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Enter the
North suburban town of Libertyville.
Traveling down the four-lane highway of Route
137 an exit is made onto the desolate River
Road. River Road can often be an
experience of its own, especially at night. The road is long and narrow. The
left side is bordered by the Independence Grove Forest Preserve while the right
side is dotted with houses. The car's headlights provide the only illumination,
as there are no streetlights to speak of along this thoroughfare. Often the
experience is even more heightened as ponds to the left of the street mix with
summer air and massive banks of fog occupy the many low points of this hilly
street.
After a
journey of about two miles down this road, it makes an abrupt 90-degree right
turn. Directly ahead sits a horse ranch; to the left of that, set back further
from the road, sits a menacing vision. This is what local residents commonly
refer to as "The Gate."
According to
the widely known legend, the gate marked the entrance to an all-girls school in
the 1950s. All was well in the area until the fateful day when the principal
snapped and killed four of his students. As the legend goes, it was at this very
gate, on the posts, that the heads of four young students were placed after they
were removed from their bodies.
The stories
vary depending on where the story is being told. According to some, instead of a
school, it was once a sleep-away camp, or even an asylum. The killer isn't
always the same either. Some versions of the story claim that a madman who
escaped from an institution stumbled across this location and went to work.
Others talk of an escaped convict who caused the mayhem, and those who believe
it was an asylum state that it was a counselor who ended up losing his own
sanity. As would be expected from a sensationalized story, the final death toll
is often inflated.
The sheer
predictability of the tale is the first clue that this is an urban legend. More
than one location covered in this guide of the haunted Northeastern corner of
Illinois also share this or a strikingly similar story.
The type of
residue left behind also differs depending on the story. Libertyville and Vernon
Hills versions often contain people visiting the gate at night only to find
blood still running down the wrought iron supports of the gate. Other versions
state that on the anniversary of the slaying and on Halloween, at the bewitching
hour of midnight, the phantom heads of the fallen girls reappear on the fence
posts. The legend about the fence, when told by a resident of Wauconda, claims
that a small boy has been seen on numerous occasions walking or staring out from
behind the fence.
Sorting out
the truth from the speculation is frequently a difficult challenge when forced
to rely on eyewitness accounts rather than printed documents. Most towns across
the country have their fair share of skeletons in their respective closets. It
is customary for a verbal history of a neighborhood to get edited in order to
preserve a peaceful illusion of reality.
Libertyville
is already the home of the "Murder Mansion." In 1980, Bruce and
Darlene Rouse were brutally murdered by their son. By the mid 1980s the same
home was purchased by the Ferriola street crew, which operated a casino in the
house for the Chicago Mafia. Modern era gangsters like Salvatore DeLaurentis,
Rocco Infelise, BJ Jahoda, and Harry Ferriola brought in a reported $800,000
every month just from gambling at this location. In September of 1984, the
Murder Mansion was also the location of another slaying. Independent bookmaker,
and competition, Bobby Plummer was killed on the second floor. In 2003 the house
was demolished.
This being
said, in recent years Libertyville has shown its resiliency in being able to
bounce back from negative press. Though a number of very famous murders have
happened, catching wind of it is often a difficult task. Usually the only time
these events are mentioned anymore in the press is on an MSNBC look back in
time, but hardly ever in a local newspaper.
Libertyville
has been mostly successful in hiding unnatural deaths from just twenty years
ago. If alleged events happened in 1950, then there's more than half a century
for people to forget.
It is also
possible that a horrific event did in fact happen at "The Gate," but
over the years it simply grew out of proportion due to overactive imaginations.
If this were the case, then there could very well be a legitimate haunting at
this location. What can be said for sure, however, is that a trip to "The
Gate" can be quite a harrowing experience. On humid summer nights a fog
actually forms in the distant fields, rolls in, and hovers just beyond the
entrance. The mere presence of the structure leaves some to keep the door of
possibility open. Obviously there is some reason for such a massive structure to
stand.
What can be
said of the legend that is true is that at one point in time the land behind the
gate did serve as a camp. The St. Francis Boys Camp opened for operation
sometime after the year 1950. Before that it was used as the Kathrine Dodridge
Kreigh Budd Memorial Home for Children. This orphanage for over 100 children
opened in 1925.
What caused
this orphanage to close may be the answer to why this gate has such a famous
reputation. Unfortunately, it is also this answer that is lost in the past. One
thing that is for sure though is that for years to come it will lure area high-schoolers,
curiosity-seekers, and hikers alike to ponder the possibilities. Currently the
Des Plaines River Trail, which is part of the forest preserve, passes through
the opening.
The stories
don't end there either. There are additional stories regarding the houses that
stand across the street from this north side landmark. An easily dismissible,
but strangely well-known fallacy, is that the neighborhood is full of devil
worshipers. However wild and random these claims are, several more reputable
stories have been told about the area.
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