe one that I'm not a lot of people are aware of,
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  but that I found interesting all around.
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  I hope you liked it. I love you guys and thank you
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  again for everything and for being the best community that a
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  guy could ask for. And I will see you yet again
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  very soon with another new video.
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  Until next time, this has been Cody here at Mystery Archives.
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  Remember to stay safe out there and take care.