The Phantom Funeral

"Betweet the hours of 11 and midnight on the night of Friday, July 4, 1986, 3 passers-by on a road near Prairie du Rocher, Illinois, may be able to see what no mortal had seen for nearly 100yrs-a phantom funeral procession making its way from ancient Fort De Chartres, near the Mississippi River, to a nearby cemetery. But we must go back in time to the last century to discover the origins of this most unusual tale. On the 4th of July, 1889, a woman named Mrs. Chris and a neighbor lady were keeping vigil over the body of Mrs. Chris's dead baby. It was nearly midnight, the air stifling hot as they rocked on the front porch of the house. Suddenly, the neighbor noticed in the distance a shadowy procession of people and wagons coming down the road. Wagons rolled into view, silhouetted against the full moon, their drivers unseen in the darkness. No driver or wagon carried a light or any other visible indication of their origins or intended destination. The only clue to their purpose was a casket that was being transported in a low wagon. As the entourage drew closer, Mrs. Chris and her friend became certain that it was indeed a funeral procession. The women were astonished-although they counted nearly 40 wagons, followed by 13 pairs of horsemen, the enormous cavalcade did not make a single sound! The horses' hooves were battering against the earth, clouds of dust rolled from under the wagon wheels and the riders seemed to be talking to each other. Yet not a sound reached the ears of the witnesses, save the soft rustling of nearby trees, a few night frogs and the barking of the family dog. "Oh, my God!" Mrs. Chris cried to her friend, "It I wasn't sitting here with you seeing this, I'd swear I was dreaming." But the women were not dreaming. The neighbor woman's father had been awakened by the agitated dog and looked out the window to see the same unearthly formation rolling by. He verified the women's account of teh scene early the next morning. Other than those 3 people, no one else saw the phantom funeral. Mrs. Chris and her friend decided to remain on the porch to see if anyone returned from the cortege's obvious destination, the old cemetery down the road. But no one came back-not one of the 40 wagons or the 26 horsemen! What had the women witnessed? And who was being buried by the ghostly mourners? An apparent answer came in a few days from a friend of Mrs. Chris's neighbor who was visiting from DuQuoin. The two women told her about the strange events of a few nights before, and the visitor recalled that her daughter had just read an account of the early days at Fort De Chartres, built in 1756 by King Louis XV, in which a prominent man had been killed in an ambush by a disgruntled resident of the fort. Thge specific cause of the murder was unclear and the murderer was never apprehended, but the people at the fort were unsure what to do with the body. A delegation made a small trek to Kaskaskia, teh seat of the regional government, to ask how the death should be handled. They were told to bury the dead man at midnight in an obscure cemetery with only the light of the full moon to lead the way. Mrs. Chris and her neighbor realized that the procession they witnessed was the ghostly re-enactment of the original event, 100yrs after it had taken place! The current legend surrounding the ghostly funeral procession claims that only 3 people will be able to see the caravan in the hour before midnight on the evening of July 4th. A full moon must be hanging in the night sky. If you're curious, the 4th of July will fall on Fridays in 2003, 2014, 2025, 2031, 2042, 2053, and 2059. And if you're brave take along two friends, look for the full moon, and try to find that ancient cemetery. You may be the first people since 1889 to see the phantom funeral of old Fort De Chartres!"