The Mount Carmel Cemetery is located in the Chicago suburb
of Hillside and is the forever resting place for many of Chicago’s gangsters,
including Al Capone. Consecrated in 1901, there are over 200,000 people buried
there. In spite of the many notorious bad
men laid to rest within its grounds, Mount Carmel is most famous for the spirit
known as “The Italian Bride.”
Born in 1892, Julia Buccola Petta died at the age of 29
while giving birth to a stillborn son 10 months after getting married. Her
funeral is held 2 days later on March 19 and she is laid to rest wearing her
wedding dress and holding her son in the crook of her right arm.
Five years later, her mother, Filomena, and father moved to
California. It was during this time that Filomena began having nightmares about
Julia. Every night, Julia would come to her begging to be dug up. The dreams disturbed Filomena so much that
she couldn't sleep and began having health problems. She almost had a nervous
breakdown thinking her daughter had been buried alive. She traveled back and
forth to Chicago several times over the next year to get an order of exhumation.
In 1927, more than 6 years after Julia’s death and burial,
her grave was opened and the deteriorated coffin unearthed. To everyone’s shock, Julia’s baby and her
right arm which held the baby were both badly decomposed, but the rest of her
body was in perfect condition; as if she had just laid down to take a nap. Even
her cheeks retained the rosy red color they had before her death. The wedding
dress she was buried in remained as white as the day she was laid to rest.
There was no evidence she had been buried alive, but she looked so “normal”
that several people in attendance reached out and actually touched Julia’s
skin. They reported that although cold, it was still soft. To document this
miracle, a picture was taken of the body as it laid in the mud-caked coffin.
An elaborate new monument with a life-sized statue of Julia
was commissioned by her brother later that same year. Engraved on it are two messages
from her mother, Filomena. The message on the front states, “Filomena Buccola
Remembrance of my Beloved Daughter Julia Age 29 yrs.” On the back, in Italian
is carved, “Filomena Buccola I offer this gift to my dear daughter Julia.”
Embedded in the monument are 2 pictures of Julia wearing her wedding dress on
her wedding day and the picture taken of her well-preserved body when her
coffin was opened. For some unknown
reason, only Julia’s maiden name and not her married name of Petta is engraved
in the monument.
Shortly after Julia was exhumed, stories of her ghostly
presence began to circulate. Numerous cemetery night watchmen and policemen
patrolling a beat around the cemetery have reported seeing a white mist or fog
which hovers around Julia’s grave but nowhere else in the graveyard. Mysterious
orbs of light have often been observed floating around her monument. Cemetery visitors with no knowledge of
Julia’s story have reported the strong smell of roses as they passed her grave,
but there are no flowers are in evidence on or anywhere nearby. One of Julia’s
favorite pastimes as she was growing up was working in the flowerbeds around
her parent’s house where she tended her mother’s rose bushes. An apparition fitting the description of
Julia wearing her flowing white bridal dress and wandering around her grave has
been reported so many times that the cemetery caretakers are no longer
surprised and don’t even bother to investigate. One family told of attending a
late afternoon burial ceremony and through miscommunication and misplaced
understandings, a young 4-year-old boy was left behind for a few minutes. Once
they reached the car, the realized the lad wasn’t with them so they rushed back
to the cemetery grounds only to be totally surprised to see their son walking
down the path toward them and holding the hand of a beautiful, young woman
wearing a white wedding dress. As the young boy saw his parents, he let go of
the lady’s hand and rushed toward them. When the parents and older children
looked up to thank the lady, she had disappeared without a trace. The little
boy told of being alone and crying because he was scared and then a kind lady
came and told him to not be afraid, she would take him to his mommy and daddy.
